The Sunday school teacher looked...
Illustration
The Sunday school teacher looked at Colossians 3:1-2 and wondered how she was going to explain this passage to her young students. She could just hear the questions now: "By things above, does that mean things like clouds and the sun and angels -- things like that?"
As she pondered over the text, a thought came to her. And that thought led to this story which she told her class the next Sunday:
Once upon a time, a little girl named Martha prayed that she could be with Jesus for a while. And in an instant she found herself right next to Jesus, riding high in a hot-air balloon. After several hours of riding and talking together, Jesus asked her, "What do you notice is different up here with me?"
Martha thought for a moment, then replied, "When you're up here, you can't see the nasty faces people make at each other, and you can't hear the ugly words they throw at each other. But you can see the blue sky and the red and yellow leaves on the trees. In fact, you can see just about all the pretty things that God made. Now, Jesus, I know there are nasty things going on down there, but up here with you, everything looks a lot brighter."
-- Thompson
As she pondered over the text, a thought came to her. And that thought led to this story which she told her class the next Sunday:
Once upon a time, a little girl named Martha prayed that she could be with Jesus for a while. And in an instant she found herself right next to Jesus, riding high in a hot-air balloon. After several hours of riding and talking together, Jesus asked her, "What do you notice is different up here with me?"
Martha thought for a moment, then replied, "When you're up here, you can't see the nasty faces people make at each other, and you can't hear the ugly words they throw at each other. But you can see the blue sky and the red and yellow leaves on the trees. In fact, you can see just about all the pretty things that God made. Now, Jesus, I know there are nasty things going on down there, but up here with you, everything looks a lot brighter."
-- Thompson
