Part 1, The Rule Haters
By Steve Severance
"Seeya later Grandma," called Erica as she and her twin sister ran out the door and hopped onto their bikes.
"Woe, not so fast, girls, where are you going?" replied Grandma.
"To the fort!" the girls said in unison.
"But you haven't finished your chores yet. You know the rules, no playing till your chores are finished."
Wearing a pout on her face, Amber got off her bicycle while Erica argued, "But the meeting starts in 2 minutes. We'll be late if we don't go now. We'll do them later."
Grandma firmly replied "No you won't do them later. You will come inside and finish those dishes, now."
The twins slowly walked back in the house and into the kitchen, wearing twin pouts on their faces. They looked so angry that Waggles, their little poodle, backed up behind the door to hide.
"Rules, I hate rules." Muttered Amber as she tossed a bowl she'd just washed into the other sink for Erica to rinse.
"Hey, be careful with those dishes or you'll brake one and we'll really be in trouble!" Erica commanded.
Amber placed another bowl in the sink, more carefully this time, and muttered, "Why does Grandma have to have so many rules"
"I wish we didn't have to have any rules," replied Erica as she picked up another dish to rinse. "They're just there to take away our fun."
The twins took longer than usual with the dishes because they spent so much time bellyaching about rules. The meeting was well underway when the girls finally peddled their bikes up to a stop behind the two big billboards which the fort was built on the back of. Amber and Erica called the password up to the clubers "Say-e-yaw, say-e-yaw." Kevin grabbed the rope latter and let it down for the girls. "Where've you two been? The meeting started 10 minutes ago!"
"Never mind," Amber replied. "What's happening?"
"We where just talking about what Mrs. Vines said in our Junior Sabbath School class yesterday about God's rules, the ten commandments." Said Max; he emphasized the word Junior because he was so proud that he had just graduated into the junior class. He knew the twins were very jealous, they still had a year till they could graduate to juniors.
"They talk about rules in the junior class?" Erica asked, raising her eyebrows.
Amber finished Erica's thought for her, "Maybe I'm glad I'm still nine and in primary!" everyone laughed,
Erica continued, "I think rules are just something adults make up to make kid's lives miserable." The twins put the pouts back on their faces.
"WOE, what's with that attitude?" Kevin asked, he'd never heard the twins say such things. Normally they were pretty good, and pleasant.
Max thought for 3 seconds then asked, "does this attitude have something to do with your being late?"
Both girls looked at each other to decide whether they should tell or not, communicating silently, as only the twins could do. Derrick muttered, "I hate when they do that secret communication stuff".
Finally Amber spoke up in a sarcastic voice, "yeah, Grandma said 'it's the rule, you have to do the dishes before you can play.'" Then the twins told the rest of the clubbers the whole story.
Derrick, their older brother, said, "you know, the easiest way to keep from having problems like that is to just get your chores done first thing, like I do."
Erica and Amber knew their brother was right but didn't want to admit it. So they changed the subject. "So what did Mrs. Vines say about God's rules?"
"She said God's law is a reflection of His character." Max replied.
Jenna got a confused look on her face. She didn't understand a lot of the things her friends would talk about, since she didn't go to their church. "What does that mean?" she asked.
"Well I think it means that if we want to know what God is like we need to look at what the ten commandments say because that's what God is like." Kevin replied.
"Well if that's how God is, I'm not too sure I like Him. Thou shalt not, Thou shalt not, don't do this, don't do that. It's just like the rules adults make up. I don't like them." Retorted Erica.
"Jenna's lucky, her mom doesn't have so many rules. And she never makes her do anything." Amber said wistfully.
"At least your moms and dads and grandparents spend time with you even if they do make you obey. My mom just let's me do what I want then gets mad and yells at me when I annoy her or get hurt. I wish my mom did tell me what to do sometimes." Jenna replied.
Just then they heard a deep voice from down on the ground, "Hey kids, toss the ladder to me please."
Kevin whispered to the other clubbers with a smirk on his face, "It's Uncle Dave, let's make him say the password"
"Let's" replied Jenna.
"Hey are you gonna let me in or what?" Dave called.
Kevin cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "what's the password?"
"Oh, come on guys. It's Uncle Dave, just toss the ladder. I don't need a password"
"Nope, you have to say the password" Derrick hollered to Dave.
"Yeah, It's the rule." The twins said in unison then tried to stifle twin giggles.
"Oh, alright" came the deep voice from the ground, "say-e-yaw, say-e-yaw."
"Toss the latter." The whole gang said. The rope whistled through the air and landed with a thump. Then came the creeek squeek of the rope as it complained under Dave's weight. The rope latter was meant for 10 year old kids not almost adults like Dave.
"What's up, guys" said Dave as he crawled through the door. Jenna, Amber and Erica cleared their throats "uh, sorry. Guys and girls" Dave added quickly.
Kevin said, "we were talking about God's rules"
"You mean the Ten Commandments?" asked Dave.
"Yes," max replied, "Mrs. Vines said the Ten commandments are a reflection of God's character."
"Your Sabbath School teacher is right—"Dave began
Jenna interrupted. "But that doesn't sound like He's a very nice God, don't do this don't do that. I thought God is Love."
Amber added, "All these laws just don't let us have any fun."
"Ohh, I see the problem." Dave said with a smile, "you don't really understand God's laws and why they're there. He doesn't make laws just because He can. Let's look at His law."
"I know where it's found." Max said raising his hand, "Exodus chapter 20."
"That's right," Uncle Dave snapped to attention, bumping his head on the ceiling, and like an army drill Sargent called, "Draw your swords, clubbers, and turn to Exodus 20."
The kid's scurried around to find their Bibles and look up Exodus twenty. Kevin was the first to find it and stand up. He waited till the others had found the passage then gave Dave a salute. Dave sat back down, rubbing his head and muttering something about making the ceiling higher. Then continued talking. "God's attributes can be seen in His law. For instance David wrote, 'The law of the Lord is Perfect' and 'The testimony of the Lord is true.' That's in Psalm 19 verses 7 and 8. God is both Perfect and true. And we can see that in the His law."
"What's 'the testimony of the Lord'?" Jenna wanted to know.
Max replied "I think it's another name for the God's law. Isn't it?"
"Well yes it is God's law, but it's also anything that God says. So it means that anything God says is true. Now for each of the Ten Commandments there is a positive way of saying it. Kevin, go ahead and read the first one. It's in verse 3."
"OK, let's see, here it is 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' Kevin read.
"Now," Dave said, "the positive version would go like this, 'I'm all you're going to need. I'm the only living God and I don't want you to waste time and energy serving fake gods that will only hurt you. If you serve me only, you'll be happy.' See how it works? Now, Derrick can you read the next one? Verses 4, 5 and 6"
Derrick found the verse and began to read. "'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.' Wow that doesn't sound very nice"
"Yeah," Erica added, "God said He would punish those who didn't obey."
"Have you ever broken a rule and been punished for it?" asked Dave.
The Twins looked down at the floor, and all the clubbers admitted that they had.
"Why did your parents punish you?"
"Because they love us and want us to stop before we get hurt?" Kevin ventured.
"That's right, see laws are meant to protect us and others. When we brake those laws someone is likely to get hurt. If you brake any of the Ten Commandments it will hurt you. God will sometimes punish us, like a good parent will, to try to keep us from doing things that will hurt us."
The room was silent for a minute then Max said quietly, "Then, God's commandments show us that God loves us and wants us to be as happy as possible. So He tells us not to do things that will hurt us and tells to do things that will make us happier."
"Well put." replied Dave, "And speaking of rules…" Dave said as he looked at Max, "I'd better get you home, you know the rule is you are to be home by suppertime."
"Wow I didn't realize it was that time already" said Max, then turning to Kevin, their club leader he said, "I move that this meeting of the KIM club be adjourned"
Clearing his throat, Kevin said as officially as he could, "Is there a Second on the motion?" he'd seen his dad do this in meetings many times.
Derrick raised his hand saying "I second the motion, sir."
"All in favor raise your hand" all 6 hands went up. Kevin banged a hammer against the table and said. "It is unanimous, Motion carried"
"Where is the motion being carried to?" asked Amber.
"That means that everyone agrees and it's going to happen" Erica whispered to her sister while she jabbed her elbow into Amber's side.
"Ow, that hurt." Amber whispered back.
"Uh, before y'all go," Dave said, "how 'bout y'all all take one of the commandments and figure out why God gave it then report back in your next meeting."
< P>"That's a great idea," Kevin said, "is there a second on the motion?""Kevin, you can't do that after the meeting is adjourned" Derrick corrected him.
"Oh, sorry" Kevin said, "Max why don't you take the third commandment in verse 7, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. Derrick, you take the fourth, in verses 8 through 11, Remember the Sabbath day. Erica, you take the 5th verse 12, honor your father and mother, and I think that applies to your grandma and grandpa in this case."
"Do I have too?" Erica complained. Amber jabbed her with her elbow.
Kevin continued, "Amber, you take the 6th. Verse 13, don't kill. Jenna, the 7th, don't commit adultery verse 14. And I'll do the 8th don't steal. And Dave will do the rest, right Dave?
"Thanks a lot Kevin, sure I'll do it, but this is your club not mine."
And with that everyone was off. They all slid down the rope, hopped on their bikes and headed home.
As Derrick, Erica, and Amber rode their bikes home Erica looked at Amber, and Amber looked at Erica and they communicated silently, as only twins can, "I still don't like rules." Then, at the same moment, they sped up and passed their brother leaving him in their dust. Derrick shifted his Bike into a higher gear and peddled after them, muttering, "I hate when they do that twin communication thing."
To Be Continued. Read the next chapter, "The secret"
© 2002 by Uncle Steve Severance