Modern Day Builders

Here is one of the stories that I wrote for this year's street camp in Galveston. It is the story about the wise and foolish builders found in Matthew 7:24-28.

As with any of my stories, you have my permission to use this as you work with children. I only ask that you do not put anyone else name as the author. I don't see myself as the world's greatest children's author but I did put my time and thought into this story and did not copy it from anyone else.

I did not make any puzzles or games to go with this as the format of the street camp has changed.


scripture was copied and pasted from www.biblegateway.com

The Wise and Foolish Builders Matthew 7

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

The Two New Houses written by Judy Johnson

One bright, sunny summer day, two friends, Isaiah and Joshua, were walking along the beach. The water looked cool and refreshing as Isaiah ran on ahead. When he stopped, Isaiah jumped up and down and called out to Joshua, “This is it! This is the place!”

Joshua looked at Isaiah, puzzled and asked, “The place for what?”

“The place we are building our new house. See, over there,” Isaiah said pointing, “that's where my bedroom is going to be. All I'll have to do is just walk out the door and jump into the ocean to go swimming. It will be great fun to live so close to the ocean.”

Joshua shook his head back and forth and frowned. “I heard my dad talking about someone building a new house right on the sand. He said that's not a good idea. Dad said that a house needs a solid foundation or it won't stand during the storms. When the storms come, your house will crash down. That won't be good.”

Isaiah stalked off mad. He yelled at Joshua, “You're just jealous because your dad didn't think of it first.”

Joshua called back for Isaiah to wait. “Come with me.” he said. “Let me show you where my dad is building our new house.”

Isaiah followed Joshua as they walked away from the beach. They walked a long time before Joshua looked at Isiah and said, “This is where my dad is building our house.”

“Here?” questioned Isaiah. “This is a long way from the beach. This is just a big, old rock. I mean, it's huge. Who wants to live here? This won't be a fun place to live. It's way too far from the beach.

“It is a long way from the beach,” Joshua agreed, “but our house will be on a solid foundation. Nothing is going to blow this rock away. When the storms come, we will be safe.”

Weeks past and summer was almost over. The houses were almost finished being built. A few small rains had come and Isaiah was happy that nothing had happened to the house they were building on the beach. “See,” Isaiah said to himself. “Joshua doesn't know what he's talking about. Our house on the sand is just fine.”

One day, a short time later, Isaiah and Joshua saw each other at school. They were both very excited. “We move into our new house tomorrow!” they both exclaimed at the same time. The houses were both finished and they would all start moving tomorrow.

“I'll be able to go swimming every day,” Isaiah said excitedly. Joshua just shook his head.

That night, as they were all at their old houses, packing boxes to get ready for the move, a big storm came. The rain came down hard for a long time. The wind was blowing and the boys could each see the wind whipping the trees around outside their windows. Both boys worried about there new houses. They knew a storm like this could cause a lot of damage to even the strongest of houses. The storm went on all night long.

The next morning the sun came out and the rain stopped. The wind wasn't blowing any more. There were puddles on the ground but they would still be able to move to their new houses. All of Isaiah's family and all of Joshua's family loaded up their things ready to move. When Joshua's family got to the huge rock where their house was built, Joshua was relieved to see that the house on the rock stood firm and strong.

Joshua looked down the long way to the beach to see if he could see Isaiah's new house. He couldn't see anything. Later, when there was time, Joshua and his dad walked to the beach. There they found all of Isaiah's family sitting in the sand. There was wood and stones all over the beach around them. Isaiah's mom and his sisters were all crying because the house on the sand was not able to stand.

Joshua's dad talked to Isaiah's dad. “Why don't you come and build a house next to us up on the solid rock. We have plenty of room next to us for your house too.”

Not only should we build out homes on a solid foundation, we should also build our lives on a solid foundation. The best foundation for our lives is Jesus Christ.

Storyteller take time to tell the children how to know Jesus as personal savior.