But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.-Luke 18:16

                         The Body Double

Andrew was a very active little boy.

He was always outside playing and keeping busy, except when his favorite TV show, “Captain Thunder” was on.

Captain Thunder was a space pilot who fought the bad guys and got out of impossible situations with his keen fighting abilities and heroic deeds.

Andrew never missed this show and often pretended that he was Captain Thunder when he was playing.

There was a contest running during the show.

Every week they asked you a question about Captain Thunder and if you knew the answer you were to send it in on a postcard to the TV station.

Andrew did this faithfully every week because he knew everything about Captain Thunder.

The contest’s grand prize was a trip to the TV studios to be on the set during the filming of a Captain Thunder episode.

One day when Andrew came home from school, his mother said that he had gotten a letter.

Andrew was very excited for he rarely got mail.

He opened the letter and saw that it was from the TV studio.

Andrew was so excited, “what could it be?” he exclaimed.

As he read the letter it started with the word, “Congratulations!”

He won the contest! He was going to go to the studio to see them make a Captain Thunder show with his own eyes.

He was so thrilled, he couldn’t believe it, he had actually won!

Well, Andrew could hardly sleep for the next several weeks.

Finally the big day was here.

Andrew and his parents went to the TV studio.

Andrew was given a special pass and was escorted to the TV set.

When he got there, he was introduced to Captain Thunder in person!

Andrew could not even speak; he was so excited and happy.

The man playing Captain Thunder was very nice to Andrew and gave him an autographed picture.

“You sit here in my seat,” said Captain Thunder, “after the shoot I will come and see you.”

“OK,” said Andrew, “thank you.”

Andrew was so excited; this was the best day of his life.

They started filming the episode and Andrew watched closely.

It was very different from watching it on TV.

They would often stop and do scenes over and over.

“Now comes the good part!” thought Andrew.

 Captain Thunder was surrounded by a raging fire and he had to jump through the fire and fight the bad guys on the other side.

As the fire raged, Captain Thunder stood in the middle of the flames.

Just then the director yelled “Cut, body double!”

Immediately the fire was put out, and another man dressed just like Captain Thunder walked onto the set!

He stood where Captain Thunder was standing and they lit the flames again.

This man, the body double, was a stunt man.

He jumped through the fire.

After he jumped through the fire the director again yelled “cut!”

Captain Thunder went back on the set and stood in front of the waiting bad guys.

“OK.”, thought Andrew, “maybe the fire was too dangerous even for Captain Thunder.”

Just as the bad guys grabbed and started fighting with Captain Thunder the director again yelled “cut, body double!”

The stunt man dressed like Captain Thunder went back on the set and stood in front of the bad guys.

The bad guys and the stunt man started to fight; back and forth they battled until the stunt man had beaten the bad guys.

Andrew sat there in disbelief.

“How could this be?” he thought.

“Captain Thunder is so brave and strong!”

“Why isn’t he out there himself?”

After the shoot was over, Captain Thunder walked over to Andrew.

“Well Andrew, how did you like it?”

Andrew sat there sad, “it was ok,” he said.

“Just ok, what is the matter?” asked Captain Thunder.

“Why did that other man do all the hard parts for you, you are so brave and strong!” said Andrew.

“Oh, I see,” said Captain Thunder.

“Well, that is how we make the show. The stunt man comes on and does the dangerous scenes for me.” said Captain Thunder.

“You know that TV shows are all make believe, don’t you Andrew?” said Captain Thunder.

“Yes,” said Andrew, “but it is not fair, he does all the hard stuff and you get all the glory.”

“Yes, you are right Andrew, but that is his job and mine is to act like Captain Thunder.”

Captain Thunder saw the disappointment still on Andrew’s face.

“Andrew, do you believe in Jesus?” asked Captain Thunder.

“Why of course I do,” said Andrew.

“Well, Jesus was your body double and he was my body double too,” said Captain Thunder.

“What do you mean?” asked Andrew.

“Jesus hung on the cross and died for my sins, for your sins and the sins of the world,” said Captain Thunder.

“It may not seem fair, but that is the way it is and now your job and my job is to act like Jesus too,” answered Captain Thunder gently.

“Yes, I see,” said Andrew.

“You are right, we all have a job to do and we are all to act like Jesus,” smiled Andrew.

Captain Thunder smiled back at his little friend.

“So, is everything ok now, Andrew?” asked Captain Thunder.

“Yes, and thank you for talking to me,” said Andrew.

Captain Thunder was still Andrew’s favorite show.

Though he now knew how the body double did the hard stuff, it was still ok.

And Andrew remembered the words of Captain Thunder always, “Be like Jesus.”

 Matthew Abrahams