Paws & Tales

Insight for Living: What a joy it is to meet creative people. Dave Carl is one of those people. I mean this, Dave, as I look you in the eye today. We have you to thank for creating the scripts for our Paws & Tales ministry over the years. You've written the stories and you've put them together in such a beautiful way with all the characters in it that people, I know, sit on the edge of their seat listening to them from one day to the next.

Catch us up for those that may not know what Paws & Tales refers to and then give us a little bit of an insight that you have regarding this ministry.

Dave Carl: I'd be thrilled to. Paws & Tales was born from your storytelling as a young adult. I'm sitting listening to your sermons and your storytelling, and I think of Paws & Tales as an extension of your storytelling. This is a fictional world and there are all talking animals and we are using this story to sneak in biblical truths. The key is that God is just crazy in love with his children, and you can't hear that too much. We try to say it in a thousand different ways as we've created Paws & Tales.

It's been around for a long, long time. We have four new episodes this last year and we have new projects in the works. We receive letters, and I have one in front of me now I'd like to read to you, and this just gives me pause.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you all for your ministry. I have five children and we've been listening to your podcast for years, since my oldest, almost 12, was little. We love it. We waited for the new episodes with great anticipation. My fifth was born last year. She will be one at the end of this month. She was a birth diagnosis of Down syndrome.

You can imagine all of our amazement when we listened to the new episode yesterday. I was driving with them all and as the story was building, I knew something was going to be different with the baby. I did not expect it to be exactly what our family has experienced. We were all overcome with emotion. It was good and healing in a way that I can't quite explain. I know it's all God.

As we listen to the rest of the story, we were just in awe that it parallels ours so perfectly. Everything that was said, the way the church responded, all of it. We were so blessed to have had this loving welcome for our baby girl, who was also very healthy and normal in all of the ways any other baby would be. We felt like someone knew us personally and made this episode just for us.

I told the kids that if they ever doubt God is real, I want them to remember this day because God told the creators of Paws & Tales to make an episode just for them. That is how we feel and we praise God for how he has worked through you all. Please pass this on to all who had a hand in making these new episodes happen. To God be the glory. Also, is there an address my kids could write to? I think they'd like to say something in their own words. Thank you so much, a family from North Dakota.

Insight for Living: When you first read that to me, Dave, some time ago, my eyes filled with tears as I thought about the remarkable fact that you created that story knowing nothing of this family, and now they are hearing it and it feels like it was written, as they put it, just for them. That's the way God's Word is. It's not truth for just generality or the open public. It's truth for you. Believe me, it's truth for me, always relevant, always real, always on target. Thank you for your wonderful support of our ministry. As you give financially, we're able to continue touching lives that reaches people that will realize the truth is just for them.

Narrator: Welcome to the world of Paws & Tales.

Guest (Male): Wild Mountain can be a pretty dangerous place. If you stay on the trails and stick with me, there's adventures to be had there, too.

Guest (Female): Go, CJ, jump!

CJ: It's too far!

Guest (Female): It wasn't too far for me, big baby.

CJ: Whoa!

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

Marsha: So what about you? How do you ask for your presents?

Stace: I always forget what I asked for last year. For three Christmases, I asked for a football, and Weasel can only throw one of those at a time. So I just don't ask anymore. I like to be surprised.

Ned: That's just not right. Well, I make a list with item numbers and prices. I like a surprise as well as the next guy, but there's got to be a limit.

CJ: I ask for something very specifically, and then my folks go and get me something else.

Marsha: Well, it's not their fault.

CJ: Oh? Then whose is it?

Marsha: Well, it's yours.

CJ: I see. How is it my fault?

Marsha: You lack commitment. If you want something, something big for Christmas, you've got to be committed.

Ned: Okay, CJ, what exactly does one do to get the present of their dreams?

CJ: You remember the train set I got last year?

Ned: Very neat. I remember.

CJ: Every time the Cannonball steamed into town and blew its whistle, I went through the routine.

Stace: The jumping on the sofa?

CJ: Well, yes, that's one of the choices. I found that varying my responses was most effective. Running outside to hear it, making train noises in my sleep. It's really a kind of symphony of excitement.

Stace: And where's your toy train now?

CJ: I think it's under my bed.

Stace: You used it what, five, six times?

CJ: I think you're missing the point.

Stace: Okay, Mr. Smarty-Pants, what is the point?

CJ: It's about Christmas. It's about your parents giving and you receiving, having the best Christmas ever.

Ned: You're a giver. I think I'm going to cry.

Stace: So what's the dream present this year, the one that'll make this the best Christmas ever?

CJ: My own canoe.

Ned: Unbelievable.

Stace: Well, that costs more than a train set.

Ned: That canoe's going to look great sticking out from under your bed, CJ.

CJ: Marsha, your turn. What do you do?

Marsha: Well, mostly I just enjoy the music of Christmas. I don't need any gifts to feel all Christmassy inside.

Stace: Yeah, right. You guys will believe anything.

CJ: I've got to get going. I'm working with Papa Chuck tomorrow. I'm going to get up early. I think there's just one more Saturday of work and he'll help us put the roof on the fort. See ya.

Mayor: Okay, gather around, please. I hereby call this the 47th annual meeting of the Wildwood Christmas Decorations Committee. Can anyone here recall the last time Wildwood actually won the Christmas decorating contest?

Guest (Male): I've done some research, and it has been 15 years.

Stace: What is all of that?

Mayor: That is why we are meeting on the pier today. Let's get it open! With what we have in these crates, we'll have that trophy this year for sure. These decorations are from Frontiera. I have a friend that—can you believe this?—Frontiera is so big, they have a city beautification department. All he does is plan city events and how to decorate for them. We have for this Christmas only last year's Frontiera Christmas display, the city of Jesus' birth, the little town of Bethlehem.

We have life-sized papier-mâché camels. We have shepherd statues, a Christmas star that will hang above the manger from a wire. We will have a little Bethlehem built in our town square that will make the judges cry with Christmas joy.

Guest (Male): Excuse me, sir. What are we doing here? Me and my men, they seem a bit under the weather.

Mayor: Yes, yes. I believe we have everything we need. Thank you. Thank you.

Doctor: You look terrible. Are you all right?

Guest (Male): Sir, Henry here just fainted over. We need to get a doctor.

Guest (Male): We'll get him in my truck. We'll take him right over.

Doctor: From the looks of you both, you need to see the doctor yourselves.

Guest (Male): Oh yes, sir. I believe that would be wise.

Doctor: Sorry to bother you this early, Mayor. I've got a situation here.

Mayor: No problem, Doc. What is it? Come in for coffee.

Doctor: No thanks. It's about the sailors.

Mayor: They okay?

Doctor: I think I almost lost one of them last night.

Mayor: You mean die lost?

Doctor: About 3:00, 3:30 in the morning, I looked in on him. Temperature was 106. Almost stopped breathing. I got him cooled off and gave him tonic to loosen up his lungs. If I hadn't just wandered in, he wouldn't have made it till morning.

Mayor: The others?

Doctor: Only slightly better. I really don't know what it is or quite how to treat it.

Mayor: Chance of it spreading?

Doctor: Absolutely. It's why I came. We need to keep this from getting out of control. We need to get everyone who had contact with the sailors in here until I can determine if any of them have caught it. Most of all, no one should leave town.

CJ: How long are we going to be there?

Papa Chuck: More than an hour.

CJ: Okay. I'll start a story, and when I stop, you can keep it going.

Papa Chuck: No, I've got a headache. Let's just drive quietly.

CJ: But that's boring. I want to do something fun.

Papa Chuck: CJ, I feel really bad right now. Let's talk about something happy. What do you want for Christmas?

CJ: This year, I'm pulling out all the stops. I'm feeling that this is the year of the canoe.

Papa Chuck: I can't keep going. I've got to pull into this farmhouse.

CJ: Papa Chuck? Papa Chuck, wake up!

Ned: Welcome, everyone, to my podcast, Ned Knows. My guest today is my good friend, Stacy. So tell me, Stace, why do you think Paws & Tales is so amazing?

Stace: Well, I love it because it's funny, and every episode has an original song, which is super-duper fun. I go around singing them all the time.

Ned: They really are fun. I know that because—

Stace: Yes, I know. Ned knows.

Ned: Yes, exactly. But did you know that every episode is read over by theologians? You know, folks with really big brains. They read it over to make sure that everything is good and true as well as being fun and full of adventure.

Ned: Well, I'm not entirely sure if I—Stace, just say you didn't know that. Well, that's all the time we have here for Ned Knows. Tune in next time to hear some other neat stuff I already knew.

Stace: Really, Ned? I can't believe I just said "neat stuff." I need a latte.

Mr. Bradbury: Well, son, we won't be moving him any today. Bad fever, tight in the chest. When my wife gets back from her sister's—shouldn't be too long now—I'll drive over to the Terpstra farm. They've got a phone there, and I'll give a call over to Wildwood. Tell them about Papa Chuck, and we'll have someone go tell your folks you'll be home in the morning.

CJ: Thank you, Mr. Bradbury. Is he going to be okay?

Mr. Bradbury: Well, I'm no doctor. He needs rest, and we can give him that. About all I know to do for him.

CJ: He was just fine when we left this morning. Two hours later, he couldn't even drive he was so sick.

Mr. Bradbury: Yeah, seen it before. Was just a youngen myself at the time. Something like this went through these parts and it was pretty bad. He's a tough old grizzly. I think he'll get through okay.

CJ: Is that your Christmas tree?

Mr. Bradbury: Yeah, it sure is. Had that thing for almost 50 years. My daddy made it from old fence boards.

CJ: That's kind of what it looks like.

Mr. Bradbury: I know it's old and ratty, but I've got a lot of fond Christmas memories around that old thing.

CJ: It's just that, is that all the Christmas stuff you have? No real green just-cut-down tree? No Christmas decorations? You do have presents, right?

Mr. Bradbury: Oh sure, we have presents. Claire and I, we make presents for each other and they'll go under the tree on Christmas Eve. I take it you have a bit more elaborate celebration?

CJ: Well, yeah. We get the biggest tree we can fit in the house. We put stuff on the windows, over the mantel, and in the yard. We start putting presents under the tree weeks before Christmas. That's the best part.

Mr. Bradbury: The presents.

CJ: Oh yeah. This year, I'm asking for a canoe. I get all excited just thinking about it. That's the part my folks like, seeing me all excited. That's what Christmas is all about, after all, giving.

Mr. Bradbury: You don't say.

CJ: Well, yeah.

Mr. Bradbury: Well, now I'm embarrassed all over.

CJ: Embarrassed? Why?

Mr. Bradbury: After this discussion with you, I come to find out I've been wrong about Christmas my whole life. It's embarrassing.

CJ: Why have you been wrong?

Mr. Bradbury: All my life, I've been working under the assumption that Christmas was about Jesus, remembering him and worshipping him, thanking him for coming to give us life, abundant and forever.

CJ: Well, you're not wrong.

Claire Bradbury: Well, whose truck is that? Well, hello.

Mr. Bradbury: Claire, this is CJ. CJ, my wife, Claire.

Claire Bradbury: It's a pleasure to meet you, CJ.

CJ: Pleasure to meet you, ma'am.

Mr. Bradbury: Papa Chuck is in the guest room, sick as can be. Reminds me of that fever that came through when we were just kids. Got about everyone.

Claire Bradbury: Rigors.

Mr. Bradbury: That's it, the rigors. That's what they called it.

Claire Bradbury: Lost some folks over in—

Mr. Bradbury: How about a little something to eat? I'll go over and call into Wildwood from the Terpstra farm.

Claire Bradbury: Sorry. What would you like for lunch, CJ?

Narrator: Papa Chuck slept most of the day and all through the night. First thing in the morning, Claire drove her car with Papa Chuck dozing in the back seat, while Mr. Bradbury and CJ rode in Papa Chuck's truck. After a couple of hours on the road, they came sputtering into Wildwood.

Papa Chuck: Good to see you, Doc. Can't remember when I've felt so bad.

Doctor: Well, we'll get you all fixed up. Don't you worry. You just get in that bed and I'll be in shortly. He's looking better than when I first saw him. I just can't get my arms around this. It seems they get better, then they get sick again, and it's worse than the first time. I was up most of the night going through my medical books. If I just knew what it was exactly.

Mr. Bradbury: Well, I don't know how scientific it is, but I remember this going around when I was a youngen and we called it the rigors for what it's worth.

Doctor: At this point, I'll try about anything. Thanks. I'll check it out.

Narrator: After Papa Chuck was settled and in good hands, Mr. Bradbury, his wife, and CJ all wandered toward the happiest sounds they had ever heard. Town Square was like a beehive of Christmas activity. Half the town was putting together papier-mâché camels and building plywood palm trees as they began the construction of the little town of Bethlehem.

Mr. Bradbury: I've never seen such a fuss.

CJ: This is going to be the best Christmas ever.

Mr. Bradbury: CJ, we got a little something for you.

CJ: Wow!

Mr. Bradbury: Seems like what you really want more than anything else for Christmas is to have the best Christmas ever.

CJ: Well, that and a canoe.

Mr. Bradbury: Of course. Who could forget the canoe? My granddad gave me a present like this when I was just a pup. That present made it the best Christmas ever.

CJ: This'll do that for me? What is it? Can I open it now?

Mr. Bradbury: There's rules about presents, son. You keep that box closed until Christmas Eve. We best be heading home now. Merry Christmas.

CJ: Thanks for the present. Merry Christmas.

Claire Bradbury: Merry Christmas, CJ.

Narrator: The little town of Bethlehem was coming right along. People were laughing, singing songs, and generally having a good old time. Over the next couple of days, however, the town was overcome with the sickness. It first started with everyone who touched or talked with the sailors. Then it moved on through the town. Doc's office was far too small for all the folks who were sick, so they started moving beds into the church building.

Doctor: Okay, we need more blankets and make sure everyone gets all the water they can drink. That seems to help.

Mayor: Tell me straight, Doc. How bad is it?

Doctor: I'm a country doctor. I deliver babies and set broken bones. Just put those in the closet for now. I don't even know what this is, let alone how to treat it. All I know is once you've been exposed, you'll come down with it in 24 hours or you don't get it at all. Better than half the town's got it now. We need a miracle soon or we're going to start losing folks.

Dave Carl: Hey parents, this is Dave Carl, creator of Paws & Tales. There is a lot more about Paws & Tales than you hear in an episode. We have coloring sheets you can download for your kids for free. We've got a beautiful map of Wildwood you can also download for free. We have a tools for parents PDF for each episode—do I need to say it?—for free, and a whole lot more. We will have new stuff coming up all the time, so check back in often. Where, you ask, do I find all this amazing content? Just log on to pawsandtales.org, of course, and join the club.

Nana Cindy: Now you sit right back down there, mister.

Papa Chuck: I'm tired of sitting. I feel better.

Nana Cindy: I said sit.

Papa Chuck: Were you this tough when I married you?

Nana Cindy: Yes, but I kept it a secret. I'll get it. Sit down, I'll get it. Evening, Doc. Come on in.

Doctor: Oh, Merry Christmas, Nana Cindy.

Papa Chuck: Hey, Doc. She's too much for me. I need some help here.

Nana Cindy: What's going on? You look terrible. Are you getting it too?

Doctor: No, just tired. But I found the answer. It's called rigors. It's not in the medical books. I started telegraphing all the doctors for a hundred miles around. Several of them knew about it.

Nana Cindy: Well, that's good, isn't it? Is there bad news?

Doctor: Well, there's good and bad. The bad is that if not treated properly, folks can die from this.

Nana Cindy: Oh my.

Doctor: The good news is that I know what to do to cure it. There's medicine to help with the congestion and I just ordered a lot of it. Should be on the train in the morning. But the real cure is to do nothing.

Papa Chuck: Well, I've done enough of that for two people.

Doctor: No, you haven't. The way this works is that you get sick, then you feel better, good enough to go back to work. That's when it gets you bad. You have to stay down for at least three days.

Papa Chuck: Three days!

Doctor: Doesn't matter how good you feel, you still have it. You stay in bed or in your chair and in three to four days, you get pretty much better on your own. No exceptions. Nana Cindy, keep him down for two more days.

Nana Cindy: You've got it.

Papa Chuck: That's almost Christmas.

Doctor: Well, you got it early. Most others won't be able to be up and around till after Christmas. I've got to keep going. Got to tell everyone.

Ned: What's wrong with this picture?

Stace: Are you talking about the half-built stable, the unfinished camels, or the angel with only one wing?

Ned: It's not quite how I pictured the little town of Bethlehem.

Stace: The judges aren't even coming to Wildwood this year.

Ned: You're supposed to be all happy and cheerful at Christmas. I don't know if I'm mad or just sad. No little town of Bethlehem, no Christmas trophy. I'm sure not getting a canoe. What's the point of even having Christmas? I've got one present to open tonight.

Stace: From the farmer?

Ned: Yep.

Stace: What is it?

CJ: Don't know. He said that it could make this the best Christmas ever.

Stace: Wow, how big is it?

CJ: Little. It's in his backpack.

Stace: Very little chance of it being a canoe.

CJ: You're probably right. Let's go see Marsha now. So what could fit in that little box that would save even this Christmas?

Stace: I don't know. It'd have to be gold.

Ned: It has to be gold. That's the only thing it could be. This old farmer gave you gold? Enough gold to buy presents for my whole family? Maybe I will have a Christmas after all.

Stace: Hello! He's a poor farmer.

Stace: We're walking to the church, we're walking to the church.

Ned: It's perfect, gold.

Stace: Can we just go see Marsha? Oh, you guys are so sad. No Christmas cheer, no canoe, no trophy. These folks can't even go home for Christmas.

CJ: You're calling me a whiner?

Stace: Whiner? That's kind of a harsh word. No, that's the right word.

CJ: You don't think I have a right—Hi, guys.

Marsha: Hi. How are you?

CJ: Well, okay, I guess. I just want to go home. That medicine tastes yucky.

Stace: So now your brother's got it too?

Marsha: We all got it. Mama and Dad and my brother too.

Stace: Well, what about your Christmas?

Marsha: Well, Mama's still really sick and I guess we're just going to have Christmas right here. Pretty crummy Christmas.

CJ: Hey Marsha, we got a present for you.

Marsha: You do? Whoa, smells like pickles.

Stace: Ew, you keep pickles in your backpack?

Ned: I get hungry.

Marsha: Any sauerkraut in there? Well, I like pickles, but what is it?

CJ: It's supposed to make this your best Christmas ever.

Stace: You're giving her your farmer gift?

CJ: Maybe there's enough to go around. I mean, look at this place. If anyone needs a best Christmas ever, these folks do.

Marsha: Oh, I love it! This is the cutest little manger I ever did see. It's a manger ornament. Oh man, this just keeps getting better and better. Gee, thanks, guys. Now it feels like Christmas in here. And I really love the note.

CJ: Note? I never really read the note. Can I see it? Yes. Yes. Mama, look at what the guys got me. It's a little manger ornament.

Stace: Stace, CJ's getting another idea. It's growing, it's building.

CJ: I got it! Can I borrow the note?

Marsha: Well, sure.

CJ: Come on guys, quick. The club's on a quest!

Stace: I love it when we're on a quest!

Narrator: Papa Chuck was finally allowed to be up and around, so he and Nana Cindy were getting ready to head out for the church to see how they could help. At just after sundown, the Cannonball rolled right past Wildwood without even stopping. Christmas judges and all. That was the saddest train whistle the town had ever heard.

Papa Chuck: Someone's ringing the church bell. I'm going over.

Nana Cindy: Well, I'm going too. Papa Chuck, what's going on?

Papa Chuck: I have no idea.

CJ: It's ready! It's ready! Papa Chuck, we're ready! We did it!

Papa Chuck: Well, I guess we better go. Whatever it is, it seems like it's ready.

Guest (Male): Ready? What's going on out there?

CJ: Now, CJ, now! There it is.

Guest (Male): I don't get it.

Guest (Male): It's the old manger.

Nana Cindy: It's a manger with the hills of Bethlehem behind it.

Papa Chuck: The tarp over the junk. That's supposed to be the hills of Bethlehem?

CJ: Well, if you squint your eyes, it looks like it.

Marsha: The manger is in front of the hills of Bethlehem. Nana Cindy, what do you see?

Nana Cindy: Oh, I think it's wonderful. It's not flashy, but I look at it and I see Jesus in the manger.

Mayor: What's the ruckus?

Doctor: Doc, open the church doors. Let everyone inside see what the club's done.

Guest (Male): We've got to name this club.

Papa Chuck: Quiet down, everyone. CJ's got something for us.

CJ: This note, Mr. Bradbury wrote it out. This is for everybody. For unto us a child is born. To us a son is given. Isaiah 9:6.

Papa Chuck: I've read that verse a thousand times.

Doctor: I think we all have, but CJ just read it differently, like they were words spoken by God himself.

Nana Cindy: It changed him. I think it just changed me.

Papa Chuck: Wipe that frown off your face, you old grouch. Christmas just came to Wildwood.

Stace: It's about Jesus. It's his birthday.

Nana Cindy: It is about Jesus.

Ned: CJ thought of the manger.

Marsha: CJ thought of the tarp.

Papa Chuck: You kids did good.

Narrator: That Christmas is one that Wildwood will remember for a long time. They stayed there and sang songs to the Lord until it was too cold, and then they went home and sang some more. Because of that simple verse, the whole town, each in their own homes, did what they were meant to do on Christmas, worship Jesus on his birthday.

The decorations that they did have, the few presents that were exchanged, everything they did that year was a reminder that Christmas is about Jesus, remembering him and worshipping him, thanking him for coming to give us life, abundant and forever.

Narrator: The Perfect Christmas Gift was written and directed by Dave Carl. The song, "The Perfect Christmas Gift," was written by Sandy Howell. Music was by Tim Hosman, and our sound designer was Eric Basel. Paws & Tales is an Insight for Living production.

On the next Paws & Tales: Is there something wrong, CJ? We better get going. Bye. I just got the feeling that he was doing something wrong. Did you see that? It was as if he saw right through me. We will need to keep an eye on that one. Be sure to join us for another episode of Insight for Living's Paws & Tales.