You Have the Authority!

Twin Trouble

(Nick enters with a pool noodle in each hand and collapses on the floor while Susan and Susanna look on.)

Susanna: I hope you’re clean, Nick. I don’t think mom wants you getting her freshly mopped floor all messed up.

Nick: (gasping for air) Thanks for your concern, I’ll be fine in a minute.

Chrissy: What happened to you?

Nick: The Thompson twins, Mike and Ike.

Chrissy: (brings her hands up to her face with a little scream) Not Ike the Terrible and Mike the Monster! Your kidding.

Susanna: Oh, man. I remember the last time I had to babysit them. The twins kept shooting me with those suction cup arrows. While Mike had me pinned down behind the sofa, Ike tore the arms off every doll I had.

Chrissy: That’s nothing. Once when I was watching them, they tied me to a chair because they were practicing their boy scout knot-tying. While I was trying to get out, Ike decided to earn his cooking badge by making his version of a cake with everything he could find in the cupboards. We still have macaroni and cheese stuck to the ceiling because it exploded. If my mom hadn’t come home at that moment, I’d have been a gonner. She made them clean it up, but we still can’t get it off the ceiling.

Susanna: Wow! Your mom’s good. So, Nick, are you done watching them?

Nick: Not really. They’re sleeping. This time they decided to play noodle wars, and I was the enemy. They kept running around hitting me and everything in the room. I was afraid they were going to break some of mom’s lamps. Finally they collapsed from exhaustion in the living room. I left them snoring where they dropped.

Chrissy: Those were the days! I don’t have any problems with them any more. They’re as good as gold when they come to my house.

Susanna: No way!

Chrissy: My mom taught me that I have power over the things I am responsible for. Remember that story about Jesus on the sea with the disciples. Jesus could sleep even during the storm because He knew he had power over the storm. God has given me that same power. And when it comes to Mike and Ike, I know that when they’re under my authority because their parents have given me that power for the time they're gone. The twins have to obey me. Once they knew that I knew that, I didn’t have any more problems with them.

Susanna: You have got to teach me that trick. Nick, when do their parents pick them up?

Nick: In about an hour.

Chrissy: Maybe we should go watch them sleep. You never know with those guys. They could wake up any minute.

Nick: Yeah, and if they see you when they wake up, their reign of terror will be over.

Chrissy: And you’ll never have to worry again, because you are the one in charge.

Nick: I’ll remember that.