New Years Resolutions

It was New Years Day, and everyone was a little sleepy from staying up so late the night before. But after lunch, Miguel said to Grace and Willie, "Ok, kids. Let's go have a look at that old warehouse. I've called the owner and asked his permission to poke around, and he even gave me the key, so we don't have to climb through broken windows like you two did last week.

Willie, Grace, Flop, and Miguel piled into Miguel's car. As they drove to the wharf section of Beantown, he asked the kids if they had any New Years resolutions.

"I've decided to read my Bible all the way through this year," said Willie. "And I'm going to try to help Mom more around the house."

"That sounds good," encouraged Miguel. "What about you, little sister?"

"I'm going to read my Bible this year, too. And I'm going to try to keep my room cleaner. And I'm going to teach Rosy how to talk. (Rosy was Grace's pet cockatiel.) What about you, Miguel?"

"Well, you know I'll be returning to my ship in a few days. There are many Christians in the Navy, but I want to be a better witness for Jesus when I get back. Here we are! I'll park over here- there sure is a lot of broken glass! Watch out kids!

The group climbed out of the car. There was no one around, not even a mysterious green car. Miguel took the key from his pocket and unlocked the warehouse door. He left the door wide open, and since it was a sunny day, the warehouse wasn't as dark as it was when the kids hid there a week earlier.

"We need to find some stairs so we can get up to the top floor. Here, I brought us some flashlights." Miguel flashed his light around the big gloomy room. It was still a spooky place, with old rusty pieces of machinery lying around. "There's some stairs, over there," he pointed with his light. Three humans and one dog picked their way over to the steps and began to climb. "This is a little scary," admitted Willie.

When they reached the top, they found another set of stairs, and they climbed that set, too. Flop stayed close to the kids and did a lot of sniffing. At last they reached the very top floor of the old building.

"Now we need to find the door that leads to the catwalk," announced Grace. "I hope it's sturdy enough to let us cross to the other building."

They found the door with little difficulty, and Miguel's key unlocked it easily. They found themselves very high up. The street below looked far away. The catwalk looked to be in much better shape than it had looked from the ground. It looked safe.

"Ok, kids. Are you ready to cross? Let's ask the Lord to protect us first." Miguel closed his eyes. "We ask for your help, Lord! Amen. Ready? Let's go!"

The humans and the dog very carefully stepped out onto the bridge that spanned the two old warehouses. It was scary, but the bridge was still strong. When they reached the other side, Miguel produced his key once more, and the door to the second old building opened with a loud creak. This room was also filled with old machinery, and crates and boxes.

"How will we ever find what we're looking for up here!" moaned Willie. "We don't even know what we're looking for.

"Let's try to find something that would hold a treasure that a sailor would have, like a sea chest or something," suggested Grace. "What's Flop doing over there?"

Miguel shined his light over towards the sound of loud snuffling. "Looks like ol' Flop is investigating that stack of boxes in the far corner. Let's go see. Blech! They're all mouldy. Hey- what's this.......