Paws & Tales

Dave: Hey Stace, is this your first time recording a promo?

Stace: It is! I'm a little nervous.

Dave: Don't be. You're going to do great. Go ahead and do the first one there.

Stace: Hey everyone, Stacy here from Paws & Tales. What if you could help kids around the world hear about the great love of God for His children?

We do it in a fun way full of music, laughter, and storytelling that makes kids want to listen. This is exactly what we do here at Paws & Tales.

Dave: I just always add the Paws & Tales World Headquarters. It's kind of funny and memorable.

Stace: Okay. This is exactly what we do here at Paws & Tales World Headquarters.

Dave: It just makes me giggle.

Stace: To help out with a donation of any size, just jump over to pawsandtales.org and click on the donate button. We have lots more to do and we could really use help to get the word out. Thanks for stepping up and being a part of the club.

Dave: Nicely done, Stace. You're a natural.

Insight for Living: Welcome to the world of Paws & Tales. Wild Mountain can be a pretty dangerous place. If you stay on the trails and stick with me, there's adventure to be had there too.

Guest (Male): Come on, CJ, jump!

CJ: It's too far!

Guest (Male): It wasn't too far for me!

Insight for Living: Insight for Living is proud to present Paws & Tales.

Howdy and welcome to Wildwood. It's another picture-postcard of a day. The sun is bright and warm, the air smells of pine trees, and the club is getting ever closer to the completion of their fort.

Papa Chuck is working on a job in the town of Modesty and plans to be there for the next week or so. Other than that, it seems everything is as it should be.

As is often the case, though, the way things seem is not the way they really are. The club and especially CJ are about to face a test that they are going to remember for the rest of their lives.

CJ: My dad said we could have the whole stack of it if we came and got it ourselves. It's a bunch of lumber, probably more than we need to finish the whole fort.

Ned: This is so great. This is better than we ever thought. Nice to have a lumberjack for a dad. My dad gave us a bunch of tools that were too damaged for him to sell at the store.

We each get our own hammers, a saw, and a yardstick that's 30 inches long. Hey, what about you, CJ? Did your dad give us anything?

CJ: I didn't ask. He's a lawyer. He files papers and writes contracts. If we ever need to have a paper to file with, I know where to go.

Ned: CJ!

CJ: What?

Goose: Guys! Hey guys! He's in jail! They got him!

Ned: Who's in jail?

Goose: Officer Hunt!

Ned: Officer Hunt is in jail?

Goose: No, he caught... stole all the silk.

Ned: I didn't know Officer Hunt even liked silk. He strikes me as more of a wool sort of guy.

Goose: Not Hunt! Right off the dock.

Ned: Wait, who knocked Hunt off the dock?

Goose: Stop it! I hate it when you guys do that. Officer Hunt has just arrested a mule who stole an entire shipment of silk. He's in the jail right now.

CJ: Whoa, I've never seen a real prisoner before. How did they know it was the mule?

Stacy: I've read that bad guys have a look about them. A trained eye can always tell.

Ned: Yeah, shifty eyes. It's the eyes, isn't it?

Stacy: It's the eyes and the way they walk, kind of guilty-looking.

CJ: Don't forget they wear those striped clothes and that little mask over their eyes. You cannot tell a bad guy by looking at him.

Goose: I want to go look at him!

Stacy: Me too, let's go!

Ned: Yeah, this is going to be great!

Guest (Male): Beat you there!

Goose: Guys, wait for me, I'm coming!

Insight for Living: Well, the club rambled on over to the jailhouse, which is really just a small brick room added on to the two-room police station.

Guest (Male): Give me a boost up the tree.

Guest (Male): I want to see.

Guest (Male): I was here first.

Ned: When I get settled on the branch, then you can come up.

Guest (Female): Can you see him?

Stacy: Shh, what if he hears us?

Guest (Male): So he hears us. Where is he going to go?

Guest (Male): Help me up.

Guest (Male): I need a boost.

Guest (Male): There's not room for all of us.

Guest (Male): Well, then you get down. You've had your turn. Ned, give me your hand.

Ned: Move over.

Guest (Male): I thought I saw something moving.

Guest (Male): Ned!

Ned: Sorry, I got distracted.

Guest (Male): I'm coming up.

Guest (Female): Be quiet or he'll hear us.

Guest (Male): That's my leg.

CJ: Ow, let go of my shirt.

Guest (Male): Sorry.

Stacy: Hey look, in the shadow. I can't quite see it, but is he looking at us?

Ned: Is it him? Is he staring at us?

CJ: No, it's just your imagination.

Guest (Male): Hey kids.

Ned: He was watching us the whole time. Okay, I am bitterly disappointed. He's the old mule that hangs around the dock. How boring. Goose, tell me again slowly, what did he do?

Goose: Well, Mr. Wayne Armstrong, the dock foreman, was in his office cleaning up last night. He heard a noise on the dock.

Ned: What was he cleaning?

Goose: I'm not sure. Maybe his desk or windows. I bet it was his desk. Well, he heard a noise out on the dock.

Ned: What kind of noise?

Goose: I'm not sure. Maybe a kind of clunk. Will that do?

CJ: I'm just trying to understand the story.

Goose: Anyway, he was on the dock. Where was I?

Ned: The foreman looked out the window of his office.

Goose: Yes, okay. He peered out of his small and misty window only to see the frightening and nefarious Midnight Mule carrying off an entire case of silk on his shoulder.

Ned: Midnight Mule?

Goose: Hey, I'm trying to tell a story! I don't know his name. I'm calling him the Midnight Mule, okay?

CJ: What's nefarious?

Goose: You guys are making me crazy!

Ned: You don't know, do you?

Goose: It's used a lot with bad guys. Something bad. Can I finish?

Ned: Please, go on.

Goose: The foreman ran up to the deck, but when he got there, the mule and the silk had melted into the cold night.

Ned: A mule and a crate melted?

Goose: I'm kidding, just kidding! Yep, looks like he's headed for prison for a long time. Silk is pretty expensive stuff.

Ned: How could parents name their baby Midnight Mule? That's just silly.

Goose: His name's not Midnight. I just made it up!

Theo Brown: Sorry I'm late, hon.

Mrs. Brown: CJ, your father's home. Go wash your hands.

CJ: Okay mom.

Mrs. Brown: Are you alright?

Theo Brown: Do I look bad?

Mrs. Brown: You look tired. How was your day?

CJ: Great! Did you hear about the Midnight Mule? He carried a shipment full of silk off and now he's going to prison for ten years.

Theo Brown: The Midnight Mule?

CJ: That's what they're calling him. I was talking to Carol and she says that she saw him lurking around her house the day before her lawn chairs were stolen. I said I've read that people who start out stealing lawn chairs often end up hijacking silk shipments.

Theo Brown: What did she say?

CJ: She was not amused. We saw him.

Theo Brown: Who?

CJ: Well, Stacy saw him through the jailhouse window.

Theo Brown: You climbed up that tree and stared at him like he was in a zoo?

CJ: Well, he stole a crate of silk. I wasn't thinking I needed to be polite.

Theo Brown: He is accused of stealing. That means that he might have done it. He's not a criminal until a jury says he did it. That's what a trial is all about.

Mrs. Brown: I heard that Wayne Armstrong saw him do it with his own eyes.

CJ: See, an eyewitness. Yep, he's going away for a long time.

Theo Brown: And what if he didn't do it?

CJ: How are you going to prove that when you've got an eyewitness?

Theo Brown: Well, that's what I have to decide. Officer Hunt has asked that I defend Mr. Laughton, the Midnight Mule.

Mrs. Brown: Theo, you can't be serious. When have you defended a criminal?

Theo Brown: When I was in law school, I tried a criminal case.

Mrs. Brown: That was nine years ago. The judge will be here a week from Tuesday and since Brett Barker left town, I'm the only lawyer in Wildwood.

Mrs. Brown: Can you do it? I mean, I know what you mean.

Theo Brown: Look, if there were another choice, I'd drop this like a hot potato. But if I don't do it, he won't have anyone on his side. He needs me. I can't turn him down. I'm going to do my best to prove he is innocent.

Guest (Female): Hi, I'm Charlotte from Virginia. Don't go away, there's more Paws & Tales coming right up.

Dave: Hey everyone, pop over to pawsandtales.org and download one of the radio scripts we have there. Record yourself on your parent's phone reading it like you're a real actor.

Then, just have your parents go to pawsandtales.org and head on into the clubhouse and upload it there. We'll use some of them inside an actual episode. Whoa, let's start your new career as a radio announcer to the world!

Insight for Living: CJ and his mom went to sleep that night, pretty much like any other. CJ's dad Theo, however, sat up most of the night. He had some big thoughts to work on and some bigger prayers to pray.

There's times when we're asked to step up and take on a job that's more than we can handle. Sometimes that's just where God wants us to be.

Theo Brown: And I don't want this job, Lord. But if I have to, please give me your wisdom. I am fresh out of my own.

Insight for Living: The next morning on his way to school, CJ discovered once again that there's no secrets in a small town.

Ned: This is going to be really great, fun. Your dad defending the Midnight Mule.

CJ: How'd you know?

Goose: CJ, Stacy! I just heard about it. This is the most exciting thing ever. Your dad's like a celebrity. He's going to be famous.

CJ: Why will he be famous?

Goose: Are you kidding? When the Midnight Mule gets sent to prison for ten years, your dad will be his lawyer.

Ned: Isn't that a bad thing? I mean, for his dad.

Goose: Not in a case like this. He has to lose. Somebody saw him. They got...

CJ: Yeah, yeah, I know, an eyewitness.

Goose: CJ, I just heard. I'm so sorry your dad got arrested.

CJ: He didn't get arrested, Goose, he's defending.

Goose: And why shouldn't he? I don't believe he did it.

CJ: He didn't do it.

Goose: That's what I say.

CJ: No, Goose, he did not do it.

Goose: Hey, no arguments from me. Hey, got to go. See you later.

CJ: Goose, he's the lawyer for...

Goose: I know. Why would he need to steal? See you!

Ned: Hey guys! Look out, it's Hugh.

Jesse McCaw: Relax. Hey, CJ. Didn't you forget something here?

CJ: What? What'd I forget?

Hugh: To sneak up on me, hit me on my blind side, make fun of my bad eye?

CJ: Sorry, Cyclops.

Hugh: Ow! I'll sneak up on you later.

CJ: One of these days, Hugh.

Hugh: Yeah, yeah, yackety yack. Hey, my dad told me your dad is going to be the lawyer for the mule.

CJ: He is.

Hugh: Pretty sweet job there. Get written about in the paper, get all this attention, and actually get paid for sitting back and watching that dirty old mule get sent to prison.

CJ: That's right. He will get in the newspaper.

Hugh: At least someone in your family is doing something worthwhile. My dad says we need to clean up this town and sending that riff-raff to prison is just the way to do it.

CJ: For the first time I agree with you, and I find the experience very disturbing.

Insight for Living: Well, the rest of the day went along pretty much that same way. CJ's dad was instantly popular and by being his son, CJ was also quite the center of attention.

Later that afternoon, almost supper time as a matter of fact, the club was all playing over at CJ's house, just waiting for his dad to come walking home like he had done every day for almost eleven years.

Guest (Female): There he is!

Guest (Male): Hi Mr. Brown!

Guest (Male): Hi CJ's dad!

Guest (Male): Good evening, Mr. Brown.

Theo Brown: What in the world is all this? All these polite kids. I thought I'd walked into the wrong house.

Ned: Hey, look everybody! Look who's coming! Hugh's dad and Wayne Armstrong.

Theo Brown: They sure enough are. Hey there, Jesse McCaw.

Jesse McCaw: Evening, Theo Brown. Wayne.

Jesse McCaw: Just wanted to say how good it is to hear you're on the case.

Theo Brown: Whoa.

Jesse McCaw: Nice to know that a good old boy and longtime friend is taking care of business.

Theo Brown: How do you mean?

Jesse McCaw: Well, it's just good that you've got such an easy road. Just got to sit back and let things take care of themselves. You get paid for not working much and that thief gets what he deserves.

Theo Brown: I think it's time to make it very clear that I will work with all the strength the Lord gives me.

Jesse McCaw: We don't mean to say that you would be lazy or anything.

Wayne Armstrong: No, no, never meant for you to get that impression. You know, just that it's going to be pretty smooth sailing. I mean, we got an eyewitness right here in my boss, Wayne.

Theo Brown: I believe I know just what you're saying. And again, let me make it clear: I do not believe Mr. Laughton stole the silk and I will do my very best to prove it in court.

Jesse McCaw: Well, if you believe that dirty mule is innocent, that means that you're calling the eyewitness a liar. Is that what you mean? You're going to take the word of a homeless drifter mule over that of a friend that you went to grade school with?

Theo Brown: That's precisely what I mean.

Jesse McCaw: Theo Brown, I tossed you into a trash can back in school and I sure... you're making a big mistake. Come on, Wayne. Let's get out of here before something bad happens. You watch out, Theo Brown. You won't know when it will happen, but it will.

Theo Brown: Good night, gentlemen. Good night. CJ, I believe your mother's about ready for supper. Come on in soon and wash up.

Ned: I can't believe he did it.

Goose: I never would have thought he'd call a friend a liar.

Stacy: What? Who?

Ned: I can't believe it. Your dad. He just took the word of a criminal over Wayne Armstrong. Yeah, he's been the dock foreman for years. They were kids together. What reason would the dock foreman lie anyway?

CJ: Well, I don't think my dad really meant that Mr. Armstrong was a liar.

Ned: He sure seemed like it to me.

Goose: Yeah, and he even said so. You're not supposed to turn on your friend.

Ned: Never turn on your friend.

CJ: He didn't turn on a friend. He wouldn't do that. He's just doing some lawyer thing. He's just saying that so everyone will think he's really trying to get the mule off.

Ned: So, this is a trick?

CJ: Not a trick, just being clever.

Ned: I hope so. My dad says loyalty is the test of a person.

CJ: My dad is loyal. He's just smart about it.

Theo Brown: CJ, dinner is ready!

CJ: Alright, see you all tomorrow.

Guest (Male): See you!

Ned: Tomorrow!

Stacy: What? Do you know what just happened?

CJ: What? That my dad just...

Stacy: Turned on a friend? No. You watched your dad stand up to the two meanest guys in Wildwood. He was as brave as a lion. Ned and Marsha put a little pressure on you and you just caved in.

CJ: I did not cave in. I defended my dad.

Stacy: You called him a liar. You called your own dad a liar because you got nervous. Wayne Armstrong is a mean and selfish man who has lied to everyone at one time or another. You defended him and called your own dad a liar. I've got to go. You caved in, CJ. I know.

Insight for Living: The town was in a downright tizzy over the news that Theo Brown was going to do his real best to get the mule free. Some folks thought he was being foolish, some were disappointed in him, and some were downright mad.

All the while CJ just watched his very brave dad work away as if none of it mattered. Theo felt alone and a little scared. He needed help and the only person that could give it to him was the last one who would.

But that next night Theo was standing right there on the front porch of Jesse McCaw's house.

Jesse McCaw: Jesse's Theo. What are you doing in my house? What are you doing this part of town? Anybody from the dock sees you here and they're going to take you apart.

Theo Brown: Look, I need your help.

Jesse McCaw: You are something else. You want me to turn on my own boss and friends?

Theo Brown: I want you to help me find the truth. No one from the docks will talk to me.

Jesse McCaw: I'm not talking either.

Theo Brown: Jesse, it's impossible for Mr. Laughton to steal the crate of silk.

Jesse McCaw: Why?

Theo Brown: What shoulder did Wayne say he put the crate on as he carried it off?

Jesse McCaw: His right.

Theo Brown: Jesse, the mule's right arm is almost completely useless. He can move it, but it's weak and shriveled.

Jesse McCaw: So Wayne got mixed up. It was his left.

Theo Brown: Alright, you've done this kind of work for years. Could you pick up a heavy crate with one arm?

Jesse McCaw: There are ways.

Theo Brown: Listen, something happened that night on the dock. I need you to tell me what it was, or an absolutely innocent mule is going to prison for a crime he couldn't have possibly committed.

Jesse McCaw: My advice to you, Theo Brown, is to get yourself home before you get yourself into some serious trouble.

Stace: Stacy here from Paws & Tales. Hey Dave, so that flat CJ, Ned, or Goose, I don't get it.

Dave: Well, we're asking kids to download a coloring sheet of their favorite Paws & Tales character from our website, pawsandtales.org, and color it in.

Then, we're asking them to send in a photo of them holding it up so we can show it off to the world.

Stace: That's so fun! Go to pawsandtales.org and pop into the clubhouse to upload.

Guest (Female): Hi, I'm Karinna from Ozark, Missouri. My favorite Paws & Tales character is Goose because she is so funny. Wait till you hear what happens next on today's episode.

Insight for Living: CJ has spent quite some time in some very serious thinking. While walking to school the next morning, he was feeling particularly bad about having let his dad down.

CJ: God, I'm sorry for caving in when...

Hugh: Morning, sunshine! You get off of me! Have I told you lately how much I enjoy your having only one good eye? Makes it so much easier to pounce on you.

CJ: Get off! Listen, good fur-ball. If your dad turns on Wayne Armstrong, he is going to get it just as sure as you will get it from me. There's no escaping the McCaw claws. I will talk slowly so even you can understand.

Wayne Armstrong has lied to Stacy's dad at the general store about paying his bills on time. He has lied to Officer Hunt about not getting into fights anymore. He's even lied to Papa Chuck, getting him to do work he never intended to pay for.

My dad has never, never lied to anyone. If my dad says the mule is innocent, I believe him. Now get off of me, Hugh.

Hugh: Yeah, well, you better just watch yourself, CJ.

Insight for Living: CJ's heart grew a little bigger that day. He did the very thing that'll help make him a wise and godly bear. He decided it was time to change. It's a day CJ'll remember for a long time.

On the other side of town, however, his dad Theo is having one of the worst days he's ever had.

Theo Brown: Hon, I can't do it. You know I've tried. I can't do it without some help. The whole town will ignore the truth if I don't have more to show them than Mr. Laughton is too weak to lift a crate.

Mrs. Brown: Theo, I wish there was something I could do. You have done such a good job. Everyone knows that.

Theo Brown: Come on in, Walter.

Walter: Theo, got a letter for you. Don't know who sent it. Just found it on my counter in the office with your name on it.

Theo Brown: Thank you. See you all later. Oh, oh my.

Mrs. Brown: What is it?

Theo Brown: I can't believe it. Thank you, Lord.

Mrs. Brown: Theo, what is it?

Theo Brown: Jesse. Jesse McCaw just saved the day.

Insight for Living: Well, Theo had all the pieces to the puzzle, but now he had to prove them. He quietly gathered Officer Hunt, Stagg Williams, and Jeremiah Horatio, a young walrus, all to the dock where the crate of silk had disappeared.

Theo forgot that in a small town, if you want to draw a crowd, just do something mysterious and do it quietly.

Theo Brown: Okay Jeremiah, are you ready?

Jeremiah: Been down there a hundred times, Mr. Brown. What if I find it?

Theo Brown: Just come back up and tell us.

Jeremiah: Easiest job in the world. Be back in a sec.

Guest (Male): Hey Theo, what are you looking for?

Theo Brown: The truth. I'm just looking for the truth.

Jeremiah: Mr. Brown!

Theo Brown: Is it there?

Jeremiah: It is! The whole crate of silk is sitting right off the other side of the ship. It still has the ropes and rigging on it. It looks like the rope broke and it just went right into the water.

Theo Brown: And the fact that it's in the water and on the other side of the ship would seem to indicate that someone was trying to load it on another ship instead of on the dock.

Guest (Male): So someone was trying to steal the crate?

Theo Brown: No one could have attempted this without the cooperation of the dock foreman.

Guest (Male): So you think Wayne Armstrong was the thief?

Theo Brown: Well, that'll have to be proven in court, but I'd say he needs to answer a few questions. The crate fell into the water and he tried to blame it on the Midnight Mule.

Theo Brown: His name is Mr. Laughton. I think this proves he's innocent. Hunt, don't you think he should be released?

Insight for Living: It's been a long time since there was this much excitement in Wildwood. Officer Hunt arrested Wayne Armstrong for theft of the silk. Look'll be spending some time in prison.

Lots of back-slapping and generally people had a lot of good things to say about Theo Brown, attorney at law. The best time of celebration, however, was yet to take place and right there in the living room of his own home.

Mrs. Brown: You are pretty famous now, Mr. Big Shot attorney.

Theo Brown: Everyone in town knew me before all this. How could I be famous now?

Mrs. Brown: Well, now everybody knows that you are a man of character. I, of course, knew it before, but now everyone else does too. That's the best reason to get famous.

Theo Brown: Thank you, Mrs. Brown. CJ, come in here and tell your father what you told me.

CJ: Mom...

Mrs. Brown: Go ahead.

CJ: Well, all the kids at school, they've been playing a new game.

Theo Brown: Oh?

CJ: Well, they've been playing lawyer.

Theo Brown: You are joking, of course.

Mrs. Brown: Listen to him.

CJ: They're pretending that someone's in trouble and then he gets arrested and needs someone to save him from prison. They're pretending that they're you.

Theo Brown: If that don't beat all. Okay CJ, give your father a kiss and get ready for bed.

CJ: Good night, dad.

Theo Brown: Good night, son.

Insight for Living: That cub will never forget that brave and godly father's stand up for the truth, even if they have to do it alone. I expect he will remember this the rest of his life.

Back in the time of Noah, no one thought that it would rain. And when he built the ark, they laughed and said he was insane. But Noah only listened to the truth that God had shown, and stood up for what was righteous even though he stood alone.

So I will stand up for the truth of the Lord. He's the way, the truth, the life. That's what I'm standing for. Won't turn my back, won't walk away. I'm not afraid to make it known that I'm standing up for Jesus even if I stand alone.

In the days of our friend Daniel, the king passed a decree. He said worship no one unless of course it's me. But Daniel said no way, I pray to the true God on the throne. And God the Father blessed him as he stood up all alone.

So I will stand up for the truth of the Lord. He's the way, the truth, the life. That's what I'm standing for. Won't turn my back, won't walk away. I'm not afraid to make it known that I'm standing up for Jesus even if I stand alone.

Some folks get on that train headed down the wrong track, or they've all jumped on the bandwagon thinking you'll jump on in back. Don't hop along with wrong just so they won't make fun of you. When they're in cahoots just plant your boots and do what you should do.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, you soldiers of the cross. Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead, till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.

So I will stand up for the truth of the Lord. He's the way, the truth, the life. That's what I'm standing for. Won't turn my back, won't walk away. I'm not afraid to make it known that I'm standing up for Jesus even if I stand alone.

Yes, I will stand up for the truth of the Lord. He's the way, the truth, the life. That's what I'm standing for. Won't turn my back, won't walk away. I'm not afraid to make it known that I'm standing up for Jesus even if I stand alone.

To order a copy of today's program, Standing Alone, just log on to pawsandtales.org. Standing Alone was written and directed by David Carl. I Will Stand was written by Sandy Howell and Matt Maguire. Music was by John Campbell and our sound designer was Eric Basil. Paws & Tales is an Insight for Living production.