"Tell Me the Old, Old Story..."

William is really into Old Testament stories lately. He is always randomly asking me to tell him a story. He usually asks for Jonah and the Whale, Moses and Noah's Ark. Sometimes he goes New Testament with Mary & Martha, the Good Samaritan and he loves to hear about the Angels rolling the boulder away from Jesus tomb. But his favorite story of all (and most requested) is David and Goliath. We were in the car the other day when William asked for David and Goliath. I went through my best rendition of the story, starting with David as a shepherd boy and ending with, "he would one day rule the land as King." Here is the conversation that followed...


Me: Did you like the story?

William: Yes, but... (then silence, I could tell he was thinking about something)

Me: But what? That was a pretty good version of the story. (sometimes I just rattle it off in one minute, but this time I had actually tried)

William: What about the sheep?

Me: What sheep?

William: David's sheep? Who watched the sheep when he left? Did the sheep go live with David in the palace?

Me: Umm...I'm sure the sheep were fine.

William: But someone had to take care of the sheep? Who?

(I could tell he wasn't going to stop until he got an answer so I just started making stuff up)

Me: I'm sure he asked his neighbor or his brother. (I then realized William likes a definitive answer) You know what, he asked his brother to keep an eye on the sheep.

William: What was his brother's name?

Me: Umm...Joe. Joe watched the sheep for David.

William: What did Joe wear?

Me: What!?! He wore a robe, like everyone else back them. That's enough, end of story.

I was thinking about our conversation later and I love that William thought about the sheep. I kept hearing his little voice, "What about the sheep?" It's so easy to go about our lives and focus on what we think is the most important or exciting part of the story (usually our own problems). When the simplest, smallest part of the story is really what matters to God...the sheep or other people around us.

I guess this all hit home this week because we had a crazy thing happen with our car. We bought a certified used car about 9 months ago from a reputable dealership here in Dallas. It turns out they sold us a stolen car which was part of an elaborate organized crime scheme (it's a really long story)! The police towed away the car on Thursday leaving me without a car. I am now driving a rental from the dealership while they try to sort everything out. We should receive something in the mail in about a week telling us when we have to show up in court. I'm not going to lie, it was a little upsetting! This could end up being a huge headache so I was trying to figure out, what am I suppose to learn from all of this, when I thought of...."What about the sheep?" Cars will come and go (or get towed away) but the way you treat other people is what really matters.

The funny part of the story is, I actually really liked the Agent that came and investigated/took the car. I offered to make him lunch, he told me about his wife and how they had been trying to have kids for awhile, he was super nice to the boys and showed off his badges. I realized it could have been a lot worse.

Jonathan will vouch for me...I said from day one, I thought the car was cursed and had bad juju. Turns out...it is!!

That's my two cents for the week! ;)