"PUPPETS"
By Louise Ferry "IN PRAISE OF GOOFING OFF" Mark 6: 30-34



SALLY: Butch, when your mom & dad are out driving in the car and they come to a traffic light, can you tell me what the green light

BUTCH Well, if it is mom driving it means go, but if dad is driving it means stomp on the gas peddle and let the tires begin to scream.

SALLY Butch, that's not nice.

BUTCH I know, but he won't listen to me.

SALLY I didn't mean your dad I meant you. You shouldn't say that kind of thing around these little children. Alright, now the green means go, but can you tell me what the red light means?

BUTCH It means dad didn't make it thru the yellow and he has to stop.

SALLY That's right. It means you have to stop. Now, what does the yellow mean?

BUTCH It means to slow down.

SALLY That's right and thank you for not being funny this time. This evening I want to talk about slowing down and resting. Butch, did you know that God likes it when you work hard and give him your best. God also likes it when we stop working for a while and rest.

BUTCH I know. Yesterday, our Sunday school teacher told about the apostles who had been traveling around preaching about God, and teaching the people and healing the sick people. They worked so hard. And Jesus told them to stop for a while and rest.

SALLY That's right, He wanted them to relax, maybe have some fun. You see Butch, Jesus knew that they needed some time to rest before they went back to work.

BUTCH My teacher says that is one reason why Sunday is called a day of rest. She says that God wants us to have at least one day a week when we don't have to work, when we can rest and get our energy back.

SALLY Butch, did you know there is an animal called a sloth which lives mostly in trees in the jungles, and the sloth sleeps or rests almost all the time.

BUTCH You mean like grandpa does?

SALLY Now Butch, I thought we had discussed that kind of

BUTCH I'm sorry!

SALLY You ought to be. Well, anyway, the sloth only works a few hours a day and then the rest of the time it just hangs around in a stree sleeping and doing nothing. Just about all the sloth does is rest.

BUTCH No comment.

SALLY The opposite of the sloth is a porpoise named Dall's porpoise. It never sleeps. Never. It never gets any rest. Now, God doesn't want us to live like a sloth and rest all the time, but He also doesn't want us to be like the Dall's porpoise and work all the time. Instead, God wants us to balance our work and our rest time, in order to have a happy, healthy life.

BUTCH You know Sally, I think Grandpa ought to do a little more to help Grandma and then she wouln't have to work all the time and they could live like God wanted them to. Huh, now how to do that. (PUPPET DOWN)

SALLY While he's thinking about that, why don't the little ones go back with the nursery worker. See you every body.



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