This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people, or locales is entirely coincidental.

GOD LOVES YOU. ~ CHESTER BLUE

BY Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson

Copyright © 2013 Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson

All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Illustrations and Cover Design © 2013 Ursula Andrejckzuk

For more information about the author and upcoming books, please visit: http://www.suzanneelizabethanderson.com/

Published by

Henry and George Press

PO Box 2465

Evergreen, CO 80437

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Books by

SUZANNE ELIZABETH ANDERSON

MRS. TUESDAY’S DEPARTURE

GOD LOVES YOU. ~ CHESTER BLUE

TRUSTING GOD WITH YOUR DREAM:

A 21-DAY DEVOTIONAL FOR YOUNG WOMEN

THE NIGHT OF THE GREAT POLAR BEAR

THE PROOF OF THINGS UNSEEN

HEALTHY, FAST, & EASY RECIPES INSPIRED BY THE WORLD’S BEST CHEFS

Coming Soon:

A MAP OF HEAVEN

HENRY’S GUIDE TO HAPPINESS

Suzanne’s Author Page:

WWW.SUZANNEELIZABETHANDERSON.COM

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

About The Author

Dedicated with love and admiration

to my friend Helen Weaver,

who loves books and children, too.

Chapter One

The heavens declare the glory of God.

~Psalm 19:1

MY GOODNESS, THERE are so many stars out tonight,” Miss Millie whispered. She stood on her back porch, hands on hips, head tilted back, staring at the glittering night sky.

Finally, she found her favorite constellation, the Big Dipper. “How lucky we are to have such wondrous stars to enjoy.”

Each night she came outside to admire the moon and the blanket of twinkling stars that covered the sky from one end to the other. She’d been doing this for most of her seventy-five years on Earth.

Some nights, the stars formed the shapes of animals romping through the sky, like the Big Dipper, which formed part of Ursa Major–called that because “ursa” meant “bear”, and it looked like a big bear in the sky. Which is exactly why it was her favorite. Miss Millie had a very special place in her heart for bears.

For Miss Millie, each night held a new adventure as she watched the stars move across the sky with the changing seasons. And each night she made a wish on the first star she saw.

Most nights, Miss Millie’s heart was filled with joy at the beauty of the night sky. But tonight was so very different. It was the end of a long day that had brought terrible news.

Instead of smiling as she looked at the panorama overhead, she pursed her lips to keep from crying, and her eyes filled with tears and blurred the stars she loved so dearly.

Tonight she had a special wish. She walked down the steps of the porch and out to the backyard. The grass was wet and cool beneath her bare feet. Miss Millie looked up at the sky and thought about the right way to phrase her wish.

She needed to think carefully, because this wasn’t an ordinary wish. It was going to be a prayer. And prayers were more powerful than wishes.

Lately she’d been bothered that the world had forgotten the magic of wishes and dreams. Nowadays, it seemed that people looked down instead of up. They went to work, they came home, and then they went to sleep. It seemed that most people moved through their lives as if they were sleepwalking.

Miss Millie understood how this could easily happen. Some people gave up on their wishes and dreams because they’d been disappointed too many times in life and just didn’t have the courage to keep hoping things would change.

That’s what had happened in the little Midwestern town where Miss Millie had lived her whole life. It had been a gradual thing, but like rust, some gradual things can be terribly destructive.

When she was a little girl, her hometown of Blossom, Ohio, had been a vibrant place, full of young families. No matter how many books about faraway places young Millie had read, she’d never imagined living anywhere else.

Which is why, when Miss Millie grew up, she’d opened a shop on Main Street, which was always filled with beautiful shops and shoppers. It was the perfect place to open a store.

In her shop, Miss Millie sold and repaired all sorts of teddy bears. With all those young families, Miss Millie’s shop was always busy. Young children came with their parents to choose their first bear. Adults came to have their cherished childhood bears fixed after they’d been loved through many years and needed a stitch to repair a tear, or new eyes or ears.

Her shop even attracted teddy bear collectors, who knew that Miss Millie had a secret supply of very old, very special bears that she could sometimes be convinced to sell to a special home.

As the years–and then decades–flew by, Miss Millie became known as the best teddy bear historian and repairwoman in the Midwest. Some people said she was the best in the entire United States.

But then the children of the young families became adults and went off to college. And most never returned home to Blossom to start their own families.

At first no one noticed that the shops on Main Street were quieter than usual or that the Main Street Diner never filled up after the morning rush of farmers who stopped by for breakfast at five a.m.

Even Miss Millie didn’t notice at first. She still received a lot of business through the mail for bears that needed to be repaired. Then there was the occasional request for a rare bear that a collector was hoping to buy. People from all over the world would contact Miss Milly and she would use her extensive network to find the bear, and act as broker to negotiate the sale. It was like being a detective, and was one of the favorite parts of Miss Milie’s bear enterprise.

But one day Miss Millie looked up from her table at the back of the shop and noticed that she was alone.

The next day it was the same. And the day after that. So she went to see her friend, Lulu, the waitress at the Main Street Diner, and asked if she’d also noticed fewer people on Main Street.

“Fewer people? On Main Street?” Lulu threw back her head and laughed.

She laughed so hard she had to put down the pot of coffee she’d been holding.“Honey, it’s not just Main Street. This whole town is as quiet as a church on Monday. So many people have moved away, I believe we’re the town that’s been forgotten.”Miss Millie looked down at her cup of coffee and frowned. This was terrible news. Blossom was a wonderful town. Yes, it was a small town and perhaps not as exciting as a big city. But there were so many good things about it. Why had people given up and moved away?

That was a month ago. Since that conversation with Lulu, things had gotten worse.

Once Miss Millie had started to pay attention, she realized that whole weeks would go by without a single person coming into her shop. And on her walk home at the end of the day, she began to notice that more and more of the stores on Main Street were closing or already empty.

Then today, Miss Millie had received the worst news of all. Mr. Jones, the man who owned the building that housed her teddy bear shop, had lost the building to the bank.

The bank was going to sell the building at auction, which meant that Miss Millie could no longer have a teddy bear shop in his building. She would have to move.

This was, of course, terrible news. Not only would Miss Millie lose her shop, but she would lose her business. Perhaps she could open a new shop in one of the many other empty buildings on Main Street, but this was the proof that it wouldn’t matter where she moved. There were simply not enough people in Blossom to shop in her teddy bear store.

And so tonight she stood staring up at the stars with a special purpose in her heart. Miss Millie believed in dreams and wishes, and she was going to pray for some way to share her belief with others.

“Dear God,” Miss Millie began as she looked up at the stars, “how many people never see how beautiful the sky is at night because they simply don’t take the time to look up?”

She smiled as a shooting star flew through the dark sky.

“Maybe it’s because we seem to be going through a tough time right now. I suppose when times are tough, people don’t have time for teddy bears or small towns like Blossom. I know that You are the Creator of all things.“And I know when things look the worst is when something new and wonderful is about to happen, if we can just hold on. Now that my teddy bear shop is closed, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know what’s going to happen to my hometown, but You do.“Dear God, I’m holding on, but I could sure use a bit of help from You. Give me a way to share the gift of believing in dreams with others, too.”

Miss Millie stretched out her arms and embraced all the beauty she saw in the sky above her head. She silently thanked God for creating such a beautiful universe, where anything is possible, even when it seems impossible.

She smiled as she saw another star shooting across the sky. “Thank you, God.” She turned and went back in the house to go to bed.

THE NEXT MORNING, Miss Millie woke up early. She climbed from bed, stretched her arms over her head, and then twisted from side to side to get her creaky old bones and muscles warmed up to start the day. As she turned, she glanced out her bedroom window and saw that it was a glorious, sunny, summer morning.

She threw on her robe and hurried downstairs; she needed to make her breakfast and get to the shop. On such a beautiful morning there were certain to be lots of people on Main Street, and that meant there might be some new customers for her shop!

She stopped on the bottom step and touched her fingertips to her lips as she remembered that her shop was closing. There wouldn’t be lots of people on Main Street. So many of the stores were empty that no one came to Main Street anymore. If they needed anything, they went to the big mall, in the big town, down the hill.

Suddenly she felt very sad about closing her store and facing the future alone. What would she do? Miss Millie blinked back the tears.

No, she thought, I won’t cry. I know that when things are at their worst, something better is just around the corner. We just have to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.

Miss Millie grasped the banister tightly and straightened her back with her new resolve. Her heart still hurt, and she was more than a little bit afraid of not knowing what to do next, but she would take her own advice.

Well then, this morning would be the perfect time to work in her garden! She needed to weed the flowerbed, and then she would tie up the beans in the vegetable garden. If she was lucky, the cabbage and zucchini would be ready to harvest, and she would be able to make soup for tonight’s dinner.

Later, she would go to her shop on Main Street and begin packing her teddy bears.

She would make a list of all the people she knew who might want to buy one of the remaining bears. Then, she’d pick a few that she could donate to the children’s hospital. And finally, she would bring the rest home. They would sit on the shelves of her office until she figured out what to do next.

But first, she would pick up the newspaper from the front porch, make coffee, have a bite to eat, put on her overalls and her green rubber clogs, and then she’d be ready to work in the garden.

Miss Millie finished her mental list just as she opened the front door to pick up her morning newspaper.

Right next to her newspaper, she found a box wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with twine. Miss Millie’s name and address were printed in big red letters in the lower right corner. As she looked closer, she noticed there was no return address to be found anywhere. Who had sent the box?Miss Millie picked up the box and her newspaper and brought them both into the kitchen, where she placed them on the table while she made a pot of coffee and a piece of toast for her breakfast.

She was very particular about the way she liked her coffee, so she needed to give her full attention to the task of grinding the coffee beans and then brewing them in the old-fashioned percolator.

While the coffee brewed, Miss Millie toasted a nice thick slice of bread in her old faithful toaster. When the toast was nice and brown, she carefully cut it in half. On one half she spread a spoonful of peanut butter, and on the other half she spread a spoonful of chocolate hazelnut spread. This was her favorite breakfast for sunny days. She sat down at the table with her cup of coffee and her plate of toast and carefully considered the box as she ate her breakfast.

She hadn’t ordered anything, so that couldn’t be it.

She chewed her toast and thought.

It wasn’t her birthday.

She took a sip of coffee, and thought more deeply.

It was the end of August. School had just started, so perhaps it was a box of notebooks and pencils meant for a young student who lived nearby.

Miss Millie checked the address again. No, it was her name and address clearly printed on the front of the box.

Christmas was still four months away.

Perhaps it was time to stop staring at the box and take action.

Miss Millie moved her cup and plate to the side of the table and placed the box in front of her. Very carefully, she cut the twine and unwrapped the brown paper that covered the box.

Beneath the paper was a cardboard box with a lid. It was a plain orange box with no writing anywhere that might give a hint as to what was inside. So Miss Millie lifted the lid of the box.

And was very surprised by what she saw.

Chapter Two

Every good and perfect gift is from above.

~James 1:17

INSIDE THE BOX was a blue teddy bear. Miss Millie carefully lifted the bear out of the box and examined it closely. Being an expert on all things teddy bear, she looked for clues in the design that would tell her where the bear had come from and who had created it.

She turned the bear over and examined it closely from every angle, but she couldn’t find any clues that would explain where the bear had come from. Its fur was a lively blue, the color of the ocean or the sky on a bright winter’s day. Its nose and mouth had been carefully stitched with thick black thread, and its eyes were the deepest blue she’d ever seen.

Then she looked down at the box. There, tucked in amongst the folds of light blue tissue paper that had cradled the bear, was a carefully folded piece of cream-colored stationery. Miss Millie slowly unfolded the little scrap of paper and read the note inside:

Miss Millie gasped in surprise. “An answer to my prayer!”

She sat back in her chair and stared at the mysterious bear. “Well, Chester Blue, you certainly are a special bear. You are a gift from God, sent when I most needed to know that He cared. But now, I wonder how you got here and what I’m meant to do with you.”

The bear didn’t say anything. It simply stared back at Miss Millie as if waiting to see what would happen next.

Miss Millie wasn’t sure what should happen next, either. She gently set the bear on the table and sat back again in her chair to consider the situation. She tapped the side of her nose and thought.

Just then her phone rang. It was her friend, Mrs. Hilly, who lived in Connecticut. Their families had known each other for many years, as Miss Millie and Mrs. Hilly’s Aunt Betsy had gone to college together.

“Hello, Mrs. Hilly!”

“Hello, Miss Millie, how are you?”

“I’m perplexed,” laughed Miss Millie, looking at the blue bear that sat on the kitchen table. “Someone sent me a blue bear named Chester Blue, and he’s carrying a special note.”

“What does the note say?”

“God loves you. Chester Blue.”

“God loves Chester Blue?” asked Mrs. Hilly.

“No, God loves you. And then it’s signed by the bear, Chester Blue.”

“Oh, how sweet. Did you need to hear that God loves you?”

“Yes, I certainly did, I found out yesterday that I must close my teddy bear shop, and I am very sad about the whole thing. Last night I even stood out in my backyard and talked to God about it.”

“Maybe someone heard you and sent the bear!” reasoned Mrs. Hilly.

“Maybe, but somehow I believe this bear might actually be from God, no matter how he got here.”

“We could sure use a reminder of God’s love around here,” said Mrs. Hilly.

“Why? What’s happened?” asked Miss Millie.

“The boys were in a fight at school,” sighed Mrs. Hilly, sounding very worried. “Can you imagine? The first week of school and they get into a fight!”

“Who were they fighting?” Miss Millie was very concerned that the boys might have run into a bully at school.

“They were fighting each other!”

“Each other?”

“And it gets worse!”

Mrs. Hilly explained that the boys had been asked to stay home for at least week until she could convince the principal that they would return to class and not get into fights with each other, or anyone else, for the rest of the year.

“Your boys have always been very nice. What’s happened to change that?” asked Miss Millie.

Mrs. Hilly sighed deeply, and there was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.“Sometimes I think it’s just because they’re twins and they’re boys and they’re just doing what growing boys do. But I also believe it’s because Mr. Hilly has had to travel a lot more with his new job. He’s gone on business trips at least two weeks out of every month.“The boys miss him, but instead of saying that, they get mad and fight with each other. It’s really hard on all of us. If you’re looking for a new home for your special bear, send him to us. My two boys could use a message from God.”

“A splendid suggestion, Mrs. Hilly,” said Miss Millie. “I’ll send him right away.”

“But he’s just arrived. Why don’t you keep him for a while and send him later in the year?”

“No, I think Chester Blue arrived as an answer to my prayer last night, to let me know that God heard me. Now I think Chester Blue needs to go on his way to answer someone else’s prayer. I’m not worried–I know Chester Blue will return to me once his journey is done.”

MISS MILLIE DREW up a little nametag with Chester Blue’s new home address to hang around his neck and packed a little suitcase.

In it she put a needle and a skein of beautiful blue thread she’d brought home to Blossom many years ago from a trip to Paris, and she tucked it next to the little note that read:

“That’s the perfect message for you to carry,” said Miss Millie as she folded the little note. “And I’m sure that needle and thread will come in handy on your adventures. After all, you never know when a little mending will make all the difference in the world!”

Then she kissed Chester Blue on his needlepoint nose and took him to the post office.

“Goodbye, Chester Blue,” said Miss Millie as she wiped away a happy tear. “I know you’ll be an answer to everyone you meet.”

AND WE KNOW THAT IN ALL THINGS GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.

~Romans 8:28

Chapter Three

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

~Philippians 4:13

ON A BRIGHT and hot October afternoon, the Hilly family stood at the rim of the Grand Canyon and looked out over the edge at the layers of colored rock that had formed over millions of years. Ryan held Chester Blue on the top railing of the fence, pretending that the bear could see too.

The Hillys had come to the Grand Canyon because their school took an autumn recess for one week during the month of October. Mrs. Hilly said it was because the teachers needed a rest.

Chester Blue had been living with the Hillys for over a month and a half. When he’d first arrived, the Hilly twins, Ryan and Casey, claimed that they were too old for a dumb old teddy bear. After all, they were nine years old and in third grade. Teddy bears were for kindergarteners, they said.

So Mrs. Hilly had left Chester Blue in the box he’d arrived in and left the box on the bench next to the front door and announced that she would take him to the post office the next day and send Chester Blue back to Miss Millie.

VERY EARLY THE next morning, when she walked to the front door to take Chester Blue to the post office, she discovered his box was empty.

When she went to the boys’ room, she found Chester Blue tucked under the covers next to Casey, who had his arm wrapped around the bear. Since the boys were still asleep, Mrs. Hilly didn’t say a word. She quietly closed the door and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

When the boys came downstairs for breakfast, they were already fighting.“Baby Casey slept with a teddy bear last night,” said Ryan as he reached over and punched his brother in the arm.

“Ow! Stop it!” said Casey as he rubbed his arm. “So what if I did? You still sleep with your Leo the Lion and you’ve had him since we were three!”

“I don’t sleep with him! Mom puts him on the bed and he’s there when I go to sleep,” explained Ryan as they took their seats on either side of the kitchen table.

Casey rolled his eyes. He knew that the fastest way to get his brother mad was to hide Leo. Ryan would refuse to go to sleep at night unless that stupid lion was at the foot of his bed.

Mrs. Hilly interrupted the boys before their argument could go any further. “Did you two see the note inside Chester Blue’s suitcase?”

The boys looked at their mother, shook their heads, and then they both jumped up from the table and raced toward the stairs leading up to their bedroom.

Somehow, the note and the needle and thread gave Chester Blue an aura of mystery, especially after Mrs. Hilly explained how he’d appeared unexpectedly on Miss Millie’s doorstep. The boys began to speculate on how he could have gotten to Miss Millie’s house and then about what the bear’s mission could be.

Then a strange thing happened. After that morning, things were a little quieter in the Hilly household. Oh, the fighting between the two brothers didn’t entirely stop; after all, they were young boys with lots of energy. But in between fights, the boys seemed to become more patient with one another. Ryan no longer teased Casey when Chester Blue sat at the foot of his bed in the same place Leo the Lion occupied on Ryan’s bed.

Then, the boys began making up adventures for Chester Blue. They would tell each other stories about where Chester Blue had traveled before he came to live with them and before he’d arrived at Miss Millie’s house.

They started taking Chester Blue with them whenever they went on an out-of-town trip with their parents. Or even when they went on an expedition through the woods behind their house.

Which is how Chester Blue came to be sitting on the railing overlooking the Grand Canyon when a bee suddenly buzzed in Ryan’s ear. As he reached up to swat it away, Chester Blue fell from his grasp and down the side of the steep canyon wall.

“Dad, help! Chester fell!” cried Ryan as he leaned over to see where the bear had landed far below.

“Be careful, Ryan,” said Mr. Hilly, worried that Ryan might fall too. Mr. Hilly leaned over and looked down into the canyon, but there was no sign of Chester Blue. “I don’t see him down there.”

“What are we going to do, Dad?” asked Casey, afraid that Chester Blue might be gone forever.

“We can’t leave without Chester,” said Ryan.

“We’ll go to the Park Ranger’s station and report Chester missing. Perhaps someone will find him,” said Mrs. Hilly as she put her arm around Ryan to comfort him. “Chester’s wearing his name tag, so they’ll know where to send him.”

“Ryan and I can describe Chester to the Ranger so he’ll know what to look for,” said Casey.

The Ranger assured them that lost bears were turned in all the time. They left their name and address with the Ranger, who promised to send Chester Blue home to them when he was found, but Ryan and Casey were still very sad when they left the park that day.

“I sure hope someone will find him,” said Ryan as he kicked the dirt.

“You know this is your fault,” Casey said, giving his brother a quick shove. “You dropped him.”

“I did not!” Ryan shouted, his face turning red with anger. “It was that stupid bee that almost stung me.”

“A bee?” Casey shouted, pushing his brother again. “You probably dropped him on purpose, just because you were jealous that he was my bear!”

“You’re just a baby, who’s lost his bear!” Ryan teased.

“Liar!” yelled Casey as he charged toward his brother, grabbed him around the waist, and knocked him to the ground. A cloud of dust rose up as the two boys began to wrestle in earnest, each trying to best the other. And with that, the peace between them ended and the fighting began again.

MEANWHILE, FAR BELOW the two wrestling boys, hanging precariously just above a narrow path that led to the canyon floor, Chester Blue was caught by his name tag on a tree branch, still holding the suitcase Miss Millie had packed for him before he’d been sent to the Hilly household.

WHATEVER YOU DO, WORK AT IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AS WORKING FOR THE LORD, NOT FOR MEN.

~Colossians 3:23

Chapter Four

Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

~1 Corinthians 10:31

TED DENTON WAS riding down the dusty canyon trail late that same afternoon. His job was to lead visitors who wanted to ride down into the canyon on the backs of sturdy mules.

Ted enjoyed his job. He liked meeting new people, and he was proud to show them the beauty of the Grand Canyon. However, as much as Ted loved his job, in his heart, he secretly dreamed of joining a touring rodeo and becoming one of the rodeo clowns.

Today, Ted rode his favorite mule, Cinnamon. He and Cinnamon had been up and down this trail so many times, Ted figured they could make the trip blindfolded.

Which is why he was daydreaming of the rodeo that was coming to town tomorrow instead of paying close attention to the trail. This was going to be a very special rodeo for Ted because he was going to try out for a position as a rodeo clown.

He hoped that he would be chosen. Then he’d join the rodeo full time and tour the country with the other rodeo clowns. Ted smiled as he thought about this dream he’d had since he was a little boy. Being a clown in the rodeo would be a great adventure.

As he rode his mule, he imagined that he was part of the parade of cowboys at the beginning of the rodeo, when the riders circled the arena with their horses and carried the flags of the different local ranches and the state and, best of all, the stars and stripes of the United States.

And then the clowns came running out, rolling their barrels and waving to the crowd. How wonderful it would be to hear the cheers from the crowd and know that he was part of the rodeo.

Ted smiled to himself and then turned around in his saddle to point out an eagle soaring above the canyon to the visitors who were riding on mules behind him.

“Owwwwww!” Ted yelped as something knocked his hat off. He quickly pulled up Cinnamon’s reins. “Sorry, folks. We need to stop for minute.”

“I must have hit that doggone tree branch again,” mumbled Ted. He slid off the back of his mule and walked over to where his hat sat on the dusty trail.

Ted reached down, picked up his hat, and was surprised to see a very dusty blue bear hidden beneath.“Hey little guy, what are you doing way out here?” said Ted as he brushed the dust from Chester’s fur and from the nametag pinned to Chester’s jacket.

Chester Blue, Ted read. What an interesting name for a bear! And what an interesting place to find a blue bear. I wonder where he came from.

Ted looked around but all he saw were the park visitors patiently sitting on their mules waiting for him to continue the tour. None of them looked like they were missing a blue bear.

“Well, Chester Blue, you’ll just have to ride down the canyon with us. I’ll take you to the Ranger’s office when we get back,” said Ted as he tucked Chester into his saddlebag.

IT WAS CLOSE to sunset by the time Ted returned to the top of the canyon, fed the mules, and led them to their stalls. By the time he was done with all his work for the day, the Ranger’s office was closed.

“Sorry, little guy,” said Ted to Chester Blue, “it looks like you’ll have to come home with me. I’ll bring you to the Ranger’s office after the rodeo tomorrow.“On the bright side, I bet you’ve never been to a rodeo before.” Ted placed Chester on the seat next to him in his pickup truck.

THE NEXT MORNING, Ted woke up bright and early. He took a shower and hummed a happy tune as he came back into the bedroom to put on his clothes for his big day at the rodeo. He grabbed his hat and headed out.

When Ted got to the rodeo, he sat Chester Blue in the stands behind bullpens, where he would be, so he could keep an eye on the blue bear. Then he went to the judges’ table to register for the clown competition.

The man at the judging table looked Ted up and down and shook his head. “Son, you don’t look big enough to be one of our clowns. We need big, strong, men to distract those bulls. Not a little guy like you.”Ted was not surprised to hear this. In fact, he’d heard something similar to this his whole life.

He’d had to fight against others’ perceptions of his “short”-comings by being a better tour guide at the Grand Canyon, and now he’d be a better clown.

“Sir, I know I’m not as big as the other guys, but I’m fast,” said Ted, shoving his hands into his pockets so the man wouldn’t see how they were shaking. “And I’m guessing fast is just as important as big when a bull is chasing you.”

The clown judge looked at Ted and smiled. “You might be right about that, but I still don’t think you’ll make the cut, son.”

“Give me a chance, and I’ll show you what I can do,” said Ted.

The judge looked at the two other men sitting behind the table and they just laughed.“You’re wasting your time, Shorty,” said one of the meaner-looking guys, and the man sitting next to him chuckled and poked his friend in the ribs with his elbow, like it was mean but funny at the same time.

Ted didn’t say a word, but his face was burning with embarrassment.

“Aw, shut up, Cletus,” said the judge who’d been talking to Ted. “Just for that, I’m going to let him enter the competition!”

“You can’t do that, Stan!” yelled Cletus, stumbling up from his chair.

“Oh, yes I can! That’s why I’m the head judge. I can do whatever I please!” said Stan. And with that, he took Ted’s entrance fee and handed him a number. “You go over there and sit on the top of the fence with the rest of the clown try-outs. When they call your number, you have thirty seconds to jump down into the bullring and distract the bull after the cowboy finishes his ride. You only get one chance.”

Ted nodded. “Yes sir, I’ll do my best.” Then he walked over to the fence and climbed to the top to sit next to the other young men who’d come to try out for the same position that day. Ted watched the first bull be released from the chute. The ground shook like an earthquake had hit as the angry bull thrashed from side to side in an attempt to throw the cowboy who rode him from his back.

Ted watched as one by one the men sitting next to him jumped from the fence the moment a cowboy fell from the bull. The wannabe clown would run out and distract the bull until the cowboy made it safely out of the ring.

Then, before he knew what had happened, it was Ted’s turn. His mouth went dry as the bull charged out of the chute and the horn blasted to let the rider know his ride was up. Ted launched himself forward to jump into the ring in front of the bull.

Instead of landing in the ring, the edge of his boot caught on the fence post, and Ted went flying face first into the dirt. The crowd roared with laughter, thinking this was part of the act. But Ted knew he was in trouble.

One of the professional clowns jumped down in front of him just as the bull started charging toward Ted. The clown yelled, “Get up and get out of here, now!”

Ted stumbled to his feet and ran out of the ring as quickly as his legs would move. As he left the ring, he ran nearly headlong into Stan, who was standing there with his arms crossed across his chest and a frown on his face.“I knew I shouldn’t let you in there. You could’ve got really hurt. Or worse, one of my cowboys could’ve got injured. You’re out of this competition, boy.” With that, Stan spit a long stream of chewed-up tobacco and walked off toward the judges’ table.

“Wait!” cried Ted, hurrying after him. “That wasn’t my best. My boot got caught and I fell. Let me try again!”

“No way,” said Stan, not even stopping to listen to Ted.

“I can do it,” pleaded Ted. “You give me one more try and you won’t be disappointed. I’ve waited my whole life for this opportunity. I’m not going to quit now.”

Hearing those words, Stan stopped in his tracks and looked Ted up and down. “Son, I don’t know who ever gave you the fool idea that you could be a clown, but they were wrong.”He shook his head and spit another big wad into the dirt. “One more try. Then I never want to see your sorry self again.”

“Yes, sir!” shouted Ted as he started back toward the bullring.

“Hey!” Stan called after him. “You need to change your shirt or fix that tear before you go back out there, or else the bull will be aiming for your skin.”

Ted nodded and headed back toward the stands. What was he going to do? He hadn’t brought a spare shirt to the rodeo and the tear ran right down the front of his shirt.

“Do you have anything to help me, little bear?” he asked Chester when he reached the wooden benches where he’d left the bear.

Then Ted noticed the suitcase that Chester carried. He carefully opened the suitcase. Inside he found a needle and blue thread.“Chester Blue, you’ve saved the day!” Ted cut a small length of the blue thread and quickly sewed the rip in his shirt.“Now if you just had some courage to share with me. Chester, those bulls are bigger than I imagined. I want this job more than anything in the world, but I’m scared, and if I fail, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

At that moment, Ted noticed the a little slip of paper that had been tucked in the back of the suitcase.

Carefully he pulled it out and unfolded the note, which read:

Ted read the note again, this time out loud. “God loves me!“All right, then, let’s go. I can do this job. Chester Blue, you stay here and watch. I’ve got work to do!”

TED WALKED BACK to the ring and climbed up on the top rail of the fence to wait his turn a second time.

Suddenly, the gate to the bullpen swung open and a furious bull sprang out of the chute with a cowboy hanging on to the rope tied around the bull as if his life depended on it.

Ted raised his voice with the rest of the crowd to cheer as the cowboy stayed on the bull until the buzzer signaled that he’d won his round. Then just as the cowboy jumped off the big brown bull, it turned and knocked him to the ground with the brunt of its horns.

Ted could see that the cowboy wouldn’t have time to get up before the bull came after him again. Ted jumped down from the fence railing where he sat and ran toward the bull, waving his arms back and forth.

“Heeeyaaaa!!!!” yelled Ted as he ran toward the bull. “Here Bull! Here!”

The crowd obviously thought he was crazy, but they loved how he bravely jumped around, screaming. So they laughed and clapped and yelled for more.

The bull turned his head from the cowboy and stared at Ted with the meanest look he’d ever seen. And then he charged!

Ted had no idea an animal that huge could move so quickly. He had just a moment to turn and jump into a nearby barrel before the bull came charging past him.

When Ted popped his head out of the barrel, he noticed two things very quickly. First, the cowboy had left the ring. Second, the bull was now roaring toward Ted like a runaway freight train!Ted had just enough time to duck back into the barrel before the bull came crashing into it, flipping the barrel onto its side and sending it rolling across the ring. Ted felt like he was inside a washing machine, but at least the barrel was keeping him safe. When the barrel came to a stop, one of the professional clowns ran up and pulled Ted from it.“You saved that cowboy, son!” said the clown as he helped Ted up and steered him from the bullring.

All around them, the crowd was on its feet, cheering for Ted and the bravery he’d shown. When they left the bullring, Stan, the head judge, was waiting for them.

“Son, you showed a lot of courage out there. Your quick thinking may have saved a life. But I’ve got a question for you: Do you still want to be a clown?”

Ted was bruised and his head was spinning, but he knew the only word he needed to say: “YES!”

“HOW ARE WE ever going to find Chester in this crowd of people?” wondered Mrs. Hilly as they walked through the rodeo fairgrounds.

Earlier that morning, the Hilly family had received a call from the Park Ranger telling them that Chester Blue had been found and that they could meet Ted at the rodeo or he would send Chester Blue home through the mail.

Ryan and Casey pleaded with their parents to go to the rodeo to get their favorite bear.

They promised to write a report for school about their visit to the rodeo, since Mrs. Hilly was always trying to get them to write more.

“That’s easy, Mom,” said Casey. “We’ll just look for a cowboy carrying a blue bear!”

“There’s Chester!” said Ryan, pointing through the crowd to a short, thin young man who indeed had Chester Blue tucked under his arm.

“Hi, folks,” said Ted, politely tipping the brim of his cowboy hat. “I suppose you’re looking for this bear?”

“We sure are,” said Ryan.

“Thanks for rescuing him,” said Casey.

“Actually, he’s the one who rescued me,” said Ted.

Ted told them how Chester had saved the day.“You’re the man who saved that cowboy!” exclaimed Ryan. “Can I take your picture? We’ll add it to our school report. We can say we know a hero!”

Ted’s face turned bright red, but he smiled as Mrs. Hilly took a picture of the boys standing on either side of Ted while he held Chester Blue. After he signed autographs for the boys, he gave Chester Blue one final hug and said, “I’ll sure miss you, little bear. Thanks for helping me make my dream come true.”

Mrs. Hilly laughed. “Miss Millie knew there was something special Chester Blue was meant to do!”

Chapter Five

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

~Proverbs 3:5

IT WAS A crisp autumn afternoon when Mr. Hilly came home from New York City, to where he commuted for work each day, and announced that he had to go to Seattle for a business trip.

“How long will you be gone?” asked Mrs. Hilly, looking concerned.

This was Mr. Hilly’s second trip this month, and each time he’d left, the boys had gotten into trouble at school.

Last week, they’d been sent home and suspended from school for two days because they’d let their homeroom hamsters out of their cage.

Although four of the five hamsters had been found, one remained on the loose, and the teacher was worried it had crawled into a heating duct and gone on an adventure below ground.

Mrs. Hilly was at her wits’ end. “The boys have been allowed back to school, but Ryan and Casey’s school play is Friday evening. If you’re not there, I don’t know what will happen. They’re really counting on you.”

“I’ll leave tomorrow morning. I should be home by Friday afternoon, just in time to see the boys in their school play.” Mr. Hilly smiled as he reached over and fondly mussed Casey’s hair. “I’ll come right from the airport and meet you all at the school auditorium.”

“Why do you have to go to Seattle, Dad?” asked Ryan.

“Business, son.”

“You sure have to take a lot of business trips,” grumbled Ryan.

Mr. Hilly sat down in a chair next to Ryan. “I know these trips are hard on you boys and your mom. But they are an important part of my job. My company needs to go visit our customers so we can do more business together.”

“Will you send us a postcard, Dad?” asked Ryan. “I have to write a report on a big city for my geography assignment, and I could use that in my report.”

“That sounds like a great idea, Ryan,” said Mr. Hilly. “I’ll be sure to send you and Casey some very scenic postcards from Seattle.”

LATER THAT EVENING, Mr. and Mrs. Hilly were sitting in their favorite chairs in front of the fireplace, reading. They both looked up when Casey walked into the room.

“I thought you were already asleep,” said Mrs. Hilly when he walked into the living room.

“I was, Mom, but then I started thinking about Dad going to Seattle in the morning. And I thought, ‘He’s going to miss us.’ ”

“Yes, I am going to miss you and Ryan and your mother very much. But I’ll only be gone for four days. The time will go quickly,” said Mr. Hilly.

“We’ll be okay, Dad. Ryan and I will help Mom while you’re gone,” said Casey in his bravest voice.

Mrs. Hilly tried to suppress a smile as she looked at her husband.

“I’m glad to hear that, Casey.” Mr. Hilly smiled proudly at his son.

“But I’m afraid you might miss us because you’ll be all alone. You can take Chester along to keep you company.” Casey walked over to his dad’s chair and carefully handed Chester Blue to his father.

“Thank you, Casey. That’s very nice of you to let me take Chester. I’ll take good care of him.”

WHEN MR. HILLY got to Seattle, he went to his hotel room and carefully put Chester Blue on the nightstand. Next to Chester Blue, he placed the picture of his family that he always carried with him when he traveled.

In the morning Chester Blue was there when he woke, a welcome reminder of home.

Every day, Mr. Hilly sent Ryan and Casey each a unique postcard from Seattle. And every night, Mr. Hilly said good night to Chester before he went to sleep.

Mr. Hilly had breakfast in his room each morning and then left for his first meeting of the day. On Thursday morning, the day before Mr. Hilly was scheduled to fly home, Chester Blue was accidently knocked into the trash can by the waiter who came to Mr. Hilly’s room to take his breakfast tray. Mr. Hilly was so busy getting ready for his last day of meetings in Seattle–and so excited to be going home soon to see his family–that he didn’t notice the little blue bear was not sitting in his usual spot on the nightstand.

LATER THAT MORNING, Mrs. Lee, the housekeeper, discovered Chester in the trash when she came to clean the room.

“What a fine bear this is! It would be a shame to throw him away!” she said as she put Chester into her cart. “I’ll take him home to my daughter.”

And so Chester Blue went home with Mrs. Lee to meet her daughter, Jenny.

Jenny loved Chester Blue. She took him to her room and sat him on her desk so she could look at him as she did her homework that afternoon. Just as she finished, the phone rang. Jenny answered it and heard her father’s voice.“Hi Jenny, how was your day?”“It was okay,” answered Jenny, holding her breath and hoping that she’d hear the magic words.

“Your mother said that if you finished your homework early, we could go to the park this afternoon. How do you feel about that?”

Jenny exhaled with happiness. “Yes!”

“Have you finished your homework?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, I’ll stop by to pick you up in an hour,” said her father. “Be ready!”

“I will,” promised Jenny. “See you soon.”

Jenny hung up the phone and tried not to jump up from her desk with joy. Instead, she grabbed Chester Blue and hugged him tightly. “Oh, blue bear, you’ve brought me good luck!”

Jenny waltzed around the room, holding the bear like a dancing partner.

Since her parents’ divorce over a year ago, Jenny’s visits with her father seemed to grow further and further apart. At first, he’d promised they would see each other every weekend.

Then it became every other weekend, and lately, it seemed that she was lucky if she saw him once a month. She didn’t blame her father. She knew that he was very busy and that he worked very hard. But still, since he’d moved out of their house, things just weren’t the same.

She knew that her father loved her, but the longer he was away, the more awkward their relationship felt whenever they saw each other. She wished her parents would get back together again, and then things would be perfect. The way they were now, Jenny felt like there was a hole in her heart. She felt lonely.

Jenny shook her head. Now was not the time to think about sad things. She was going to see her father this afternoon. She wanted to enjoy every moment she had with her father.

She ran downstairs to talk with her mother before he arrived.

“Mom, can I take the blue bear to the park today?” Jenny asked. “Dad and I are going this afternoon.”

“Of course. Just don’t lose him. He looks like a pretty special bear,” said Mrs. Lee.

Chester went to the park with Jenny and her father. When they got to the park, her father told her, “I’ve got a surprise for you!”

“What is it?”

“That kite you told me about, the one that looks like a dragon when it’s sailing through the sky.”With that, her father unfurled a beautiful blue and red kite that was at least six feet long.

The body of the kite had a giant dragon’s face painted on the front, and the body and tail of the dragon were made up of several smaller kites. When the sunlight caught the fabric of the kite, it sparkled.

“It’s beautiful, Dad!” Jenny sighed. “Thank you!”

Each time Jenny ran with the kite it would flutter and then dive into the ground.

“What’s wrong with this kite?” Jenny asked her father.

“It looks like the kite has a tear,” said Mr. Lee as he picked up the kite and examined it closely. “We’ll have to fix this rip before it will fly. A needle and thread would come in handy.”

“Where are we going to find a needle and thread in the middle of a park?” asked Jenny.

“We’ll probably have to go home and find it there.”

Jenny’s heart sank. She would be so disappointed if their afternoon in the park had to come to an end so quickly. Her father worked so hard that it wasn’t often that she had the chance to spend time with him.

If they went to her house–her home, which was still hard for her to imagine wasn’t his anymore–she knew they wouldn’t have time to come back to the park. And then, who knows how long it would be until she got to see her father again? Just the thought of it filled Jenny’s heart with loneliness.

She sat down on the grass next to Chester Blue. “What am I going to do?” she said, as she patted the bear on the head. Then she looked down at Chester Blue’s suitcase and saw that it was open just a notch.

When Jenny reached down to close it, she noticed a little blue thread poking out of the opening of the suitcase.

“Hey, Dad!” exclaimed Jenny happily. “Look at this! Here’s some thread and a needle. We can use this to fix the kite!”

“Wow! What an amazing coincidence that you should find that thread just when we needed it!” said her father, taking the needle and thread from Jenny. He quickly threaded the needle and deftly began repairing the kite.

Jenny watched her father begin to work and then looked back down at the blue bear. It was then that she noticed the carefully folded piece of paper tucked into the suitcase.

She unfolded it and read it silently to herself. Then she looked up at her father and smiled. “Dad, I don’t think it was a coincidence. I think it was a gift from God. See, there’s even a note from Him!”

“Oh, really?” asked her father, taking his eyes off the kite and looking over at his daughter. “What does this note say?”

Jenny read the note aloud and then showed it to her father.

“God loves you, Jenny,” said her father, with a gentle smile. “And so do I.”

“I love you too, Dad,” said Jenny. “I just wish you and Mom would get back together so we could all live together again. Will that ever happen? I miss you, so much.”

Her father came and sat down next to her on the grass. He put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. “I know I don’t get to see you as much as I’d like. And I don’t know if your mother and I will get back together.“But I promise you, Jenny, I will make time to see you more often. I can see how important it is to you.”

For the first time that afternoon, Jenny felt hopeful.

SOON THE KITE was repaired, and Jenny and her father spent the rest of the afternoon flying the kite. When the sun began to set, Jenny and her father left the park and drove home. Before she got out of the car, her father patted her hand and said, “Jenny, remember what that note said. God loves you, and so do I. Now, study hard, help your mother, and I will see you soon.”

WHEN MR. HILLY returned to his hotel room after his day of meetings and a dinner with clients, he packed his suitcase for the flight home in the morning. Just before he shut his suitcase, he realized that he’d forgotten to pack Chester Blue.

He looked on the nightstand. He looked under the bed. He looked in the closet. Chester Blue was gone!He stood in the center of the room and looked all around. Then he noticed the trashcan in the corner was turned upside down. He tapped the side of his nose and thought for a moment. And then he called the hotel manager.

The hotel manager called Mrs. Lee and asked her if she’d seen a blue bear when she was cleaning the room that morning.

“That is the bear I found in the trash!” exclaimed Mrs. Lee. Her daughter had come home from the afternoon with Mr. Lee bubbling with excitement about how Chester Blue had saved the day. “I thought someone was throwing him out so I brought him home for my daughter. Please tell Mr. Hilly not to worry. We’ll be there right away.”

When Mrs. Lee told Jenny that it was time for Chester to go home, Jenny understood, although she was sad to see Chester leave. She had clearly had a wonderful time with her father, and even after hearing about Chester having to leave, she had a faint smile on her face.

She kissed Chester on the nose and gave him a hug. And then Mrs. Lee took Chester Blue back to the hotel.

“Thank you, Mrs. Lee, for rescuing Chester Blue,” said Mr. Hilly when Mrs. Lee handed him Chester Blue. “I have to go home now. Chester Blue has two young boys who are expecting him to be there for their first school play.”

FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU,” DECLARES THE LORD, “PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE.

~Jeremiah 29:11

Chapter Six

Do to others, as you would have them do to you.

~Luke 6:31

IN EARLY DECEMBER, Mrs. Hilly took Ryan and Casey to New York City to visit their Great Aunt Betsy. Chester Blue went, too, of course.

Ryan and Casey were very excited to see the Statue of Liberty.

They were thrilled when they went up to the top of the Empire State Building and looked out at the tops of the other tall buildings that surrounded them.

They were especially happy when they got to go on a carriage ride through Central Park and then went to the zoo.

And they were absolutely euphoric when they got to go ice skating at Wolman Rink in Central Park.

But on their third day in New York, they were definitely not happy when Great Aunt Betsy suggested that they go to the Metropolitan Opera House to take a tour of the theater and then stay to see an opera.

“Oh Mom, do we have to go?” wailed Casey.

“It’s just going to be a lot of boring singing in some foreign language,” added Ryan, hoping they could convince Mrs. Hilly to change Great Aunt Betsy’s mind.

“You boys have never been to an opera. They’re not boring. And they’re not just ‘a lot of boring singing in some foreign language.’ ”

“I’d rather go back to the skating rink,” mumbled Casey.

“We haven’t been to FAO Schwarz toy store yet. Why don’t we go there?” suggested Ryan.

“We’ll go to the toy store tomorrow. Great Aunt Betsy has already bought the tickets for the opera, so we can’t disappoint her. I’ll bet you both an ice cream sundae after the show that you’ll enjoy yourselves.”

“Can we bring Chester Blue?” asked Casey.

“Absolutely,” said Mrs. Hilly.

WHEN THEY ARRIVED at the Metropolitan Opera House, Ryan and Casey were surprised that there were kids their own age on the tour. As the tour moved backstage, the enormous, elaborate sets that transformed the stage with each show, amazed the boys.

They were most impressed when they found out that there were even kids their age who were part of the opera chorus and got to wear costumes and go on stage in front of a huge audience. This was like the school play they were in last month, only on a much larger scale!

“Hey, this opera stuff is pretty cool!” said Casey.

“Yeah, if we lived here, I’d be in the chorus, like those kids,” added Ryan.

After the tour, the boys met back up with their mother and Great Aunt Betsy and took their seats in the theater. After they sat down, the lights began to dim, signaling the start of the opera.

“Ryan,” whispered Casey, “let me have Chester Blue.”

“I don’t have him,” hissed Ryan. “He’s your bear!”

“Oh no,” groaned Casey.

“We must have left him backstage,” whispered Ryan.

“We’ve got to go get him.”

“We can’t!” Ryan said. “The show is about to start!”

“There’s enough time. We know where to go, and we’ll just go quickly.”

BACKSTAGE, THE PERFORMERS raced around to get ready to take the stage before the curtain opened. Nobody noticed a little blue bear that had fallen beneath a chair, except a young boy who was in the chorus.

He noticed the bear as he was nervously staring at the floor, hoping he would remember the words to the song he was supposed to sing.

This was Charlie’s first opera, and he had stage fright. He’d joined the opera chorus four months ago because he wanted to spend more time with his big brother.

CHARLIE AND HIS brother had been very close when they’d both attended school at St. Anselm’s. They’d walked to school every day, they’d had the same friends, and they’d even played soccer together after school.

All that had changed back in September, when his brother Jim started middle school, whereas Charlie remained behind in elementary school because he was only in the fourth grade.

Suddenly, Jim had new friends. When he joined his friends for soccer, he didn’t invite Charlie to come along. They didn’t walk to school together, as their classes started at different times.

At least that’s what Jim said, but Charlie figured it was because Jim wanted to walk to school with his new friends, just like he wanted to eat lunch with them in the cafeteria instead of sitting with Charlie, the way he had last year.

Since Jim was a member of the opera chorus, Charlie had thought this would be the best way to get to see him more often. At first it seemed to work, as they would ride the subway together from Brooklyn because their mother said Charlie was too young to ride alone into Manhattan.

Nevertheless, after Jim discovered some other boys from the chorus also lived in Brooklyn, they started to join Charlie and Jim on the subway rides to the theater, which meant that once again, Charlie ended up being the odd man out.

Even now, when he needed his big brother more than ever, Jim was off with his new friends. Charlie was standing alone, waiting to go onstage for the first time, and scared out of his wits.

All he wanted to do was still be friends with his brother, and now it seemed like he was back where he started. All alone.

“Hey there, little bear,” said Charlie as he picked up the bear. “What are you doing down there? Did you get left out, too?”

Charlie noticed the bear’s nametag and then the little suitcase tucked under Chester’s arm.“Hmm, blue thread and a needle. And what’s in this scrap of paper?” Charlie unfolded the note and read:

“Really, God?” asked Charlie, as he stared down at the note. “What about my brother, Jim? Does he still love me? It sure doesn’t seem that way.”

Just then, Ryan and Casey came running up and braked to a stop in front of Charlie. “Hi, ummmm, that’s our bear!”

“Really? How’d he get back here?” asked Charlie. “And what are you doing back here now? We’re about to go on stage. You’re not supposed to be here.”

“We were on the backstage tour and we must have dropped him,” said Casey.“Can you prove he’s yours?” asked Charlie. He really didn’t want to give up this bear; he was hoping he could keep it.

“Sure we can,” said Ryan. “See that suitcase Chester’s carrying? We can tell you what’s inside. If he wasn’t ours, how could we do that?”

Charlie’s heart sank as he looked at Chester Blue’s suitcase. He knew what the note said, and he could tell these two boys did as well. He could tell they were brothers . . . actually he could tell they were twins, since they looked just alike.

Just then, the star of the show, the opera diva, came rushing up waving her arms in the air and crying out to anyone who would listen.“Help!” she wailed. “My lucky necklace has broken and I can’t sing without it! What am I going to do?”

Right behind her came the stage manager, a tall thin man with glasses that looked as if they were about to fly right off the tip of his nose. “We don’t have time to fix your necklace. It’s time to start the show!”

Charlie quickly flipped open the lid of Chester’s suitcase and handed the blue thread and the needle to the diva. “Here, you can fix it with this!”

Casey and Ryan looked at each other and then at Charlie. “Good idea!” they said in unison.

The boys worked together to quickly restring the diva’s necklace while the manager nervously wrung his hands and the diva practiced her vocal exercises to keep calm. When they were done, they handed the necklace back to the diva and she gracefully floated off toward the stage looking like a regal swan.

The stage manager looked at his watch and said, “Thank you for your help. Now boys, you must get going. It’s time for the chorus to take the stage!”

“But, but . . .” Ryan and Casey tried to explain.

“I don’t have time to hear why you were late for today’s show. Throw these tunics over your clothes and get out there. Charlie will show you where to stand.”

“But we don’t know the songs!” whispered Casey as they walked on stage.

“Don’t worry,” said Charlie. “Just follow me and mouth the words. You can do that, can’t you?”

Casey and Ryan looked at each other and then at Charlie and nodded.“Then let’s go!” said Charlie. “Stay close to me and follow what I do.”

And off they went, taking the stage at the Metropolitan Opera House production of Wagner’s opera, Aida.

It was an amazing afternoon for Casey and Ryan, who even stayed to perform in the second act of the opera after they let Mrs. Hilly know what had happened during intermission.

After the opera, the brothers invited Charlie and Jim to join them for ice cream sundaes, and all four boys compared notes about how much fun they’d had performing onstage for the first time. When Charlie described how they’d helped the opera diva to fix her necklace, Jim told his little brother how proud he was of him.

As they sat and talked, Charlie realized two things. First, that he’d overcome his stage fright because he was too busy helping Casey and Ryan to worry about himself.

Second, he realized how much he enjoyed making new friends. Suddenly, he understood why it was so important for Jim to do the same in his new school. He promised himself that he was going to join the theatre group, and meet new friends, when he went back to school in January.

Chapter Seven

Do not be afraid for I am with you.

~Isaiah 43:5

IT WAS AN unusually hot February day in San Francisco. Although there had been the usual morning fog, around ten a.m. it had lifted and been replaced with a clear blue sky that allowed the sun to beat down on the city streets, warming the air and causing people to take off their jackets to seek relief from the growing heat.

One such person stood on the corner waiting for a cable car. Early that morning, he’d been wearing a business suit, but now he carried his rumpled suit jacket over one arm, wore his necktie loosened, and had the sleeves rolled up on his shirt. He sighed.

From time to time, he mopped his brow with a cotton handkerchief he pulled from his pants pocket.

It was mid-morning. Some people were heading to lunch, but this man was heading home. He looked up the hill to watch for the next available cable car, and then he looked down at his scuffed shoes, and sighed. He’d just lost his job.

Sam was his name. He hadn’t expected to lose his job when he’d gone in to work that morning. He’d worked downtown in a tall office building. That morning when he’d gone into his office, he’d sat down at his desk and started working, writing a report on his computer as he did every morning.

Around mid-morning, he got up and went to the office kitchen to get a cup of coffee, as he did every day. As he walked back to his desk, his boss, Mr. Timmons, called Sam into his office.

When Sam entered Mr. Timmons’ office, he knew something was wrong. Mr. Timmons asked Sam to take a seat, and then he explained that business had slowed down.

They didn’t need as many people to work in the office anymore. The company needed to save money, so some of the people who worked there would have to be let go. His boss called it “downsizing”, but Sam knew that it really meant that he wouldn’t have a job anymore.

So Sam had gone back to his desk and put his belongings in the box they gave him. Then he’d taken the elevator to the lobby and walked out to the corner to wait for a cable car heading down to the wharf.

After ten minutes of standing on that corner, in the hot sun, Sam finally heard the cable car’s horn and then watched as it stopped in front of where he stood on the sidewalk.

Sam picked up his box, climbed the steps of the cable car, walked down the center aisle, and found a seat on the third bench from the front door. He folded his jacket and carefully placed it on top of the box that he’d put down on the seat next to him. He rested his arm on the pile and sighed as the cable car started down the hill toward the wharf.

Usually, this ride home was Sam’s favorite part of the day. He loved to look down the hill toward the bay and the beautiful blue water of the Pacific Ocean. But today, he didn’t look at the ocean. Instead, he folded his hands and stared at the floor. What was he going to do without a job?

All of a sudden, the cable car jolted sharply to the left and Sam’s jacket and box flew from the seat next to him and onto the floor. He reached out to grab them, but they slipped from his grasp and tumbled under his seat.

It was awkward to reach under his seat to retrieve the box and jacket. As he finally settled the things on the seat next to him, he noticed something different. Something lumpy had become entangled in his jacket, something that hadn’t been there before. What could it be?

Carefully, he lifted his jacket. From the tangle of fabric, out tumbled a teddy bear. Not just any bear. This was a blue teddy bear.

“Where did you come from?” asked Sam, as he held up the bear to examine him more closely. Then Sam turned in his seat to see if someone behind him would recognize the bear and claim him as their own.

But no one seemed to notice Sam or the blue bear he was holding. They were too busy talking to friends, or reading the newspaper, or looking out the window. No one seemed to be looking for a lost bear.

Sam shrugged and turned around to address the bear. “You’re not the usual cable car passenger.”

Chester Blue didn’t say anything. He just stared ahead with his suitcase firmly tucked under his arm.

“I’m glad to see that your owner gave you a name tag,” said Sam. He looked at the tag that was pinned to Chester’s jacket. “Good thinking on their part. Although losing you on the cable car was unfortunate.”

Sam gently placed the blue bear on the seat next to him and placed his suit coat on his lap so that it was no longer resting on Chester’s head and determined that he would not concern himself with this lost bear. He had enough things to worry about.

WHEN THE CABLE car reached its last stop, the wharf, Chester was still sitting by Sam. There was no one else on the cable car.“Surely someone will take you home and keep you if you stay on this cable car. On the other hand, you could fall down the steps and onto the street,” said Sam and he shook his head with concern. “That would be terrible.”

Sam picked up Chester and placed him on top of the box of his office belongings.

“I suppose you’ll just have to come home with me, and then I’ll send you back to your owners.”

Sam walked several blocks until he reached a pier where sailboats were docked.“Well we’re home!” said Sam, jumping aboard one of the smaller ones. “It’s not big, but it’s the best place in the world as far as I’m concerned. I’ll show you around, but first, let me introduce my shipmate, Toby.”

At the mention of his name, a big ginger cat came up the wood stairs and through a door that led to a room in the interior of the sailboat. The cat blinked as if he’d just woken from a nap. Then he wove his body around Sam’s legs to welcome him home.

“I know it’s not a very original name,” said Sam, after he introduced Chester to the white and gold striped cat that lived on his boat. “But Toby’s the best friend I have in the world. He’s lived with me on this boat for ten years.”Toby sniffed Chester Blue and then turned his tail up and trotted back down the stairs and into the dimly lit cabin that he’d arrived from a moment ago.

Sam followed him down the stairs, and they entered an open room that made up the living room and kitchen of the boat. Sam’s bedroom was through another door that opened into this room. Toby jumped onto a counter and curled his tail around him to watch the strange new visitor.

With that, Sam set his box and Chester Blue down on the floor of the boat’s cabin and sat on a wooden bench that had been built into the side of the boat’s hull. He didn’t say anything, just stroked Toby’s head and stared out the small window at the wide-open bay beyond the harbor.

The sailboat cabin was neat and cozy. Everything had its place on shelves that had high edges so that the contents wouldn’t slide off during a sail.

The walls and shelves, and even the built-in couches that lined both sides of the boat, were constructed from a golden teak wood that glowed from years of polish and care. The floor of the boat was made of strips of the same wood and covered here and there with small oriental throw rugs with intricate designs. It was a well-loved home.“What am I going to do?” said Sam. “This boat is my home and Toby is the only family I have. What will I do without a job?”

Toby didn’t offer any advice. He jumped down from the counter where he’d been sitting and wound himself around Sam’s legs to comfort him.

Sam wandered around the small cabin, picking up books from the shelves and putting them down. He picked up a picture frame and stared at it for a few silent minutes.“This is a picture of me when I was a little boy,” said Sam, as he tilted the picture down so that Chester could see it. “These are my parents. We’re standing on the beach in Hawaii. We lived there when I was growing up and my father was in the Navy. I loved living there.” Sam sighed and then carefully placed the picture back on the shelf.

“Well, gentlemen,” said Sam, looking down at Chester and Toby, “we might as well go for a sail out in the bay. I always think better when I’m out on the water.”

And so, Sam and Toby and Chester set sail out on the bay. They passed under the Golden Gate Bridge as they sailed toward the Pacific Ocean.

“I BET YOU’VE never seen the bridge from this angle,” said Sam as they passed under the bridge. “Everyone else sees the bridge from up above or driving over it. When you sail under it, you get a whole different feeling. You understand just how big the bridge really is.”

It was a beautiful day for a sail. It was much cooler out on the water, with all the heat and noise of the city left far behind.

Sam, Toby, and Chester Blue sailed far away from the city, so far that even the bridge looked tiny and then disappeared from view. After a few hours, Sam brought out his lunch and ate a sandwich and chips and then drank a bottle of water.

“What a good day for a sail.” Sam sighed as he leaned back in his seat and looked up at the sky. “No clouds and just enough wind. I wish I could go sailing more often; I feel so alive when I’m out on the water. This would be the perfect office for me.”

Sam didn’t see the dark clouds that were forming on the horizon behind him, so he sailed on, enjoying the afternoon out on the ocean. An hour later Sam said, “We’re out pretty far. Maybe we should turn around and head back into the harbor.”

As Sam turned the boat toward the coast he saw the dark clouds that were now towering overhead.

“We’ll have to sail fast if we’re going to beat that storm back into the harbor,” said Sam as he steered the boat toward shore.

But the little sailboat couldn’t match the speed of the dark clouds that were chasing them. Suddenly the waves grew higher and jumped over the side of the boat and splashed Sam and Chester Blue.

Toby, being a smart cat, had already run down into the cabin of the boat where it was safe and warm and dry.

The dark clouds blocked the sunlight. The sailboat rocked back and forth as it sailed through the high waves.

There was a terrible ripping sound and Sam looked up just as the forward sail came tumbling down. Sam jumped up and inspected the sail.

“It’s got a huge tear in it,” yelled Sam over the howling winds. “We’ve got to fix it if we’re going to make it back to shore.”

He grabbed Chester Blue and jumped down the steps and into the boat’s cabin. He put Chester Blue on one of the couches and then stood in the center of the room with his hands on his hips, looking about, but not knowing what he was looking for. The answer, he admitted to himself, was not going to come from the walls of the ship.

“What am I going to use to fix this rip?” wondered Sam as he began to scramble through the cabin of the boat, opening the cupboards and slamming them to try to find something to fix the ripped sail.

Sam stood still again and then spun around, wildly looking around for something. Suddenly he looked at Chester and noticed the little suitcase that was tucked under the bear’s arm. When he stepped closer, he saw a little blue thread sticking out of the suitcase.

“Have you got anything that could help us, Chester?” asked Sam.

Sam opened Chester’s suitcase and saw the needle and thread. “Wow, you are a lifesaver! I think this might just do the job!” exclaimed Sam.

He grabbed the blue thread and needle and ran back onto sailboat’s deck, where the sail lay crumpled in a pile. Quickly, Sam began to stitch the torn sail with the blue thread.

The boat rocked from side to side as Sam tried to repair the sail and keep the boat upright in the storm. Cold, dark green waves crashed over the deck and knocked him over.

Sam had to blink away the salt water that stung his eyes and made it difficult to see the stitches he was trying to sew. Sam shivered in his wet clothes and his hand shook as he drew the needle through the thick fabric of the sail.

Finally, he was done.

“Well, let’s see if that thread is strong enough to hold that rip until we get back into the harbor,” said Sam as he pulled the sail back up the mast and then took his seat next to the boat’s tiller and steered toward shore.

With one eye on the sail and another on the stormy clouds overhead, Sam held the tiller fast in his hand and guided the sailboat through the waves toward the safety of the harbor.

When the boat was safely moored in its dock, Sam went into the cabin where Chester and Toby were sitting at the small table. He sat down next to them.

“Thank you, Chester Blue. Without you, we would not have made it back to shore,” said Sam.“Toby and I would have been lost at sea without your blue thread. I thank you for coming with us on this adventure, but now I think it’s time to call the family on your nametag and let them know where to find you.“You are a very special bear and I’m sure they’ve missed you very much. I’d better put this needle and thread back in your case. You might need it again in the future.”

As Sam opened the little suitcase to return the needle and thread, he noticed the little scrap of paper tucked inside. He pulled it out, carefully unfolded it, and read the note inside:

The note took his breath away. Suddenly Sam realized how close he’d come to sinking in the storm. This note was like Chester Blue’s thread, only instead of saving his boat, this note was meant to save his life.

“Thank you, God,” said Sam, as he bowed his head to pray. “I felt so lost this afternoon. When I was in that storm, I didn’t care if I made it out or not, because I felt so lost. But now I know you saved me for a reason. I don’t know what I’m going to do now that I’ve lost my job, but I’m going to trust you to show me the way.”

The next morning, Sam saw two young boys running down the dock toward his boat. He waved at them and they stopped next to his boat.“You must be Casey and Ryan,” said Sam.

After introductions had been made and the boys explained that they and their mother were spending some vacation time in San Francisco while Mr. Hilly had some business meetings there, Sam told them how Chester Blue had saved his life during the storm. When the boys asked why he’d been sailing instead of at work, Sam explained that, too.

“Why did you lose your job, Sam?” asked Casey.

“My company said they had to ‘downsize,’ ” said Sam. “That’s what happens when a company has too many people and not enough work.”

“Can’t you find another job?” asked Ryan.

“I’m fifty years old, Ryan,” said Sam. “Most companies think I’m too old to learn a new job, so they won’t hire me.”

“What if you could do whatever you wanted?” asked Casey.“Well, I’ve always wanted to sail my boat to Hawaii,” said Sam. “I have a cousin there who said he’d like me to help out at his marina. And I could give sailing lessons.”

“That sounds like a really cool job. Why don’t you do it?”

“I didn’t want to give up the security of my office job. I guess that’s not a problem anymore,” laughed Sam.

“Sometimes, it’s good to try something new,” said Ryan.“You might be right,” said Sam. “I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If I’m willing to take the chance, my dreams could come true.”

“Maybe losing your job was a good thing,” said Ryan.

“I think you’re right,” said Sam.

For the first time since he’d met Chester Blue, Sam felt a genuine sense of hope and happiness. He thought of the picture of himself as a young boy about their age, living in Hawaii with his parents.

That was where Sam’s heart already lived. Now Sam finally had the opportunity to follow. Sometimes, things that seemed bad could turn into good, thought Sam. As Casey picked up Chester Blue and walked with Ryan down the dock, Sam waved goodbye with a smile on his face and a feeling of gratitude that things were going to turn out just right.

Chapter Eight

Be kind to one another.

~Ephesians 4:32

JESSICA, LEAVE US alone!” Mary stomped her foot and pointed toward the door. “You’re too little to work on the quilt. You’ll just mess it up!”

“I won’t!” Jessica glared back at her older sister. “I know how to sew as well as you do.”

“No, you don’t. Your stitches are too big and too messy,” said Margaret, Jessica’s other older sister.

“My stitches are as good as yours,” said Jessica. “Mom always lets me help her work on her quilts.”

“Mom’s just being nice to you,” said Meredith.

“She is not,” said Jessica. “She says I’m a good seamstress. She says I quilt just as well as any of you.”

“Well, you can’t help with our quilt. We want to win the state fair, so it has to be perfect,” said Mary.

“And if you work on it, it won’t be perfect,” said Margaret.

“Only big girls can work on this quilt,” said Meredith.

“Meredith, you’re only two years older than me, you’re not a ‘big girl’,” said Jessica.

“I am so,” said Meredith. “I’m twelve and you’re only ten. I’m almost a teenager, and you’re still just a child.”

“I am not a child!” Jessica glared at her sister. Tears of frustration sprang to her eyes. She ran from the room, out the front door, and across the yard to the barn.

It was snowy and cold outside. Jessica was glad that she’d stopped at the kitchen door to grab her purple puffy jacket and her pink and purple striped cap.

By the time she had run across the yard and reached the door of the barn, her teeth were starting to chatter, even though she’d zipped closed her puffy jacket and pulled her knit cap down over her ears.

Shivering, Jessica opened the barn’s side door and closed it quickly behind her to block out the cold wind. She was grateful that it was warm inside the barn.

Jessica ran over to a bale of hay, which was covered with an old canvas tarp that they kept for the horses. She folded the tarp into a blanket and climbed inside, curling into a ball in the middle of the hay and creating a nest.

Soon she was warm and cozy beneath the heavy canvas cover. And there, she cried and cried. She was so angry. She wanted to work on the quilt for the state fair too. She wanted to be part of her sisters’ close-knit group.

Jessica fell asleep in the hay and dreamed that she could work on the quilt. When she woke, she discovered she was holding a blue bear in her arms.

Jessica brushed off the blue bear and held it up to examine it more closely.

“Where did you come from?” What was this unusual-looking bear was doing in her barn?She sighed and hugged Chester Blue. Then she looked out the barn door window and noticed that it was getting dark outside.

It would be time for dinner soon, and she knew that Mother would start looking for her when she noticed the dinner table had not been set. Jessica got up from the hay and walked outside, carrying Chester Blue at her side. It was dark and cold. I wonder if they’ve missed me.

The kitchen was warm and smelled of the meatloaf and mashed potatoes that Mom was making for dinner. When Jessica came into the room, her mother didn’t turn from the stove where she was stirring a pot of green beans. Instead, she called over her shoulder, “Jessica, would you help me get the table ready for dinner?”

“Yes, Mom,” said Jessica, in a sad, quiet voice.

Her mom turned from the stove. “Honey, are you not feeling well?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine. What’s wrong? Margaret was in here earlier and said that you’d run out to the barn because your sisters wouldn’t let you help with the quilt. Is that right?”

Jessica looked down at the floor and nodded.

“Do you want me to talk to the girls?” asked her mother, gently.

“No, Mom.”

“You know, I’ve got another quilt that you could help me with. We could pull it out tomorrow and . . .”

“It’s okay, Mom.” Jessica’s stomach grumbled, but she felt too sad to eat. She quickly set the table and then told her mother that she wasn’t hungry and wanted to go to bed early.

“Well, okay, Jessica, but I hate to see you unhappy.”

“Me too,” said Jessica, as she carried Chester Blue up the stairs to her bedroom. She closed her bedroom door, put on her pajamas, climbed into bed, and tucked Chester Blue in beside her. Then she opened the book she’d been reading the night before and began to read.

She’d been reading for a while when she heard her sisters walk down the hall outside her door. As they passed, she heard Meredith complaining that there was no blue thread to finish the quilt.“What are we going to do?” asked Meredith.

“We can go to the store tomorrow on the way to the Fair and then sew the final square before we get to the fairgrounds,” suggested Margaret.

“We won’t have time!” cried Mary, always the overly dramatic sister. “You can’t just sew it together like a sock. The stitches have to be perfect if we’re going to win the competition.”Margaret made another suggestion, but they’d walked too far down the hall for Jessica to hear Mary’s reply. So she turned back to her book and continued to read. But a part of her mind was thinking more about the quilt than the book.

IN THE MIDDLE of the night, Jessica woke up. The lights in her room were still on, and she noticed Chester Blue’s suitcase was open. She picked up the suitcase and noticed the scrap of paper first. She opened it and read:

Then she saw the blue thread and remembered what her sisters had said about the quilt. She wanted to remain mad at her sisters, but as she read the note again, she knew what she had to do.

Quietly, Jessica crept downstairs and found the quilt lying on a table in the living room. She took a length of Chester Blue’s blue thread and carefully threaded her needle. Her hand shook as she took the first stitch. What if she made a mistake?

Maybe she should just give the thread to her oldest sister, Mary, and let her finish the quilt.

Oh, but this was such a beautiful quilt and Jessica just knew that if she could sew the pattern she’d imagined every day for the past week, as she watched her sisters do, then this square would be as pretty as the others.

Slowly, Jessica pulled the thread through the fabric and took her first tentative stitches. She didn’t stop to question her work.

It felt so good to be sewing a square of her own design. She concentrated on making each stitch as small and perfect as those of her mother.

She hoped she would have enough thread. Her design was set against the dark blue fabric of the quilt’s square. It would take the rest of the night to complete the design, but there would never be another square as pretty as this, Jessica thought, as her fingers pulled the needle and thread through the fabric.

The sun was just beginning to turn the night sky from black to gray when Jessica finally finished sewing her square into the center of the quilt.

Then she carefully spread the quilt out on the table and stood back to look at her square. It was an outline of the big dipper, surrounded by smaller stars. And beneath it, in her best cross-stitch, she’d stitched:

In a corner of the square, in very tiny stitches, she stitched her initials just like her sisters had done on their squares.

Her eyes were tired and her fingers were sore from making so many careful stitches. She carefully laid the quilt over the chair where she’d found it, and then she went back to her room and to bed.

When her sisters woke up in the morning they came downstairs and told their mother that they would have to go into town to buy some blue thread.

They led their mother into the living room to show her what was left to do. They were shocked and surprised to find that the final square in the quilt had been completed. With blue thread. And it was stitched beautifully. When they read the words that had been stitched on the final square, they thought it was a miracle.

They asked their mother if she had done it after they had gone to bed. They looked at each other and asked if one of them had done it while the others were sleeping. Had an angel come in the middle of the night?

Their mother leaned closer and admired the beautiful stitches. Even the sisters admitted that the stitches were better than their best work. Then their mother noticed the tiny initials in the corner of the square.“I think the solution to our mystery is right here,” said Mother with a knowing smile, as she pointed to the small initials in the corner of the square.

The girls asked their mother, “Did you sew this square and put Jessica’s initials in the corner?”

Their mother shook her head. “No, I didn’t. Why don’t you ask Jessica if she’s the one who sewed this square?”

“She couldn’t sew this well,” said Meredith. “She’s not old enough.”

“I don’t think age has anything to do with it,” said Mother. “I believe it’s really a matter of patience. If you have the patience to stick with a project, you can do a good job.”

Just then, Jessica came downstairs, holding Chester Blue.

The girls turned to look at Jessica.“Did you finish our quilt, Jessica?” asked Meredith.

“Where did you get that blue bear?” asked Margaret.

“Are you sure Mom didn’t help you?” asked Mary, still not quite ready to believe that Jessica could sew that well.

Jessica wasn’t sure which question to answer first, so she explained that she found the thread in Chester Blue’s suitcase. And that she’d found Chester Blue in the barn.

“You saved the day!” said Margaret, rushing to Jessica to give her a hug.

“We couldn’t have finished this quilt without your help,” said Meredith, smiling and holding out the quilt for Jessica. “You should come with us to the State Fair.”

Jessica suddenly felt shy. “I didn’t do much,” she said, embarrassed by all their attention.

“Sure you did!” said Mary, who had to admit she’d been wrong to doubt her little sister’s abilities. “Your square is the prettiest one on this quilt. You deserve to be there with us.”Mother looked from one girl to the next and said, “I think it’s settled then. Jessica, you will go with your sisters. This quilt represents all your efforts. I am very proud of you, girls.”

THEY TOOK THE quilt to the state fair and won first prize. All the sisters hugged. On the way home from the Fair, they told Mom they wanted to keep Chester Blue. But their mother told them that Chester would have to be sent home to the address listed on his name tag and that he was surely needed there to help someone else.

The girls reluctantly agreed that a special bear like Chester was meant to be shared with others. So after saying their good-byes, Mary, Margaret, and Meredith handed the bear to their youngest sister. And Jessica carefully wrapped up Chester Blue and sent him home.

When Chester Blue arrived at the Hilly’s home, in a package with a postmark from Montana, the Hillys were ecstatic to see him–and a little bemused, since none of them had been to Montana. In fact, no one even remembered having taken Chester from the house. They could have sworn he’d been there the whole time.

They talked about it at dinner–during which the boys did not argue, because they didn’t really argue much anymore–and imagined what adventures Chester might have had. And then, perhaps because miracles had become woven into their lives, they gave the hows and whys of Chester’s travels not too much more thought.

Instead, they talked about the report cards the boys had just brought home, with Mr. and Mrs. Hilly saying how proud they were to read about the twins’ greatly-improved grades and behavior.

The boys high-fived each other. And then Mr. and Mrs. Hilly high-fived the boys–and each other. And finally, laughing, they high-fived Chester Blue, too.

COME TO ME, ALL YOU WHO ARE WEARY AND BURDENED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

~Matthew 11:28

Chapter Nine

The Lord bless you and keep you.

~Numbers 6:24

WHEN I WAS a little girl, I could walk to the end of that inlet. That was before there were hotels built along this beachfront.“I fished from that beach with my brother. Now I have to fish from this bridge because they have built a tall fence with a gate and a guard in a booth who opens and closes the gate. They’ve closed off the beach to anyone who is not a guest of that fancy hotel.

“But, I don’t mind too much. I like fishing from the bridge. The best time to fish is late at night, when it’s quiet.“That’s when I look up at the sky and just wonder at all the stars and I say, ‘God, how did you think to make the sky so beautiful at night?’ ”

THE HILLY FAMILY had come to Florida to visit the boys’ grandma, during their spring break from school. They were staying at a hotel on the beach and had decided to take a walk over this bridge after dinner on their second evening in town.

Ryan and Casey stopped to watch the old woman who was fishing all by herself from the top of the bridge. Their parents had stopped a little further ahead to talk to another couple that they recognized from the hotel. It was just that type of small beachside town, a place where people were friendly and stopped to chat.

The old woman leaned against the bridge’s railing, holding the fishing pole between her hands.

The boys looked at her hands and wondered at her wrinkled skin and the arthritic knuckles that looked like walnuts beneath the wrinkles. They wondered how such old hands could hold the fishing pole night after night.

“What are you trying to catch?” asked Ryan.

“There’s a big snook hiding down there among the pilings. I’ve been fishing for him for years. Someday I’m going to catch him.”

“Would you eat him for your dinner?” asked Casey.

The old woman looked at Casey and then back down at the water below the bridge. Then she shook her head and laughed and laughed. “Sure I would! I’m not standing out here for my health!”

“How could you cook him up and eat him for dinner?” asked Ryan. “I mean, if he’s that big, how could you eat all that fish by yourself?”

The old woman’s brows furrowed together. She got a frown on her face, and she pursed her lips together like she was either going to say something really mean or spit.“You think there’s something wrong with an old woman like me trying to catch fish to feed herself, boy? For your nosey information, when I catch that big fish, I’m going to take him home and put him in my smoker. That way the smoked fish will last a long time in my freezer and I won’t have to worry about what I’m going to eat every night. Is that okay with you?”She glared at them so hard that both of the boys took a step back, afraid that she might decide to smack them with the end of her fishing pole.

As they took a second step back, Casey stumbled on a crack in the cement and Chester Blue swung forward from where he’d been dangling from a clip attached to the strap of Casey’s backpack.

The old woman looked down at Chester Blue. “What have you got there? I’ve never seen a blue bear before, especially one holding a suitcase. What’s he got in there?”

Casey held up Chester Blue so the old woman could have a closer look. “He’s got a note and a needle and some blue thread.”

“A note? What’s his note say?”

Casey carefully opened the suitcase, took out the note, and handed it to the old woman. He watched in silence as she carefully unfolded the paper and read the note to herself.

Then a strange thing happened. Tears came to her eyes.“Boy, I sure needed to read those words tonight,” she said as she wiped away a tear that was sliding down her wrinkled cheek.“I’ve been feeling pretty lonely lately, spending all my time out here, by myself.”

“Don’t you have anyone?” asked Casey.

Suddenly there was a tugging on her fishing line, and the old woman turned away and picked up her fishing pole. The pole bent from the weight of the line being pulled beneath the water. The old woman held the pole tight, and called over her shoulder. “Boys, you’re going to have to help me get this fish in.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Ryan.

“I want one of you to help me crank this reel, to bring the line in,” she said as the pole jerked forward in her hands. “And I need the other to help me hold this pole, so that dang fish doesn’t pull it, and me, into the water!”

With Casey helping to hold the fishing pole and Ryan helping to reel in the fishing line, they battled the fish far below them, deep in the water.

The old woman and the two boys worked together, and slowly but surely they brought the big fish to the surface.“You caught him!” said Casey.

“Are you going to take him home and put him in your smoker now? He’s the biggest fish I’ve ever seen!” said Ryan.

“No, I’m going to let him go,” said the old woman.

“But why?” asked Ryan.

“You’ve waited your whole life to catch him!” said Casey.

“Yes, but now that I have, I want to let him go,” said the old woman as she took the hook from the big fish’s mouth and watched as it slipped back into the water and slowly swam away. “Truth be told, I like knowing he’s down there. I think he must be as old as I am by now. We’re just an old fish and an old woman out here in the darkness and quiet. I think it’s better that he’s swimming around out there to keep me company. He’s an old one, just like me.”

“It must be hard to be alone,” said Ryan.

“Sometimes,” she said.

“Don’t you get lonely?” asked Casey.

“Sure do.”

“Is that why you cried when you read that note?”

“No, those were tears of happiness. I understand that was a message from God. And maybe it was sent by my late husband to let me know that he and God are waiting for me, when I’m ready. Not now, but when I’m ready.”She smiled wistfully. “I’m glad you two boys stopped by tonight. I was feeling really blue. Now that I’ve got a reminder that God’s thinking of me, I feel a lot better.”

The old woman gave the boys and Chester Blue her favorite fishing lure to remember her by. “I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore. I’ll just let him stay down there and keep me company.”

Chapter Ten

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

~Psalm 118:24

THE SKY IS so bright it almost hurts my eyes,” said Ryan, shading his eyes with his hand, “especially when I look up at the top of that tall needle building.”

“That’s the Washington Memorial, Ryan,” said Mr. Hilly as they drove through Washington D.C.

“Will we go to the Lincoln Memorial? I want someone to take a picture of me standing in front of President Lincoln,” said Casey.

“This place is amazing,” said Ryan. “I can’t wait to go to the White House.”

“I want to go to the Space Museum,” said Casey.

“Okay, boys,” laughed Mr. Hilly. “I get the idea. We’ll make sure we get to see everything. After all, we are here for the week.”

“But first we’ve got to go visit Miss Millie at the Smithsonian Museum,” said Mrs. Hilly. “The message she left for us at the hotel this morning said she needed to see us right away. Her note sounded urgent. She also said that we should bring Chester Blue.”

“Why is Miss Millie at the Smithsonian?” asked Ryan.

“And why would she want to see Chester Blue?” asked Casey. “She’s not going to ask us to give him back, is she?”

“In answer to your first question, boys,” began Mrs. Hilly, “Miss Millie was asked to come to Washington to work on a special exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum. She is very excited about her new job. When I called to tell her we were coming to Washington for your summer vacation, she asked us to come see her.”

“But what about Chester? What does he have to do with her new job?” asked Casey.

“That is a mystery that only Miss Millie can answer for us, Casey.”

MISS MILLIE RUSHED across the room when she saw the Hilly family enter the back workroom of the museum. She moved so quickly that she knocked her reading glasses off the top of her head and nearly knocked over what looked like a very old Egyptian vase.

“Oh, I’m so glad that you are here,” she cried as she picked her glasses off the floor. “I don’t know what to do! I have a very old bear to enter into the museum’s teddy bear collection, but he’s so rare that I need a special thread to repair the hole in his belly, or all his stuffing may fall out!”

“Don’t you have any thread here?”

“Oh we have lots of thread,” said Miss Millie, waving her hand toward a wall filled with shelves holding rows and rows of little spools of thread in every color imaginable. “We just don’t have the kind that I need. It’s a very special thread. I have some in my shop at home, but not here.”

“What about Chester Blue’s thread? It’s helped a lot of people.”

“That’s just what I was thinking when I heard that you were in town! If there is any left in his suitcase, the thread in Chester Blue’s suitcase is just what I need.”

“Sure, he’s got lots of thread left,” said Casey, as he handed Chester Blue to Miss Millie.

The boys watched intently as Miss Millie quickly threaded the blue thread through the eye of a needle and then began to make the tiniest stitches they’d ever seen as she closed the hole in the old bear’s belly. When she was done, she patted the bear and placed it on a table with other old bears of all shapes and sizes. Each was in different need of repair. Miss Millie sighed as she looked at the table of bears, as if she was considering which one to work on next.

“Do you like your new job, Miss Millie?” asked Ryan.

“Oh, I love being here. It’s a dream come true for me to work amongst so much history!” said Miss Millie.

“You mean taking care of all this old stuff isn’t boring to you?” asked Casey as he looked around the room.

“Of course not!” cried Miss Millie. “It’s just all in the way you look at it. To me, it’s not ‘old stuff’; it’s part of our country’s history, and I’m here to take care of it. I feel honored to work at the Smithsonian.”

“Are you going to live in Washington D.C.?”

“Well, they’ve asked me to stay, but I don’t know. I miss my hometown of Blossom. I’ve lived there all my life and it’s pretty special to me.”

“But I thought your shop closed,” said Ryan.

“Yes, it did, but since I’ve been here, I’ve been thinking of a new business I’d like to start.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Mr. Hilly, who’d begun to listen with interest when Miss Millie mentioned going back to Blossom, Ohio.

“Well, it’s the same work I do here,” explained Miss Millie. “I guess you could call it a teddy bear hospital. The museum’s director and I agreed that I could work on their teddy bears anywhere. And if I hire out my services to other museums, as well as to private teddy bear collectors, I should be able to have a nice little business. Plus, Blossom needs people like me to move back and help it grow again.”

“I agree,” said Mr. Hilly with a mysterious smile. “Which is why we’re moving to Blossom too.”

“What?!” cried the boys in unison.

Mr. and Mrs. Hilly laughed at the surprised look on the boys’ faces–and on Miss Millie’s face as well.

“You’d better explain yourself, Mr. Hilly,” said Mrs. Hilly, “or these boys are going to burst!”

“As you know, I’ve been traveling a lot in the past year. But it’s been for a very good reason. I was in charge of finding a new home for our company’s headquarters.“I couldn’t tell anyone because it was a very important secret,” said Mr. Hilly, looking from Casey to Ryan with a warm smile. “Just last week, our Board of Directors, voted and agreed with my recommendation that we move our headquarters to Blossom, Ohio. It’s a very nice small town, and we’ll be able to help it start to grow again when all our employees move there with their families.”

“And we’re moving too?” asked Ryan.

“Just as soon as we get back from this trip, we’ll start packing,” said Mrs. Hilly with a laugh, as she enjoyed the look of happiness on Miss Millie’s face.

“What a wonderful surprise!” cried Miss Millie.“Dad?” Suddenly Casey looked serious. “Does this mean that you won’t be traveling as much anymore?”

Both Ryan and Casey stood still, watching their father expectantly.

Mr. Hilly smiled and put an arm around each boy. “I’m sorry to say that you’ll be seeing a lot more of me. Now that we’ve selected our new headquarters, I’ve got to be in town every day to help get things running.”

Both boys threw their arms in the air and shouted, “Yea!”

“Ahem!” Behind them, someone cleared his throat, and the Hillys and Miss Millie quickly turned around.

“Mr. President!” said Miss Millie.

“Miss Millie, is this the bear I’ve heard so much about?”

“Yes, sir, this is the bear I’ve been telling you about.” Miss Millie handed the bear to the President of the United States, while the Hilly family stood back in shock at seeing the President in person.

They watched in silence as he examined the bear, and then opened the suitcase and carefully unfolded the note and read its contents:

At first, the President didn’t say a word, he just smiled and nodded as he folded the note and placed it back in the suitcase and handed the bear back to Miss Millie. Then the President said, “Amen.”

“Chester Blue, I’ve heard of your service to our country. You are a very special bear. I’d like to award you a special service medal as a goodwill ambassador. And since the Hilly family has kindly let you be of such service, I’d like to invite all of you to be my guests at lunch tomorrow. At the White House.”

“We’d be honored, Mr. President,” said Mr. Hilly, as he reached out and shook the President’s hand.

“Miss Millie, I hope you’ll be able to join us,” said the President, as he turned to leave the room. “We’d like to honor your work here, as well.”“Thank you, sir.” Miss Millie beamed with pride and then put an arm around the shoulders of each boy. “Now, if you two will come with me, I’d like to show you a very special exhibit I’ve been working on.”

“Well, it sure has been the most exciting year of our lives,” said Mr. Hilly.

“I think we’ve all learned a lot from the people we’ve met along the way,” said Mrs. Hilly.

Just then, a button fell from the President’s coat.

“Looks like another job for Chester Blue!” said Ryan.

“Chester Blue to the rescue,” laughed Casey.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, THAT WHOEEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.

~JOHN 3:16

From The Author

IF YOU ENJOYED God Loves You. ~Chester Blue, would you please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon.com, Goodreads.com, or your favorite book site? Sharing your enjoyment of a book helps to spread the word and is more important to an indie-author than anything else!

Please keep reading for the first chapter from my novel Mrs. Tuesday’s Departure, as well as an excerpt from Waiting with God: a 31-day Cure for Unanswered Prayer.

Mrs. Tuesday’s Departure

By Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson

Chapter One

I CAN’T SLEEP, NANA.”

Mila’s skin was clear and pale like the antique German porcelain dolls I’d bought for her when she was a child. Long dark lashes shaded her almond-shaped blue eyes.

I released the doorknob that I’d been ready to close, entered her room and settled into an overstuffed chair with a sigh and a smile that belied my worry. Candlelight silhouetted Mila’s face in a halo of pale yellow. The book she held created a shadow that fell across her chest, making the pink roses on her nightgown glow and float in the shadows of her long dark hair. In the five years that Mila had lived here, there were few nights when I did not find her with a book.

When Mila had first arrived, I placed this chair next to her bed to read aloud one of the children’s books that provided me with my living and my reputation. Over the years, the chair remained, I wrote more books, and read each one to Mila until she outgrew them and began to read the novels she found in my study. The ritual of our time together before bed, our discussion of books, remained. Even during these years of war.

She propped the book against her chest and watched me expectantly. “You’re coming with us, aren’t you?”

“Of course.” I turned from her gaze and smoothed the edge of the comforter, wishing our conversation could skim the surface as lightly as my fingers.

“And Aunt Anna?” Mila’s eyes searched my face for signs of deception.

“Yes, she seems to understand.”

“But she forgets things so quickly,” Mila added anxiously. “You know what she’s like when she becomes confused.”

“We’ll sort it out in the morning,” I folded my hands in my lap and leaned back in the chair. “She’ll come with me.”

“Mom’s worried she’ll slow us down.”

“She said that to you?” My voice tightened as I finally looked into her eyes.

Mila looked away. “I overheard Mom and Bela in the kitchen before supper.”

“I’ll make sure that Anna reaches the station on time.”

With that we sat among the shadows of the bedroom, neither of us willing to enter the overrun province. My younger sister and her husband resented my caretaking of my twin sister. A year ago, Anna had moved in with us. A nervous breakdown made it impossible for her to continue living alone in her apartment near the university, where she had been a poet in residence.

Mila began again. “When I try to talk to Momma, she snaps at me.”

“She’s just concerned about the arrangements for our trip,” I offered.

“Sometimes she looks over at Bela before answering me.”

“Bela’s a difficult man.”

“I think she’s afraid he might leave without her. Would he do that, Nana?”

“No. He wouldn’t leave without her.”

I rubbed my hands down the length of my wool skirt to warm them. This room resisted warmth, despite the clanking radiators that sat like plump cats hissing and spitting against two of the bedroom walls.

I disdained my younger sister’s choice in men. Ilona effortlessly used hypochondria as a defense against any form of housework or childrearing labors. She’d picked her husbands accordingly – men willing to care for her in exchange for total control of her movements and her affections. Jealous masters. As a result of Ilona’s disposition and the low wages Bela received as a legal clerk, they’d come to live with me after my husband died. They insisted they were concerned about my living alone. I surmised, though, that my spacious apartment was a greater priority to them than my welfare. My husband and I lived in a large three-bedroom apartment in the center of Pest. I kept the master bedroom that I’d shared with my husband, which still held his clothes and his scent. There were two smaller bedrooms. Mila slept in one, and my sister Anna in the other. Ilona and Bela felt those bedrooms were too small for them, and when they realized that I was not going to relinquish the room I’d shared with my husband, they claimed the living room as the only room large enough to accommodate them comfortably. As a result, my study became both a library and a living room. The dining room and kitchen remained as they had been when my husband and I had lived alone here. I maintained the truce with Ilona and endured the angry outbursts of her husband to keep Mila near. She was the daughter I’d always wanted. She was an inquisitive and beautiful young girl.

“What are you reading?” I leaned forward and gestured toward her book, hoping an old routine would bring comfort and distract us from our separate worries.

“Aunt Anna’s poems,” Mila said, turning the cover toward me. “I can’t believe that she wrote the words.”

“Before her illness, Anna was a brilliant poet with an enormous gift for making the mundane sublime. She was a remarkable woman. She still is.”

“I wish I could talk to her about the poems,” Mila said.

“Try,” I said. “There are moments when she still understands a great deal.”

Mila pushed herself up in the bed and leaned toward me. “What does she remember?”

“For her, the poems that were written a decade ago are the freshest in her mind. That’s some of her best work. She can still tell you exactly what she was trying to achieve in each line. Ironically, it’s her inability to process what she did yesterday, or a moment ago, that keeps her from creating. It’s sad. I know she has so much more to say.”

Mila leaned back against the pillows and chewed her lip. “Does she realize what’s happening to her?”

I took Mila’s hand in mine and gently squeezed it. “She knows.”

A year ago, Anna had handed me a stack of leather-bound books. The journals contained Anna’s notes on poems that she had struggled through, political skirmishes at the university, and embarrassingly detailed notes on her love life. Anna asked me to edit them and publish them for her. It was one of the first things she asked for when the doctor concluded that her delusional bouts would become more frequent over time. She wanted some testimony to survive as her real self slipped away. I’d begun working on them when my own writing stalled. I was piqued, discomfited, and touched by what I read. In the long sloping lines of confession that covered the pages of her journals, I realized a depth to her I’d never imagined.

“How long will she recognize us, Nana?”

“I hope forever.”

Some things a young girl should not have to learn too quickly. The irony of life was that insanity should take the one thing that allowed Anna to express her greatest gift. I shook my head. No, that was the least of it. There was so much more I was trying to protect Mila from. Outside her windows, four floors above the street, the March wind moaned. The windows rattled and whistled softly as cold air seeped through cracks in the warped wooden frames. The streets were unusually quiet. Even at this hour, Budapest should have been alive with the sounds of the city. But there were no cars on the street or pedestrians making their way home from the opera house or the cafe. What a sharp contrast to the celebrations held just days before.

Trusting God with Your Dream:

A 21-Day Devotional for Young Women

By Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson

Introduction

ONE CHRISTMAS, MY mother gave me a copy of The Daily Walk Bible. I’d tried daily reading-plan Bibles before without the dedication to make it beyond a cursory reading that ended sometime in January. But this time was different.

What kept me motivated (especially as I slogged through those difficult Old Testament books) was that I’d reached a crossroads in my life and I was seeking life-changing responses to my unanswered prayers about career and finances.

God had gone silent when I needed Him most, and I was trying to find out why. Although I believed I’d prayed in good faith, and had prayed “without ceasing,” it seemed that nothing I did brought an answer to my prayers. It wasn’t that God wasn’t there; He just wasn’t listening to me.

After a year in the Bible, I came to a startling realization. All this time that I’d been waiting on God for an answer, I hadn’t been waiting alone. God was with me.

God used my year of waiting not to frustrate me, or abandon me, but to draw me into a closer relationship with Him.

As you read through these 31 days of devotionals, I pray that you too will be drawn closer to God.

In these pages, you will discover:

- • God will always provide an answer to your prayer.

- • You are never alone. God is always near.

- • And more than anything else . . .

- • God loves you beyond measure.

Day 1

Trusting God With Your Future

Talk about a dive into the deep end. What a great way to start our devotional journey!

Do we trust God enough to not only say: “You are my God. My future is in your hands!”

But to believe it and live it?

If you’re not quite ready to make this commitment to God today, let’s make it our goal to be there at the end of 31 days together.

If you’re like me and have tried to do everything on your own, the most difficult decision may be letting go and letting God. What an enormous amount of trust it takes to say, “Okay God, I’ve tried to do it my way, but I’m ready to let go of the reins and turn my life over to you.”

My first reaction to that announcement has always been: But what if I don’t like the plans God has for my life?

Don’t worry. We’re going to tackle that question within these pages.

This conflict between asking for God’s help but not totally trusting His ability or willingness to answer was what finally made me turn to the Bible in search of guidance and to many, many hours of prayer to seek God. In the end, I was able to say, “God you’re in charge of my business, my finances, my life.”

In the past, I’d tried to do it all myself. With mixed results.

Now, I declare that I am asking for God’s blessing on my future and trust in Him to work it out for the best.

Will you join me to trust God with your present and your future?

For contests, giveaways, and updates on future books, please stop by my home on the Internet:

www.suzanneelizabethanderson.com

God bless you,

Suzanne

Acknowledgments

A SPECIAL THANK you to Darrel Murray, who has the sharpest editorial eyes. This is the second book he’s rescued. And to Ursula, who is an incredibly talented illustrator.

About the Author

SUZANNE ANDERSON WAS born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, attended the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship for swimming, and then worked on Wall Street. She left the bright lights of the big city many years ago and traveled the world. During that time, Suzanne began collecting teddy bears, including several blue ones. The first bear she sewed all by herself is a blue bear named Chester Blue. He was the inspiration for this story. Suzanne now lives in the mountains of Colorado with her huge Newfoundland dogs, and a tiny Yorkshire terrier, who is the boss of everyone.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

From The Author