The Baptismal Class Plans a Party
The next Sabbath afternoon, Joseph Anderson Donetti’s eyes shone with excitement. He held his pencil between his teeth while he fastened his new sports watch on his wrist. Then he grabbed his Bible and his red notebook and hurried down the stairs.
“G.M!” he called. “I saw Pastor Chuck’s jeep drive up. Where are you?”
G.M. pushed her chair away from the table in the kitchen. “I’m writing a letter to your mom,” she said. “I guess I’ll finish it later. In fact,” she went on, “it would be a good idea for you to write to her too. We can mail both the letters in the same envelope.”
G.M. stood up. “Aren’t you ready to go yet?” Her eyes twinkled.
Joseph grinned. That twinkle was one of the things he especially liked about G.M. It almost always seemed as if he and G.M. were sharing some kind of private joke.
Joseph and G.M. walked across the grass to Mac’s yard. Trevor’s car and Hannah’s car pulled up. Mac popped out the front door. All four of the children had remembered their Bibles and their notebooks.
“It looks like you guys are ready to begin,” Pastor Chuck said. “Let’s get started!”
When everyone was settled under the apple tree—the McIntosh tree, Pastor Chuck asked, “Do any of you have anything you would like to talk about before we begin studying our new lesson?”
Joseph waved his hand. “Did you bring the instruction book for my watch?” he asked. “And I hid God’s words in my heart this week just like you told us to do!”
Pastor Chuck laughed out loud. “Yes,” he said, “I did bring your instruction book.” He pulled the little booklet out of his shirt pocket and handed it to Joseph. “Now tell me about hiding God’s words in your heart.”
“Thanks!” Joseph said. He carefully put the instructions inside the back cover of his Bible. “Well, I memorized two of the verses you gave us last week. Do you want to hear them?”
“Absolutely!” Pastor Chuck said. “Of course, I do!”
“‘The jailer told someone to bring a light,'” Joseph began. “‘Then he ran inside. Shaking with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?” They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all the people in your house.” ‘ ” Joseph grinned as he finished up the verse.
“I learned two verses too!” Mac put in.
“I learned one,” Trevor volunteered.
“I memorized three of them,” Hannah said quietly.
“I am so impressed!” Pastor Chuck exclaimed.
Everyone took turns reciting the verses he or she had learned. Pastor Chuck’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “You guys are such a joy to teach!” he said. “Are you ready for some new verses on this week’s topic?”
Everybody nodded.
“Pencils ready?”
Pencils hovered above notebooks.
“OK. Write down this text,” Pastor Chuck instructed. “John 14:1-3. And then you can look it up in your Bibles.”
Joseph wrote it down. Then he hurried to the Table of Contents to find out where the book of John was. Ah! Page 794.
“I’ll read it! I’ll read it!” Mac said. She lay on her stomach, her feet waving in the air. “‘Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. And trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back. Then I will take you to be with me so that you may be where I am.” ‘ ”
“Thanks, Mac,” Pastor Chuck said. He looked around the circle at each eager face. “I want us to talk this afternoon about planning a party.” He grinned. “Let’s pretend it will be a ‘Welcome Home’ party. Now what kind of plans do we need to make?”
“Food!” exclaimed Mac. “We’ll need lots of food. Homemade ice cream! I lovehomemade ice cream. We should have banana splits with homemade ice cream!”
“Yeah!” Trevor said. “With chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce and whipped cream and nuts!”
“Sounds good!” Pastor Chuck agreed. “What else?”
“We’ll need decorations,” Hannah said. “Balloons and maybe a banner that says ‘Welcome Home!’ and maybe party hats and fancy paper plates with matching napkins.”
Everyone looked at Hannah. That was the longest speech she had made since baptismal classes began.
“And fireworks!” Joseph exclaimed. “Then everybody on the block will know we are having a party!”
“Interesting that you should mention that,” Pastor Chuck said. “Do you think anyone on earth will miss Jesus’ second coming? Do you imagine anyone will, for example, sleep right through it?”
Mac laughed. “I don’t think so!” she exclaimed. “When Jesus comes back, He is going to raise the dead, isn’t He? And won’t there be trumpet music?”
“Where does the Bible say that?” Joseph asked.
“Somehow I had a feeling you were going ask!” Pastor Chuck said. “Can you find 2 Thessalonians 4:16?”
Joseph turned to his trusty Table of Contents.
“I found it,” Hannah announced. “‘The Lord himself will come down from heaven,'” she read. “‘There will be a loud command with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. And those who have died and were in Christ will rise first.’ Wow!” Hannah breathed, looking up. “There will be dead people raising all over the place, won’t there? I mean, not just in cemeteries. Maybe people were buried once a long time ago in this very yard. You just never know where a dead person will be raised from!”
“No,” Pastor Chuck agreed. “But God has marked the resting place of each of His children. And each of His children will hear His voice.”
Joseph looked up from writing the text down in his notebook. There were a lot of letters in Thessalonians! He looked around the yard. He tried to imagine a dead person springing to life right through the lawn. Pastor Chuck was right! Jesus’ “Welcome Home” party was going to be amazing!
