Water! BOOK 3 Pacific Press Publishing Association Nampa, Idaho Oshawa, Ontario, Canada www.pacificpress.com 1
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT CONTENTS 1. A River in the Desert... 9 Water! 2. God s Ten Rules... 19 Maria s Wild Animals 3. The Golden Calf... 27 Pushing Sabbath Buttons 4. God s Traveling House... 37 Willie s Crazy Idea 5. The Promise of Jesus... 45 Puppy on the Altar 6. Special Workers for God... 53 The Special Letter 7. Spies in the Land of Giants... 61 You Have to Believe Me! 8. Rebellion Against God... 71 Surprise! 9. A Snake Points to Jesus... 81 A Snake and a Dream 10. Arguing With a Donkey... 91 Sammy the Rescuer 11. Walking Through a River... 101 Call 911! 12. The Walls Came Tumbling Down... 111 Around and Around 13. Achan s Secret... 121 Chocolate on Her Face 2
Water! BIBLE STORY ADVENTURES FOR KIDS: The Bible is full of stories from long ago. And while it s fun to learn about the people and the places, it s also important to see how what the Bible says affects the way we live today especially if we are trying to be friends of Jesus. Shoebox Kids Bible Stories help you do both. Every chapter is a double story first, a story from the Bible, then a story from today that shows one of the lessons that Bible story can teach us. That story with The Shoebox Kids is about learning what the Bible really means at home, at school, or on the playground. Every story is an adventure in learning to be more like Jesus! FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS: Shoebox Kids Bible Stories does more than just give children information about the Bible it shows them how to apply that information to everyday life. Teaching our children means going beyond information and entertainment to helping them learn to apply Bible truths. Too many of us grew up learning about the Bible, but not 3
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT getting to know God. We can help the children we love by showing them not just what the Bible says, but what difference it makes in the way we live and love others. Every Bible story has many lessons to teach and The Shoebox Kids story can teach only one of those. There may be others you can help your child learn. The Questions at the end of each story can help you see what your child or children understand and what they may be confused about. Many of the questions can be discussion-starters that will help you understand the children you love better. They can help open the doors of communication, which are so important to reassuring them of your love and teaching them about God s. Jerry D. Thomas 4
Water! MEET THE SHOEBOX KIDS! The Shoebox Kids are six friends who go to the same church. Their Sabbath School class meets in a really small room in the church. It s so small, everyone called it the Shoebox. And their teacher s name is Mrs. Shue (you pronounce it just like shoe ). So everyone calls them the Shoebox Kids. Maria and Chris Vargas are Shoebox Kids. They live with their mom and dad and their little sister, Yolanda (everyone calls her Yoyo). Maria is in the fourth grade; Chris is in the third grade. They both are in the same classroom at their small church school. Jenny Wallace is a Shoebox Kid. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother and her cat, Butterscotch. Her father lives nearby and she spends many weekends with him. She s in the fourth grade at the local public school. 5
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT Sammy Tan is a Shoebox Kid. He lives with his grandparents and is in the fourth grade in the church school. His parents were killed in a car crash when he was very young. He has one uncle. Willie Teller is a Shoebox Kid. He lives with his parents and his dog, Coco. Willie is handicapped and wheels around in a cool wheelchair. He s in the fourth grade at the same public school as Jenny, but they re not in the same classroom. DeeDee Adams is a Shoebox Kid. She lives with her parents and her older sister. She s in the third grade at the church school with Chris, Maria, and Sammy. The Shoebox Kids live in Mill Valley, but they visit a lot of other interesting places. As they study their Bible lesson each week, they find that God is helping them learn about being His friend and treating others like Jesus did. 6
Water! 7
1 CHAPTER A RIVER IN THE DESERT Water! Crunch, crunch, crunch. Step by step, the Israelites hiked over the sand and rocks. God s cloud in the sky led the way through the desert. But the desert was still hot and dry. With every step, the Israelites got hotter and thirstier. Day after day went by and they didn t find any streams or pools of water. They started to complain again. Moses! they shouted. Where are you leading us? We re going to die of thirst! Moses answered, Do you think God brought you out of Egypt to let you die in the desert? Why don t you believe in Him? Then Moses prayed and asked God what to do. God said, See that big rock? Stand beside it and strike it with your walking stick. There will be enough water for everyone. When Moses hit the rock, water gushed out like a waterfall. Soon a river of water was flowing across the 8
Water! sand. Every person and every animal had plenty of water to drink. As the long, long line of people hiked on and on, the faster and stronger ones moved to the front. The older and slower people ended up at the back. Suddenly, they were attacked! A tribe of people called the Amalekites (am-mell-uh-kites) didn t like all these strangers hiking through their land. Because all the strong men were near the front of the line, there was no one to protect the people and fight back. Moses called for Joshua. Joshua, gather some of the strongest, bravest men and stay back to fight the Amalekites. I will stand up on that hill and hold out the walking stick God gave me. I know that God will bless you and protect us. Joshua had seen God use Moses stick to do miracles many times now. He wasn t worried. He gathered his men and went to fight. As Joshua led the fighters, Moses climbed to the top of the hill. Hur and Aaron climbed up with him. When Moses held up the stick and prayed for God s help, Joshua attacked. Even though the Amalekites had sent many fighters, Joshua s men were winning the battle and driving them back. But Moses arms got tired and he lowered his stick. Suddenly, the Amalekites began to win. They began to drive Joshua and his fighters back. Quickly, Moses raised his arms again and Joshua s men started winning. As the day went by, Hur and Aaron could see that Moses was getting tired. They dragged a big rock over 9
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT to him so he could sit down. Then when Moses was too tired to even hold up his hands, they each grabbed one of Moses arms and held it up. They stayed there beside him and held up his arms until the sun went down and Joshua and his fighters won the battle. By now, the Israelites were near Midian, where Moses lived while he was watching Jethro s sheep. Moses had married Jethro s daughter, Zipporah. Moses had sent Zipporah and their two sons back to her father s house when he began to lead the Israelites away from Egypt. Now Jethro came to meet Moses and hear about all the things that God had done. Zipporah and the boys came with him. They spent all evening sharing stories about the things God had done. After a night of feasts and praising God, Moses got up the next morning to hear the people s complaints and solve their problems. When Jethro saw that Moses helped the people all day long, he said, Moses, why are you doing this? Are you the only one who can help these people with their problems? Moses said, They come to me for help and answers. I decide who is right and who is wrong when they disagree. I try to teach them God s laws. Jethro shook his head. You can t do all this yourself. You re working too hard. You re going to wear yourself out. I think you should choose wise men to be leaders of the people. Let each group of ten families have a leader who handles their problems. Then make leaders for groups of fifty families, a hundred families, and a thousand families. They can solve almost any problem that 10
Water! comes up. Then you ll only have to solve the biggest problems. Moses must have smiled. I ll do it, he said. From then on, Moses only had to deal with a few of the biggest problems. He could spend more time with his family and he could spend more time with God learning to lead His people. So God continued to lead the Israelites and keep them safe. He gave them water when they needed it, and protected them from their enemies as they followed Him across the desert. Water! Tell us, Sammy said. What s the secret? I m not saying anything until after our lesson, Mrs. Shue said. Now, the Israelites were walking across the desert. With that many people all traveling together, what do you think they ran out of first? Clean socks? Chris asked. Everyone laughed. Water, Mrs. Shue answered with a smile. They got thirsty. In the desert there was no water. The people started complaining. Why did you bring us out here to die? they asked Moses. Moses didn t have any water, did he? Jenny asked. No, Mrs. Shue responded, he didn t. And he didn t know where any wells or rivers were. But he did know what to do. He prayed. He was sure that God knew what they needed and had a plan to give it to them. 11
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT When they got to the end of the lesson, Mrs. Shue said, You may all go now. No one moved. Mrs. Shue, aren t you forgetting something? Sammy asked. Mrs. Shue pretended to be confused for a second; then she smiled. Oh yes. I promised you a surprise. Tomorrow, Mr. Shue and I are hiking to the sand dunes in Grand Sands State Park. I talked to your parents, and you re all invited to join us! Grand Sands! That s great! Sammy told everyone. I went there once. It has the biggest sand dunes I ve ever seen. Mrs. Shue, Willie said, I was supposed to go to my grandparents house tomorrow. I know, Willie. But your dad said he would bring you out to meet us at the campground picnic area after our hike. So, the rest of you can go? Mrs. Shue asked. Good, meet here at the church at nine o clock. And be sure to bring water. It will be hot and you ll get thirsty out there on the sand. The next morning, it was warming up fast. And the Shoebox Kids were bouncing around like popcorn in a popper. Let s get going, Mr. Shue said. Did everyone bring a canteen or water jug? Fill them up here if you need to. It sure is going to be hot. Maria sat in the shade. Why don t we just picnic under a nice, big tree? DeeDee plopped down beside her and nodded. 12
Water! What s wrong? Chris teased. Don t you want to get hot and sweaty? Come on, guys, Sammy added. You just don t know how much fun it will be on the big dune. Besides, if you get thirsty, I ll just do this, Chris said. Then he opened his canteen and splashed water on them. Hey! Both girls jumped and ran. Stop it, Chris! Finally, everyone got settled in the Shues van, and they headed for the park. Rats, Chris whispered to Sammy. I forgot to fill my canteen back up. You can fill it up at the park water faucet, Sammy told him. There s plenty of water at the campground. Oh, good, Chris decided. Then I ll have a drink now. So he tipped up his canteen and swallowed a mouthful of water. When they parked, Chris and Sammy climbed out first. Look, there s the trail marker, Sammy said. Let s go. But before they could take a step, a splash of water hit them both in the back. Got you! Maria shouted. Sammy had his water jug open in a flash. He squeezed out a spray of water. Got you back! Then both boys ran to the trail. Don t waste all your water, Mrs. Shue called. It s going to be hot out there. We ll just fill up again at the park faucet, Sammy told her. There s one over here. But when they got there, the water was turned off. Look, the sign says all the park water is off this weekend. Sammy looked into his water jug. I wish it was still full. 13
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT Maria and Jenny ran up behind them. We need to fill up too. Sorry, Sammy said. There s no water here. The hike to the big dune went by quickly. But Chris got thirsty even quicker. My water s already gone, he whispered to Sammy. I hope we re almost there. We are. There it is! Wow! Race you to the top! Maria shouted. Before long, all the kids were running up the sandy slope. Then they raced back down. Here, Mr. Shue said, pulling rolled-up pieces of cardboard from his pack. Try sliding down with these. For the next hour, they climbed up and slid down. Everyone had sand in their hair and their clothes. And everyone was thirsty. Jenny took one drink from her canteen. Oh, my water s all gone. Mine too, Maria said. I wasted it on you, she said to Chris. Don t look at me, Chris said. Mine s all gone too. And I m about to die of thirst. Sammy twisted off the lid of his jug. I ve got some. Here, Chris, you can have a sip of mine. But just a sip. DeeDee shared hers with Maria. But on the long hike back, everyone ran out of water. I m going to die, Maria said as she collapsed on the ground. Let s rest for a minute, Mrs. Shue said. I may have enough water left to give everyone one sip. But that s all until we get back to the van. 14
Water! You mean until we get home, Sammy moaned. Remember, there s no water at the park faucets. I m sorry, Mrs. Shue said. That s all I can do. With aching feet, tired bodies, and parched throats, the Shoebox Kids finally arrived back at the park. I d be a lot happier to see it if the water was working, Chris said. Hey, you re back! Willie and his dad were waiting in the shade of a tree. Was the sand dune great? Yeah, yeah, Chris said. It was fun. Willie s eyebrows went up. It doesn t sound like fun. We re hot, we re thirsty, and we have no water, Jenny explained. We re not happy. Willie smiled. Then I have a surprise for all of you. He opened up the door of his dad s van. Water! Ice water! There was a Shoebox Kids stampede. Thank you, thank you, Maria mumbled into her cup. When we got here and found the water off, we went back to town and bought some, Willie s dad said. It s a good thing we did. Sammy swallowed his third cupful. Now we know what the Israelites felt like in the desert. No wonder they were grouchy with Moses. But God did supply their needs, DeeDee said. He gave them water from a rock. But He gave us Willie! QUESTIONS 1. With some of your friends, try holding your arms over your head like Moses and see how long you can do it. Did anyone think to help another person? You can do it a lot longer if you help one another. 15
A RIVER IN THE DE SERT 2. Have you ever played on a sand dune? What was your favorite thing to do? 3. When were you the most thirsty? Do you remember how good water tasted when you got a drink? 4. God supplied the needs of the Israelites in the desert. He gave them food and water, and He protected them. He promises to supply our needs too. Aren t you glad you re following Him? 16