Shadrach, Meshach and ToBedWeGo

From my upcoming book:  Kings and Things:  Stories of the Old Testament

I have a young friend who wanted to tell

A bible story to us

She closed her eyes and took a big breath

And slowly told it thus

There once were three men from Israel

Who’d been taken from their places

To live in a strange and far off land

Where no one knew their faces

My friend begin to say their names

Shadrach and his friend Meshach

But when it came time to name the third

Her memory got quite slack

The third one’s name is … ummm…let’s see

I’m certain that I know

It’s right here on my little tongue

Oh yes, ToBedWeGo

I made a face she couldn’t see

And giggled soft and low

Cause I knew the name to be

For sure, Abendago

But names like that are hard to say

So it’s alright you see

My friend took one more great big breath

And continued to tell me

It seems the King was quite a grouch

And made some silly law

That everyone should bow down low

And treat him with great awe

But these three guys decided not

To worship that old King

They would only bow to God

And to no other thing

The King got mad and yelled out loud

Throw them in the fire

I’ll teach them not to disobey

So turn the flames up higher

When the King stared at the three

He thought that he would croak

For there they were not even burnt

Or even smelled of smoke

I love the way she told that tale

How her little face did glow

And how she said their names aloud

Espcially ToBedWeGo

Scoopy and Brian

It’s been a productive Christmas break.  During the downtime I was able to churn out the rough draft of a new book, “Scoopy and Brian.”

Just so you know, Scoopy and Brian were my son Drew’s imaginary friend when he was young.  I started thinking about the three of them and started writing about them.

Here is a sample, the first piece entitled, naturally enough, Scoopy and Brian.

Scoopy and Brian

This story I tell happened long, long ago

But maybe it was just yesterday

I had two friends who were so dear to me

And deep in my memory they stay

These were two friends that I cherished the most

Of all of the ones that I knew

They were right with me through thicker and thin

Whatever we wanted to do

One was a blonde haired and blue eyed young chap

With a grin that would you all laugh

He wore a happy yet worn out ball cap

That blew off when he ran real fast

He wore that old hat, morning, noon and at night

He even wore it to bed

Brian, my friend, was a giggling boy

Who laughed at whatever was said

The other had hair that was flaming bright red

With freckles all over his nose

His favorite outfit was basketball shorts

With cowboy boots covering his toes

He had a name that would make you all snicker

And what a great name he did keep

Scoopy, my friend, with his freckles ablaze

Was the funniest guy you could meet

From the moment we awoke and jumped from our beds

Till the second mom said it was time

To finish our play and take a hot bath

Then put on our jammies at night

We’d fill every day with adventures that might

Make big people grouchy and annoyed

Yet we’d travel far and we’d travel quite wide

Gathering wonderful friends and their toys

So load up your pals and let’s go for a ride

And we’ll spend a warm day just a tryin

To have a great time with our two newest buddies

Having big fun with Scoopy and Brian

Joshua Fought the Battle of Cherry Coke

...from my upcoming book, "Kings and Things:  Stories of the Old Testament"

One day my friend Charlie came over for lunch

After Sunday school was done

We talked about stories the teacher had told

We each told our favorite one

Charlie said, “ooooh, let me tell you the best

The one that I like most of all

It’s all about this fellow named Josh

And the fall of the Cherry Coke wall

I scratched my head and said, “Are you sure?

That Cherry Coke was the name of the place

I don’t remember this story at all

But Charlie just made a big face

He told about Joshua and the people he led

And how they marched all round the wall

Then finally one day they gave a big shout

And the walls of great Cherry Coke did fall

I still had my doubts, but I let Charlie go

Since he told the story so well

But I wondered about the name of that town

In that tale that Charlie did tell

Then I thought a while longer and I thought a bit more

So Charlie might have slightly misspoke

But is it more fun to say Jericho out loud

Or say with a wink, “Cherry Coke?”