Early morning light shone on a little girl standing at the end of a driveway. A yellow school bus, with brakes squawking, stopped in front of her. The girl looked back one more time to see her mother waving goodbye from the window of their house. She climbed the steps onto the bus. The steps were high for her skinny six-year-old legs to climb, especially with knees jittering. This would be her first time to ride the bus.
The driver was kind and greeted her as she came aboard. This stop was near the beginning of the bus route, so most seats were open. The girl chose a place in the front of the bus, near the driver. Her saddle-shoed feet dangled from the cold vinyl seat. Her red and yellow plaid metal lunchbox rested snuggly by her side. With eyes wide open she watched the other children board the bus, one by one, as the long route proceeded.
A group of boys settled in near where she sat. They were older than the girl, and were loud and boisterous as they laughed and teased each another. The loudest one had a brown jacket on. The girl huddled closer to the window at the end of her seat.
The bus neared the edge of town. The driver stopped the bus at a stop sign and turned around to talk to the little girl. “You get dropped off at the Christian school, right?”
The girl stared and nodded. That’s where she had walked to school before her family had moved to the country. Her first grade teacher and classmates would all be there. Yes, that must be where she was supposed to go.
All the other children seated around her belonged to the public school, a few blocks farther down the street. Several more students in the back of the bus would get dropped off at the Christian school too, but they were older. The little girl did not know them.
The boy with the brown jacket paused to look at the girl. He asked her, “Are you a Christian?” He was not teasing. He just wanted to know.
The little girl thought a moment. I’m going to a Christian school. I go to church. Does that mean I’m a Christian? “I-I think so,” she said.
The boy nodded and turned back to his friends. In a few moments the bus stopped in front of the Christian school.
The little girl never forgot the question. She never forgot her answer. “Am I a Christian?” she thought over and over. No—no, I don’t just think I’m a Christian. I know I belong to Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit told me so in His word. He saved me and he makes me to know it. Yes—yes, I’m a Christian. That is what I will say next time.
Find all the underlined words from the following verses in the puzzle below:
“Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Acts 11:25, 26
DNUOFWSOTNUSPE
ETWHOLELPTNEHW
LBDYDSVBDAHTFR
LANESELPICSIDY
ARAALMETUTRSEH
CNNRFBSMTSWHPI
EATMOIMCTATEAM
LBIIRSEEKNHHRN
PAOHOMHCSDGTTE
OSCGACTARSUSEH
ELHCRUHCLUASDT
PANDBROUGHTIWC