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Space Patrol

By Guy K. Henry

www.GuyHenry.com

The other day I fell asleep on the couch with my two puppies, Peanut and Ruthie. I left the television on, tuned to the Sci-Fi Channel. Talk about crazy dreams! Allow me now to take you along for one of those wild adventures:

The small spaceship broke away from its orbit around the little green planet. Captain Guy clapped his hands together. “Well done crew!” he announced, “Our mission on the little green planet has been a wonderful success!”

“Well, thank you Captain,” Navigator Peanut beamed. It had been her steady paw that had guided the doggie biscuits down to the starving puppies on the planet.

“Yes, that was a particularly delicious mission,” Computer Specialist Ruthie said as she crunched on a leftover biscuit.

Together, the crew of three now floated off in outer space.

Captain Guy asked his faithful helpers an important question. “Well, ladies, shall we search for our next exciting mission?”

“I am ready,” Peanut said clapping her paws together.

“So am I,” Ruthie said as she prepared to work her computer.

“Well, Ruthie,” Captain Guy ordered, “Point your computer at that bright spot in the corner.” He pointed to the viewing screen at the front of the spaceship. 

Ruthie focused her computer on the shiny spot. “I can tell you that it is very far away.”

“Ruthie, Can you get a picture of it for me?” Captain Guy asked, confident that she would be able to.

“It will take me a little time,” Ruthie answered as she worked frantically.

“Meanwhile, Peanut,” Captain Guy commanded, “steer the ship towards the bright spot.”

“Yes sir,” Peanut answered as she operated all sorts of levers and dials. Quickly the bright spot moved to the middle of the view screen.

“Good work Peanut,” Captain Guy praised as the space ship was headed straight towards the shiny place.

“I have a computer readout on that bright spot for you, Captain,” Ruthie shouted. 

“Go ahead Ruthie,” Captain Guy said, anxious to know more about the glowing place.

“Well, It is not like anything we have ever seen before,” Ruthie started. “Here is a close-up super zoom picture.”

The view screen changed from stars speeding by to an incredibly bright light that filled the ship.

“Ruthie, could you please darken that picture?!” Captain Guy yelled as he tried to shade his eyes from the intense light. 

“Oh, Yes sir!” Ruthie replied as she frantically typed on her keyboard.

The picture was still very bright, but things were slowly becoming visible as Ruthie worked to darken the picture.

“I think that I can make something out,” Captain Guy said excitedly. “It looks like a great big gate!”

“And the roads, they seem to be made of, of, Gold!” Peanut said in a voice filled with wonder.

“My computer is picking up the sounds of singing,” Ruthie announced, “and the voices of thousands of happy people!”

“This place has mansions and thousands of what look like angels!” Captain Guy said as the screen became clearer.

Ruthie read from her monitor, “According to my computer, this place has no sickness, no one gets hurt, and, get this, nobody ever ever cries.”

“That is amazing,” said Peanut whose eyes were glued to the view screen.

“There is more,” Ruthie continued, “not only doesn’t anyone get sick, but no one ever dies!”

“No one ever dies?!” Peanut echoed.

“You mean that they live forever?” Captain Guy asked wondering if he understood what Ruthie was saying.

“That is right Captain! Life lasts forever! It never ends!” Ruthie spoke, herself amazed at what she was describing.

“You know, I think that long ago I heard of this place,” Captain Guy said.

“You have?” Peanut asked, anxious to know more.

“Yes,” Guy said. “I believe that this is a place that is called…”

Peanut and Ruthie both leaned in their chairs toward Captain Guy. “Tell us, Tell us!” they yelped.

“I am trying to,” Captain Guy smiled, “I think that this is a place called HEAVEN!”

“HEAVEN!” mused Peanut. 

“Are you serious?” Ruthie asked, “HEAVEN!”

“Yes, it has to be!” smiled Captain Guy.

“Oh my, I’ve always wanted to go there!” Peanut shouted.

“Me too! Me too!” Ruthie chimed in.

“Peanut,” Captain Guy switched back to his bossy voice. “Fire up the engines to full speed and take us to HEAVEN!”

“Yes sir!” Peanut said, as she cheerfully obeyed that order.

Peanut pushed down the main engine lever. Soon the ship’s engines were fully charged. The growl of the powerful Turbo-Space engines filled the ship.

“Blast Off!” Captain Guy commanded.

Peanut pressed the red button in front of her with her nose. Soon the ship was zooming through space toward the exciting bright spot.

“We are off to HEAVEN!” Ruthie sang. “We are off to HEAVEN!”

The spaceship zoomed across the galaxy towards the bright spot. However, a few hours into the trip, a big problem surfaced.

Peanut was busy steering the spaceship towards HEAVEN.

Ruthie was gathering more information from her computer about this amazing place. “This is truly awesome,” she said to her self.

Captain Guy was catching a little nap while Peanut and Ruthie did their work.

Peanut saw it first. “What is that?!” she shouted as she froze in her chair.

Ruthie looked at the viewing screen. She could no longer see the bright place called HEAVEN.

“Captain, Captain! Wake Up!” the puppies shouted.

Captain Guy opened his eyes, “Are we there yet?”

“No!” Peanut and Ruthie answered together. “LOOK!” Their paws were outstretched toward the screen.

Captain Guy looked at the viewing screen. Instead of the bright light of HEAVEN, there was an ugly, dark, spinning ball.

“Ruthie, what is it?” Captain Guy asked.

“I do not know exactly what it is, but I think you should look at this,” Ruthie reported as she pressed all sorts of keys. “This is an ultra-magnified view of the object,” Ruthie said.

“It has got writing on it!” Puzzled Peanut said.

Captain Guy read aloud, “It says, ‘The time you lied about your homework.’”

The dark sticky ball spun around a little more. More phrases rotated into view.

Captain Guy continued reading, “and now it says, ‘The times you were mean to your sister.’”

Before long he had read about the times he had disobeyed his parents, the times he was jealous of his friends, the times he had taken things that were not his, the times he had made excuses for not doing what he was supposed to and the times he had used bad words. There were more bad things, but the Captain could not stand reading them.

“What does all that mean?” Peanut asked.

“I think that this black sticky ball that is in our way is all of the wrong and bad things that I have ever done!” Captain Guy said hardly believing that all this stuff had been saved up.

“Well, Captain Guy,” Ruthie said, “That thing is in our way!”

“Your bad deeds are blocking us from getting to heaven!” Peanut said.

“I have got an idea,” Captain Guy slyly said. “Peanut, I want you to steer our spaceship around this sticky ball of bad deeds. Let’s drive around this thing!”

“Great idea!” Ruthie chirped, and then she added an order of her own, “Peanut, take evasive action!”

“Right away!” Peanut said as she busily worked the controls before her. The engines strained and the ship shook, as she turned the ship sharply to the side.

“It is not working!” Ruthie cried. “Wherever we turn, that ball of bad things moves back in front of us, and continues to block our way!”

“Oh no Girls! I do not think that we will be able to drive around this thing,” Captain Guy groaned, “My bad deeds aren’t going to just go away. Something will have to be done about them!”

Peanut and Ruthie scratched their ears in hopes that a great idea would tumble out. 

Captain Guy was the next one to speak. “I know, if all my bad deeds are blocking our way, then we will blow up this blob with all my good deeds!”

“Oh Captain, That is absolutely brilliant!” Peanut shrieked.

“Charge up the attack lasers with all the good things I have ever done!” Captain Guy ordered. “Don’t forget the times I that I gave money to the poor, and the times I was real nice to people, even when they weren’t nice to me!”

Ruthie filled the lasers with all of the Captain’s good deeds.

“And be sure that you don’t forget all those times I helped out at the church,” Captain Guy reminded. “That should count for a lot!”

“Don’t forget about the time you pulled me out of the swarm of wasps” Peanut added.

“Yes, that was a good one!” Captain Guy agreed.

“The Attack Lasers are fully charged with all the good things you have ever done!” Ruthie announced.

“Fire away at the blob of my evil deeds!” Captain Guy ordered.

As soon as Ruthie pressed the button marked ‘FIRE’ two white-hot laser rays shot out from the front of the spaceship. These beams of good deeds smacked into the ugly blob.

Ruthie’s voice changed to one of worry. “Captain Guy, it is not working!” she howled. “The blob isn’t moving! It is still there!”

She was right. Captain Guy did not need a computer to see that all of his good deeds were not having the slightest effect on the blob of his badness.

“Captain, unless you can get past this sticky blob,” Peanut wiped a tear from her eye, “we will never make it to HEAVEN!”

“Do not despair! I have another idea!” Captain Guy said, “I think that this one will actually work!” 

“What is it?” Ruthie asked, her tail wagging.

“Well, I have been going to church almost every Sunday,” the Captain bragged. “And I even go to Sunday School most of the time!” he added. “To top it off, I go to church on just about every Wednesday night too!”

“That’s great!” Peanut barked, “All that going to church should be enough to blow that horrible sticky blob of your bad deeds out of the sky!”

“Thanks Peanut,” Captain Guy said. “Let’s load up the Space Bombs full of my Church Attendance!” 

“Yes sir!” Ruthie spoke as she sprung to action. 

“And don’t forget all those extra times I went during revival!” Captain Guy ordered.

After a moment Ruthie spoke. “We’ve got hundreds of bombs loaded with Sunday School lessons and going to church and Wednesday nights!”

“You didn’t forget the times I went on Easter and Christmas mornings, did you?” Captain Guy asked, “They should count for double!”

“They are in there!” Ruthie said. 

“Then,” Captain Guy started, “it is BOMBS AWAY!”

Ruthie pressed the ‘LAUNCH’ button and a swarm of bombs crammed full with ‘Church Going’ flew towards the Captain’s meteor of meanness.

“I think that this is going to work!” Peanut rooted. “When those bombs explode, all of your bad deeds will be blown to little tiny bits!”

“And then we will be back on our course to HEAVEN!” Ruthie injected. “Those evil deeds don’t stand a chance against all your visits to church!”

Then silence fell over the crew of the spaceship. Three sets of eyes followed the bombs loaded with church going as they approached the evil goo.

“Ten seconds to impact,” Ruthie began to chant. “9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Contact!”

The bombs did hit the Captain’s blob of bad deeds. The sky filled with light and smoke from the explosions. The crew strained to see if the sticky blob had been destroyed.

“I don’t believe it!” Peanut whined. “It is still there! It is just as big as ever!”

“The bombs didn’t have any effect on the bad stuff at all!” Ruthie said in dismay.

“Now we will never get to heaven!” Peanut whined some more.

“Ruthie and Peanut,” Captain Guy called, “I am not giving up! Don’t you give up either! I want to get to heaven!”

“We do too!” Peanut and Ruthie cried together.

“Ruthie,” Captain Guy Commanded, “I remember once hearing that there was one true way to get to heaven. I wish that I could remember what it was.”

“You did?” Peanut asked. “Well, then you need to think really hard!”

“Yes,” Ruthie urged, “you have got to remember!”

“I’ve got it!” Captain Guy snapped, “Ruthie, run the Bible program on your computer.”

Ruthie quickly typed B-I-B-L-E on her keyboard. 

“Now feed the computer the words ‘Believe’ and ‘Saved’,” the Captain ordered.

Ruthie’s nails rapidly moved over the computer keys. The only sound on the spaceship was “Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap”.

Then the computer answered with a few beeps and a bell. A card popped out of Ruthie’s desk.

“Hand me that printout!” Captain Guy commanded.

Ruthie winged the card to the Captain who caught it.

“Read it out loud!” Peanut shrieked.

“It says,” the Captain read…

Romans 10:9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

“What does that mean?” Ruthie questioned.

“Ruthie,” The Captain began, “It means that there is nothing I can do about my bad deeds.”

“Oh no! We’re sunk!” Peanut sniffed.

“No,” Captain Guy said, “That verse gives us the answer. It tells me to call for help, from Jesus!”

The two puppies were working hard at trying to understand the Captain.

“Ruthie, I want you to hand me the radio microphone!” Captain Guy demanded.

Ruthie tossed the microphone to Captain Guy. 

Captain Guy clicked on the button and spoke, “Jesus, this is Captain Guy calling, and I have a big problem. I can’t get past this ugly ball of my bad deeds. It is preventing me from getting to HEAVEN.”

Peanut and Ruthie watched in silence.

Captain Guy kept talking. “Jesus, I believe that when you died on the cross, you took my punishment for all the bad things I have done.”

Ruthie recognized the word ‘Believe’ from the bible verse.

“And Jesus, I am going to give up trying to get away from my bad deeds by myself. I have tried and failed at that. Now I am going to trust YOU to take them away!” 

The Captain had one more thing to say.

“Jesus, I now ask you to take away all of my bad deeds. Jesus, take them away and forgive me!”

Speakers all through the ship crackled to life. A powerful voice answered, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21)

Immediately all eyes shot to the viewing screen. From somewhere above their spaceship, two red laser beams slammed into the sticky ball of bad deeds.

“That’s Jesus!” Captain Guy excitedly shouted, “Jesus is attacking my bad deeds!”

With that, the spinning sticky ball of the Captain’s bad deeds exploded into millions, no billions of pieces! 

“It is gone!” Peanut cheered!

“It is totally destroyed!” Ruthie agreed.

Then Jesus carried the Captain’s spaceship the rest of the way to HEAVEN. In a short while, Jesus brought them in for a smooth landing right into downtown HEAVEN!

The Bible tells us that it is futile to try and ‘get around’ our own sin. Sadly, for many it seems to rub their pride the wrong way to ‘give up’ and let some one else do it for us. Unless they change their course, it will be pride that keeps them away from eternity in Heaven. 

Blowing up our sin involves:

- ADMITTING it is there.

- Realizing it is keeping us AWAY from God.

- Acknowledging that we are HELPLESS to do anything to get rid of it.

- BELIEVING that Jesus can take our sin away because he paid its penalty on the cross.

- TRUSTING Jesus and His plan of salvation.

- And finally ASKING Jesus to remove, forgive, and explode our sin!

That is it! Nothing more, and nothing less.

Oh look, the computer has spit out another card. It seems to be repeating itself!:

Romans 10:9

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

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