Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 "Do I?!" Merle exclaimed. "Best baklava ever!" "What's baklava?" Sadie asked. "Nuts and honey on a light, flaky crust!" Merle licked his squirrel lips. "Merle!" Pearl said. "Not the dessert— the people." "Oh yeah. Them, too. Nice folks." "Yes, nice, but some of them weren't the hardest workers," Pearl said. "Not long before our raft ride to the Dead Sea, the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the new

Christians in Thessalonica. Some of the people in the church there had stopped working and were just taking it easy." "Why's that?" asked Michael. "Before he wrote the letter, a few years after Jesus' death and resurrection, Paul had visited the people in Thessalonica to tell them about what Jesus had done. He also told them that Jesus would be coming back soon," Pearl said. "Some of them figured, 'Our troubles will be over soon, so why bother breaking a sweat? Might as well just relax!'" Merle said. Pearl continued, "Paul told them, 'We hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people's business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.'" Merle added, "That's not too different from what King Solomon said: 'Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.' We're squirrels, so we should know. If we work hard collecting our nuts in the fall, we'll have a good winter."

"God wants us to work hard in serving him and others. That includes doing your best and studying hard in school!" Pearl concluded. "I love that!" said Sadie. "I couldn't agree more," added Justin. Michael looked at his friends. "Are we going skating or what?"