Read: Hebrews 9:11-15; 1 John 1:7-9

Cole followed his grandpa across his new backyard. “I want to see inside!”

Grandpa stopped at the door of a big shed. “Ready?”

Cole nodded. Grandpa pulled the door open, and Cole jumped back. The smell coming from inside was terrible. He moved to a place where he could take deep breaths of fresh air and looked over to see Grandpa laughing at him.

“We’re going to need to take care of that.” Grandpa held up a handkerchief. “Until then, I have this.”

“You knew it was going to smell like that and you’re still going in there to clean it?” Cole couldn’t believe it.

“Your grandma needs a place to work on her pottery.” Grandpa shrugged. “I love her, so I’m going to clean that place out and get it ready for her.”

“Speaking of Grandma…” Cole backed toward the house.

Grandpa laughed again. “You go inside and spend time with her. I don’t expect you to work with me.”

Cole didn’t go back to the shed until weeks later when Grandpa convinced him he had to see inside.

“I don’t want to smell it.” Cole dragged his feet as they made their way across the yard.

“It doesn’t smell anymore.” Grandpa pulled the shed door open.

Cole’s eyes widened. Gone was all of the mess that had been in the place before. And the smell coming from the shed was one of fresh paint and stain. He saw shiny wood floors and perfect white walls. “It’s amazing.”

Grandpa grinned. “It’s really different, isn’t it?”

Cole dropped to his knees on the clean floor. “This reminds me of something.”

“Yeah?” Grandpa asked.

“You know how Jesus loves us even though we’re sinners?” Cole asked. “He’s willing to step into the dirty, the gross, and make things better. He loves us enough to deal with the smelly stuff, just like you loved Grandma enough to do that. And now…now the shed has been made clean! Some people might have said it’d be best to just burn it down or something, but you made it new.”

Grandpa squeezed Cole’s shoulder. “I like that.”

–Emily Acker

How about you?

Today's Key Verse:

Today's Key Thought: