setup: [E-Mail Ministry] The Ant and the Grasshopper

The following is an E-Mail Ministry message.

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

A mother of a 9 year old boy, Mark, received a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. It was the teacher from her son's school.

"Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today in your son's third grade class. Your son did something that surprised me so much that I thought you should know about it immediately."

Mother seldom want to hear from their child's teacher in the middle of the day. The mother was uneasy and nervous by such a beginning to a phone call. "What now?" the mother wondered.

The teacher continued, "I have been teaching for many years and nothing like this has happened until now. This morning I was teaching a lesson on creative writing. And as I always do, I tell the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The ant works hard all summer and stores up plenty of food. But the grasshopper plays all summer and does no work.

Then winter comes. The grasshopper begins to starve because he has no food. So he hops to the ants house and begins to beg. 'Please Mr. Ant, you have much food please let me eat, too.' Now boys and girls your job is to write the ending to the story.

Your son, Mark, raised his hand. "Teacher, may I draw a picture?"

"Well, yes, Mark, if you like, you may draw a picture. But first you must write the ending to the story."

The papers came in. As in all the years past, most of the students said that the ant shared his food through the winter and both the ant and the grasshopper lived.

As always, a few children said, 'The ant said, "No, Mr. Grasshopper. You should have worked in the summer and not played. Now, I have just enough food for myself." So the ant lived and the grasshopper died.

But your son ended the story in a way different from any other child, ever. He wrote, "So the ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper; the grasshopper lived through the winter. But the ant died."

And the picture?

At the bottom of the page, Mark had drawn three crosses. "He gave everything to us so that we might live; but Jesus died."

-- Author Unknown

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
THIS MESSAGE WAS SENT VIA YAHOO GROUPS

Visit our website at: http://www.emailministry.org

Like us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/E-Mail-Ministry/146699155358855
Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/EMailMinistry
Download the smart phone app (for iPhone, Android and/or Blackberry) at: http://localfreeapps.com/market/install.php?appid=220

HOW DO I SUBSCRIBE? Send a blank e-mail to: EMailMinistry+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Messages are sent out on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. Subscribe now, it's FREE!

HOW DO I UNSUBSCRIBE? Send a blank e-mail to emailministry+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
If this message was forwarded to you from another person, please notify them that you are not interested in receiving any further messages.

LEGAL STUFF: E-Mail Ministry and its sponsor run this message as submitted and do not claim to own any copyright privileges on it. The work was submitted to us as an item for distribution, and it was posted solely on the basis of its quality. It is the belief of E-Mail Ministry and its sponsors that this message is in the common domain.

"E-Mail Ministry" is a trademark of E-Mail Ministry, Inc.
-- Doug Boebinger
-- The entire Staff of E-Mail Ministry