by Mary Wingfield Bell
Chapter Ten -
All the children of the LITTLE CHURCH gang were proud that
they had accomplished so much for the flood victims in just one
day.
"It was a hard day's work," Wink said, "but I am glad we
helped."
"Yeah, and did you notice how great we all looked on the
television?" Rainbow said. "Maybe we could get on a television
show sometime."
"I don't want to think about television or anything; I just
want to go home and rest," sighed Little Cube. "Whew! I'm
tired."
"Me, too," added Rainbow. "I'll clean Big Squirt's house in
the morning. Come on, Daisy, let's go home." They went out the
door together.
One after the other left Wink's house and went home to rest,
leaving him alone with his aunt.
"We are quite a gang, huh, Aunt Gracie?" asked Wink.
"That you are!" she returned. "And I'm going to lie down,
because I'm tired too!"
Wink went to his room. There was a pleasant silence in the
house. After the long working day with his friends, he was glad to
be alone to think. There was much to think about, beginning with
the day he and Knuckles gave Mr. Winterfresh the fish. He was
happy that the elderly man had introduced him to Jesus and glad,
too, that his friends had learned about Jesus.
The gang that met in the old man's garage had grown. The
members sort of felt like his brothers and sisters. He liked that.
And the way they worked to help the people of Alstone gave him a
nice comfortable feeling - sort of like a warm blanket covering
you when the weather is cold.
Wink slept well that night and awoke to an ordinary summer
day. He had no special plans for himself or the gang. In the
morning he rode his bicycle around the neighborhood with Jeff and
Knuckles. In the afternoon his aunt took him to the swimming pool.
The rest of the week he did much as he pleased, visiting Big
Squirt a couple of times.
Big Squirt decided that as soon as he could get about with a
walker, he was going to the LITTLE CHURCH. He just knew that he
was missing out on something good.
When Sunday came, the gang met with Mr. Winterfresh in the
garage church. Rica, Coralee and Hugo had walked there. These were
new friends the gang had found in the park on the day of the
picnic. Lena's cousin Bill, visiting from Virginia, was there.
J-Zee, one of Willie's school friends, came. There were sixteen
children sitting on the flower pots.
The boys and girls were very noisy in conversation. Wink's
aunt hoped the noise would not disturb Mr. Growly as the garage
doors were open for air. Mr. Winterfresh took control by
suggestion. "Let's do our marching song." He gave a small flag on
a stick to each boy and girl. And they began to march and sing.
We're the children's army.
The Little Church Gang
Marching for the Lord;
We're the children's army
Trusting in His Word.
We're the children's army,
We will shout and sing,
We're the children's army,
Jesus is our king.
We're the children's army,
Marching through the land,
We're the children's army
And we think it's grand.
We're the children's army,
We will shout and sing,
We're the children's army
Jesus is our king.
About midway through the march, Mr. Growly came out to
protest. "I've just called the police. Old fellow, you and your
kids make too much abominable noise!"
The children stopped marching and singing. Some of them were
frightened.
Mr. Winterfresh said, "Mr. Growly. how can you say such a
thing? The children are blessing God with their joyful song."
Mr. Growly said nothing, but went back into his house to await
arrival of the police. An officer came in his car with flashing
lights and a bubble on top. Mr. Growly came out again.
The officer spoke to him, "Have the children thrown rocks at
your place? Have they let air out of your tires? Were they on your
property?"
"Well, no!" answered Mr. Growly. "It's the noise, It's that
singing!"
"Children, will you sing for me?" asked the policeman.
Wink led the boys and girls as they marched around the yard
singing. The officer watched with approval and smiled.
"I see you are not going to stop them," Mr. Growly frowned.
"Are you going to let kids rule the world?"
Then the policeman said, "When these youngsters are old enough
to rule, they will make good leaders. Your neighbor is saving you
and other taxpayers money."
"How is that?" Mr. Growly asked sullenly.
"The jails would not be overfilled with prisoners if more
adults spent time helping children." Then he turned to the
children. "I like your song. And I recognize you kids from the
television news this past week. You were great!"
The gang smiled back at him.
"What did they do?" asked Mr. Growly.
"They collected a mountain of clothing and other things for
the flood victims."
"Well, I'll admit that was a good thing," Mr. Growly said
reluctantly.
The officer continued, "I'll tell you something also. About
one-third of those children used to hang around the shopping
center, stealing when no one was watching. Mr. Growly, couldn't
you just use earplugs or go elsewhere when they have their
meetings?"
"Guess I have been selfish," Mr. Growly admitted and went back
into his house.
The policeman left. The children went into the garage and sat
on flower pots. When they were all settled, Mr. Winterfresh
welcomed Hugo, Rica, Coralee, Bill and J-Zee. "We have four
newcomers and Bill is visiting today."
"Look, Mr. Winterfresh!" Daisy said. "Our seats are mostly
filled. There's only four empty flower pots."
"You're right and we praise God for that. Now, I think we will
do exercises," the old man said. "Everyone stand up."
The boys and girls followed Mr. Winterfresh's example. They
waved their arms in circles, then high above their heads, and
dropped them to their sides. Then there were leg exercises. By now
everyone breathed heavily.
"Now sit down, we can relax for our program," the old
gentleman ordered. "Wink has a Scripture to read for us."
Wink read the first seven verses of Psalms 147.
When Wink was seated, Mr. Winterfresh spoke,"I think we all
have breath now to sing praises to our Lord. Let's begin with our
happy song." The gang stood and sang:
I'm happy today,
He has come to stay.
Washed my sins away,
Taught me how to pray,
Saved by his blood,
Jesus is my Lord.
"Good! Sing it again," their leader said.
They sang louder the second time.
"Now we will learn a new song. I have it on a poster so you
can read the words. Who will volunteer to hold the poster?"
Five hands went up quickly. Mr. Winterfresh chose Coralee to
hold the song poster because this was her first time to attend the
LITTLE CHURCH. first he read the two stanzas. Then he led the
singing.
Hallelujah, our happy song
To Jesus, our dear king,
And praise to God our hearts belong,
All God's children shall sing.
Hallelujah, we sing to Thee
Sweet praises to the King;
In the heavenly jubilee
All God's children shall sing.
"Everyone this time. We'll try again."
Everyone sang.
"Please, could we sing the children's army song?" Hugo asked.
"I like that."
"Yes, but only if we stay in the garage," the old man
explained.
The children's army song was a favorite. The boys sang loudly.
The girls sang loudly, Wink's aunt and the old man sang with joy.
The boys and girls waved their hands high. It was fun to be there
in the garage.
Time for prayer had come. The children's leader asked for
prayer requests.
"Remember to pray for Big Squirt," Daisy reminded the group.
"He wants to get well so he can meet with us."
"Our baby is sick," Little Cube said. He wanted prayer for
him.
Four of the children prayed. Then Mr. Winterfresh began to
pray the Lord's prayer. The entire gang joined in but some only
said a few words as they prayed.
Our Father, which art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth
as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
After prayer the old friend told the boys and girls about
Daniel, one of God's servants, who was thrown into a den of lions.
He told how God sent an angel to lock the mouths of the lions and
Daniel was saved. Then he explained that in the same way God will
take care of boys and girls when they need help. Angels still
protect God's children when they pray for help in the name of
Jesus or say "Jesus, help me." Then the old man added, "God is
wonderful, I tell you!"
When Mr. Winterfresh had finished talking, everyone joined in
singing one more chorus. The meeting was over except for
refreshments. Aunt Gracie had brought two gallons of orange drink.
Mr. Winterfresh served fig bars and peanuts. A wonderful time was
had by all in the LITTLE CHURCH. And week after week the
youngsters came to learn more of Jesus.
The days passed and it was school time again. All the gang
started to school on the last day of August except Big Squirt.
This was the first year that he had really wanted to go to school
because the days were so long, being alone most of the time.
Wink brought homework to him each day and a teacher came twice
a week to give instruction. He did all the work assigned to him.
It helped the days go by until he could be out with the gang
again. Now and then one of his friends visited him. Anyone was
welcome.
Rainbow came to clean house every Saturday morning. Big Squirt
was not fond of girls, but she was a person to talk to.
Finally, in October Big Squirt went to school with the help of
a walker. It was great to be out in the fresh air and sunshine and
good to be with people again. He liked the teachers for the first
time. Being confined to a wheelchair had taught him to appreciate
others. Now he could join the gang in their meetings with the
senior citizen. He was surprised to see that Mr. Winterfresh did
not look feeble and surely he did not act like an old, old
person.
One day in one of the Bible sessions, Daisy said to the old
gentleman, "Mr. Winterfresh, I think you will live to be one
hundred years old!"
"I might live that long, he replied. "I'm not concerned about
how long I live, but how I live. I could go home to Heaven
tomorrow if Jesus said come, or it is possible I may live to be
120. Remember, children, if I should die, don't cry for me. I will
go to be with Jesus on my graduation day and Edna will be there to
greet me. Then we will celebrate my graduation."
"You can't die for a long time!" Big Squirt said. "I am just
getting to know you."
"No, you got to stay here until we grow up," joined Rainbow.
"We need you."
"Come on, kids, let's talk about living," said Mr.
Winterfresh. "There is a lot of living and giving to do in this
world. Thanksgiving will be here soon and our group can give a
basket of food to a very needy family. It is all right if you
can't give anything. Isabel will pass the offering plate."
The offering plate was a pie pan. The children had not faced
an offering plate before and did not know about such. There wasn't
much money. Lena dropped a nickel in the plate. Rica had only a
blue button in her pocket. She put in all that she had. Jeff and
Wink gave a dime each. Big Squirt cheerfully gave his only
quarter. The collection was put into a clean mayonnaise jar to
save until Thanksgiving time.
It was time for the children's friend to talk about Jesus and
he reminded them that Jesus gave up all of Heaven and came to live
as a man. Then Jesus was hung on a cross for the sins of all. Mr.
Winterfresh asked who wanted to know Jesus personally. It was then
that Big Squirt and Hugo gave their hearts to Jesus. Now they were
in God's family and their names were written down in Heaven.
Another day of learning more about Jesus had passed. The
children who once had been quite unruly had changed from ruffians
to boys and girls who cared about everyone and especially, each
other.
Each Sunday at the meeting an offering was taken for their
Thanksgiving basket. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving Wink
counted the money that the gang had saved. There was seven dollars
and eighty-five cents, plus one button. Mr. Winterfresh put in
another five dollars. There was enough to buy a turkey for a needy
family.
"We need more for the basket," Rainbow said. "Daisy and I can
make sugar cookies."
Wink's aunt offered to make pumpkin pies.
I think we ought to bring cans of food, too," added Big
Squirt. `Why, that is an excellent idea," said the children's old
friend.
On Wednesday afternoon when school had ended for the holiday
weekend, the boys and girls gathered in the garage church to fix
the Thanksgiving basket. They brought a variety of eats. There
were pickles, a bag of apples, potato chips and canned
vegetables.
Rainbow and the other girls made a big card that read:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE LITTLE CHURCH GANG.
About seven o'clock Wednesday evening Wink's aunt took him and
three of the other boys to deliver the basket of goodies to a
woman who lived with her five small children in a rundown house on
the edge of town. The woman was so happy that she cried. Then she
smiled through her tears, saying, "Thank you!"