A Drunk and a Tent

A Drunk and a Tent, for children

Once there was a town named Sedalia, where the people didn't know much about Jesus. So three Adventist pastors went there to tell them. We will call the pastors Butler, Reavis, and Hollenbeck. It's important to our story that Pastor Hollenbeck couldn't see anything.

The three pastors found a vacant lot right downtown, and pitched a big tent. Pastor Butler preached about Jesus and studied the Bible with people. Pastor Reavis helped people find their seats, and took care of the tent. Pastor Hollenbeck was blind, but made beautiful music.

People were not used to seeing a big tent in town. Some thought maybe it was a circus. They were curious about what happened in the tent, and many came every evening to find out. So people stayed and learned about Jesus.

Then one day a circus really did come to town. They had lots of tents, and pitched them not very far from the Bible tent. This made people even more confused. More and more came to the Bible tent, thinking it was part of the circus. And late in the evening some people got even more confused, because they had been drinking.

Pastors Butler and the blind Hollenbeck went to sleep in a little tent behind the big tent. Pastor Reavis stayed up all night to protect the Bible tent from the people who got more confused as the night went on.

When the sun began to come up , Pastor Reavis went to the little tent to wake up Pastors Butler and Hollenbeck for breakfast. He was surprised to find the tent flaps open, because earlier in the night he had tied them tight shut, from the outside. So he carefully looked in to see if Pastors Butler and Hollenbeck were still in their bed. Yes they were. But right in the middle, between the two pastors, was a big dirty drunken man called a tramp.

Pastor Reavis tried to wake up the tramp, but he was still very drunk, and very sleepy. Pastor Butler was still sound asleep, and had slept all night, not knowing there was a third man in his bed. But Pastor Hollenbeck was not asleep. In fact the blind Pastor Hollenbeck had a bad night.

You already know the Pastor Butler could sleep easily, and Pastor Hollenbeck could not. Now during the night the tramp got very sleepy, and was looking for a place to lie down. He found a little tent and opened the flaps. Yes, inside was a bed. Of course, there were already two men in the bed, but the tramp figured there was room for him too.

Pastor Hollenbeck woke up, couldn't see the tramp, and thought he was Pastor Reavis. He asked, "Brother Reavis, is that you?"

The tramp was having trouble speaking clearly, but he said, "Yes, that's me."

Pastor Hollenbeck was shocked to hear Pastor Reavis talk as if he were drunk. He asked, "Where have you been?"

The drunk said, "To—to—to circus."

Pastor Hollenbeck felt even worse. He asked, "What are you going to do now?"

The drunk said, "I'm going to bed."

And with that, he lay down, right on top of poor Pastor Hollenbeck; then he slid down into the middle of the bed, between Pastor Hollenbeck and Pastor Butler, who continued his peaceful sleep.

But Pastor Hollenbeck was not peaceful, and he was not asleep. Every time the drunk breathed, fumes of alcohol filled the air. And poor Pastor Hollenbeck lay awake wondering what would happen when people learned that Pastor Reavis was drunk. Everybody had thought Reavis was a fine young pastor. But now he wouldn't be able to be a pastor any more. And would people continue to come to the tent meetings when they knew one of the pastors was a drunk? Oh what would happen, and how should he pray?

How relieved Pastor Hollenbeck was, when the real Pastor Reavis came to the tent! Next Pastor Butler woke up. And finally the drunken tramp woke up.

Now what should three Adventist pastors do with the tramp who had disturbed their night?

Well, they fed him a good breakfast, and took him safely to a train, where he got a ride to the next town he planned to visit.

And what happened to the Bible meetings? God continued to bless the meetings; nothing bad happened, and many people learned more about Jesus. Pastor Butler later became the world leader of Seventh-day Adventists. Pastor Reavis also became a Christian leader, and wrote a story about the tent, the pastors, and their drunken guest.