Character Needed - Bible Sketches 20

CHARACTER NEEDED – BIBLE SKETCHES

Character Needed, by Robert Allen, published by Regular Baptist Press, includes 33 skits illustrating the truths of each of the verses in Proverbs 15.  These Character Needed – Bible Sketches are designed to accompany those contemporary plays, illustrating the same character traits by use of a Bible story. 

CHARACTER NEEDED

 

THE HOUSE ON THE SAND WENT SMASH

Proverbs 15:20

Luke 6:46-49

Character Trait:  Honor

Cast of Characters

                        Miriam

                        Narrator

                        Hannah

                       

MIRIAM:                   Oh, Hannah.  Guess what.  My husband is going to build me a new house.  Just last night he told me.  He’s been making plans for it for a long time.  And now we’re really going to have a new house.  Oh, I’m so excited.

NARRATOR:             Miriam had gone to the marketplace that day just so she could find someone to tell her good news.  She had wanted to run out and tell someone the night before, but it had been too late when her husband came home from work and shared the news with her.   So early that morning she had set out for the marketplace.  Hannah was the first person she met. 

HANNAH:                 That’s wonderful, Miriam.  I’m so glad.  Where are you going to live?  Is it anywhere near the property where my husband is building our house?

MIRIAM:                   Well, I don’t know for sure.  I didn’t realize you were actually building yet.

HANNAH:                 We’re not.  That is, we’re not putting up walls yet.  But my husband has been digging.  It has taken him longer than he thought it would.  But he wanted to make sure he was all the way down to the rock before he laid the foundation.  It’s a beautiful site overlooking the Brook Kidron.

MIRIAM:                   Why, that’s where we’re building.  Right beside the Brook Kidron.

HANNAH:                 Great!  Then we’ll be neighbors.  That will be exciting.  Well, I have to get my shopping done.  See you later.

NARRATOR:             As the two women went on their way, Miriam couldn’t forget what Hannah had said about digging deep so they could put their foundation on the rock.  Her husband hadn’t said anything about doing any digging.  He had talked like they would be putting up the walls right away.  So she asked him about it, and the next time she saw Hannah, she had the answer.

MIRIAM:                   Oh, Hannah.  I’m so glad to run into you.  I just have to tell you about our house.  I was over there yesterday and the walls are already starting to go up.  And I think I saw where your house is going to be.  At least I saw a hole in the ground.

HANNAH:                 That’s it, all right.  My husband finally got down to the bedrock, and just this week he started to lay the foundation.  The foundation will be awfully deep, and it’s going to take longer to get up to where we can start the walls than we thought.

MIRIAM:                   Won’t that take more money too?

HANNAH:                 Yes, but my husband says it will be worth it.

MIRIAM:                   Well, I asked my husband about it and he said he was going to use the money he saved by not digging in order to improve the outside of our house.  He said that the outside is what people see, and he wants to have the best-looking house in town.

HANNAH:                 That’s wonderful, Miriam.  I’m so glad for you.  And I know you will be really happy in your new home.  But I’m glad my husband is spending all that time digging deep.  Somehow I feel so much safer knowing our house’s foundation is built on solid rock.

NARRATOR:             It was almost three weeks later when the two women met in the marketplace again.  Miriam was obviously in a hurry, but she took time to stop and talk anyway.

MIRIAM:                   Oh, Hannah.  It’s finished.  We’re going to move in this weekend.  And it’s beautiful, Hannah.  It’s just beautiful.

HANNAH:                 That’s so exciting, Miriam.  And it is beautiful.

MIRIAM:                   Then you’ve seen it?

HANNAH:                 Yes, we went by there a couple of days ago on the way to see our house.

MIRIAM:                   How is your house coming?

HANNAH:                 Well, the walls are starting to go up now.  It will probably be a month of so before we can move in.  The foundation took so long, you know.

MIRIAM:                   That’s too bad.  Your husband should have done like mine and just built on top of the ground.  It was so much faster.   We were able to do so much with the money we saved, new furniture and landscaping and everything.  Well, I’ve got to hurry home and finish packing.

NARRATOR:             Another month went by, and finally Hannah and her husband moved into their new house right next to Miriam and her family.  The two houses looked very much alike.  Oh, Miriam’s had a few beautiful doors and windows that Hannah’s husband hadn’t been able to afford.  But to look at them, you couldn’t tell anything different at all about the foundation.  Then, one night, a storm blew in.  It raged all night with torrents of rain from the Judean hills.  The Brook Kidron rose out of its banks and as the flood of water rushed down the valley both houses stood right in its path.  For a while it looked as if both houses would survive the storm, but then sand began to seep out from under the walls of Miriam’s house.  With a great crash, the entire house fell into the flood.  The next morning Hannah and her husband went out to look over the damage.  Their house still stood while the neighbor’s house was completely destroyed.

HANNAH:                 Oh, husband.  I’m so glad you took time to dig deep and build our house on the rock.  It has made all the difference in the world.