Rishon and his family were moving from the big city to a small house on a mountainside. Rishon had many toys, and his mom and dad needed to talk with him about getting rid of some of them in a creative way.
Rishon and his family were moving from the big city to a small house on a mountainside in India. Rishon had many toys, and his mom and dad needed to talk with him about getting rid of some of them.
“You don’t need all those big toys,” his dad said. “You are going to be very busy doing things other than playing with them.”
His mom talked about the children living in the village near their new house.
“The village children are poor and don’t have nice toys like you,” she said. “Why don’t you give them your big toys?”
Rishon was an obedient boy, and he didn’t mind giving away his big toys. He gave them to the boys and girls in the village, who were very excited to receive the gifts. They had never owned such nice toys before. Rishon was happy to see their joy, and it felt so good to do something kind for others.
As the days passed, Rishon saw that his mom and dad were right. He was very busy. He went to school at home, with his mom teaching him English, Hindi, and other languages, and his dad teaching him math and science. When Rishon wasn’t studying, he worked in the family garden, planting, weeding, and harvesting corn, potatoes, and other crops.
Every day he memorized three verses from the Bible. After a few months, he could recite many chapters by memory, including Psalm 23 and Hebrews 11. Rishon didn’t have much time to play even with his small toys, so he also gave some of them away to the village children.
The children, especially the little ones, quickly became Rishon’s friends. At first they liked him because he gave them toys. But then they got to know him, and they saw that he was a kind, gentle boy. They liked to visit Rishon at his house on the mountainside.
Rishon liked to play with the children. Sometimes they played with Rishon’s old toys. But most of the time they played church.
You see, the children weren’t Christians, and their parents weren’t Christians. They didn’t know anything about God creating the world or Jesus dying for people’s sins. They didn’t know anything about praying to God.
But by playing church, Rishon taught the children about Jesus. They sat on the dusty ground as Rishon told them stories about Adam and Eve, Noah’s ark, David and Goliath, and Daniel in the lions’ den. He told them about Jesus’ dying on the cross to give eternal life to everyone who believes in Him. He invited them to pray to Jesus and showed them how.
“Dear God,” he said. “Thank you for being our very best Friend. Please give us a heart of love for You and for others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
The other children began to copy Rishon’s prayers, and they told their parents about the Bible stories. Then some of the parents even asked Rishon’s parents to know more about Jesus.
Now Rishon doesn’t have much time to play with his remaining toys. He is too busy being a missionary for Jesus!
