Jonny had to have serious surgery. Before the operation, the doctors had him placed on a special bed like a table and gave him a needle to put him to sleep. The nurses stretched out his arms and clamped them so he wouldn't move them during surgery.

As he lay there, Jonny thought about Jesus. 'This is kind of like when Jesus was on the cross,' Jonny thought. 'He suffered so much for me. And He didn't have a needle to put him to sleep.'

Thinking about how Jesus died on the cross for his sins, Jonny got all teary-eyed. 'Thank You, dear Jesus. Thank You...'

Jonny fell asleep. When he woke up, surgery was all finished - and he hadn't felt a thing. But he remembered what he had been thinking about. Jesus! And Jonny kept on praising and thanking Jesus for His great love.<

Prayer: Dear Jesus, You died to bring me forgiveness and new life. Thank You for Your great love. Amen.

In the early days of movies, boys and girls used to go to a Saturday morning movie which showed Westerns - with famous cowboys like Roy Rogers and famous horses like Trigger.  Trigger was a pure white horse and, in the movies, he was often as much a hero as Roy Rogers who rode him.

In those days, the good cowboys always wore white hats, and the bad cowboys wore black hats. It was easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

Nowadays, it's not always easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys. But one day, a white horse will appear and the rider will be the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He will have a special name - Faithful and True - because He is faithful to finish His work of defeating the bad guys and bringing God's peace all over our world.

It's good that we can look forward to Jesus' coming again.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that You are coming again and will bring peace to our world. Amen.

Lionel had never been to a concert like this before. He went because Grandma wanted him to.

The concert hall was bigger than the ice rink - there must have been hundreds of people there. And the musicians! The men all wore black suits and white shirts that made them look a bit like penguins. And the women wore long black dresses with white collars.

On the platform Lionel saw ordinary violins, bigger violins, and huge violins that nobody could possibly stick under their chin.

'These are violas and cello's, dear, 'Grandma explained. 'Now, sit still. The concert is about to begin.'

Suddenly, everybody picked up their instrument and began to play. But they didn't play the same tune. In fact, there was no tune. It sounded to Lionel like it could be feeding time at the zoo. He clapped his hands over his ears.

'I don't like this kind of music, Grandma. Let's go home.'

Grandma smiled. 'They're just tuning their instruments, Lionel. Let's wait and hear the first song.'

The conductor came and waved his little white baton. All the musicians followed his instructions, playing as he directed.

'That was beautiful. I like it.' Lionel smiled. 'Let's not go home yet.' And they stayed to the very end of the concert.

On the way home, Grandma explained that a symphony orchestra sounds awful when everybody is doing their own thing at the same time. But when they work together under the direction of the conductor, they make beautiful music.

'It's like that in the church, too,' Grandma said. 'When all of God's children do as God directs, good things happen.'

Prayer: Lord, please direct my life to do my part in Your work. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Sophie and Elizabeth loved animals. They were so happy when Mom and Dad bought them a guinea pig.

First, they were going to name him Smoothy because of his smooth fur. But they changed their minds and called him Slurpy because he slurped when he drank his water.

'Remember, you have to look after Slurpy,' Mom reminded them. 'Clean the cage, do the feeding, make sure he has water.'

The girls agreed. They had lots of other plans too. Take Slurpy to Show and Tell at school; maybe get a small leash and take him for walks. Yes, they had lots of plans. But they weren't all good plans.

'That's a bad idea.' Dad shook his head. 'Don't clean Slurpy's teeth with a toothpick. It's pointed at both ends. If he swallows it, it will hurt him. Put the toothpick away!'

Do you think the girls did what Dad told them to do? No, they didn't! Do you know what happened next? That's right. Slurply chewed the toothpick and swallowed it. Dad had to take Slurpy to the Vet and have him X-rayed. Fortunately, the toothpick didn't damage Slurpy's stomach. But it cost Dad a lot of money. He told Sophie and Elizabeth, 'I'm sorry, girls. You will have to help me pay the Vet from your own spending money. Perhaps that will help you to listen to me next time.'

It's always good to obey your parents. It's what God wants us to do.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me to obey You by obeying my parents. Amen.

It was raining out. Irma and her younger sister Lorraine played indoors with jigsaw puzzles. The puzzles were the same - a picture of farm animals - but the girls did them differently.

Irma finished hers quickly. Lorraine held one piece in her hand, then put it down and picked up another piece. She was having trouble doing the puzzle. She scowled at Irma and burst out, 'You're a show-off. You just do it quickly because I can't.' She pushed the puzzle pieces away.

Irma opened her mouth to scold Lorraine for being angry. Then she remembered a verse she'd read that morning. 'Be kind to one another.' She put her arm on Lorraine's shoulder. 'This is how I do puzzles,' she said quietly. 'I take all the border pieces, you know, the ones with straight edges. When I've found them all, I put them together first. Now I have a kind of box to work in.'

'Uumh,' Lorraine grunted. 'I'm sorry I was mad at you.' She started to pick out the straight-edged pieces. 'What do you do then?'

'I take all the bits that are about the same color - and the picture on the box helps me to see where the bits go. Let's do it together.'

Working together the girls soon finished doing the puzzle.

'Thanks Irma,' Lorraine whispered. 'I'm glad you helped me.'

'You're welcome,' Irma replied. It felt good to be a helper.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for everybody who helps me. Make me a helper too. For Jesus' sake. Amen.