Socks.

Dodger:  Hey there!  I'm glad to see you.  Can you believe how close it is to Spring?  I'm just looking forward to being outside more often.

Lilly:  I'm glad you came too.  To answer your question, Dodger, I can believe it, but what I can't believe is that I lost an hour of sleep.  "Spring forward" drives me crazy.  I forgot to set my clock ahead, so I woke up late and had to rush out the door to get to Church, and on my way out I tore one of my socks.

Dodger:  Um...your socks?

Lilly:  Yes.

Dodger: ...why would you need socks?

Lilly:  Isn't it obvious?

Dodger: Well, not really...

Lilly:  Well anyway, I'm going to have to mend it.

Dodger:  Why not just throw it away?

Lilly:  Oh, they're pretty special socks.  My favorite pair, actually.

Dodger:  I see...Why are they your favorite?

Lilly:  They were made by my grandmother, and they're the only pair in the whole world like them.

Dodger:  So the person who made them is what makes them special.

Lilly:  Right-o.  She did a really good job on them, too.

Dodger:  So you're absolutely certain you won't throw them away?

Lilly:  Absolutely, positively certain.

Dodger:  In that case, I think people have something in common with socks.

Lilly:  Beg pardon??

Dodger:  Well, the sock failed on you.  You aren't going to throw it away, though, because it's special to you.

Lilly:  That's right.

Dodger:  And each person who ever lived (except Jesus) has failed God, right?

Lilly:  Right.

Dodger:  So then, each of us is like a sock!

Lilly:  I'm not sure I get it yet.

Dodger:  Well, look at this sock:

That's one whopper of a hole.  But is it useless?

Lilly:  I really can't say.

Dodger:  I can tell you for certain that it's not.  For example, it makes a great Yoshi nose warmer:

It's also a great opera singer:

SOCKer, THE World's GREATEST OPERA SINGING SOCK!

  

Lilly:  It's a tad obnoxious.  I think the title kind of set us up for more than it delivered...

Dodger:  Well, yeah.  The point though, is that you could still do something with it.  God sees us in a similar way.  Even though we fail Him, make poor decisions, and sometimes, through no fault of our own, end up in bad spots we can't control, He still loves us and works through us to do amazing things- things far greater than tone-deaf opera singing socks.

Lilly:  As opposed to throwing us away?

Dodger:  Exactly.  God never just tosses us aside.  First of all, He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins so we could be considered sinless.  Second, He gives us everything we have.  Nothing you have came to you apart from God.  Third, He never gives up on us.

Lilly:  Are there some Biblical examples of this?

Dodger:  Yes there are.  Moses is one.  He actually killed someone before God called on him to  lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery.  Nonetheless, he did lead Israel out of Egypt and actually saw God's back, something no other person in the Old Testament did.

Lilly:  I thought of another example.  What about Peter, who denied Jesus three times?  He became one of the church's greatest leaders and led thousands of people to Christ!

Dodger:  Yep, and don't forget the story in 1 Kings 17:8-16 of Elijah and the unnamed widow.  It goes like this: 

"Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”  So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.”  And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”  And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.  For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’”  So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.  The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah."  (NKJV)

Isn't it amazing what God did with that woman's act of obedience?  She went from hungry and hopeless to helped and hopeful because God did not forget her, but worked through what she did have to bring a miracle! 

Lilly:  So when things go wrong, whether it's your fault or not, never, ever, assume that it's because God dislikes you or that He's going to forget you or hate you because you failed, because that's not true.  He's proud of you, loves you passionately, and will always look out for you, because you're more valuable to Him than anything.

Dodger:  All the same, I'm glad we don't smell like socks.

Lilly:  Me too.

Dodger:  Well, I've got to get ready for tomorrow's game.

Lilly:  You play sports?

Dodger:  Chess club, actually.

Lilly:  Oh.  Wait...aren't you and I opponents?

Dodger:  Yes.  That's why I'm getting ready to celebrate my victory.

Lilly:  You mean my victory?

Dodger:  We shall see.  At any rate,  I'm very glad you stopped by!  Thanks for coming, and remember, Jesus loves you, and that's not about to change!

Lilly:  Hey, Dodger?  What's the Yoshis' word for goodbye?

Dodger:  Um...I think it's "Yoshi".

Lilly:  Well in that case, Yoshi!

(NKJV Means New King James Version)