‘Anyone want to come with me?’ shouted Scamp’s master as he looked to where Scamp and his three friends were lying in the sun. Four tails immediately began to wag as they looked up at Joshua.
‘Up on the cart then’ he smiled as he began to harness Bobby his horse. They were up in a flash - all except Tiny. Dougy whined. Joshua looked up and Dougy barked as he looked down at Tiny.
‘Oh! of course’ said Joshua. ‘Come along Tiny, we couldn’t leave you behind, could we?’ and he picked up the small dog and put him in the cart with the others.
The friends were so excited. ‘I wonder where we are going?’ they thought.
‘Settle down’ said Joshua as if he had read their thoughts. ‘It’s a long journey, we are going to visit my friend, Joseph, who has been ill.’
So the friends lay down, made themselves comfortable, and Joshua climbed aboard - their exciting day had begun.
It WAS a long journey. Joshua was right, and as Bobby trotted along mile after mile the friends began to doze in the sun. The next thing they knew was Joshua shaking them awake.
‘What a sleepy lot you are’ he laughed. ‘Look, I’ve stopped by a river. I thought you would like a drink.’
Oh! they would! Eagerly they jumped down, stretched themselves, then ran off to the river. Joshua sat down beside a large rock, opened his sandwiches, and began to eat. He smiled as he watched the four friends happily splashing about in the shallow river which chuckled and chattered over the stony bed. Scamp was trying to catch the tiny fish, and coughing and spluttering as he gulped mouthfuls of water. The others all laughed at him - Scamp was always doing funny things. Then Tiny, who was standing on a large stone, slipped and fell into the river thoroughly soaking himself. He came up chuckling, but Dougy said ‘I think we should all come out now and dry off.’ He had been rather worried when he saw Tiny fall.
‘So do I’ agreed Scamp who had caught sight of Joshua eating his sandwiches. He knew Joshua made very tasty sandwiches so he turned to the others and said ‘Hurry up before Joshua eats all the food’ and he scrambled quickly out of the water and ran up the field.
‘Oh, you’ve seen the sandwiches have you?’ asked Joshua as he smiled at them. Sandwiches!! The four friends looked at each other innocent expressions on their faces, as if food had nothing to do with them hurrying back to Joshua!
Joshua laughed. ‘You can stop pretending’ he said. ‘I’ve brought something for you too.’ Happy barks greeted these words, and they sat down in front of him eagerly watching as he brought out some tasty pieces of meat, and their favourite biscuits.
It was gone in a flash, and they licked their lips to make sure not a scrap had been missed.
‘All finished?’ asked Joshua. ‘Good, I’m sure Bobby is too’ and he went over to where Bobby was quietly resting. Joshua patted him. ‘Time to go, Bobby’ he said, and a few minutes later they were all on their way. This time the friends didn’t feel like resting so they sat and looked over the sides of the cart, talking about the things they could see. The time passed quickly, and it seemed no time at all before Joshua was saying ‘Here we are, come in and say “Hello” to Joseph first then you can go and play.’ They all knew and liked Joseph, and he liked them too so it was a happy meeting, especially as Joseph told them that he was feeling much better.
‘What shall we do?’ ‘Where shall we go?’ they asked each other when they were outside again.
‘Shall we go into the village to see what is happening?' asked Jamie.
‘Great idea!’ agreed Scamp. ‘Remember the last time we were here the Butcher gave us some bones?’
Dougy gave him a push. ‘What a greedy boy you are’ he laughed. And laughing and pushing each other they made their way towards the village.
It was when they entered the village that the excitement really began.
It was Jamie who spotted Him first. ‘Look! it’s Jesus’ he cried.
‘Where?’ asked the others, their eyes darting all over.
‘There, by the well’ Jamie shouted. ‘By the well.’
And he was right! It was Jesus with His disciples. Immediately the four of them dashed towards the well and skidded to a stop in a cloud of dust.
The disciples looked startled, but Jesus laughed as He patted them. “Hello again” He said. “What are you doing here in this village?” He teased.
‘Visiting Joseph at his farm’ answered Scamp. ‘He hasn’t been well.’
“I know” said Jesus. “But he is feeling much better now.”
‘That’s right’ agreed Dougy, his eyes shining with love as he gazed up at Jesus. They all loved Jesus and were always so pleased to see Him so they snuggled up as close as they could.
At that moment they heard shouting, and everyone looked across to where a group of men were standing.
‘They are lepers, Master’ said Andrew, one of the disciples, as the men shouted “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
The face of Jesus was full of compassion as He said to them “Go to the priest and show him that you are healed.”
‘Healed!’ squeaked Tiny in surprise. ‘They look the same to me.’
“Why don’t you follow them” chuckled Jesus. “Then you will see what happens.”
So they did, and as they trotted along beside the ten lepers they were astonished to see the leprosy slowly disappearing!
They laughed with delight - how wonderful, their Jesus was.
Dougy then said ‘Why are we so surprised? We have seen Jesus make Caleb come back to life, haven’t we?’
The friends looked at each other and felt rather ashamed of themselves, then Jamie shouted ‘Let’s go back and tell Jesus.’
Immediately they cheered up as Scamp said ‘Yes, let’s’ and shot up the street at a gallop. Oh! how exciting it was.
‘They are healed. They are healed’ they told Jesus, their eyes shining with happiness.
Jesus smiled. “I know” he said. Then He looked up as one of the lepers returned and fell flat on the ground before Him saying “Glory to God, I’m healed. Thank you Jesus, oh, thank you.” He was so delighted.
The four friends barked and jumped around, but then Dougy asked ‘Where are the other nine?’
“Yes” agreed Jesus. “Didn’t I heal ten men - where are the other nine? Has only this man, a Samaritan, come back to thank God?” Then He reached out His hand to the man and said “Stand up and go, your faith has healed you.”
The man stood up and, with a big beaming smile, said “Thank you again” then went off to tell his friends the wonderful news.
‘I suppose we had better be going too’ said Dougy to Jesus.
“Yes, Joshua will be wondering where you are” Jesus answered. “You will have quite a story to tell him, wont you?”
Scamp, Jamie, Dougy and Tiny wagged their tails as they smiled up at Him, then Scamp gave Jesus a lick of love before they all scampered back to Joseph’s farm, eager to tell everyone of Jesus and the wonderful miracle of love.
Elzabeth Aynsley ©

LUKE 17. vs. 11 - 19.

Ch.3