The Great Clubhouse Competition

The sun shone brightly through his window, when Benjamin Squirrel leapt from his bed.  Quickly he scampered down the stairs and out the door to play and enjoy the day.

Like marshmallow ships on the ocean, clouds sailed across the clear blue sky. Leaves whispered to each other the breeze tenderly flowed through the trees. Today was a day for adventure, excitement or frolicking with friends. Unlimited possibilities lay before him, a day to challenge the boundaries of his imagination.

Merrily, Benjamin hurried along the path.  He was heading to the clearing to meet his friends Gladly Bear, Bryan Skunk and Kevin Skunk.  Humming a cheery tune, he strolled along the path. Shortly he arrived at the clearing, where he spotted his friend Gladly playing a game of tag with Bryan, Kevin and their little sister Andrea.

“Hey guys,” shouted Benjamin.  “Who’s it?”

“You are,” cried Andrea.  As she said this she ran up behind Benjamin tagging him.

“No fair,” exclaimed Benjamin.  Spinning around, he chased a squealing Andrea across the clearing.  Laughter filled the air as more of their friends arrived and joined in the game.

Eventually tired of their game, they gathered round the old oak tree in the center of the clearing. They flopped wearily to the ground, rolling in the grass and gazing up into the sky. 

“So what are we gonna do now?” asked Scott Badger. “It’s boring just lying here under the tree.”

“Let’s go pick some pretty flowers,” replied Hannah Rabbit.

“Ewww,  flowers. YUCK!” declared Kevin. “Let’s go build a fort instead.”

“Cool, where will we build it?” asked Andrea.

“You can’t come,” said Bryan harshly.  “Forts are for boys only, no girls allowed!  Especially annoying little sisters.”

“But I want to help build a fort too,” cried Andrea.

“Bryan is right,” said Dalton Bobcat.  “Forts are for boys, no girls allowed.”

“Fine!” retorted Caitlin Otter.  “We’ll just go and build our own clubhouse.  And no boys allowed in ours, especially nasty older brothers.”

“Yeah,” said Andrea.  “Our clubhouse is gonna be nice and pretty and much better than yours.”

“Hah!” huffed Bryan.  “Ours will be the best, and we’ll prove it.”

“Oh yeah, How?” asked Suzanne Bear.

“I don’t know,” said Bryan.  “But we will find a way to prove it.”

“I know,” said Hannah.  “Let’s each build our clubhouse, this week.  Then next Monday we ask Miss Rosie to judge and see which clubhouse is better.”

“Fine,” said Bryan. “Come on guys; let’s go show the girls how to build a real fort.  We know we can build the best.”

“Come on girls,” said Hannah.  “Let’s go find the perfect place to build our clubhouse.  We will make the best one and Miss Rosie will pick ours.” So each group went their separate ways, searching for the ideal place to build the perfect clubhouse.

The boys looked high and low for the best spot, they searched the swamp, the checked the river, they scoured the hill, they looked everywhere.  Down by the shale cliffs, they spotted a large flat patch of rock.  A rivulet of spring water poured out of the cliff.  The water collected in a clear pool at the bottom of the cliff, and then ran off in a small brook down to the river in the distance.

“This place is perfect,” stated Scott.  “We have a good solid rock as a base for our fort.  We have the cliff backing for support of the walls, and we have the pool for water.  Let’s build our fort here.”  

Everyone agreed with Scott, so they started on planning how to build the ultimate fort. While Joshua Beaver and Dalton Bobcat scurried off to collect wood, Kevin Skunk and Samuel Mouse set about drawing up building plans.  Bryan and the rest cleared away loose rocks and stacked them off to the side for later use.

The girls also explored the forest for the perfect place for their clubhouse.  They searched the fields of wildflowers and chased the pretty butterflies.  They checked out the swamp, and were revolted by the gooey muck.  Then they headed for the river to wash off the mud from the swamp, where they found a quiet little beach enclosed by silvery birch trees.

The deep water gently flowed over the sandy bottom of the river, while white lilies floated in a pool in the shallows.  The beach by the river was soft and sandy, with small scrubs of grass and dandelions poking through.  Silvery birch trees surrounded the beach, ringed with colorful snapdragons.

“This place is so pretty,” exclaimed Mary Deer. “Let’s build our clubhouse down here.  Look the ground is soft enough that we can easily set up the beams to hold the walls.  And all these pretty flowers nearby can be used to decorate our clubhouse.”

So the girls started work on their clubhouse down by the river.  Lizzy Beaver and Emma Muskrat went off in search of wood, while Andrea Skunk and Natalie Raccoon searched for the perfect decorations to put in their masterpiece. Laboriously they worked on their creation, and soon the outline of the perfect clubhouse started to take shape.

Built in the middle of the beach, the outer walls were made of springy willow tied with vines.  Attractive flowers decorated the woven walls and surrounded the windows.  A shade of lilies guarded the windows from prying eyes.  Inside the clubhouse was roomy and butterflies floated near the ceiling, which was decorated with more flowers.  Four posts driven into the sand, anchored the clubhouse to the earth.

Enthusiastically the two groups worked on their clubhouses, every day they would build a little more.  By Saturday, two magnificent buildings stood in the forest.  The boys and girls met back in the clearing to brag of their accomplishments, and perhaps get a clue of the other’s work. 

Sunday morning, they all crowded around Miss Rosie at church, they begged her to help them with the judging. Miss Rosie was unsure if they could, as a storm was rolling in and she did not want to get caught out in bad weather. She finally agreed if the weather was clear, she would help judge the competition.  Everybody agreed to meet at Miss Rosie’s house on Monday morning and take her down to the clubhouses.

That night, while they slept a powerful storm hit the area.  The winds howled, the rains came down, and the river rose.  The children watched out their windows, and worried that the storm would not die before morning.  However around midnight, the winds died down and a peaceful calm fell across the forest.

Bright and early the next morning, everyone gathered at Miss Rosie’s.  Small branches lay strewn among the paths from the winds.  The ground was dry though as the sun had come out, and dried up the rain from the night before.  Eagerly the children led Miss Rosie to see their great creations.

The boys led her down to the cliffs to see their mighty fort first. Built against the cliff, the wood was anchored to the rock wall used the scattered rocks to shore up the other walls.  Inside there plenty of room to play, and a small pipe brought water down from the spring to a basin which then emptied into the brook.  Miss Rosie was impressed with their work.

Then the girls lead them down to the beach to show off their wondrous establishment.  To their dismay the beach was covered with water, and their clubhouse was no longer there.  Floating down the river they could see the scattered remains of their once wonderful clubhouse.

Upset at the loss of their clubhouse, poor Andrea cried.  As the tears flowed, her brother Kevin turned to the others and said, “Guys, we were wrong.  We should all share the clubhouse.  What do you think, should we let the girls join us?”   They all agreed with Kevin, and returned to the clubhouse to talk and play.

Miss Rosie gathered them around her and said, “You know children, this reminds me a little of life.  How we live our lives is a lot like these clubhouses.  As you can see the clubhouse built on the soft sandy ground was washed away by the first storm to come along.  But the clubhouse built on the rock withstood the storm, because this clubhouse is built on a firm foundation.

When troubles come I know I can get through them, because Jesus is the foundation of my life.  He is my Rock.  I can get through trials because I believe in Him.  Or you can build your life on the fun of the world, the sandy shore.  As soon as problems arise you are left with nothing to build on and are tossed by the rising waters.

But it is not too late; when we have problems we can still come to Jesus and ask Him for help.  Think about how you want your life to be.”

Miss Rosie found this story in Matthew 7:24-27