Standin' on the Word

A cute little story about how we should read the Bible

“Boy? What you doin’ out there?” the old man asked from inside the house.

 

“Doin’ what the Pastor told me, grandpa!”

 

Outside in the backyard was a boy who was on his tip-toes with both of his feet planted on his study Bible as it rested on the grassy ground. The boy looked up at the sky filled with an expectant wonder. He could hear the whirs of the construction equipment next door as they began to dig a huge hole for the new pool that his mom and dad decided to build.

 

“Boy! That ain’t no way to treat a Bible! That’s the Word o’ Jesus!”

 

“But Pastor Ken said everythin’ about standin’ on it, Grandpa!”

 

The old man laughed, his old cane tapping along with his footsteps as he moved from the pavement to the grassy backyard. The boy stepped off of his Bible as he looked with a confused glance at his grandfather. The old man slowly bent down to pick it up off the ground and motioned with his withered hand to the younger boy.

 

“Ya’ll come now, I got somethin’ to show ya” the old man said.

 

The boy replied with a ‘yessa’ and toddled behind his grandfather’s long footsteps. Soon, the old man found a lawn chair and slowly sat down, patting his lap. Quietly, the boy inched up to sit on his grandfather’s lap as the Bible was opened.

 

“Now, now… what Past-ah Ken was talkin’ about was readin’ the Word” the grandfather said.

 

“But I read it all the time, Grandpa!”

 

“I know you do, boy. What Past-ah meant, though, was readin’ it for you, notcha teachers” the grandfather said. “See here?”

 

Isaiah 40:8

            “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”

 

“Ya’ll just read that, didn’tcha?” the grandfather asked.

 

“Yessa!”

 

“Now, then, boy. Ya’ll tell me how that read” the grandfather asked.

 

The boy sat quietly for a moment and looked up to his grandfather.

 

“The backyard can be bulldozed, but the Word of Jesus can’t!” the boy replied.

 

The old man laughed, leaning back in his chair with a big smile. Patting his grandson on the head, he fussed the child’s hair as the boy let out a giggle.

 

“That’s how ya’ll stand on the Word like Pastor Ken was preachin’” the grandfather replied. “That Word is for us, boy! Standin’ on it is puttin’ it to use!”

 

“Alright, grandpa!”

 

The boy took his study Bible and rushed back into the backyard and the grass. Once again, he put the Bible on the ground and started standing on it.

 

“What you doing boy, didn’t ya’ll listen to a word I said?” the grandpa asked.

 

“Yessa! I just wanna be standin’ on the Word when they bulldoze the backyard!”

Reviews

[by S.D.]

The last bit was funny! I thought it was cute. But I've never heard anyone say "ya'll" in singular tense (I live in East Texas) Mostly I hear people say "ya" or "yur" (your/you're) when they're talking to only one person. Is it different elsewhere?
S.D.