a view from under the pew: freddy faces discouragement

Editor’s note: Amos is a churchmouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift keys, and he shuns punctuation marks – except hyphens and dashes.

freddy faces discouragement

freddy the flea has been

having some problems

lately boss

his father is an alcoholic -

a drunken flea is a pitiful

sight indeed - so his home

life hasn t been going well

and of course that s affected

freddy s job with the flea

circus his timing is off

he keeps making the

elephants sneeze and the

ringmaster says he s going

to fire freddy and toss him

back to the garbage detail

life looks so hopeless

freddy moaned i thought

being a christian meant

everything is supposed to

go well and work out great

what s happened to me

says he am i not a christian

flea anymore

sure you are says virgil the

praying mantis who hopped

along just about then

i haven t been a christian

flea very long says freddy

maybe i m not where i m

supposed to be maybe a

real christian flea oughta

be in ministry instead of a

circus menagerie

no you re where you re

supposed to be says virgil

you re just working up too

much anxiety

did you ever notice says he

with a smile - that is if a

praying mantis can smile -

that when the lord told the

discouraged fishermen in

john twenty-one to cast their

nets again that it was in the

same old place right where

they had caught nothing

no i never thought about that

says freddy not sure where

virgil was headed with this

sometimes we think that if

we can get off to some new

place when we get discouraged

then trying again would be an

easier task to do

if we could be somebody else

or go somewhere else or do

something else it might not

be so hard to have fresh

faith and courage

right

i guess so says freddy

life would be much

easier then i think

is that what i need to do

no says virgil you re not

listening to me

you see it s the same old net

in the same old pond for most

of us the old temptations are to

be overcome the old faults are

to be conquered the old trials

and discouragements we failed

at yesterday are to be faced

again today

then virgil looked little freddy

square in the eyes and says

we must win success where we

are if we win at all - and it s

the master himself who after

all these tiring disheartening

failures bids us to try again -

and he enables us by his power

to hang in there stay with it

and overcome it all

jesus really does care about

little christian fleas like thee

says he life will once again ring

with victory and your boat filled

with abundance you ll see

amos