Chapter 7 - The Letter to the Sloths

About the time that Sally the Squirrel was reading the letter Jesus had given her for the squirrels, Billy the Bullfrog was getting closer and closer to Slothful Square. As he hopped along, he started croaking a tune that his uncle Frederick used to sing on Lily-Pad Row before switching careers to flopistry. It was the same song that was played at his fifth-grade graduation. “A frog’s a frog forever,” Billy croaked as memories flooded his mind, “even when he’s eating flies, and a frog will not say never, when the flies get in his eyes….” As Billy sang, up in the trees a little woodpecker overheard him. The woodpecker had grown up singing a song with a similar tune in church camp. A surge of emotion suddenly came over the woodpecker, and he began to add some percussion by pecking his beak on a tree. When Billy heard the sweet beats echoing in the woods, he looked up at the woodpecker, nodded and smiled at him, and kept singing. Within moments, faint sniffling could be heard throughout all the surrounding woods.

As Billy the Bullfrog continued hopping, the Holy Spirit reminded him of a time two years earlier when God had spoken a strong word of discipline to him. At that time, Billy had read a book in which the author was telling readers that Jesus would never allow His people to go through difficult times. Billy really liked the idea of not experiencing any difficulty, and so instead of reading what the Bible had to say about hard times, he chose to believe what the book said instead. From that day forward, Billy spent less and less time in prayer, and more and more time playing sports and watching TV. Instead of being content with his daily bread, at work He began taking on more and more overtime hours so that he could buy a new, expensive boat and show it off to his friends at Pine Tree Creek. The more Billy worked and was away from his wife and children, the less he read his Bible and the more his family suffered. Then one day the company Billy worked for went out of business and this frog was suddenly without a job. Overcome by worry and fear, Billy cried out to God for help. When he did this, the Holy Spirit spoke to him. “Billy,” the Spirit said, “take up your cross daily and follow Me. As you join in the fellowship of My sufferings, I will be with you, even to the end of the age.” When Billy heard this, he wept and repented of his worry and fear. He then went and read the New Testament from beginning to end. As he did so, he quickly realized that suffering for Christ by the power of God, in the hope of eternal glory at the Second Coming, is the true calling of Jesus’ followers in this age.

As Billy the Bullfrog remembered how much freedom God had brought to his own life through the fire of discipline, he prayed for the sloths, that God would also open their hearts to the message in the envelope. Truly, Billy knew how hard it could be sometimes to receive a word of discipline.  However, he also knew that in the end God’s discipline always produces good and lasting fruit.

Finally, Billy arrived at Slothful Square. Slothful Square was made up of a group of trees that formed the shape of a square. The square had an open area in the middle. When Billy hopped into the open area of the square, the first thing he noticed was that there didn’t seem to be much happening. “Are there even any sloths here?” he wondered to himself. Billy got his answer when he looked up into the trees and saw thousands of sloths. Some of the sloths were slouched back and sleeping on sloth-sized lazy-boy chairs in front of their TVs, while others were absorbed in video games. Some were typing away as they stared numbly into their cell-phones, while others were wearing earplugs to make sure that they were not disturbed from their slumber.

As Billy took the scene in, he began to feel distressed. “Do these sloths not know how urgent the hour is?” he wondered to himself with alarm. “Why are they wasting so much time on meaningless things? Why is nobody praying? Why is nobody reading the Bible? Why is nobody repenting of their sins and crying out in prayer for the Western Woods?”

Finally, the scene became too much for Billy. “Wake up, you sloths!” he croaked at the top of his voice. “The King is coming soon! Hard times are coming! Watch and pray! Fast, weep, wail, and mourn for the Western Woods! Do you not know that the last days are upon us? The Judge is standing at the door!”

After about 15 minutes of croaking like this, a few of the sloths finally made the effort to see what all the commotion was about. “What is all this croaking about, Mr. Frog,” one of the sloths said with a yawn. “Can you not see that we are sleeping?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I see!” Billy croaked urgently. “Do you sloths not know that times of great difficulty are coming? Famines are coming! Earthquakes and wars are coming! Persecution is coming! And eventually, just before Jesus returns, the saints will be put to the test for three-and-a-half years at the hands of the Anti-Christ Empire! How can you expect to stand firm through such days, if you are just lounging around all the time?!”

“Mr. Frog,” one of the sloths replied with a yawn, “I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but all your croaking is unnecessary. God would never let His creatures go through such hard times. Before the big trouble comes, Jesus will whisk us away to the clouds, and we will be safe and sound. Oh, but I do feel sad for the poor Jews. They will have to go through those days. Well, at least the turkeys over in Turkey Valley are writing a new series of novels that might give them some warning. As for me, I will be eating my popcorn and watching the whole show from the lofty heights above.”

Billy could not believe what he was hearing. “What about Abraham, Joseph, Job, King David, and the prophets?!” Billy shouted out with grief in his heart. “What about Peter, Paul, and the apostles? What about Jesus Himself? What about Corrie Ten Boom and Eric Liddell in World War II? What about the church in China? Did not God allow them to go through times of great tribulation and testing? Why then would it be any different for us? ”

When Billy said this, the sloths just stared at him, yawned, and started to put their ear plugs back in. Billy realized that he was losing his audience and said quickly, “Hold on, hold on everyone! Before you go back to sleep, let me tell you the reason I am here. Jesus sent me here to read a letter to you.”

“Well, get on with it then,” a sloth replied. “I was just about to get to level five on my video game.”

Billy the Bullfrog opened his envelope and pulled out the letter inside. Then the Holy Spirit came upon Billy and he began to read the letter boldly: 

Dear Sloths,

First, I want to say that I love you very much. And it is for that very reason that I, Jesus, have a few things I must tell you. Before I received the crown of life on the third day when My Father raised Me from the dead in power, I first went to the cross in obedience to My Father. If anyone would come after Me, he must do the same! Those who want to share in My glory when I return, must first share in My sufferings in this age. O sloths, the hardest times the world has ever known are just around the corner! What football team gets ready for the big game on Friday night by sleeping in the locker room? What army prepares for war by denying that a war is coming? What runner wins the Olympics without first running many practice races beforehand? Why, then, are you sloths wasting so much time on things that dull the mind and shrink the heart? Stop hitting the snooze button, and wake up! Take the ear-plugs out of your ears, face the truth of Calvary, and rejoice when I count you worthy of suffering for My name!

O sloths, the age to come is about to be born! When I return, from the womb of the earth My Father’s true sons and daughters will be revealed with Me in resurrected power and glory. However, before the joy of the baby’s birth, always come the pains of labor. You sloths are ready neither for the labor, nor for the birth. However, I am not giving up on you! And because of that, I must discipline you to get you on the narrow path and prepare you to rule faithfully at My side in My coming kingdom. In but a few days, I am going to send fire to the Western Woods, and in a moment your slothfulness will be burned up in the flames. When this happens, flee to the Great Oak. There you will find healing and truth for the days ahead.

Love,

Jesus

When Billy finished reading the letter, he looked up into the trees and saw that most of the sloths had fallen asleep while he had been reading. Some had put their ear plugs back in their ears in the middle of the message. However, Billy also noticed that amidst the sounds of snoring coming from the trees, there were also a few who looked like they had livened up a bit. Some looked like they were even whispering prayers under their breath. As Billy turned to leave Sloth Square, he whispered a prayer of his own. “Father, just as You have had mercy on me, the dullest of all creatures, have mercy on these sloths whom You love,” he said. “Prepare them for the coming storms. And make them ready to sit down with Jesus at the Wedding Feast in His coming kingdom.” Then shaking the dust off his feet, Billy the Bullfrog began the journey back to the Great Oak.