Passing the Faith Along – Part 1

Passing the Faith Along

by: S.C. Mathisen

 

“We get to go to spend a whole month this summer with Gram Susie & Grampa Johnny! In Millville? Wow! That’s great mom & dad!” Susie was so excited that her entire face lit up and she grinned her widest grin as the family finished their dinner one evening in late June. Her father, Pastor Tom Johnson, responded, “We thought that it would be a good time for a visit since we have that pastor’s conference in Chicago in July and then we’ll come back to the farm for a month while I work on my book.”

While Susie began to discuss with her mother what clothes she should bring on the trip, since it was only a week away, Stanley began to ask his father what Millville was like. He could not remember much about it. He had only been there once and that was when he very little. At the same time, he started trying to finish his dinner in big gulps. After trying to swallow a particularly big bite, he began to hiccup. “Whoa, there sport,” his father said, scooting his chair over closer to his young son. He put his hand on his back and offered him some water. “Here drink this water Stanley, it should help to get that big bite down and stop your hiccups.” Stanley took the glass and slowly began to drink it. After a couple of swallows, he handed it back to his dad, leaned back in his chair and took a couple of deep breaths. “Hiccup,” he went again. His father smiled at his son and said, “maybe we’ll just sit still here for a couple of minutes and wait for this to pass.”

Susie and Mrs. Johnson, still talking about what to pack for the trip, rose and began clearing away the dinner dishes and putting them into the dishwasher.

That evening Susie called her friend Andrea, “I’m so excited that we get to go to Millville. You’d love it there, I wish that you could come too. It’s where my grandparents both grew up in the Midwest, near the Canadian border. There are lots of lakes and trees there and my grandparents have a small farm. We’ll be able to help out with the farm animals and other chores around the farm. And, you’d just love my Gram Susie and Grampa Johnny. They are some of the neatest Christians you’ll ever get to meet. They were missionaries in Africa for the longest time and when they retired from Africa they moved back to my great-grandparents farm in Millville. We’re gonna have so much fun!” “I think you will too, Susie. I’ve never been to a real live farm” said Andrea. Susie said quickly, “Do you know what I want to learn? I want to learn how to milk a cow and collect eggs and…and…well, I don’t know, just everything!” Andrea laughed and said, “Yeah, it all sounds so exciting. I wish that I could go with you too, but my Mom & I are planning a trip to the ocean while you are gone. That will be fun too.”

The day of the trip to Millville arrived and found the Johnson family boarding the train at the Crescent City train station, getting settled into their compartment and watching the scenery pass by. Pastor Johnson kept Stanley busy with walking tours of the train. There was even a car with a playroom that Stanley could play in while his father enjoyed being able to sit for a minute. That evening they had a marvelous meal in the dining car and then settled snugly into their bunks to sleep while the train rolled on toward Millville.

The next morning, after breakfast, there was plenty of time for reading, sightseeing on the train and watching the scenery change.

After lunch, Susie went up to sit up in the observation car and look out the window at the hilly pastures dotted with cows and horses rolling by. She was wondering what it would be like to be on one of those farms when someone sat down in the seat opposite her. It was a girl that didn’t look much older than her and Andrea but, something was different about her. She seemed kind of lonely. Susie wondered what to say to her.

The Unforgiving Servant – Conclusion

Johnny’s head was not sure now if he was coming or going. This was all too strange and an awful lot like that Bible story that he read before bed last night. He had to think.

But Jimmy interrupted his attempt at figuring this all out, “Come, brother” he said, “it is time that we go to our duties for the day.”

Johnny followed Jimmy down a long steep stairway, out of the building, along a walkway that seemed to be wedged in between a stable and a long series of workshops. They walked for quite awhile and Johnny could see that most of the men and boys were dressed much the same as he and Jimmy were. He saw no women or girls. Finally, Jimmy turned into a building that was very large on the inside. In fact, it seemed to be larger on the inside than it was on the outside. That was a very curious feature.

Inside this building were tall stacks of grain and other types of food. This was the King’s warehouse where he kept all of his supplies and trade goods. Jimmy took Johnny over to one wall where many tools were kept.

“Jonathan, take up your broom and begin your daily duties. Today we sweep the floors.” Jimmy said as he grabbed a broom and began walking toward the sacks of barley and oats.

Johnny heard two men arguing in the next aisle way. One was saying to the other, “You owe me and you had better pay me or I will have you thrown in prison and your goods sold. That will get me my money.”

The other man pleaded “Please do not do this, I beg of you. I have a wife and a daughter and a son. Who will care for them?”

“Hah, I will take them as my slaves that will complete the payment! I will call the kings guards right away.”

As Johnny walked past the aisle where the two men were arguing, he recognized the one that was threatening the other as the one that the King had pardoned just before his audience with the king. The other one (the one with the daughter and son) looked a lot Pastor Johnson, Susie’s dad. “Oh, this is getting really creepy now,” he thought to himself.

The man who had been pardoned by the King (and who was also the master of the storehouse), had the other man taken to prison and ordered the Kings guards to confiscate his property and to deliver the man’s family to his estate as slaves. He laughed as the man was being taken away still begging and pleading for mercy.

About midday, when they stopped to rest and have some water and bread, there was a commotion over where the master of the storehouse sat. It seems that the King had heard about what he had done and sent his guards to bring him back to see the king. Johnny decided to follow at a safe distance. He followed them along the walkway that led past all of the shops and the stable, up the stairway and down the long hallway with all of the tapestries that led into the great hall where the King and Queen sat.

The King was furious, he yelled at the master of the storehouse, “You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”

The King then turned that wicked, unforgiving master of the storehouse over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay back his debt.

Johnny was stunned. He ran back to the storehouse as quickly as his legs could carry him. He looked for Jimmy to tell him what had happened and told the story in quick bursts as he was still out of breath from running and was gulping air in great big breaths.

When Johnny was done, Jimmy looked at him and said, “Jonathan, my brother, we both know that the King is a loving and kind king. He can also be very harsh when he needs to be. But, perhaps you have just learned that he is also fair and just. The master of the storehouse got what he deserved. Because we have been forgiven, we need also to forgive others.”

With that, Jimmy picked up his broom and returned to his work. Johnny did the same and spent the rest of the day sweeping up the storehouse. Johnny thought to himself, “Well, if I am stuck here in this place, at least I have a kind king that is just and fair. I will just have to learn to do the best that I can.”

At the end of the day, they returned their brooms to the wall where tools were kept. After an evening meal; he and Jimmy spent time talking. Johnny had a lot of questions about this new kingdom he was now living in. After the sun was well down, Jimmy put out the little lamp that they had in their room. They wished each other a good night. Johnny stretched and felt a lot of soreness in muscles that he didn’t know that he had before. He dropped back into his bed exhausted from the day’s work and began to pray as he did each night. Whatever else had changed in his life, he was sure that God was still there. Johnny thanked him for the events of the day and prayed for Jimmy, the King, and Queen. Then he prayed for his family back where he came from. As he was doing that, he fell into a deep sleep.

When Johnny woke up the next morning, he opened his eyes to find that he was back in his own old bed, in his own old house, in his own time. He jumped out of bed and rushed to tell the story to his mom & dad. They listened with interest but kept looking at each other with confused looks on their faces. When he was done, his father put his arm around his shoulders and told him that it was a wonderful story and that he should write it down sometime. He ate his breakfast quickly because he couldn’t wait to get to Sunday school that morning. Boy did he have a story to tell!

The Unforgiving Servant – Part 3

Now, Johnny was really getting a little concerned because he never spoke that way before, but he followed Jimmy and wondered where they were going and what was going to happen because he really did not know anything about any chariot.

As he followed Jimmy, he looked around him and saw that the same rough style of furniture was everywhere, the walls were rough stone and walls had large tapestries hanging from where the ceiling meets the walls. This was very confusing. He was really trying hard to figure out where he was, when this was and who he was.

When they got to the main hall where the throne room was, James leaned over to Johnny and whispered, “Jonathan, since you seem to be out of sorts, I will remind you that you need to approach the king with your head bowed and then when you get close to the throne, get on your knees and say, ‘By your leave, Your Majesty, your servant appears as requested.’”

While they waited for Johnny’s turn, there was an older man there who was pleading with the king for mercy. You see he owed a very great deal of money to the king and was unable to pay back the sum and had been dishonest in many of his dealings for the king. After some talking with his advisors, the king had decided that the man should be sent to prison, his land and belongings sold and his family sold into slavery.

The man burst into tears, dropped face down on the floor and pleaded with the king for mercy. He said that he repented of his dishonesty and promised to be completely fair and honest from then on.

“Please do not deal so harshly with me and my wife and small children Your Majesty! I will faithfully serve you for the rest of my days!”

The King looked at the Queen and she nodded her head. The king forgave his debts, admonished him to be honest and faithful and let him go.

“Oh, thank you, sire. You will not regret this generosity at all. I will serve you faithfully and honestly from this day forward.”  Then he bowed nearly to the floor, backed away from the throne and nearly ran from the main hall talking excitedly.

Now it was Johnny’s turn. He took a quick look at Jimmy, nodded his head and walked slowly toward the throne. Even with his head bowed, Johnny took quick looks around the room, it was HUGE! The ceilings in this room seemed to reach up to the sky. There were very tall windows on each side, making the room very light and much cooler than the rest of the castle. As he approached the throne there was a very large, thick carpet.

The king looked sort of familiar.

Finally, he reached the appointed spot and kneeled down as Jimmy had told him and said loudly, “By your leave, Your Majesty, your servant appears as requested.”

There was a long silence and then a kindly voice said to him, “Rise, young Jonathan and face your King.”

Johnny stood up, took one look at the king and nearly fainted. Uncle Klaus was the King! Aunt Harriet was the Queen! Johnny shook his head and looked again and they were still there.

“Whoa! What was going on?” He thought to himself.

The king spoke again, “Young Jonathan, you have been a faithful servant and as a result, I advanced you enough gold to purchase a chariot that had captured your imagination. But, according to the Royal Treasurer, you have not kept up with the payments that you promised to make. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Johnny’s thoughts were racing around in his head trying to think of something to say, for he did not want to end up in prison, even if it was a dream prison. Johnny found himself bowing toward the king again and saying “Please, your majesty, if it pleases the King and his Queen, only allow me some more time. I am sure that I will be able to catch up on my payments. Please forgive your humble servant.” And with that, Johnny found himself back on his knees, head bowed low toward the floor.

Johnny could hear the Queen talking quietly to the King. He thought to himself, “She sure sounds like Aunt Harriet.”

Then the King spoke up, “Young Jonathan, the Queen and I have decided to forgive your debt due to your faithful service to us. Please rise. Your debt is forgiven. You may depart from our presence in peace.”

Johnny could not believe what he had heard. But, he decided that the best thing to do would be to thank them for their generosity and leave quickly before they changed their minds.

He bowed again and said, “Your servant is most grateful to his King and Queen. May you live forever! I pledge myself to you and will be indebted to you as long as I live.”

He began to back away from the thrones and, at the same time wondering, “Where did I learn to talk like that? This is VERY confusing.”

When he got back to where Jimmy was standing, waiting for him. He turned around, grabbed Jimmy by the arm and hurried out of the main hall.

“What just happened?” whispered Johnny to Jimmy. Jimmy stopped in his tracks in the hallway that headed back to their room. “The King and Queen just forgave you a huge debt that you could never repay.”