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Jimmy Apple-Crunch by Angie
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Sent Away! Do you know the story of Jimmy Apple-Crunch? Well, let me tell you, he wasn’t always called Jimmy Apple-Crunch! When he was a small boy something terrible happened: his mother and father died when he was five and from that time he was everyone’s child. He lived for a while with his aunt, and then with his uncle, then with his older cousin, then a family friend, then his grandmother. But they all grew tired of him, because he was so naughty, so they sent him away! The people who looked after him didn’t like him, the kid’s at school didn’t like him, the teachers didn’t like him. Actually he couldn’t think of one person who liked him, never mind loved him! He was miserable! He spent a lot of time on his own after school, and on one occasion he came across a beautiful field filled with trees, birds, worms and apples – as far as the eye could see! There were big red juicy ones, small green sour ones and golden apples that glistened in the sun! This was an orchard and it became his favourite place where he spent most of his time. Caught in the Act! He liked to eat crisp juicy apples which crunched while he chewed them. You guessed it! The children at his school started calling him Jimmy Apple-Crunch. He thought this name was rather cool, but the children were being rather nasty as Jimmy had the unfortunate habit of chewing while he talked! Now back to that orchard. Little did Jimmy know that the owner was well known by everybody. Everybody that is except to Jimmy! And the whole town knew that this farmer was crazy! If he caught you in his orchard he would hang you by your shoe laces from one of the trees! But, Jimmy didn’t know this and the farmer didn’t know about Jimmy. One day after school as Jimmy lay under a tree eating one of those delicious apples, he heard a sound behind him. He turned around and saw ... nobody. "Must have been the wind," he thought and carried on eating. Soon afterwards he heard another sound, this time closer! Jimmy sat up, stopped chewing and strained to hear any more sounds. But he couldn’t. His heart was beating too fast! He laughed at himself, thinking it was just the rustling of leaves. The next sound Jimmy heard wasn’t a rustle and it wasn’t the wind. But, a deep voice right behind him bellowed, "Aha! So you’re the apple thief!" A Crazy Farmer? Jimmy’s heart nearly stopped! He got up, ready to run for his life. He took one look at the man who spoke to him ... and stopped! He stopped because what he saw didn’t make sense. This man, who obviously owned the trees and the apples which Jimmy ate without permission, was laughing! He looked up at the happy man and said, "You’re crazy! Why are you laughing?" The farmer sat down on the grass and gave a hearty chuckle. "Everyone thinks I’m crazy because I’m always so happy. And besides you should've seen the look on your face!" Jimmy sat down next to the farmer and realised how guilty he must have looked. He began to smile and asked, "Why are you always so happy that people think you are crazy?" "Well," said the farmer, "I guess it’s because I know somebody loves me." Now Jimmy was listening! "But, who loves you?" "God!" replied the farmer. "You see Jesus died for me. He did the same for you, because He loves you too!" Sent Away! "Really? But you said God loves you! I don’t understand," complained Jimmy. The farmer thought about this for a second and frowned, but not for long - he had an idea! He got up, climbed the tree they were sitting under, picked an apple and jumped down. "Here," said the farmer, passing the apple to Jimmy along with his pocket knife. "Peel this apple for me and I'll show you something." And so Jimmy peeled the apple. His next instruction was to cut the apple in half. "Good," said the farmer, "Now, we have ONE apple here but different parts. Can you tell me how many?" "Sure," answered Jimmy, "The peel, the pulp and the pips." The farmer smiled and nodded. "That’s right, and just like the apple there is ONE God with different parts – God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!" A New Jimmy "Oh I see," said Jimmy, "So God sent Jesus His Son to die for you because He loves you!" "And YOU too!" corrected the farmer. Jimmy liked that and he began to smile. "What else does God do?" he asked the farmer. "God is the One who created you and everything else," explained the farmer, "He is the One who controls the planets, the angels and who listens to you when you pray." Jimmy sat back with a frown. "And that frown?" asked the farmer. "Well," said Jimmy, "Where does the Holy Spirit fit in?" The farmer smiled as he explained, "Can you see the wind? Do you feel the wind? In the same way we can’t see the Holy Spirit, but we can feel Him. He makes us feel bad when we do wrong things, like stealing apples." Jimmy looked unhappy, but saw a twinkle in the farmer’s eyes. "If I ask Him, do you think He will help me?" asked Jimmy. "Definitely," relied the farmer with a smile. And so right there and then in the kind farmer’s orchard, Jimmy asked Jesus into his heart. And how he changed! He didn’t feel like being nasty and naughty anymore! He began to read his Bible and pray everyday and became kind and good, just like the Bible says:
"Seek God's righteousness and to be like Him,
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