The woman at the well
by Bethan Burnside

"Come on, Uncle Polygon!" Chirpy said to his wise old uncle who sat on a strong branch above him. "It's so hot! Please can we get a drink from the well? All the humans are gone at this time of day. Only the Samaritan woman comes at this time of day, you know, the woman no-one likes? But i'm sure she won't mind." Uncle Polygon considered this a moment, and then flew down to where the well was and started drinking the water, and Chirpy followed. As they were drinking the Samaritan woman came and started filling up her jar. She didn't mind the birds drinking the water. "At least there are some people who don't mind being near me, even if they are birds." the woman said sadly. she had done some very bad things, so nobody in the town liked her anymore.
"I wish we could cheer her up!" Chirpy said. "But we can't, because we're only birds."
"Look, somebody's coming!" Uncle Polygon cried, and they both flew up into the tree again. A man was coming...it was Jesus! The birds had seen him before when they flew past the other towns to visit their bird friends. He told great stories, and did loads of miracles, and He said He was the Son of God.
"Surely, He wouldn't talk to THAT bad woman." Uncle Polygon said. But Jesus did! The woman was very surprised, and very happy that Jesus - such an important man - was talking to her! She felt so special, and when Jesus went, she ran to tell everybody in the village!
For once, wise old Uncle Polygon was wrong! thought Chirpy.

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The Paralyzed Man by Bethan Burnside

"Hold still!" I cried, holding onto Dani's hand.
"But I want to see!" Dani cried. "There's such a big crowd!" There was and, to be honest, I wanted to see, too, but we had to get back home. "PLEASE, Anna?" Dani pleaded, looking at my with his huge eyes.
"Oh, alright," I said haplessly, "But after we see what's going on we're going home!" As we edged in through the crowd, I realized there was no way into the house that everyone was going into.
"Excuse me!" I said to a near-by woman. "What's happening?"
"Jesus is speaking in there!" the woman replied, trying to get a better view. Jesus! I'd heard about him. People said he did miracles and told stories and healed people. Some people even called him the "Son of God".
"There's no way in, Dani." I said after a while. His excited eyes suddenly turned so sad that I decided to have one last look and my eyes landed on the stairs that went onto the roof.
"Come on, we'll go up there, and perhaps we could see something from there." I suggested, took Dani's hand and went up. Evidently someone had already thought that idea. A few men were making a hole in the roof to see - they must be desperate! I then realized that they had a paralyzed man with them. Perhaps they thought Jesus could heal him. Dani and I heard the crowd below gasp as dust and rubble fell on them.
"Bring him down!" we heard someone say. They lowered the paralyzed man down on a mattress with ropes. "Your sins are forgiven!" the voice said. The crowd murmured disapprovingly. I knew what they were thinking, because I was thinking the same: only God can forgive sins! How could he prove that he could forgive sins, too?
"Get up, take up your mat and walk!" the voice commanded again. Of course by now I realized it must have been Jesus. Dani and I listened closely.
"I can stand!" the man cried happily, and his friends who, tell then, had been on the roof watching through the hole ran down the stairs. It was true. The once-a-parylyzed man was walking...and jumping! Jumping for joy!
And watching him, I just knew that Jesus WAS the Son of God.

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A Christmas Story from Bethan (12)

A Christmas Tail

I had been walking all day and, on top of that, had been carrying someone, too.  Actually, two people, if you count a baby still unborn.  We finally arrived, but it was so busy I knew that it would be ages until we found a place to stay the night. 

Joseph, Mary's husband, knocked on loads of inn doors looking for a place to stay, but all of them were packed with people coming to write their names down on a big long list.
  
  "I can't find anywhere to stay, Mary." Joseph said.  I looked up at Mary on my back.  She stroked her tummy.
 
"It's almost time." she said.  Joseph looked around desperately.
 
"Look, there's a stable over there.  I know it's not the best place, but it's the best I can do."

I thought myself that it was a wonderful place.  All the hay you could eat and it was cozy, but that's just donkey's I suppose.  After she had her baby I had a look.  It was a cute little thing.  Just then some Shepherds came in.  They said that an angel told them to come and see the baby.  

Out of all the people in the world, why would shepherds come and visit Jesus first?  Because Jesus loves everybody, Poor and Rich, Popular and non-popular.  A few years later some wise men came to visit Jesus, and throughout his life different ages and types of people came to see him.
 
And Jesus loved them all. 

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Another great story from Bethan (11)

The boy shares, and Lucy does too

There is this girl called Lucy
She has a cat called mittens
But there is trouble in the house
When she has a bunch of kittens

They climbed all over the furniture
And made mess on the stairs
But Lucy loved the little kittens
With their whiskers, paws and hairs

Please can we keep them?
Lucy begged and begged
But mama stood crossly
And firmly shook her head

They make so much mess in the house
And in the garden too
You cannot have all of these kittens
And I m not going to listen to you

Why not one? Lucy asked pleadingly
Looking hopefully up at mama
Mama couldn t resist the look
And said she d talk to papa

After much talk
They finally agreed
And bought all the stuff
That Lucy would need

The toys, the food
And the basket as well
Lucy couldn t stop playing
with the kitten She named it Belle

One day soon
Her friend came round
But then stopped suddenly
At an unfamiliar sound

What was that? asked the friend
Looking up and down
That s just my new kitten, Belle
Playing with my toy crown

Amelia, Lucy s friend
Was as delighted as can be
So she asked Lucy
Can she please play with me?

Lucy thought for a moment
Tapped her chin with her finger
Will she hurt her? Kick her?
And what if she scares her?

I don t think I ll let you
She s my kitten, you see
Go play with something else
Like a bird or a bee

Amelia was hurt
She was very sad
The way Lucy treated her
Made Amelia mad

Lucy had tea
Then tucked into to bed
Mama told her a story
It was the bible she read

There once was a boy
He was quite poor
He d been working all day
So his feet were all sore

He went to the hills
To eat his food
But there was a big crowd there
And the disciples said in a mood:

Jesus, everyone here is hungry
Make them go get stuff to eat
You get the food
Jesus said rising to his feet.

The disciples were confused
And wondered together
How can we get food for 5,000?
And it s such sunny weather!

The boy looked at his food
And then at the crowd
He suddenly knew what to do
And he said out loud:

I m giving this!
Two fish and five loaves of bread
I know it s not much
But it might get some fed

A disciple heard this
And bought the boy to Jesus
This boy is giving this food to you
It s not much but they need this

Jesus shared out the food
To all the crowd
And after the feast
The amazed disciples shouted out loud:

There are 12 baskets left
Full of fish and bread
Thank you boy
For the food you have shared!

The End Mama said
And also told Lucy Good night
But when she left the room
Lucy knew something was not right

She thought and thought
About the story and her day
Then she remembered
So she decided to pray

Sorry God
That I didn t share with Amelia
I ll do it tomorrow, promise
I ll share Belle with her

With that she fell asleep
Into happy dreams
Then she woke up
And put on her T-shirt and jeans

Today s the big day!
She said to herself
As she bought down her toothpaste
From a near-by shelf

When she was ready
She took hold of Belle
And went to Amelia s house
Past the china gnomes and the well

She knocked on the door
And there was Amelia
Lucy said Sorry
And Amelia happily forgave her.

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Another great story from Bethan (11)

The king and his servant

A servant went to the king one day and listened to what the king had to say.
"You owe me 10,000 coins! I want them now!" The king demanded. "I am so sorry, I do not have them. In fact, I will probably never have that much money." The servant replied.
"Very well! I will sell you and your family as slaves to pay back the money!" The king shouted.
But the servant was unhappy with this, and pleaded: "Oh please good king! I will pay you back, I promise!"
The king felt sorry for the man and let him go. But on the way back the servant met a man who owed him 100 coins.
"Give me what you owe me!" The servant demanded. "I do not have it now, i'm afraid." The man replied. When the servant heard this he had him thrown into jail.
When the king heard about this he was furious! "I let you off when you owed me 10, 000, but you put this man into jail when he owed you only 100! You shall be put in jail instead of this poor man!"

This story Jesus told, and it shows us how much we need forgiveness. And it also shows us how much WE need to forgive others.

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Another great story from Bethan (11)

Water + Jesus = Wine!

Bethan has written the story from the view of a helper at the wedding on the day Jesus performed his first miracle.

Based on John 2:1-12

It was the day of the wedding. No, we weren't invited, Mum was working there and I had to help out pouring the wine. Yuk! If I were rich, I would go to loads of weddings, but no-one wanted us around. The wedding was a big one. I had to squeeze past every one AND hold a big jar of wine! It was terrible. Then, the jar started to slip out of my hand. Everything seemed to go out of control! But then, a man came up, he caught the jar just in time. He gave me a wonderful smile, and he had a shine in his brown eyes. Something was different with that man than with any other that I had seen. He seemed so perfect!

"Thank you..." I said, not quite knowing what to say. If he knew who I was, he wouldn't want to be friends with me. But then he said something that totally shocked me.

"You're welcome, Sarah." How did he know my name? I wish I could have asked, but mam shouted from across the room that I should be filling cups.

It was about half way through the wedding, and already I was tired. I didn't know how I would survive the other half. suddenly, there was a cry from the other side of the room. "Oh no! With the wine ran out, the wedding will end early!" I looked into the kitchen, the bride was right, there was no wine left! I should have been happy, but instead I felt sorry for her, for everyone!

I saw a lady whisper into a man's ear something like: "It is time, Jesus..." Then I realised this 'Jesus man' was the man I saw earlier. Time for what though? What could he do? Mary (the lady) turned to me and said "Do what he tells you, ok?"

I nodded, and Jesus told me to get 6 jars of water. And, guess what? He turned them into wine!

For the next few weeks, no one could stop talking about it! I later found out that Jesus was God, and became a Christian. Now, i'm God's best friend.

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Another great story from Bethan (11)

Daniel and the Lions Den

Based on Daniel 6

A long time ago, in a land far far away. There lived a boy called David. When he was still a boy, he and his friends were taken to an even further away land called Babylon. Daniel didn't want to be there, but never stopped believing in God.

The king decided to make Daniel and his friends his wise men because they were very wise and handsome. The other wise men were jealous because the king liked Daniel more than any of them. So, they decided to do something about it. One day, they went up to the king and said. "Your the best, King Darius!" They said to the king. The king was very pleased. "But some people don't know that..." The king was horrified! "What?!? People don't know that I am the best? Then we must do something about it!" So, the wise men tricked Darius into signing a piece of paper saying that anyone who doesn't come to Darius for help, will be thrown into the lions den!

When Daniel saw this new law he was sad. He wanted to ask God for help, not Darius! but he didn't want to go into the lions den.

Hmm, that IS a hard decision!

After a bit of thinking he decided he would ask God for things, not Darius! One day when he was praying, the wise men saw him and turned him in. King Darius had no choice, but to throw Daniel into the lions den. He didn't want to because Daniel was his best wise man! But the law could not be changed. All night while Daniel was in the den, King Darius was worried!

In the morning, the king rushed of to the den and saw that Daniel was unharmed! "God sent an angel to shut the lions mouths. I am safe!" The king was so pleased he immediately changed the law so that everyone should ask God for anything! And, he put the bad wise men in to the lions den!

This story helps us to know that we should always do things God's way, even though it might get us into trouble.

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