Jimmy Apple-Crunch wasn't always called this, but when he was a small boy something terrible happened.  His mother and father died and from that time he was everyone's child.  He lived for a while with his aunt, and then a cousin, a family friend and finally with his grandmother.  But they all grew tired of him, because he was so naughty!

The kid's at school didn't like him, nor did his teachers.  Actually he couldn't think of anyone who liked him, never mind loved him!   He was miserable and so spent lots of time on his own.  On one occasion he came across a beautiful field filled with trees, birds and apples 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 orchard became his favourite place where he spent most of his time.

He liked to eat crisp juicy apples which crunched while he chewed them.  You guessed it!  The children at school started calling him "Jimmy Apple-Crunch".  He thought this name was rather cool, but the children were being nasty as Jimmy had the unfortunate habit of chewing while he talked!

Little did Jimmy know that the owner of the orchard was well known to be 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 one day as he lay under a tree eating one of those delicious apples, he heard a sound behind him.  He looked around but saw nobody.   "Must have been the wind," he thought and carried on eating.  But soon afterwards he heard another sound, this time closer!  Jimmy sat up just as a deep voice bellowed, "Aha! So you're the apple thief!"

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!  The man, who obviously owned the trees was laughing!  He looked up at the happy man and said, "You're crazy, why are you laughing?"  The farmer gave a hearty chuckle and said, "Everyone thinks I'm crazy because I'm always so happy!  And besides you should've seen the guilty look on your face!"

Jimmy was puzzled and asked, "Why are you always so happy?"  "Well," said the farmer, "I guess it's because I know Somebody who loves me."  "But, who loves you?"  "God!" replied the farmer, "You see Jesus died for me and for you, because He loves you too!"

"Really?  But I don't understand," complained Jimmy.  The farmer thought about this for a second and then had an idea!   He climbed up 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 and cut it in half.

"Good," said the farmer, "Now, we have ONE apple here but different parts.  Can you tell me how many?"  Jimmy replied, "That's easy, the peel, the pulp and the pips."  The farmer smiled, "That's right, and just like an apple there is ONE God with different parts – God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!"

"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.  "God is the One who created you and everything else," explained the farmer, "He is the One who controls the stars and the planets and listens to you when you pray."

Jimmy frowned, "But where does the Holy Spirit fit in?"  The farmer smiled as he explained, "Can you see the wind?  But you do 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 nicely, do you think Jesus will help me?" asked Jimmy.  "Definitely," relied the farmer with a smile.

And so right there 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 prayed every day and he became kind and good.  Later Jimmy planted apple seeds and grew many apple trees with lots and lots of apples.  And each one of them reminded him of how much Jesus loved him.

And if we do what 1 Timothy 6:11 says:

"Seek God's righteousness and to be like Him,
having faith, love, endurance and gentleness."

Then we will have we good seeds in our heart and Jesus will help us grow into good Christians, just like Jimmy did!

God bless.