Timmy’s Time Out

Stories excite people because of what went wrong, not what went right. If we’re willing to expose our faults and failures, our experiences will draw interest and help others avoid the same plight.
Timmy slipped out of the house through his bedroom window. He said to his dog, Shep, tagging along, “Mom said I have to stay in my room. Don’t you go back and tell her I’m gone.”
He grabbed his fishing pole and tackle box and followed the path through the woodlands to the mountain stream. “We’ll be back before dark,” he said. “Mom said this was ‘time out,’ so here we are, spending a wonderful time out.” He pitched the lure across the rapids into the deeper water. “Don’t you agree, Shep?”
“Woof!” the dog barked.
The sudden pull on his line almost jerked the pole out of his hand. Shep’s bark wasn’t in response to Timmy. He had seen the fish leaping out of the water.
“Wow! This one’s a whopper. Wait’ll I show Dad.”
After fifteen minutes playing the line, careful to let the fish run, then reel in the slack, he brought the prize catch to shore—the biggest rainbow trout he had ever seen. “I bet this one’s a record for around here.”
Then he realized he had a problem. After releasing the trout into the stream, he slowly walked home, his head hanging low. He climbed back through the window and stopped at the dresser, staring at the mirror. “I’m sorry,” he said, partly to himself but mostly to God. “I’d like to tell my story, because it has a really great ending. But if I do, I’ll have to admit my sin.”
After admitting our sins and receiving forgiveness, our stories of what went wrong will show the value of following the Lord and striving to do what is right.
Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, merciful and comforting. He comforts us during hard times so we may comfort others in similar situations, sharing the hope we had in Christ that brought us through. — 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, The Discussion Bible