W-O-R-R-Y
Matthew 6:25-34
26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.“W-O-R-R-Y” is episode #337 of the Adventures in Odyssey audio series. It was written by Marshal Younger, and originally aired on November 11, 1995.
Summary
Erica Clark tries to look her best for school pictures; Sam Johnson worries about the upcoming Academic Olympics.
Plot
Erica is getting a haircut in anticipation of her annual class picture. She wants the haircut to be perfect. Every other year, she’s looked like a geek in her picture. Unfortunately, the stylist isn’t paying attention, and Erica ends up with the worst haircut in history. She is worried about how things will turn out — and she isn’t the only one.
Sam Johnson has entered the Academic Olympics at school and is stunned, the last subject is spelling, and Sam is terrible at it. Both Sam and Erica panic and worry about their respective problems, then decide to pray about them.
Later, Erica’s mother turns her disastrous cut into a wonderfully stylish ‘do’. Meanwhile, Sam learns that if he can score well enough on his other subjects, he may not have to worry about the spelling section.
But on the day before the pictures, Sam and Erica race their bikes through the park. Erica loses control of her bike and crashes, scratching her face! A new problem to worry about! Then Sam learns that his scores going into the spelling test are only high enough to tie him for first place. More worrying. Jack Allen notices their attitudes and advises each of them to pray again. He tells Erica to leave her problem in God’s hands — she can’t do much about it anyway. But Jack tells Sam to get busy and start studying for the test.
Sam wonders why he has to study when Erica gets to pray. Jack explains that their situations are different. Erica has no control over her situation, but Sam does have control over his. Sam understands and begins preparing. He ends up placing third in the Academic Olympics. As for Erica, she gets her picture taken, and it ends up being completely normal! And both of them learn not to worry about tomorrow — for tomorrow will take care of itself.
Discussion Questions
- Why is it so bad to worry?
- What does Jesus say about it?
- Why did Jack give different advice to Sam and Erica?
- Is there something you are worried about?
- Do you have any control over your situation?
- What should you do to stop worrying?
Cast
Notes
- Trivia
- Both Sam and his buddy Isaac Morton have both suffered from spelling deficiency over the course of the program — though Sam's case may be slightly worse than Issac's. In #117: “The Trouble with Girls”, Isaac seeks help with his spelling from Lucy Cunningham-Schultz, who agrees to help Isaac upon realizing that he cannot even spell her name correctly. In this episode, Sam cannot even spell his own name correctly!
Quotes
Sam Johnson: On my homework yesterday, I spelled my name with two L’s! I'm going crazy!
Kim Peterson: Your name doesn't have an L in it.
Sam Johnson: See! That's my point! I'm going crazy!
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