Part Five: Veggie Lessons

During this whole time, some of the most profound lessons Alex and I have learned came through animated vegetables. Seriously, Veggie Tales has taught me a lot in the last few years. Buried in the silly acting of Bible stories, there are some profound sermons. I suppose this should not come as a huge surprise, given that the basis for these videos is the Bible. However, it came as a surprise to me.

At the time, and I give God the credit for this, Micah's favorite videos were "Gideon: Tuba Warrior," and "Josh and the Big Wall."

Now Gideon is my favorite. Gideon receives a ridiculous command from the Lord, and tests it to see that it is really God. He never seems to worry about what God is saying, only that it is in fact God. Once this is established, he sets out to take a tiny army against the enormous army of Midianites. Then, God tells him to cut down his army. He cuts it down, then God tells him to cut it down again. Left without enough men to even put up a fight, Gideon takes his men with horns and torches, and manages to confuse the Midianite army into fighting each other. Gideon stepped out, looking absolutely ridiculous, having faith that God would show up and back him up. So many times, I have felt that, by following God's voice, I've put all my dignity on the line, believing that God will back me up. Actually, this is one of those times, as I am taking this story as public as I know how, and at this moment that I am writing, it looks like God left me hanging high and dry.

Anyway, in the Veggie Tales telling of Gideon, my favorite part is when the angel says to Gideon, "It's not your job to defeat them, it's God's. Your job is to believe that he will do what he says." Now, Micah watched this video several times a week. And it usually came on days that I needed to hear that particular line.

The next video was "Josh and the Big Wall." This tells the story of Joshua and the Israelites, after they wandered in the desert 40 years and reached the promised land, and they found the land occupied. On finding this, they had many different plans of how to fix things themselves, and many of them wanted to just go back to slavery. God, however, had other plans. He instructed them to march around the city of Jericho once every day for 7 days, and on the 7th day to blow trumpets while they marched, then when they finished, to give one long blast, and the walls of the city would collapse. Can you imagine how embarrassing? And to top it off, the French peas stand at the top of the wall hurling insults and grape slushies at them.

My favorite part of this story is when the Israelites basically say, "Heck, no!" And Junior Asparagus runs out from narrating and yells at them all. He recounts all the things God has done in the past that did not make sense at the time, but proves that God has always come through and done what he said.

So, next time your faith needs a boost, I highly recommend a little Veggie Tales.