Sarah came in from school one afternoon feeling a little grumpy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wish I was a bit taller,\u201d she announced to no-one in particular as she put her bag down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh hullo Uncle Jeff\u201d, she added, \u201cI didn\u2019t see you there. We haven\u2019t seen you for a while!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo I\u2019ve been busy,\u201d he said, \u201cBut I thought I would come over and catch up with what you young ones are up to. Anyway,\u201d he went on, \u201cWhat\u2019s this bit about wishing you were taller?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always have trouble getting my bag down off the rack on the school bus,\u201d she said, \u201cThe taller boys always seem to push it further back than I can reach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s too bad,\u201d said Uncle Jeff, \u201cI can think of another person who had trouble because he was too short, and he lived a long time ago in another country\u2026.let me tell you about him\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201d The story comes from the Bible and this man\u2019s name was Zaccheus. I heard a person the other day tell the story like this. He said that the story of Zaccheus has four \u2018D\u2019s in it and if you can remember them it might be a help when things go wrong \u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sarah settled herself down on the couch and said, \u201cGo on Uncle Jeff. I always like hearing your stories. What was the first \u2018D\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe had this great \u2018Desire\u2019 to see Jesus as he had heard so much about Him. But when he saw the huge crowd that was crowded around Him, he knew that there was no way he could even get a glimpse of Him because he was only a short little man. But he was \u2018Determined\u2019 he was going to see what He was like, From this determination, came the impetus to \u2018DO\u2019 something about it, so he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into a large leafy tree he knew was growing there. From there he could look down on the people as they went by, and they couldn\u2019t see him perched up there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The noisy crowd came closer and he could see Jesus in the middle. Then to everyone\u2019s surprise, Jesus stopped right under the tree and looked up into it. \u201cZaccheus, come down!\u2019 He called out, \u2018I want to eat at your place today.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a scuffle up in the tree, and the little man clambered down, and went ahead to his house. Jesus followed and the crowd waited outside for a couple of hours until both Jesus and Zaccheus came out again. Jesus held up His hand and said, \u2018Today salvation has come to this house\u2026.you tell them Zaccheus\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018 I\u2019ve told the Teacher that I\u2019ve done wrong\u201d, Zaccheus said, \u201cand I\u2019ve also told Him that I\u2019m going to pay any of you back four times what I took from you wrongly\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c He was a \u2018Different\u2019 man after that,\u201d Uncle Jeff went on, \u201cHe was a happy chappy now, and he was honest with his money deals. It\u2019s like that for us too when we tell Jesus about our grumpiness, and ask Him to help us\u2026.first of all we need to have the Desire to change and then be \u201cI guess that\u2019s right, \u201c Sarah said slowly, \u201cWe have to DO something about what we need, before God can change how we feel and act\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s right, my girl\u201d, said Uncle Jeff, \u201cNow let\u2019s get this drink and you\u2019ll feel even better!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sarah came in from school one afternoon feeling a little grumpy. \u201cI wish I was a bit taller,\u201d she announced to no-one in particular as she put her bag down. \u201cOh hullo Uncle Jeff\u201d, she added, \u201cI didn\u2019t see you there. We haven\u2019t seen you for a while!\u201d \u201cNo I\u2019ve been busy,\u201d he said, … Continue reading The Four “D”s.<\/span>
Determined to DO something about it. It\u2019s only then that we can become Different in the way we feel and act!\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n