Run!

As Charlotte carefully counted out the money she had taken from her drawer, her sister Rachel watched from the bed. The girls had decided to pool their money and get their mom a special gift for Mother's Day. "We should go around the neighborhood and ask if there are any odd jobs we can do," said Charlotte. "Then we might have enough money to get Mom that necklace we saw.""Well, Mrs. Stowe is always looking for someone to do yard work for her. Let's try her," suggested Rachel.Soon the girls were mowing and raking Mrs. Stowe's yard. It was a very humid day, and they were hot and sweaty by the time they finished. Wiping her forehead, Rachel gratefully took the money Mrs. Stowe gave them and put it in her pocket."I'm thirsty," said Charlotte as they started down the street. "I'd give anything for an ice-cold soda right now!""Or a huge cone of chocolate ice cream," said Rachel. "But we can't spend any of our money or we might not have enough for the necklace."Just then, the girls heard the music of an ice cream truck as it came around the corner. "Ice cream!" called out the driver. "Ice-cold drinks!"Charlotte and Rachel looked at each other. "This is so tempting, Rachel," said Charlotte. "What should we do?""Run!" shouted Rachel. And they did! They ran straight home and immediately poured themselves giant glasses of ice water.Later that day, they counted their earnings. Charlotte turned and grinned at Rachel. "We have just enough to get that necklace. Good thing we didn't spend any on anything that ice cream truck was selling.""Yeah," Rachel said. "It's like what we learned at church last week--when we face the temptation to sin, the best thing to do is run away. Because Jesus freed us from sin, we don't have to give in. He will help us escape temptation and do what's right instead.""But spending our money on ice cream wouldn't have been a sin, would it?" asked Charlotte."Of course not," said Rachel. "But we agreed to use it all on Mom's gift, and I'm glad we stuck to that decision. And when we are tempted to do something that's wrong, we can run away from that temptation too." –Linda E. Knight