Peter's Passa

Peter’s Passa



**Peter lived in a little brown house high in the beautiful Smokey mountains with his mama, daddy, two sisters and baby brother. They had a big friendly golden retriever who's name was Jake and he was always by the children's side to protect them.  Peter and his sister Patsy loved to play outside.  There were so many things they could do.  There were lots of trees to climb and  trails through the forest to explore.They had lots of friends in forest.  The deer, bunnies, squirrels and birds were all their friends.  Peter was such a busy boy.  He was always playing with his sisters and brother or exploring with his friends in the forest.



** Peter’s Dad built a big tree house for them to play in. It was brown with a real roof. It had windows and a door just like their real house. It looked like a big letter “A” setting high up in the tree.  There was a small deck with rails all around so no one would fall. And attached to the tree house were swings to swing on, a slide to slide on and even a bucket with a rope for lifting toys and other supplies up into the house. Peter’s baby brother liked to climb up and down on the ladder so they had to watch him and not let him fall.  Sometimes, as they played, the tree house became home to a super hero or a beautiful princess.  It even became a pirate ship in search of lost treasures in far away places.



**Mama and Daddy were always very, busy.  There was lots of work to do and many errands to run.  Daddy was a builder and worked every day and mom could rest only when chores were done, baths were taken, prayers said and everyone tucked in bed for the night. One day Mama and Daddy decided to have a family meeting. It was time everyone learned to share the RESPONSIBILITIES of the family.  So they all gathered around the big family table.  It must have been a very important meeting because daddy gave each of them pencils and paper and mama had made yummy cookies and hot chocolate.



**Daddy began the family meeting telling them “When someone has a job to do or something to take care of and others depend on you to do it, then that is your RESPONSIBILITY. I must work hard all day long  for our family. We all need food to eat, clothes to wear and oh yes, toys to play with.”  Daddy explained how mama must take care of everyone! “ We all need warm clean clothes to wear, tasty food to eat and a clean home to live in.  She makes sure everyone is healthy and takes care of them when they are sick. There are lots more jobs mama and daddy are responsible for and that’s why we are having this family meeting,” daddy explained.  Mama said “when someone has more responsibilities than they can take care of or if someone is sick then others have  to help by sharing their RESPONSIBILITIES”. Mama and Daddy told them that everyone in the family would have their own responsibility.  They even helped each of them to write down their new jobs so they would remember each day. Peter said “I want my PASSA list to be on yellow paper. That’s my favorite color.” You see RESONSIBILITY was a very big word for such a little boy, so Peter chopped off the beginning and the end. Now it was a much easier  for him to say.



** Mama said, “Learning about RESPONSIBILITY is all about taking care of yourself and others.  When you do your job well and help others in need, God smiles and Jesus gives your heart a big hug.” So they ate their milk and cookies and laughed when Jake licked up all the crumbs that fell.  “At least tonight no one will have to sweep the floor” sister said.  Everyone went to sleep that night happy and excited they had learned about RESPONSIBILITY.  And the next day they were ready to do their part to help with all the chores. 



** As the days went by everyone was doing a great job with their RESPONSIBILITY.  They all helped Mama with the laundry, the girls cleaned the kitchen each night and the boys picked up all their toys and belongings when they finished playing with them.  Mama always told them, “There is a place for everything and everything should be in its’ place”.  Now Mama and Daddy had more time to play and do fun things with them.



**That is everyone except Peter.  He only wanted to do the things that were on his list.  When someone could not finish their job, Peter did not want to help them. He would say loudly “NOT MY POSSA” and run and hide. Peter’s baby brother was too little to understand he had to pickup his toys when he finished playing with them and it would have been nice if Peter would help him or show him that he had “possas” of his own just like the older children. But no, Peter always said “that’s brother’s passa, not mine”.  When his big sister (or Sister as they called her) went on a trip with friends from church, Patsy and mama joined in to share her jobs. But Peter still would only do the things that were on his YELLOW list to do.  He didn’t have time for other jobs AND play with his toys to he thought.. 



**One day Patsy got very sick.  She had a very sore throat and couldn’t go outside to play for a whole week.  One of her RESPONSIBILITIES was to keep an eye on baby brother and tell mama or daddy when he went outside.  Baby brother was just tall enough to open the door, if it wasn’t locked, all by himself.  Mama asked Peter if he would watch out for brother until Patsy was all well again.  She explained to him that Jesus would want him to help his sister .



** After breakfast the next day Peter made his bed, got dressed and brushed his teeth.  He looked outside and saw the bright sun shinning and thought what fun it would be to go play in the tree house. He ran downstairs and out the door leaving it unlocked so Jake could follow him. Patsy was lying on the sofa, not feeling very well, and mama was helping her with her breakfast.  No one noticed baby brother follow Peter out the door.  That is except Peter and Jake.  Peter was to busy climbing the ladder to the tree house to stop and let his mother know baby brother was outside.  “I’m sure someone saw  brother came outside”, Peter said to himself “besides it’s not even my passa.”  He soon forgot about his brother.  This morning he had decided to be a pirate and was the captain of his own sailing ship with mighty sails and lots of treasure to find.  He didn’t even notice Jake wonder off around the side of house. 



**Patsy was all settled with her favorite movie and was just beginning to feel like herself again.  Mom went upstairs to clean and check on brother but could not find him anywhere.  She hurried downstairs and asked Patsy if she had seen him.  “No Mom.  I haven’t seen him since before breakfast” she said.  Mom became alarmed when she noticed the door was unlocked so she called to Sister to come and help.  Outside they went in a flash.  “Peter, Peter”, they called.  “Have you seen baby brother he’s not in the house anywhere”?  That’s when Peter stopped being a pirate and became himself again.  “Yes Mom.  He was just here a second ago”.  Mom was too worried about brother to remind Peter of his responsibility.  She and sister looked and looked all around the house, but could not find him anywhere.  They began to get frightened so Mom called Dad at work.  Lucky for them he was close by and hurried home. 



**Patsy loved her baby brother very much and didn’t like to see everyone so worried.  So even though she was still not well she ran out to help.  She looked around and thought very hard “where he can he be”.  Then she shouted to Peter, “Come with me.  He may have wondered down the path we made to our secret spot in the woods.”  So off they went down the little winding path.  The path led down a very steep hill with big rocks you had to climb over and thick brush on both sides.  Patsy and Peter had found the path in the spring while looking for wild blackberries to pick.  About half the way down the path they heard Jake whining.  Soon they spotted him standing in front of brother. He had come to a steep place in the path with a big huge rock and he wouldn’t let baby brother pass.  Jake was a very smart dog and was afraid brother would fall if he went any further.  Patsy stayed with brother and Jake while Peter ran to get Mom and Dad.  When he saw them he called out “Mom, Dad. We found him! We found him! Come with me.!" When they returned, Mom scooped brother up in her arms and laughed and cried at the same time.  Peter was so happy they had found baby brother and he was safe again.



**When everyone was safe at home Peter felt so bad that baby brother could have gotten lost. He gave little brother all of his cars to play with and then taught him how to park them all in a row.  Daddy was watching them play and asked “Peter, didn’t you see your brother come outside when you were playing”.  Peter admitted  “I did see him Dad and I should have stopped playing to let someone know.  Mama told me it was my PASSA and that Jesus would want me help.  From now own I know that it is my PASSA to do what is on my yellow list AND to help others when they need help.  Like when Patsy is sick. I want to always help others because if I don’t and no one else does then their job does not get done and bad things could happen”.  “Well let’s hope nothing bad will happen again. But if we all help each other everyone will be happy and safe.  Jesus tells us to help those who need help just as we would want them to help us.”



**Before Peter went to sleep that night he said a prayer and thanked God for helping them find little brother and for sending Jake along to keep him safe.

 

                                                                        The End









Bible Verses To Remember:



Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first of the 10 commandments that ends with a promise.  And this is the promise:  If you honor your father and mother, “you will live a long life, full of blessings.”  Ephesians 6:1-3.



For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.  Galations 5:14



Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment.  Asecond is equally important:  “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Matthew 37-40.



Kids Life Application Bible





Story by Miriam Sosebee (Misty)

Thanks to Beth Moore for the story idea thru one of her many bible study programs.