Small Things Can Be Dangerous

From SPARK

One-sentence summary

Twelve page flipchart true story about a young girl who lived in the Markham Valley in Papua New Guinea.

Description

Here is the basic script of the story.

A girl worked on a coffee plantation with her parents. This is where coffee trees grow. One hot day she rested on a pile of sticks. Hidden among the sticks was a poisonous death adder. It bit her. Her screams brought her parents running to help. They had no medicine strong enough. Her father carried her to the next village where there was help.

A radio call asked for an airplane to fly the girl to the hospital. The missionaries and parents prayed as they waited. They asked God to keep the girl alive until medicine was available.

The small plane arrived. The girl and her parents were quickly put aboard. When the plane landed an ambulance was waiting to rush her to the hospital. At the hospital the doctor injected her with a medicine that saved her life. A machine helped her breathe. A week later the girl was able to return to her own village.

Only the doctor had medicine to overcome the bite of the death adder. He had the medicine but the girl had to agree to take it. Many others have died because they didn't get the doctor's medicine. Doctors want to give the medicine but people must ask for it.

The death adder is a small snake. It has small teeth. But its bite is deadly poisonous. Even a baby adder has enough venom to kill an adult with one bite.

The poison is like sin. Sin can look so small but it too is deadly. One bite is enough to kill us. The Bible says, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23.)

The death adder bites in one place but its poison spreads through the whole body. Sin looks little but it affects our whole lives. We've all been bitten by sin. Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned" and so we will die. But it is not just our bodies that will die. Our soul - the life part of us, will die too. Because of sin we are separated from God and that means spiritual death.

There is only one cure for the bite of sin. "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". (Romans 6:23) Jesus gave his life on the cross. He died so that we would not have to be punished for sin. The cure for sin is available but we have to accept it. The young girl would have died if she had refused the medicine. We will die spiritually if we refuse God's medicine for sin.

The final page of this story tells how to pray to become a believer in Jesus. It gives ideas how to grow in ones spiritual life.

Considerations

• This story will be easy for children in the South Pacific to understand and apply to their lives. Snakes are a real danger and so is sin.
• The story can be made culturally appropriate where needed.
• The black and white drawings can be colored for use by individual language groups.

Limitations

• The story tells about two missionaries who were the ones who called for the airplane and who led the prayers. This might cause problems in some cultures.

Guidelines for Use

• The story could be told orally using simple props.
• It could be made into a filmstrip.
• The story could be a radio program for children.
• It could be made into a small booklet to color.
• The story could be recorded on audio cassette.

Where to Obtain

Link to Producer or Source Organization

Summer Institute of Linguistics, Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. It may be out of print but will soon be available free of charge, on this web site.

Cost

Will soon be available free.

Producer/Owners

Author/Artist/Producer

Current copyright owner

Other Information

Reviewed by

Vida, VMS Children's Resources

Date

March 18, 2008