Sneaky Mark

Another true story from when Gramps was a boy

You have heard about Mark, how he couldn’t be trusted and how he wouldn’t obey. (Read Mark’s Scare.) He got an awful scare because of his disobedience. But this story isn’t about how he got a scare. It’s about how he scared his Mother and Daddy.

It all started with a book about two boys who lived in colonial times. One was a white boy, while the other was an Indian. They were about Mark’s age, and the white boy was fascinated with how the Indian boy could move silently through the woods.

Mark really studied that book. This is really great, he thought. Just think! The ability to sneak around like a ghost! He imagined how he could spy on people. If there was work to be done, he could disappear. He could overhear what his parents were planning. If he wanted those plans to happen, why then he would appear. If not, then he would vanish!

Stupid Mark. He didn’t realize how foolish his ideas were. He thought he was learning to hide from his parents so he wouldn’t have to obey. But could he ever hide from God? Of course not! God can see every move we make, because God can see through walls and in darkness just like we can see something across the room. And God sees inside our minds and hearts, too. He knew that Mark’s thoughts were evil and would get him into a lot of trouble.

Mark practiced sneaking around the house. When he got out of bed, he tried to move without the springs squeaking. When Mother told him to put away his books, he tiptoed. He especially practiced outside. Instead of walking across the chicken house to collect eggs, he would crawl along the flower bed and dart from bush to bush. Anyone watching would’ve thought he was a criminal. And he was, inside. He was trying to get away with wrong, and so his heart was just as bad as any thief or murderer.

His mother didn’t like it. “Mark! What are you doing?” she would say when she found him standing silently beside the refrigerator or creeping down the hallway. She wasn’t bothered because he was quiet. After all, that was better than screaming and hollering. But his sneakiness was making her worried.

Mark decided to begin sneaking around at night. No matter how silently he moved in the daylight, someone could still see him. He could be a better sneak in the dark, he thought. So one night he decided to crawl into his parents’ room while they were asleep. He didn’t think that God, who records everything we think and do, was watching him.

Mark moved on his stomach very slowly and very carefully. He slithered through the hallway into his parents’ bedroom. His daddy was snoring. He always snored. Mark moved closer to the bed. Then his mother said, “Honey, I think someone is in the room!” She sounded really alarmed, and Mark quickly tried to disappear under the bed.

The lamp light came on and heavy feet landed on the floor. “Mark! What in the world are you doing?” his dad demanded. Stupid Mark! He was caught. And he didn’t feel too good on the backside when he crept back to bed a little while later. Mark’s days of being a sneak were over. His parents loved him too much to let him practice being a criminal.

I am sorry to say that this did not cure Mark of having a disobedient heart. Turn the next page to learn how he did get cured later. You might say, “But his folks didn’t tell him not to sneak into their bedroom in the middle of the night.” No. But he knew better. You do, too. There are a lot of things that you know better than to ask if you can do, don’t you? You know the answer will be no. So if you go ahead and do it anyway, then you know that you have disobeyed, don’t you?

How sad it will be if God’s record book has to say of you: “But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.”* (Jeremiah 17:23)