The Prowler

Bible Reading: John 1:1, 10-12

Chris sat up in bed, startled. Something woke me up. What was it? he wondered. The floors creaked downstairs, and Chris thought he heard footsteps. Is somebody down there? Or am I just imagining things? Feeling scared, Chris tiptoed across the hall and tapped lightly on his parents’ bedroom door. When he heard his dad tell him to come in, he opened the door and whispered, “Dad, I think there’s a prowler downstairs.”

Mom and Dad both sat up and listened. They heard the sounds too. “Stay here,” Dad said, “and I’ll investigate.” He quietly made his way down the stairs. Chris and Mom heard what sounded like a door closing and then soft voices. A moment later, Dad came back up the stairs, gently leading Chris’s older brother, Aiden, down the hall.

“There’s your prowler,” Dad said after quietly guiding Aiden back to his own bedroom. “Your brother was sleepwalking again. Go back to bed now. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

The next morning, Chris grinned at Aiden. “Dad said you got out of bed and made a ham sandwich and put it in your lunch box.”

Aiden laughed. He could hardly believe what had happened. “I guess I was getting ready for school, but I don’t know why I’d do that! I like school, but not enough to go there in the middle of the night!”

The following Sunday, Chris nudged his brother as they headed home from church. “Hey, Aiden! Know what? Today we talked about you in Sunday school. I told my class about you walking in your sleep.”

Aiden grinned. “Of course you did. I’m famous now,” he declared.

“Mr. Greene used it for an illustration,” Chris said. “He said you went through the motions of living your daily life, and people sometimes go through the motions of living the Christian life. You know—going to church and doing other things Christians do. Mr. Greene says they need to wake up and enjoy real life by trusting in Jesus and stop just going through the motions.”

“Well, I may walk in my sleep, but I enjoy real life too,” Aiden said. “I wake up and live my real life here on earth, and I also have real life for eternity with Jesus.” • Jan L. Hansen

How About You?

Do you go through the motions of living like a Christian? Do you read your Bible, attend church, pray, and do your best to be a good kid, yet have never trusted Jesus as your Savior? Going through the motions doesn’t save you from your sins and give you eternal life. Only Jesus can do that. Will you trust in Him today? (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)

Today’s Key Verse:
John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (NLT)

Today’s Key Thought:

Real life is in Jesus