From Eliyahu
Another Newsletter for the kid
in all of us:
In my last newsletter we noted
the importance of coming to the Master as a little child (Matt
18:2-4). In that vein, I
shared about stories I told my kids when they were little, especially about
Tom the Dinosaur, and we drew some lessons from that. Some of our
folks said they enjoyed that, and would like to hear more, so here goes.
In these parts, we refer to
this story as the Legend of
Abbydoo Sheriff. Really, the story of my daughter, Abigail, when she was a little
girl. It isn't always easy growing up as the only girl among four
brothers, but Abigail made it look easy. In fact, when her brothers got too
rowdy, conspired together to mischievously break the family rules, or
otherwise tended toward the wrong direction, they would soon find themselves
contending with Abigail: thus spawning the Legend of Abbydoo Sheriff.
Now, don't get the idea
that Abby was an unpleasant or strident sort of girl. Far from it. In fact,
she usually met us with a captivating smile and a charming mild demeanor.
She loved the things many little girls love to do, like play with dolls, do
puzzles, and color in her coloring books. The boys colored too at times, but
it was always easy to spot which picture belonged to Abby - hers was the one
that was colored perfectly in every way. The boys? Well, we won't go into
that, which is not to criticize them. Its just that they were mostly
interested in more active pursuits, as boys often tend to be. The more
active pursuits of boys are normal enough, but sometimes can get a bit out
of hand, taking them into outlaw territory.
All of this is the
perfect set-up for a story of the Old West - thus the Legend of Abbydoo
Sheriff was born. More than anything, Abbydoo loved to read. She spent
countless hours in the Sheriff's Office (her room) with her nose in a book.
Down the street (the hall) was the Saloon (the boy's room) where the
desperados tended to congregate, to cook up whatever mischief they could get
into. Whenever the gang got rowdy enough to pull her face out of the book,
her ears would perk up, and the gears in her head would start to turn. Soon
thereafter, Abbydoo Sheriff strapped on her big guns, grabbed her trusty
lasso, and bolted toward the Saloon.
Her big guns were the
Scriptures. Abbydoo always had a deep sense of right and wrong based on the
Scriptures. She knew her Commandments and she was not afraid to use them!
Her lasso was her unerring ability to articulate the heart of the truth in
one short irrefutable statement. She would call it "taking a stand for
what's right." And so it was. When Abbydoo Sheriff came bursting through the
door of the Saloon with those perfect words shooting out of her lips, all
bad guys within earshot had no chance of escape. She stopped them dead in
their tracks, inducing an overwhelming urge to repent immediately, thus
reforming the desperadoes. After that all was right, peace was restored, and
they would all go out to play happily together with one another, including
their mild-but-formidable sister.
