ZONDERVAN

God Loves You!

Copyright © 2008 by Berenstain Bears, Inc.

Illustrations © 2008 by Berenstain Bears, Inc.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition September 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-86808-8

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berenstain, Stan, 1923-

God loves you! / by Stan and Jan Berenstain with Mike Berenstain.

p. cm. — (The Berenstain Bears)

Summary: When Brother Bear tries out for the basketball team and Sister Bear tries out for the school musical, they are both surprised by the outcome which teaches them about God’s plan and love for them.

ISBN-13: 978-0-310-71250-3 (softcover; saddle stitch)

ISBN-10: 0-310-71250-5 (softcover; saddle stitch) [1. Bears—Fiction. 2. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 3.

Disappointment—Fiction. 4. Self-acceptance—Fiction. 5. Christian life—Fiction.] I. Berenstain, Jan, 1923- II.

Berenstain, Michael. III. Title.

PZ7.B4483Gl 2008

[E]—dc22

2007022888

All Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.

Editor: Betsy Flikkema

Art direction: Sarah Molegraaf

Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

About the Publisher

Share Your Thoughts

The first week of school was a busy time for Brother and Sister Bear. It was a time to see old friends, meet new teachers, get their first homework assignments, and sign up for after-school activities.

Sister decided to try out for the big school show. This year it was The Music Bear. Sister thought she would be perfect in a leading role. She liked to sing “I Feel Pretty” from Bearside Story at home. Mama and Papa always said she was very good.

But there would be a lot of other girls trying out for the show too. Babs Bruno had a very fine voice, and there was Queenie McBear, of course. She thought she was the best singer in the school, and all her friends agreed with her.

Brother Bear was trying out too, but not for the school show. He wanted to be on the school basketball team. He was pretty sure he could make it. He had been practicing dribbling and layups in the driveway at home. He played 21 with Papa after supper and always beat him.

The tryouts for the school play and basketball team were on the same day. After school, Brother went down to the gym and got into a basketball uniform. He and the other boys charged out onto the court and started warming up.

Sister joined a long line of cubs in the auditorium. Teacher Jane called them up on the stage one by one to sing a song. Babs sang “Memory,” and she was very good. But Queenie made a mess of “Tomorrow”! She had a hard time hitting all the high notes. In spite of that, all her friends clapped and cheered, and Queenie took a few bows. Sister glanced over at Teacher Jane. She didn’t look too impressed.

When it was Sister’s turn, she sang “I Feel Pretty” just like she did at home for Mama and Papa.

In the gym, Brother was puffing and panting away, trying hard to look good. One after another, the boys dribbled, passed, shot layups, and took foul shots while Coach Grizzmeyer looked on and checked off names on a clipboard. You couldn’t tell anything by watching him. His face never changed—never a smile, never a frown, not even a wink. The cubs called him Old Stoneface.

Finally, he said, “Okay, men! That’s enough! The roster will be posted on the bulletin board outside my office tomorrow.”

On his way back to the locker room, Brother couldn’t resist stopping to ask, “Coach, do you think I have a shot at making the team?”

Coach Grizzmeyer just shrugged and said, “We’ll see, son.”

In the auditorium, the auditions for the school show were winding up. Teacher Jane smiled a lot more than Coach Grizzmeyer, but she wasn’t giving anything away, either.

“That’s all for today, everyone!” she said. “I’ll post my choices for the entire cast tomorrow on the bulletin board outside my room.”

As Sister left, she couldn’t resist stopping to ask, “Teacher Jane, do you think I have a chance of getting one of the main parts?”

But Teacher Jane just smiled and said, “We’ll see, my dear.”

Sister joined up with Brother as he walked home from school.

“Well, how do you think it went?” asked Sister. “Do you think you made the team?”

“Yeah, I think so!” said Brother hopefully. He really felt he had done well. He knew he was still a little short to be playing on the school team. But he hoped his skills and his hustle would make up for that.

“What about you?” Brother asked. “How did the auditions go?”

“Great, I think,” said Sister.

“What did Teacher Jane think?” Brother asked.

“I don’t know,” said Sister thoughtfully. “She didn’t say anything. She just smiled at everybody.”

“At least she smiled. Old Stoneface never smiles!”

Sister laughed as they reached their tree house and climbed the steps.

“Oh, well!” she said, shrugging. “We’ll find out how we did tomorrow.”

And they did …

The next morning, both Brother and Sister rushed downstairs, gobbled their breakfasts, waved a quick good-bye to Mama and Papa, and got to school faster than they ever had before. They couldn’t wait to see how they had done.

Brother rushed to Coach Grizzmeyer’s office while Sister scurried to Teacher Jane’s room. There were crowds of cubs gathered around the bulletin boards. Brother and Sister struggled to get up close.

Brother glanced quickly down the list of names. There was his, right at the bottom. At first, he felt a rush of relief. But then, he noticed what it said next to his name: Team Manager.

Team manager! TEAM MANAGER? The team manager just picked up basketballs and made sure everybody got on the bus on time. That’s not what he wanted to do! He wanted to play; he wanted to shoot and dribble and dunk. He wanted to be a big star!

Outside Teacher Jane’s room, Sister quickly looked over the cast. At first, she didn’t see her name at all. Then she spotted it, right at the bottom.

Sister Bear: Stage Manager.

Stage manager! STAGE MANAGER? All the stage manager did was put away the props and make sure everybody got onstage on time. She didn’t want to be stage manager. She wanted to act; she wanted to sing and dance and take bows. She wanted to be a big star!

Miserably, Sister trudged down the hall to her classroom.

When school let out that afternoon, Brother and Sister were both feeling very sorry for themselves. Even the weather seemed to be against them. Slowly, they climbed the front steps of the tree house.

Wearily, they plopped themselves down on the sofa in the living room. It seemed like the dark rain clouds outside had followed them in and were hanging over them.

“Whatever is the matter?” asked Mama.

“Yes,” said Papa. “You both look like you are about to get a tooth drilled.”

Brother and Sister sighed.

“Oh, we had a rough day at school,” said Brother. “I didn’t make the school basketball team.”

“And I didn’t get a part in the school show,” added Sister, putting her chin in her hands.

“Oh, dear!” said Papa, concerned. “What a shame!”

“How disappointing!” said Mama. “Didn’t Coach Grizzmeyer or Teacher Jane give you anything to do at all?”

“Well,” said Brother, “they did give us something to do. I’m the team manager.”

“And I’m the stage manager,” said Sister. “But I don’t want to do that! I want to be in the show!”

“And I want to be on the team!” said Brother.

“Well,” said Mama, “I guess not everybody can be a star.”

“But don’t you think I deserve to be in the show?” asked Sister.

“Of course you do!” said Mama, giving her a hug. “You’re a wonderful singer!”

“And don’t you think I deserve to be on the team?” asked Brother.

“Of course you do!” said Papa, patting him on the shoulder. “You’re a terrific basketball player!”

“I guess nobody else thinks so,” said Sister gloomily. “I guess nobody at Bear Country School thinks much of us at all!” She heaved an even bigger sigh.

“Well,” said Mama, “it’s not going to do us any good sitting around here feeling sorry for ourselves. I was just about to go outside to cut some flowers. It’s getting chilly at night, and I want to get them in before there’s a frost. Why don’t we all go out for a little walk?

“But it’s raining,” protested Brother.

“The rain’s stopped,” said Papa, looking out the window. Sure enough, the clouds had lifted and the sun was peeking out.

Papa got Honey Bear into her stroller, and they all went outside. Mama stopped to cut some flowers at the back gate. They were very beautiful—big bright yellow, orange, pink, and violet blossoms. Birds were coming out after the rain and were singing in the trees. A big blue butterfly came sailing by and stopped to sip nectar from Mama’s flowers.

By now, the clouds had all rolled away and the golden sun was shining over the countryside.

“Look!” said Papa. “A rainbow!”

As the rays of the sun shone through the last drops of rain, a beautiful rainbow stretched right across the sky. “Wow!” said Brother. “It’s so bright!”

“What makes a rainbow?” asked Sister in wonder.

“Well,” said Papa, “you see … the light from the sun shines through the raindrops and creates a prismatic thingy, which bounces around from the um … uh …”

Mama interrupted. “The rainbow is a gift from God. It’s a sign that the rain is past and the sun has come to warm the earth again. God puts the rainbow in the sky as a beautiful sign of his love for all the earth and all the creatures that he has made.”

“Even us?” asked Brother.

“Of course!” said Papa. “God loves everybody!”

“What about wasps?” asked Sister. A wasp had stung her in the school yard a few days ago, and she was very afraid of them.

“Well … yes,” said Papa, shooing one away that was buzzing around Mama’s flowers. “God loves all his creation!”

“Does he love us even when we’re bad?” wondered Brother, a little puzzled.

“Well …” said Papa.

“What about when we’re really, really bad?” asked Sister. “Like when Brother and I got into a fight and wouldn’t speak to each other for a week?”

“Um …” said Papa.

“Or that time Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang dared me to steal Farmer Ben’s watermelon?” asked Brother.

“Uh …” said Papa.

“Or when we watch too much TV?” put in Sister. “Or when I bite my nails? Or when we don’t do our homework? Or when—”

“YES!” Mama broke in, suddenly. “He does!”

They all looked at her in surprise.

“You see,” she explained patiently, “God wants us to be good. But he doesn’t love us because we’re good or bad. God loves us because he made us. It’s a little bit like how mothers and fathers love their children.”

“Oh,” said Sister. “Like how you still love us even when we do things we’re not supposed to?”

“That’s right,” said Papa. “Of course, we’re disappointed when you misbehave. But we still love you! We even love you when you don’t make the basketball team or get a part in the school show! And we’re proud of you because your coach and teacher trusted you to be managers—special jobs for the most responsible cubs.”

Brother and Sister smiled. They were beginning to feel slightly better about that little problem.

By now they had made their way down the lane to a spot that overlooked Farmer Ben’s farm. It was a lovely scene. The cows were coming in from the pasture, the ducks were swimming in the pond, bees were buzzing around their hives, and the sun was setting behind the trees.

As the sky grew darker, they noticed a tiny point of light in the western sky.

“What’s that?” wondered Brother.

“That’s the evening star,” said Papa. “It comes out just after sunset.”

“Is that another sign of God’s love?” asked Sister.

“Yes, dear,” said Mama, giving her a hug. “It surely is!”

And, hand in hand, the Bear family turned for home and their evening meal.

About the Publisher

Founded in 1931, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, is the leading international Christian communications company, producing best-selling Bibles, books, new media products, a growing line of gift products and award-winning children’s products. The world’s largest Bible publisher, Zondervan (www.zondervan.com) holds exclusive publishing rights to the New International Version of the Bible and has distributed more than 150 million copies worldwide. It is also one of the top Christian publishers in the world, selling its award-winning books through Christian retailers, general market bookstores, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and the Internet. Zondervan has received a total of 68 Gold Medallion awards for its books, more than any other publisher.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

About the Publisher

Share Your Thoughts