Watermelon Burglar

Read: Psalm 32:1-5 Asher looked up when he heard a knock at the window. Mom was outside motioning for him to join her. He pressed the pause button for his video game and ran out to the backyard. Mom was standing behind the garage, looking at the ground. “There’s something here I want you to see,” she said, pointing down. “Look at those plants.” There, almost hidden by tall grass, Asher saw a cluster of green vines. “Those are watermelon plants,” Mom said. “The funny thing is, I never planted any watermelons.” “Maybe they got planted accidentally,” Asher said. “Maybe a squirrel dropped some seeds there.” “You think so?” Mom asked, raising an eyebrow. “I was thinking of something else. Remember when someone stole a watermelon from Mr. Smith’s garden last summer? The whole neighborhood was talking about it. He was planning to enter it in a contest.” “Yeah.” Asher shifted uncomfortably. “It was as big around as a basketball, wasn’t it?” “You seem to remember a lot more details than I do,” Mom said. “I don’t remember how big it was, but I was wondering if maybe the person who stole it came here, ate it, and then buried the rinds and seeds so no one would find out.” “I…uh…I guess that could have happened,” Asher said quietly. His face was red. Mom looked at him closely. “Is there something you need to tell me?” Asher refused to look her in the eye. “It was you, wasn’t it, Asher?” Mom said softly. “I wondered about it last summer because of the way you reacted back then.” “I…I…Ward and I did it,” Asher finally said, close to tears. “When we buried everything, I thought that would be the end of it. I didn’t know those little green plants were going to come up and tell on me!” “Sin often pops back up to tell on us when we try to hide it,” said Mom. “The good news is no matter what you’ve done or how you’ve tried to hide it, you can always confess it to Jesus and He’ll forgive you.” Mom wiped a tear from Asher’s cheek. “I’ll walk you over to Mr. Smith’s house so you can tell him what you’ve done and ask him to forgive you too.” –Harry C. Trover How about you? When you do something wrong, do you try to hide it? You may be able to keep parents, teachers, or friends from knowing what happened, but you can’t hide anything from God. Instead of trying to keep the sin a secret, confess what you’ve done to Jesus and ask Him to forgive you. Then ask anyone you’ve hurt for their forgiveness too. Today's key verse: God, you know my faults. I cannot hide my sins from you. Psalm 69:5 (ERV) Today's key thought: You can’t hide sin