The Joy of Stephen
Value: Blessed are those who are persecuted
Julie and Phillip were always a little nervous when their Daddy took them with
him to share Jesus door to door in town. But daddy always loved to do it so they
went to learn how. Usually the Assistant Pastor from their church went along.
Mostly people were nice and sometimes invited them in and sometimes the Pastor
or Daddy would pray with the people to accept Jesus and that was really
exciting.
One time though a man answered the door who wasn’t from our country. His skin
was darker and he wore one of those turban things on his head. And when daddy
shared about Jesus, the man got really mad and started yelling and seemed like
he was going to come out and hurt daddy so the Pastor excused them from the man
and they went to a bench nearby in the apartment complex.
“What was wrong with that man Daddy? Why did he have that hat on his head?”
Phillip asked frightened.
“That is a man God loves just like he loves you and me Phillip. Now let’s pray
for him.” And they did right there on the bench and they all felt better.
That night Daddy explained that the man was from another religion so he just
didn’t understand that they were there to give him eternal life. “But Daddy,”
Phillip interrupted. “It seemed like he wanted to hurt us. Does that mean what
we were doing was wrong?”
“Kids do remember the story of Stephen in the Bible?” Daddy said and before they
knew it, Daddy was telling them the story. Daddy was an amazing storyteller
because he was able to make Julie and Phillip feel like they were right there in
the story.
“Where are we Daddy?” Phillip shook his head looking around at the huge crowd of
what seemed to be really angry people. Phillip and Julie felt their Daddy
holding onto their hands as he took them right into the bible story he was
telling.
“We are in the story, Phillip. These people are all angry with Stephen. See over
there?”
The children worked their way between the legs of the shouting people and then
they saw him. Standing apart from the crowd, dressed all in white. “Phillip!”
Julie whispered. “That’s Stephen, just like Daddy said.”
“Kids over here.” They heard their Daddy whisper and they ran to him knelt
between some people watching.
“Why are they all so mad Daddy?” Asked Julie a little scared and nervous for
Stephen.
“They don’t want him to share about Jesus, sweetie.” Her Daddy answered.
“Daddy, he doesn’t even look scared. I would be SO scared if everybody was mad
at me.” Phillip said watching Stephen with amazement.
”Can you hear what he is saying kids?” Daddy whispered and they listened close.
“He is praising Jesus Daddy.” Julie finally said. “He is thanking Jesus that he
is going to be able to suffer and die for God. Daddy I don’t understand.” She
said sobbing a little bit.
“Well honey, Jesus died for us so it’s a privilege to go through those things
for him. Stephen is full of the Holy Ghost so he isn’t suffering at all. See his
face, it’s full of joy. That’s what the Holy Spirit does when we go through hard
things for Jesus. He replaces the fear and pain with joy and praise. Come on, we
better get back, Mommy will have supper ready soon.”
As they moved to the back of the crowd, Julie saw a wrap that looked like it
belonged to Stephen. She reached to pick it up but an older boy picked it up
first. She looked him in the eyes.
“Why are you crying?” She asked the boy.
“I have always hated Christians, little girl” the boy said. “But Stephen has so
much joy. The joy of Stephen makes me somehow want that in my heart.”
Back home at the supper table they told Mommy all about their adventure. “Well,
Julie, who was that boy you talked to before you came home.”
“I don’t know Mommy. He said his name was Saul of Tarsus.” They didn’t talk
about it any more but Mommy and Daddy exchanged knowing smiles and both knew
that Daddy would be taking the children on another journey to find out more
about how this Saul boy turned out.