Jumbled Juggling & Luscious Lemonade

“I feel kinda sad,” said Justin to his dad and his friend Jessie on the car ride home from Kids’ Club.

“What’s the problem?” asked Justin’s dad.

“Well, the Jacobs are missionaries in Japan,” Justin explained, “and they said they don’t have enough money to buy Bibles.”

Jessie added, “A lot of people in their church can’t keep up with the Bible lessons, and some of them are quitting.”

“That’s not good,” Dad agreed as he turned the car into the driveway.

Jessie got out and waved as she crossed the yard to her house while Justin went into his house and up to his room. When his parents came to say good night, they prayed together about the Jacobs’ church in Japan. Justin lay down to sleep, hoping he would think of a way to help.

The next morning, Justin sat straight up in bed, “That’s it!” he shouted. Later, he shared his idea with Jessie. “We’ll sell lemonade and give what we earn to the Jacobs’ church in Japan.”

“That’s a great idea,” said Jessie. The kids began planning. “We’ll need a recipe for lemonade, and maybe we can build a stand on the sidewalk in front of your house.”

On Saturday, Justin and Jessie put their plan into action. Their parents helped mix the lemonade and build a little stand. The two friends sat by the stand, while Ellie, Justin’s little sister, wandered back and forth, waiting for someone to stop and buy some lemonade. After awhile, Ellie sighed heavily. “Dis is borwing,” she said.

“We just started, Ellie,” Justin told her. “Here, play with these while we wait.” Justin handed some lemons to Ellie. She sat in the grass and rolled them around.

Justin was getting bored, too, so he tried juggling some lemons. He tossed one in the air, then another, but when he tossed a third one up, he missed, and the lemon hit Jessie on the head—bonk!

“Hey! Watch it,” Jessie squawked.

“Sorry,” Justin apologized. “Here, you try.”

Jessie took the lemons and tossed them up, one-two-three. They all went up okay, but then they all came down at once. Jessie scrambled around trying to catch the three lemons, but it was no use. One clunked on the chair then bounced to the ground. A second lemon landed on the sidewalk—thwomp-splat! And the third one knocked over a cup full of lemonade, splashing Jessie in the face! “Eww!” she squealed.

Just then, a car full of people stopped in front of their stand. Jessie was embarrassed. She hoped they hadn’t seen her jumbled lemon juggling.

Justin smiled as a lady rolled her car window down. “Do you want some lemonade?” he asked hopefully.

“Yes. I’ll take four,” she said.

Justin carefully passed the cups to the lady, who shared them with the kids in the car. She handed some coins to Jessie then pulled away.

“Hooray!” Justin and Jessie felt happy to finally have some money in their jar. But the happy feeling didn’t last long. They waited and waited, but no one else came by. Finally, they gave up and put the lemonade stand away.

The next day at church, Miss Christy asked, “How did your lemonade sale go?”

Justin frowned. “Not so great.”

“How come?”

“We only sold four,” Jessie explained.

“Hmm.” Miss Christy thought for a minute. “Don’t give up. Helping the missionaries is the right thing to do. And I think I can help you.”

“You can? How?”

“Well, how would you like to sell your lemonade tomorrow?” Miss Christy asked.

“That’d be great! But who are we selling to?” asked Jessie.

“The grandparents’ group at church is having a craft and cookie sale,” Miss Christy explained. “And I’m sure they would love some lemonade to go with their cookies.”

“That sounds super! Thanks!”

“See you then.”

The next evening, Justin and Jessie and their moms set up the lemonade stand beside a table overflowing with cookies.

“Yum!” said Justin.

“Yeah,” Jessie agreed. “But we’re here to sell, not to eat.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Jessie’s mom, stirring a pitcher of lemonade.

Before they knew it, customers were lining up. All evening, the kids worked as fast as they could filling cups while Justin’s mom took the money. Finally, the last cup of lemonade was sold.

“Wow! We sold all of it!” The kids gave each other a high five just as Miss Christy walked over to them with one of the grandparents, named Mr. Brown.

“This lemonade is luscious,” he said, sipping from his cup and smacking his lips.

“I told you so,” teased Miss Christy.

Mr. Brown turned to Justin. “I hear you’ve been selling it to earn money for the Jacobs.”

“That’s right,” Justin replied.

“Well,” said Mr. Brown, “that’s what this craft and cookie sale was for. And we’d like to add the money we made to the money you made so the Jacobs can buy Bibles for everyone.”

“That’s great!” Jessie exclaimed.

“You did a good job, kids,” said Miss Christy. “You didn’t give up—even when your first day didn’t go so well.”

“We were so busy that I didn’t even have time to practice juggling lemons!” said Jessie, laughing.

“Maybe we should have done a talent show to raise money. Then we could watch you juggle,” Mr. Brown said with a grin.

“No way! I’ve seen her juggling, and it’s dangerous!” Justin pretended to dodge falling lemons.

“Good thing you stuck with making lemonade then!” said Miss Christy, and everyone laughed.

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