CONTENTS Prologue
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1. Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. Room Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3. Words of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 4. Shiny Pennies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 5. I’m with You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 6. Sailing with Young Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 7. Wedding Cake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 8. Pictures in a Wallet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 9. Unicycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 10. See a Little More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 11. Zoo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 12. Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 13. The Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 14. No-Manners Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 15. Bears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 16. Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 17. Making Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 18. Everybody’s In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 19. The Good Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 20. The Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 21. Pack Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
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22. The Jeep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 23. Star Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 24. Restore Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 25. Freeing Slaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 26. Finding Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 27. Living Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 28. Bible Doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 29. Humble Voices Carry Far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 30. Play Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144 31. Disneyland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 32. Go Pick a Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 33. Ice Cream Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 34. Popcorn Bags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160 35. Invited vs. Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 36. Grace and Toilet Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 37. Tippy Toes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 38. Quitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 39. Three Minutes at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180 40. The Puppeteer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184 41. For Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 42. Secretly Incredible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 43. A New Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 44. Croc Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 45. Brave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 46. Waving to Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
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ROOM RENT
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spent a lot of time at my Grandma Mary’s house when I was growing up. I loved her because she really liked me and because she was always coming up with capers and mischief. Whenever I would visit, she’d have a project or two waiting for me. One day, we’d build a solar oven together by setting a cardboard box lined with tin foil out in the sun and make grilled cheese sandwiches. The next day, we’d make rock candy out of sugar and water and watch it grow on a string. Grandma Mary never learned how to drive a car, so she rode a tricycle everywhere she went—even as a grown-up! Most weeks, I’d ride my bike to her house, and Grandma Mary would hop on her tricycle so we could ride to the hardware store together to buy supplies for the next project. I was a really active kid, and Grandma Mary delighted in running around after her red-headed, freckle-faced tornado of a grandson. (I think it was because she had more than a little tornado in her too.) One of my favorite activities was to gather every single pillow in her house and make a huge pillow pile in the living room. Grandma Mary and I would stand on the couch and jump into the pile together, rolling in the pillows and laughing so hard that tears ran down our cheeks. Grandma Mary loved me so much that she even gave me
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Room Rent
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WORDS OF LIFE
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hen I was in elementary school, I played on a Little League baseball team. I wasn’t very good at sports, but that didn’t stop me from playing. My teammates figured out early on that if I stood next to the plate and waited to get hit with the ball that was pitched, I would get an automatic walk to first base—and my team would probably get more points. One day, toward the end of the game, I had a choice to make: Should I take a ball to the shoulder like I always do, or should I try to actually swing the bat and make a hit? At the last moment, I closed my eyes, swung, and miraculously heard a dull whap as my bat connected with the ball. It was a home run! I raced around the plates, sliding victoriously into home plate. Our team won the game! A week or so later, my mom came into my room and told me I had some mail. Mail? For me? I opened the big envelope and found a card inside. I think it was the first card I’d ever received in the mail, and it was shaped like an apple. Are all cards shaped like apples? I wondered. When I opened the card, I saw the words “You are the apple of my eye” printed inside. Underneath that was a handwritten note: “Wow, what a hit, Bob! You’re a real ballplayer. Love, Coach.”
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Words of Life
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SHINY PENNIES
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hen I was little, I thought the candy store owner was the luckiest man in the whole world. He could have candy any time he wanted! I visited him regularly, bringing with me the coins I had collected from my room rent. Back then, most pieces of candy cost just a cent or two, so every time I had a few coins I would wander down to his store, walk around, and marvel at the jars of colorful candy lining the walls. I didn’t want some of it; I wanted all of it! After I had made my selection, I would place the candy on the counter by the cash register and put all the change I had next to it. Learning how to count money had been hard for me, but the shopkeeper was a kind, grandfatherly man who would lean over the counter and slowly help me count the coins, pausing to remind me what each one was worth. Most days, he would smile and nod after he got to the correct amount, scoop up the change that was his, and hand the rest back to me. I usually didn’t even make it out the door with my candy, and instead would sit in the shop while I ate it. I would watch the shopkeeper interact with other customers in the same gentle, kind way, pausing in his friendly conversations to count change, keep what was his, and return the rest.
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Shiny Pennies
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