Chapter 1 - Watchful Forest

It was a clear, crisp night in Watchful Forest, and all was quiet. Well, almost all was quiet. You see, a family of owls lived on top of a big tree in Watchful Forest, and owls, as you may know, are nocturnal. Nocturnal is just a fancy way of saying that owls like to sleep during the day and stay awake all night long. So, while the foxes were sleeping; while the deer were sleeping; while the bears were sleeping; while most of the other animals of the forest were sleeping, there was one family that certainly was not sleeping. In fact, the sound of whooo…whooo…whooo-ing could be heard bouncing around the forest every night, mixed with the sound of snoring coming from the other animals.

This family of owls had five members. There were Daddy Owl and Momma Owl, and three children owls named David, Hope, and Judah. David was the oldest. He was six. His sister Hope was four. Judah was the baby. He was two and was just starting to talk more and more like a big-boy owl.

Now, if you were an owl who lived up at the top of a tall tree; and if you were an owl who stayed up all night every night, what do you think you would spend your time doing? Well, Daddy and Momma Owl would spend some of the night hunting for food for the children. But, there is a lot of time between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What would you do in between? Would you just sit there and spend the whole night looking at branches that don’t move? Would you just sit there and listen to all of the other animals in the forest snore while you’re awake but they’re asleep? Would you spend the whole night trying to tickle each other with your feathers?

Actually, this family of owls stayed very busy. And they were not just busy doing anything. They were busy most nights doing something that was very, very important. You see, Daddy Owl and Momma Owl were followers of Jesus the Messiah, and they knew that it was very important for them to teach their children about the ways of the Lord. So, this family of owls would spend time together every night learning the Bible, praying, and asking Jesus for grace to love Him with all of their hearts. They also got to do something that most of the other animals in the forest didn’t get to do because they were sleeping at night. This family of owls got to spend a lot of time – and I mean a lot of time – looking up at the moon and stars every night, and then watching the sun come up in the morning just before they went to bed. And, because Watchful Forest was so far away from any big city with lots of bright street lights and car lights, it became very dark there at night. Because of this, and because they lived so high up in a tall tree, this family of owls could see the stars very clearly at night.

Now, as you know, when the stars and moon come out at night, they are very beautiful to look at. The sky sometimes looks like strings of twinkling Christmas-tree lights spread out over a big dark blanket. And when the sun comes up in the morning, it is really pretty too –though it shines so brightly that you can’t even look straight at it without hurting your eyes! But did you know that God did not just put the moon, stars, and sun in the sky to make the sky look beautiful? Did you know that God put them in the sky to teach us about the good news of His Son Jesus the Messiah? Well, three little owls named David, Hope, and Judah did not know that, but they were about to learn. And that is where our story begins.