Benny's Hope

 •  3 min. read  •  grade level: 5
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Miss Julie was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse. One day the Supervisor brought a new pupil to her, a little boy six years old. But he was a very different-looking boy. His name was Benny, and he was born with only half of his arms. There were no elbows, and at the end of the short little arms were little half hands with only two fingers on each hand. No thumbs! So it was hard for him to hold anything.
"How can I teach him?" asked the teacher in distress.
"Well, just teach him to read," replied the Supervisor.
But later the teacher thought, He might learn to write too if he can read.
She got a new piece of chalk and placed it between his two fingers of one hand, and then placed the two ringers of the other hand cross-ways over the first two fingers. This steadied the chalk. She had him practice at the blackboard in the front of the room and he became very good at it. Soon he wanted a pencil just like the other children.
Miss Julie took her quilt clamps and fastened a sheet of wallpaper to his desk. She drew some lines on it. Then, with his pencil clamped between his crossed fingers, Benny soon learned to print. As time went by he became very good at printing, and then he wanted to learn to write in cursive with a pen just like the other children did. He was given a penmanship book, and he worked so hard that he had the best handwriting in the whole class.
Benny was a very bright little boy, and he did well in all his subjects. When it came time for his graduation the Supervisor came and gave the class a test. The names of ten famous men were written on the board and the children were asked to identify each. One of the men was Jesus Christ.
Many of the comments the children made about Jesus concerned Jesus dying. The Supervisor was displeased and said: "All of you write about death, and therefore your answers are not acceptable. The correct answer would be: 'Jesus was thought to be the Son of God.'"
Benny raised his little arm and waved it frantically in the air. When he was called upon he said, "Sir, if Jesus hadn't died, I wouldn't live in heaven, because He died for my sins so that I might live forever."
Benny will always be physically handicapped and because of it he will face many special challenges during his lifetime. But Benny has the promise of a new body like the Lord's body! The Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile [corruptible] body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. (Phil. 3:20, 21.)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. (1 John 3:2.)
Isn't this a wonderful promise and grand hope! You too can have that hope. Like Benny, you can have this wonderful promise: I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Heb. 13:5.) And, He said, I will come again. (John 14:3.) If Jesus is your Savior, He will be coming for you too.