"Hopper, you're a great storyteller, but your math needs work. I'm pretty sure it has been more than ten minutes."
"Just give me a sec," Hopper yelled from the bathroom.
"Did you wash your hands?"
"Yes Croak, I washed my hands and sang the birthday song twice. One for each hand."
"Good."
"But that's the thing about intermissions whether at a church between worship and sermon or any other small group event. The clock and host can say five or ten minutes but before they can start talking again they wait until everybody is out of the bathroom. Now where was I...oh yes! The bro...wnies?"
"Sorry. You took too long and my stomach is still trying to deal with the concept of patience."
"I'll just make some more, no biggie. This actually leads into my next point. In the Bible it talks about you reap what you sow; plant a seed, grow a harvest; and what you give, the Father will give back tenfold. Our pond was more a mission pond in that we focused more on spreading the good news to others and letting God handle the rest, but then why is our pond slowly dying? Shouldn't it be healthy and growing thanks to the tenfold we received back?"
"Hopper, it also says in Matthew 6: 19-21, 'Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy; and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
"I see now even you're against me!"
"Hopper, if you want me to relay to you the whole chapter you know I can and will."
"No, that won't be necessary Croak. I've read that chapter ten times over myself. You actually did good and didn't talk out of context at all. In fact, if you want a condensed overlay of the Bible and Christianity then that is one of the few chapters you should just read and it'll tell you everything.
Back to the story. After my dad and I hashed it out on how best to lead the people we decided since dad was older and wiser that he would lead while I just gave directions and corrected him if he ever spoke out of context.
For a while we were making good headway until….night fell. Crud! That is one part of this trip I hadn't thought about. When I did this trip excursion I was all alone and slept wherever I needed so I could make good on time but now there were people with me so it would take more than just a few days. Inside, I was flipping as I watched the sun slowly set lower and lower. The last time I took the town out on a trip I was more prepared and mom helped me get sleeping bags and such. Now, it was just us."
"What are we going to do when the sun goes down Joshua," my dad whispered in my ear.
I looked back at our clan and saw that people were already turning in for the night. Most shuffled their feet while others barely kept tempo and still others leaned against one another for support from falling. I called it.
"We're stopping here tonight," I shouted out, and everybody came to a sudden halt.
Dad poked my side and motioned for me to turn around.
"Oh great! A mountain," I thought to myself after I had turned around.
"What was worse; the grumbling and complaining started back up with the all too famous, 'Did you brng us out here to die? We'd had better benn off back at our dying pond.'"
"Do you want me to go up there?" Dad said, smiling.
I could tell that he was having too much fun with this and I tried my hardest to keep my anger in check. I knew that if dad went up, the people would toss me in the fire instead of their own jewely.
"Let's see what mom packed us first."
"Good idea! This pack is heavier than you and your pack combined. In your pack we have snacks...drinks...more drinks...more snacks. Man, we could survive for months on all of this alone. Can't wait to see what my pack holds. So far we got some more goodies...water...snacks...and. WAIT! Hold the phone. Son, come look at this."
"If it's a snake then you deal with it."
"A sna...noo! I wouldn't do that to you two trips in a row. We've made amends remember? Mom packed us some family size hammocks. But there's not enough. Hmmm. S.N.A.C.K.S. Wonder what that means?"
"Let me see that," I said, pulling the bag from his hands before he could object.
"S.N.A.C.K.S! Hmmm. Pull here. That looks more like a pill...then...Dad!! This is not a travel bag. Let me see the others."
"Okay, here. But in yours there were two bags. What does snacks mean?"
"Dad, let me introduce you to the twenty second century. S.N.A.C.K.S: sleep, noiselessly, around campfires; kick some z's. This is a sleeping bag. Look."
I pulled on the tab and sure enough it folded out to a full size sleeping bag. I wonder if Mary ever packed stuff for Jesus when He was heading places? Anyways, we passed hammocks, snacks, and drinks out but one thing still felt off. I folded out the third sleeping bag and it hit me. Where was Aaron?