Barabas and Uncle Floyd are at the hospital.  Don’t worry!  Barabas is okay.  He is just here for a check-up.  Do you remember he was in an accident some time ago and his vase got broken?  It was replaced but then last summer he was sick a lot and had a fever and they found that he needed yet another new vase.  THIS vase is finally the RIGHT one!

Nurse Fran asked Barabas to lift up his clothes up so she could check his vase. 

You know, it USED to make Barabas angry that ALL his friends and family, that EVERYONE he knows, has legs and feet and HE has a vase!  That USED to make him angry.  But something changed last summer when they installed the second vase.  His whole outlook changed.  NOW he thinks it is kind of neat to have that difference.

In fact, now that Barabas is no longer ANGRY about that difference, it is like it has made his EYESIGHT better, because NOW he can see that he is not the ONLY person with a vase.  He looked closely at Nurse Fran . . . and guess what he noticed.  SHE also has a vase.

Nurse Fran saw that Barabas saw her vase.  Their eyes met and she smiled.  And, because Barabas was a bit embarrassed, he looked away.  Nurse Fran did a very compassionate thing next, because Nurse Fran is a very compassionate person.  Nurse Fran engaged Barabas in a conversation about all the ADVANTAGES of having a vase, like;

You don’t have to learn to tie your shoes.

You don’t have to put boots on when you go out in the snow.

You can wait a LONG time before you have to go to the bathroom.

Barabas added “Having a vase makes your body very strong and very tall.”  They had such a good conversation, they forgot all about Uncle Floyd even being there.  It was like there was just the two of them in the room. 

Uncle Floyd sat and smiled and smiled at this wonderful young man, his nephew Barabas, whom he loves deeply.

Uncle Floyd thought about how angry Barabas used to be about so many things.  He could see such a change in him now. This is the OLD Barabas.  (Place the former Barabas puppet on table)  Remember how he always looked so angry.  And look at the difference!

Uncle Floyd thought to himself “I reckon God has truly healed Barabas, inside and out.”

In today’s Bible lessons, we heard the stories about how people were healed by God’s Compassionate Love.  Jesus brings that healing to us, right here and now, just as we have seen in Barabas. 

And even more than that, Jesus heals us of our sinfulness (place crucifix on table) to bring us to live with His Father in Heaven.  THE END

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