Night Crawler
"Yeah sure!" teased Bosco. But before they could get further into that discussion, Joshua tactfully interceded. "After a good prayer, I always feel refreshed. God always fills me up with energy."
"He sure does," agreed the lions, forgetting their debate.
And so, they began to walk for a long while about searching for the dark castle of no return, and at the same time, Joshua searched for the Black Gorilla, but oddly enough, the gorilla was no where to be seen. Then, out of the sky appeared a magnificent white pigeon, gracefully flying and swooping in bold circles.
It was Apollo! The pigeon that his sister Sheryl 'had nursed back to health when it was injured. It sure pays to be good and kind. The white pigeon came to help his friends. Apollo landed on top of the Koala Bears' head and began to speak: "Hello Joshua and friends. God heard your prayer, and he sent me and the Golden Gorilla to help you."
"Where's the Golden Gorilla?" asked Mr. Koala Bear.
"Oh, he's busy. See, there was this Dark Gorilla following you with an army of monkeys. So he, the Golden Gorilla, is holding them back while I show you the way to the Dark Castle."
"That's fantastic!" erupted Joshua, extremely happy and excited. Now he knew they would find his sister Sheryl.
And so the beautiful white pigeon called Apollo, soared to the sky and showed them the way to the land of no return. Not too long thereafter, they were facing the spooky dark lands where it was always night and creepy.
"You see those green lights?" shouted Apollo as he flew in small graceful circles. "Those lights belong to the castle. Now we must climb that big mountain to get there. But don't you worry, I called my friend Reynaldo, the carpet flier. He's got a real neat magic carpet that will fly us there. Whee! And there he comes now."
"Behold in Black and Gold!" boomed Reynaldo the magic carpet flier. "I've come to help my good friends of Christ, but first you must hand me the key!"
"What key?" protested Blaze. "No one said anything about a key?" the bewildered lion asked the white pigeon.
The white pigeon Apollo did not answer. "What key is he talking about?" asked Bosco to Joshua. Joshua shook his head slowly and confused. "I don't know my friend, but I'm sure we'll find out."
"Do you mean to tell me you were not given the key?" declared Reynaldo, the magic carpet rider, aghast. "Why I never; the key must be given in order to fly on my carpet, and here is the lock to the key. What is the ninth commandment? If you answer that correctly, you have opened the look with the key and then you can ride the magic carpet!"
(Reader ... ask the kids for the answer. Allow them to ponder it for a few minutes.) Joshua, the lion slippers, and even Mr. Koala Bear were caught off guard with such a question. They were all looking at each other, furiously thinking of the answer, but they did not know it. When suddenly Blaze began to sing very loudly and terribly. "Thou shalt not give false testimony against thy neighbor. In other words, thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not Iieeeee!"
"Magnifico! Magnifico!" shouted Reynaldo clapping his huge hands. "You have unlocked the lock. Now you have free passage." "Hip-Hip Hooray!" sang everyone in glee.
"Psst. Hey Blaze," whispered Bosco to his buddy on the other foot. "That was the best-terrible song I ever heard!"
"Sure was, wasn't it? I'm so happy.”
"It sure was," agreed the bald and muscular carpet flier. "Now Mr. Joshua, you must stand fast, but the mistake was made by you, and it could only be corrected by you. We cannot help you fix that lie you told. It could only be corrected by you. Once a person lies, it can last forever, getting more and more spoiled like a rotting apple unless you fix it. I wish you luck, and I caution you from now on to watch what you say. Lying is a very bad thing."
Joshua and his friends mounted the flying carpet and up they went. High up to the sky. Over the clouds and towards the creepy- green lights of the dark castle of no return. Reynaldo took them over the mountain and straight to the castle's highest window, and there he stopped.
"Well friends, this is your stop. Climb in that window. I'll be waiting right here. If you take more than an hour, I'm gone. See ya. Poof, skedaddle."
Joshua was alarmed to hear that he may be left in the castle, and he didn't even know his way back home. "You wouldn't leave us? Would you? Even if we were only two minutes late?"
"Son," responded Reynaldo solemnly, "I tell no lies. You have 60 minutes. In an hour [Reader --- explain this further to the kids.) and you already used up two of those minutes. You now have fifty- eight minutes left and counting."
"Come on, let's go!" yelled Bosco anxiously, "I'll use my nose. Lions can smell anything from miles away."
"Yeah!" agreed Blaze, "And I'm an expert karate fighter. YA- HA-KAPOW-BASH-K I A! " Blaze began to make all kinds of karate sound-effects, but he was silenced by Joshua, whom began to speak.
"Ssshhsh ... we can't make noise, Blaze. So, hush-up! You are right Reynaldo. Thank you. Lets go, guys. We don't have much time. And off they went, into the chamber of the Dark Castle of no return.
Joshua listened intently, but he could not hear a thing. The castle was eerily quiet. Then he heard the two lion slippers whispering to each other.
"Hey," whispered Joshua to the two slippers. "What are you two talking about?"
"Oh nothing," said Bosco casually.
"Blaze wants to know why we have to get out of here before our sixty minutes is up?"
"Yeah!" said Blaze immediately, "And Bosco said that the castle could explode, just like one of those Rambo movies, with us in it."
"That is possible." agreed Joshua. He was a bit frightened by that very thought. "Well, we cannot take any chances, so let’s bounce before it gets too late. Are you using your nose Bosco?"
"I sure am." said Bosco, sniffing and snorting. "Turn here, turn here, turn this way, and go that way."
So, on they traveled, deeper and deeper into the Dark Castle of no return. It was very dark and scary. The hallways smelled like damp sewers, and water could be heard dripping in the distance.
"Wait!" said Mr. Koala Bear. He was really afraid now. “What’s that noise?”
“What noise?” asked Bosco, straining to hear. “I don’t hear anything at all.”
B
laze laughed nervously and answered: "He's probably talking about his heart. It's beating so fast and loud that it's scaring him." But then Joshua heard it too.
"Oh no guys. Mr. Koala Bear is right. There's a sound of something rushing towards us."
And something it was!
Hundreds and hundreds of arachnids were rushing towards them. Then they stopped and the one in front began to speak. "So you thought you had gotten away from us, aye? Well, we got you now, and you will definitely be a splendid dinner for me and my friends. "
"Oh yeah!" screamed Blaze. "We'll see about that." And with a great big long breath, Blaze opened his jaws and roared the loudest, fiercest roar in the world, clearly sounding like the mightiest lion in the world.
The terrible arachnids never heard such a loud fierce roar. It was so fierce and loud that they shuddered and scattered rapidly in a million different directions.
Even Mr. Koala Bear got scared and started to run away, but Joshua held fast to the frightened Koala Bear.
"Don't run Mr. Koala Bear. You're with us, on our side."
"OH-OH dear me. Yes-yes you're right. Wow! Was that a loud fierce roar." the Koala Bear was shaking from his toes to his head. "It scared the heebie-jeebies out of me."
"Come on, let's go." barked Bosco, and they raced down the narrow corridors. "To the left!" he directed eagerly.
"To the right! Sniff-sniff-sniff, left, sniff-sniff-sniff." He even led them under tables and chairs in the kitchen, and then down to the dungeons of the castle beneath the cellar. Forget about it. It was way-way under the castle in the deepest underground cavern that ever existed to mankind.
Joshua opened the door and there Sheryl was sitting on a huge chair weeping. When she saw Mr. Koala Bear and Joshua, she became extremely happy. Now, the tears that rolled down her cheeks were tears of joy, not of sadness. She leaped out of the chair and hugged her brother and the Koala Bear.
"Oh, I'm so happy to see you guys!" cried Sheryl. "These terrible creatures kidnapped me and . . .”
“Sure, sure," said Bosco kindly, “We'd like to hear all the details, but right now we better get out of here.”
"He's right!" exclaimed Joshua "let's go!"
They fled back into the dark cold hallways silently tip-toeing the way they had come. Not a noise could be heard except for their breathing. On each turn, they expected to be attacked, but so far, they were extremely lucky. Then, Blaze could no longer hold his excitement and began to sing awfully loud, loud enough to draw attention.
"We are the champions, my friends, and we'll keep on fighting to the end. We are the champions. We are the champions. We …”
"OH NO!" shouted Joshua in shock. "Blaze, you just gave us away.
"I'm sorry," said Blaze, clearly disgusted with himself and ready to cry.
"Come on! Let’s get out of here!" ordered Sheryl, leading the way. She knew that, at any moment, the giant nightcrawlers would show up. Meeting those night crawlers once again would not be any fun, but it was too late. There they were! Six great, big, hairy creatures that looked like spiders, but much more frightening and dangerous. They made gurgling noises like this.
(Sorry reader, but you are going to have to make some gurgling noises. Sort of like you are gargling water.)
The gurgling noises were followed by the click-clicketting noises chitinous insects would make.
(Tapping your pen or pencil on a hard surface would suffice.)
The night crawlers were blocking the only way out. They were slowly approaching them, and their fiery, red eyes showed that they were very angry.
Mr. Koala Bear nervously looked around for any means of escape. "Over here!" the frantic Koala Bear shouted to his friends while swinging his arms up in the air wildly.
"This door is open. Let’s go into this room and shut the door."
"Good idea." said Sheryl, feeling relieved. And so, they crowded into the room and shut the door behind them.
There it was, kids! What no one even expected to find. Not even the poor guy that wrote this story expected this turn of events. Laying majestically on a golden table was the Book of Truth -"The Holy Bible."
Yes! The Holy Bible, and it seems that the first owners of the castle believed in God's word and truth. But once the owner of the castle was gone, the new owners shut the door and neglected God's word, because he was evil. They all stared at the Bible in awe. This Holy Bible was shining with a brilliant, golden light. Joshua automatically knew what had to be done. He had to be truthful and honorable in the sight of God. So, he approached the golden table and Bible, and he knelt down on his knees and confessed the truth to our Father who art in heaven. And confess he did. Joshua admitted all his wrong to God and made a vow to the Creator that he would be a good boy. Joshua also accepted God's son, Jesus Christ, as his savior. And this made God very happy and proud.
God forgave Joshua for all his past sins just like God forgives us all for our past sins once we accept God through his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died by being hung on a cross. He was buried and arose on the third day. He died so that we might be saved.
As Joshua prayed, the door to the room began to vibrate and hum loudly. The nightcrawlers were trying to break in. They banged on the door violently until the door burst open, breaking into hundreds of little pieces.
This time the giant night crawlers were not alone. With them were robots that looked like humans in shiny black metal. The robots swarmed in but before the robots could touch anyone with their strong, bone crushing grip, the Holy Bible shined its golden- brilliant light, and from the heavens, a great voice said: "I am the God of Truth. Freeze!"
And with that commandment, the robots obeyed and froze. Even the spiders and giant nightcrawlers froze.
Even Mr. Koala Bear froze, but he froze because he was so scared.
"No! Not you, Mr. Koala Bear. Come on this way. Let’s go. Hurry up before these awful creatures wake up.
And they jetted back to the window where Reynaldo, the magic carpet flier, was waiting for them, whistling and tiredly looking at his watch.
"Well @1 it's about time." said the bald carpet rider. "You only had five minutes left.
As Reynaldo, the carpet flier, spoke, the frozen robots slowly began to move again."
(Reader ... please mime the robots for the kids. Thank you!)
"Oh no!" shouted Sheryl, "They're starting to move again, and they're coming this way!"
One of the robots tried to grab Joshua, but Apollo, the white pigeon, struck the robot in the face by flying directly into him.
"Get on the carpet!" yelled Bosco. And everyone got on the floating carpet outside the window except for Mr. Koala Bear. He was scared. "I'm scared of heights" wailed the terrified Koala Bear. "I can’t! I can’t do it."
One of the robots reached for the distraught Koala Bear from behind.
"Dive Mr. Koala! Dive! Have faith in God!" shouted Sheryl. "He's always with you."
The Koala Bear jumped towards the carpet that was magically floating a hundred feet from the ground.
"Aahh!" screamed the Koala Bear in fright and shock, and he crashed on to the floating, crowded carpet with a thump. Then the magic carpet zipped away into the sky.
As soon as the magic carpet was far enough, they all looked back at the dreadful castle and witnessed a great big hand extend from the white clouds. It touched the castle with its finger tip, and the castle disappeared, and with it also vanished the darkness that surrounded the area.
All the dark lands were turned into day.
"Wow!" they all gasped in stunned disbelief as God’s mighty hand retreated back into the clouds. The area was so clearly lit up by daylight that all the mountains and trees could be seen from miles and miles away.
"Follow me." said Apollo the white pigeon. "I'll take you back to the mountain where the entrance is to your room."
And then away they went, right to the tippitty-tippitty-top of the mountain and into the room they flew crashing into the bed.
The portal disappeared and so did Reynaldo and his magic carpet. Mr. Koala Bear and the lion slippers were once again quiet. The stop watch that belonged to Joshua’s' father was miraculously in his hand....
Early the next morning, Joshua and his sister Sheryl went into their parent's room and showered them with hugs and kisses. They did not mention anything about their adventure because parents don't understand these kind of adventures. Plus, his father would think that he was lying again. So instead, Joshua pulled out a beautiful gold colored Bible and together they studied from the Holy Bible. God watched from the sky, and he was happy.
After an hour of studying the scriptures with his family, Joshua said "Dad, I know that I lied and that was a rotten thing for me to do. I really suffered. Here's your watch back. I'm sorry. I will never lie to you again. Joshua and his father both cried, but they were tears of happiness and love.
Joshua's conscience was good now, and he really knew now that God loved him because God loves all his children who speak the truth.
Our great father in heaven is a good God of truth and loves righteousness.
They all studied the Holy Bible with great delight. Joshua looked at his feet and felt happy and proud as he watched his two lion slippers. He winked at them, and it looked like Blaze winked back, but he was not sure. Bosco smiled internally.
The Koala Bear was frozen still on Sheryl’s lap like a regular teddy bear. Apollo, the white pigeon, watched them all from the window sill, Studying and rejoicing in God and Jesus their savior.
And so it was that this boy had told a big lie that affected not only him but his entire family, bringing problems and suffering to them all. But because he was a good boy and a faithful believer in God and Christ, he chose never to lie again and came out victorious.
Kids, I'm not going to say he lived happily ever after because there is another part to this story! The nightcrawlers are very upset that Joshua saved his sister and chose to be faithful to God. So they are looking for help with Satan and will try to get revenge and stop Joshua from doing what is right in the eyes of the lord.
Join us in the next story, when the angry and prepared nightcrawlers come back with a lot of help and meaner than ever, for Joshua.
Kids, will Joshua and his friends be able to get away? He did get away the first time because you helped him. So lets help him again by remembering to say our prayers and never to tell a lie.
See you later. Your Brother, Gabriel.
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Dezigned By: LiL CaPoNe