A Sunday School teacher of preschoolers told her students that she wanted each of them to have learned one fact about Jesus by the next Sunday. The following week, she gathered the children around her and began asking each one, one at a time, what they had learned. She smiled as Susie eagerly raised her hand and said, “He was born in a manger.”
Bobby proudly gave his answer next. “He threw the money changers out of the temple.”
The teacher nodded approvingly, pleased that the children were remembering what they had been taught. Then it was Little Johnny’s turn. He sat there looking completely confident, as though he had discovered the most important fact of all. “He has a red pickup truck but he doesn’t know how to drive it.”
Curious and slightly puzzled, the teacher leaned toward him and asked, “And where did you learn that, Johnny?”
“From my Daddy,” said Johnny.
“Yesterday we were driving down the highway, and this red pickup truck pulled out in front of us and Daddy yelled at him, ‘Jesus Christ! Why don’t you learn how to drive?’”
A Sunday School teacher of preschoolers was concerned that his students might be a little confused about Jesus Christ because of the Christmas season emphasis on His birth. He wanted to make sure they understood that the birth of Jesus occurred a long time ago, that He grew up, and that He was no longer a baby.
So he asked his class, “Where is Jesus today?”
Steven raised his hand immediately and said, “He’s in heaven.”
Mary was called on next and answered sweetly, “He’s in my heart.”
Little Johnny, however, had been waving his hand furiously. He was practically bouncing in his seat, desperate to be called on. Finally, the teacher pointed toward him, and Johnny blurted out, “I know! I know! He’s in our bathroom!”
The whole class suddenly went very quiet. Several children stared at Johnny, while the others looked at the teacher, waiting to see what he would say. The teacher blinked in surprise, clearly not expecting that answer at all.
The teacher was completely at a loss for a few very long seconds. He finally gathered his wits and asked Little Johnny how he knew this. And Little Johnny said, “Well… every morning, my father gets up, bangs on the bathroom door, and yells, ‘Jesus Christ, are you still in there?’”
A little boy was afraid of the dark.
One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom. The little boy turned to his mother and said, “Mama, I don’t want to go out there. It’s dark.”
The mother smiled reassuringly at her son.
“You don’t have to be afraid of the dark,” she explained. “Jesus is out there. He’ll look after you and protect you.”
The little boy looked at his mother with a confused stare and asked, “Are you sure he’s out there?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him,” she said. The little boy thought about that for a minute, clearly trying to decide whether he could trust what his mother had told him. Finally, he walked slowly toward the back door and cracked it open just a little.
He peered out into the darkness. The porch was quiet, and the backyard beyond it was almost completely black. The little boy hesitated for a moment, then leaned toward the darkness and called softly, “Jesus?”
He waited.
Nothing happened.
So he gathered a little more courage and called again, this time louder: “Jesus?”
Still nothing.
Finally, he had an idea. If Jesus really was out there, then surely He could help him with the one thing his mother had asked him to do.
“If you’re out there,” the little boy called, “would you please hand me the broom?”
