Love in a Bottle

Brad and Janet had to do a science report on a current event in science going on in their community for their sixth grade science class.  Then they saw in the paper that a scientist on the other end of town was almost ready to get a breakthrough on bottling an important thing that everyone needs.  So they called up and got permission to come out and be there for the final tests.

When Brad and Janet arrived, the laboratory wasn’t exactly what they expected.  It was on the edge of town and the bus went a long way into the grounds and dropped them off to pick them up again in an hour or so. 

“Brad, this looks like an old castle more than a laboratory of a scientist.”  Janet complained.

“For goodness sake, Janet, get a hold of yourself.  It’s ok.  Lots of scientists use old buildings.  It helps them save money.  Ring the bell.”  So Janet but the huge black button but instead of a DING DONG, the sound of a gong rang through the entire building.  It was getting dark so they were eager to be inside.  The sound of footsteps came from inside and then the big wooden door that was more like a church door than a business creaked and moaned and opened.  There in the doorway was a very strange man.  He was small, about as small as Brad and Janet and they were children.  He was bent over and his back seemed to pooch out in back like there was something wrong with it.  He had stringy hair and he spoke badly, like he had a bad speech impediment.

“Are you Brad and Janet?”  He said in a strange way that made them both get goose bumps.

“Yes,” Janet said, “I am the girl member of the team.”  She said realizing how dumb that sounded.

“Please come in.  Doctor Stein has been waiting for you.  My name is Gregor, please feel welcome.”  The big door slammed shut like it would never open again and they followed Gregor up a long spiraling staircase to an upper room that looked like it opened to the night sky where a storm was brewing.  Another huge door opened and they came into a laboratory that was a full of whiling lights and colorful fluids boiling and percolating all over the place.  Suddenly from behind a work station a wild haired silly looking man appeared.  He was tall, lanky, his glasses were taped in the middle and his hair went everywhere.

“Brad, Janet, I am so glad you are here for this important night.  I am Doctor Stein.  Frank Stein but call me Doctor Stein.  You met Igor.”  The crazy man said talking fast with his hands and arms going everywhere as he talked.

“I thought his name was Gregor.”  Brad objected.

“Gregor, Igor, what’s the difference?”  Said the doctor.  “What’s important is what I have here.  Look in these bottles.  In these bottles I have the final two formulas for bottling the most important need mankind has ever had.  Yes, I have perfected the formula to bottle love.  Think of it Brad.  You too Janet.  If I can bottle love, nobody will be unloved ever again. They can just drink my formula and, whammo, instant love.”

“But that doesn’t really make sense because…..”  Janet started to say but she couldn’t interrupt.

“THIS IS PERFECT.”  The doctor yelled throwing his arms all around him.  “The formulas are at their perfect moment right now.  We have to get an experiment done.  Now, formula number one, its ready.  Igor come here, drink this.”  And he handed his bent over servant the vial with some of the fluid that was supposed to be love.  Igor drank it, then he began to twitch and make weird noises.

“EEK, IKE, OOPS, YOWZA!” Igor said and then je fell to the ground.  He didn’t exactly stand back up but got up on his hands and knees.  “Arf.”  He barked.  “Arf arf” and he began panting and acting exactly like a dog.”

“Oh my.”  Janet said quietly.

“You said a mouthful Janet.” Said Doctor Stein.  “That’s all wrong.  If you have love in a bottle, it shouldn’t turn you into a dog.  We need more love in the world, not more dogs.” And he went to the counter and got a shot.  “Here Igor, this is the antidote.”  He gave Igor the shot. Igor rolled over to have his belly scratched then twitched. 

“EEK, IKE, OOPS, YOWZA!” he said and then he stood up.  “Master can’t we use mice or somebody else for these experiments?  I am getting worn out turning into things.”

“You mean you have tried your love in a bottle on him before?”  Brad said with outrage.

“Well yes.” The doctor confessed.  “Those experiments didn’t exactly work out.  The first time it changed him into a lemur.  Let me see then there was the time he was a ferret, an entire band of circus acrobats and a stick.”

“Don’t forget an eggplant, a girl scout, John Wayne, the entire cheerleading squad for George Washington Carver Middle School and Elvis” Igor remembered painfully.

“Yes some of the formulas have not gone very well.”  Doctor Frank Stein said sadly.  “But this time I think we got close.  He was a dog and after all, everybody loves dogs.”

“You can’t get love inside you drinking a medicine.”  Janet finally said firmly getting tired of all this foolishness.

“What do you mean?”  The mad scientist asked.

“You can only get the love of God in you from Jesus?”  She continued.  “The Bible tells you all about it.”  Janet said and she took out her Bible and showed Igor and Doctor Stein where Jesus taught his disciples that all of us have to accept Jesus as our savior and that then His love would fill our hearts to overflowing. 

“You mean God just pours love into your heart and you don’t have to drink anything?”  Doctor Stein asked.

“That’s right and you don’t have to buy anything or even be a good person because Jesus will come in and make you a good person from the inside out.”  Brad added remembering all the good things Janet and he had learned in Sunday school.

“Well there goes the plan to get rich selling love in a bottle.”  The doctor said sadly.

“But you can be full of His love right now.  You too Igor.  If you let us pray with you to accept Jesus.”  Brad continued.

So the doctor and Igor accepted Jesus and their hearts were full of God’s love for the rest of their lives.  God used their amazing talents for good things, to help poor people and cure diseases.  And they never again made a formula that turned people in eggplants, ferrets or Elvis and none of their medicines made people go.  “EEK, IKE, OOPS, YOWZA!”

If I Were God

April and her friends often met at the ice cream shop after school to talk and hang out and have fun.  Their parents didn’t mind because the ice cream shop is near the elementary school and they could pick them up there.  Today they were all excited about the discussion they had in history class when the teacher was talking about the presidents of the country.  After they had their lecture and video the teacher had a game called “If I were president” where everybody said what they would change if they got a chance to be president.

“Well that was a fun game all right.”  April said as she slid into the booth at the ice cream shop after school.  “But if I were president, I would spend all my time on stopping wars.”

“Not me.”  Ginger interrupted.  “In fact, I would need more power than just a president has to get what I want.  I would have to be God.  Yeah, that’s a better game.  What would you do if you were God?  I know what I would do.  I would make sure there was never any more mosquitoes.  Ewww I hate those things.”  She laughed.

“Well if I were God, I would get rid of all the governments and have one government run by me.”  Susanna said staring off into space.  “And if anyone didn’t obey, I would just wipe out their country.  That would put an end to all the wars and that stuff.” 

Just then, April’s little brother Stevie walked in which meant their mom had dropped him off and would be back shortly to take April and Stevie home.  Stevie was seven years old.  He sat down and listened to the game.

“I think if I were God, since I would have the power to do anything at all, I would first stop all the sickness and old age and bad storms and earthquakes so people all over the world wouldn’t suffer so much.”  Added Kimberly who always had a soft heart for suffering people.

“Well I don’t know.  It seems to me that if everyone was a believer, we wouldn’t have so much trouble with sin so maybe if I were God, I would just force everyone to be a believer and then there would only be one world religion.” April said daydreaming about how that would be.

“Don’t you think God would do that if he could, April?”  Ginger said.

“But God is all powerful, I wonder why he puts up with lost people and just doesn’t wipe them off the face of the earth in one wave of His hand and end all the sin and killing and awful sins people do.”  April responded knowing she was unsure of what she was talking about and trying to remember if the answers to these questions had been covered in Sunday school.

“Well my uncle was lost until he received Christ last month.  If God had wiped all the lost people before that, he would have gone to hell but now he is going to heaven so I am glad God didn’t do that and maybe that is why he is waiting.”  Ginger said emotionally because she loved her uncle and all of her family.

“Well if God had forced your uncle to get saved before he wiped out the rest, then he wouldn’t have gone to Hell.”  Susanna added.

“I am glad God didn’t force me to get saved.  When I gave my heart to him, I wanted to.  If he forced us, it might be like when mom and dad forces you to clean your room.  You do it but you resent them for pushing you around.  I don’t think God pushes people around.”  Ginger said.

“Well he could if he wanted to.”  April reminded everybody.

“You know what I think God would do if he was God?”  Stevie suddenly interrupted and everybody laughed because of how he said that.  “I think he wouldn’t be all bossy and make anything change but I think he would come down from heaven and become a human so he can save the lost people because he created them to be his family and I know mommy and daddy would do anything to save us if April or I were lost.  They would even give their lives to save ours.” 

Everybody stopped talking and just stared at Stevie.  He may not have even known it but he hit on exactly what God would do to save his children.

“Not only is that what God would do Stevie,” said Kimberly, “that’s what he did do.”

“What do you mean?  I was just playing the game.”  The little boy wondered.

“She means that is what God did, when he came down as Jesus.  He gave up His throne and of His powers and all of His kingship to become a poor human baby.  Then he grew up here and became a teacher to teach us about Heaven.  And then he went through everything we go through so we know he understands it all.  And then he let people kill him so we could be h is family and then he rose again to take us to heaven.”  Kimberly continued.

“Wow, I feel foolish for thinking He would do anything else.  I should have known that.”  Ginger said softly and humbly.

“Me too.” Susanna added looking down at her ice cream.  “Stevie how did you know all that?”

“Well,” Stevie said not knowing he had said anything smart at all.  “I do listen in church and Sunday school.”

“Well girls,” April laughed.  “Sounds like we need to do less gossiping and flirting and giggling in Sunday school and do some listening.”

“Yeah April.” Susanna agreed.  “Then maybe we won’t find ourselves being shown up by a seven year old about how God really thinks and feels about things. 

April and Stevie’s mom came and they went home to think about the conversation but Stevie walked out feeling about seven foot tall because he learned something about God and it was right.

Easter in the Garden

Amy and Amber loved Easter.  They loved the pretty dresses and hats they got to wear and all the ladies at church wore.  They loved the story of Jesus rising from the dead and the flowers and the candy and of course, the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts.  Usually on Saturday, they went to the one in Central Park with all the kids.  Mommy and Daddy always hid lost of eggs all over the house and in the garden. 

One of Amy and Ambers favorite things to do is to get up really early on Easter morning and go out in the garden and find all the eggs Mommy and Daddy hid there last night before their parents ever even got up.  They always surprised Mommy and Daddy with full baskets of Easter eggs already gathered before they even woke up.  

This year they did extra good because Amy and Amber got up just before the sun came up.  The quickly got into their Easter robes and slippers and tried to be quiet for all the giggling as they slipped into the garden.  Mommy kept a huge garden that had rows and rows of flowers and plants and paths that went back to some land Daddy used to dump the trimmings when he mowed the lawn.  Amy searched for eggs around the lily pond and Amber near the Azalea bushes when Amber suddenly called to her twin sister.

“Amy come here.  I have never seen this path before.”  Amy ran to her sister and saw what she had found.  It was a new path but it didn’t look new.  It looked very old because it was laid in with huge granite stones and it rose like it was going up a hill which none of the others did.  Amber was a little nervous about following the strange path but before she knew it Amy started stepping up the stones and moving further up the hill so Amber joined her.  Both were very curious about this Easter mystery.

The path wound around and twisted but it was always an uphill climb until suddenly it leveled out and they were in a clearing.  “What is this place Amber?” whispered Amy and the girls held hands as they bravely explored further.  As they walked in tiny little steps, suddenly Amber stopped.

“Look at that.”  She said and Amy saw what she saw.  It was a huge cave and there was a massive stone lying on the ground and there was stuff lying around like someone had been here and run away.  Just then, the sun peeked over the eastern horizon and at that same exact moment, a light burst from the cave door that was brighter than the sunrise.  “Amy,” Amber said with a frightened, shy whisper, “do you think this is the….”

“I don’t know Amber.”  Amy whispered back “Let’s go see.” 

Slowly they inched forward until they were at the opening of the cave.  They peeked around and there He was.  Sitting on the edge of a large slab looking at his hands and praying, dressed all in white with strips of grave wrapping lying at his feet, he was preparing to stand up.”

“Jesus?”  Amber said in awe, shock and feeling the love she had for him come up.  As she said that, Jesus looked at her and smiled a smile that made them know it could only be him and that the love of God was bursting from him.

“Hello Amy and Amber.”  He said in his soft loving voice.  Then he extended his arms.  “Come see me.”

The twins ran to their Savior and jumped into his arms.  “Jesus did you just get rose from the dead?”  Amy said kissing the backs of his hands.

“Yes Amy.”  Jesus answered and they felt the joy that was in him flowing to them.  For what seemed like hours he talked to them about how much he loved them and how much he loved his disciples and all sinners and that he came to earth to take everyone who loved him to Heaven. 

“Now girls, I must go see my disciples.  I want you to go back down the hill to your parents and then go out and tell everyone you know about what you saw here and that I rose from the dead to give them eternal life so they will never die.  Promise?”

“WE PROMISE JESUS” and they kissed him and they ran out of the cave passing two ladies who were coming up the path.  Then they ran all the way home and there was mommy making her special Easter breakfast.  But Amy and Amber never forgot to tell everyone about Jesus and how he rose from the dead to save us.  And we should never forget the true meaning of Easter either and tell everyone we know of the amazing miracle of Easter morning.