Login / Signup

Free Access

Poor Little Ted

Children's Story
Jack had a huge plastic bag full of conkers. He spent the whole of one evening with a skewer boring a hole in the conkers and threading each one on a piece of string. When he went to school next day he spent every spare minute in the playground playing conkers with his friends. He lost quite a few to start with, but he soon became very proficient, and watched with delight as his opponents' conkers gradually smashed and disappeared.

Jim had spent a long time searching for conkers and managed to find enough to fill a small paper bag. He too threaded his conkers on string and went off to play. He had a lot of fun in the playground, and although he nearly lost the lot, eventually he began to win until he too was regarded as a something of a champion.

Little Ted forgot to go searching for conkers. When he realised all the other children were playing with conkers at school, he rushed home to try and find some for himself. But almost all the conkers were gone, and little Ted only found a few. He bored holes in them and threaded them on to string, but he was so afraid of losing the only conkers he had that he refused to play with them. That night little Ted hid the conkers under his pillow where no one could find them.

Jack had a big canvas bag full of marbles given to him for his birthday. He loved to play marbles with all his friends, and he got better and better at the game. He lost quite a few to start with, but soon he found he was winning nearly every game, and so his collection of marbles grew bigger and bigger.

Jim had some marbles too. They weren't exactly his own, he'd borrowed them from his older brother. He played a lot with his marbles and had a lot of fun. At one point he nearly lost the lot, but eventually he began to gain marbles from the other children, until he was able to give back his brother's marbles because he'd gained so many of his own.

Little Ted had just six marbles in a little plastic container. His granny had given them to him. He loved his marbles so much that he was terrified of losing any of them, so he refused to play with them. That night little Ted hid the marbles under his pillow where no one could find them.

Jack grew up to be a brilliant businessman. He started in a small way and made lots of mistakes in the early days, but as his confidence grew he expanded his business until he became a millionaire.

Jim grew up to find a steady job. He had to search for a long time before he found work he loved, and it was all very uncertain at first. But he had a lot of fun. He was always the life and soul of the party, and people loved to be near him.

Little Ted couldn't find a job when he grew up. He didn't dare look, in case people told him he was no good. He did have one pleasure in life. He married a beautiful wife whom he loved very much. But he was terrified of losing her, and so he hid her away at home where no one could find her.

One day his beautiful wife left him because she couldn't bear her restricted life any longer. Little Ted shrivelled up inside and hated the whole world. Poor little Ted. He tried so hard to keep what he loved most just to himself, that he lost everything. And he never, ever, had any fun.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 23 | OT 28 | Pentecost 18
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 24 | OT 29 | Pentecost 19
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 25 | OT 30 | Pentecost 20
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Nazish Naseem
Mary Austin
Thomas Willadsen
Katy Stenta
For October 12, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Jeremiah 29:1,4-7

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (vv. 12-13)

“I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.”

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This message is a role-play story. If you have enough children, you could have them play the roles of the ten lepers. However, for the most fun, I suggest planning ahead and recruiting ten adults from your congregation to play the roles.

* * *

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott

Call to Worship:

Jesus healed ten sick people, but nine of them were only interested in themselves and their own condition. Just one was able to look beyond his own concerns and say thank you. In our worship today let us look beyond ourselves and see God.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes we are consumed by ourselves and fail to really care about other people.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes we focus so intently on ourselves that we forget to say thank you.
Christ, have mercy.

SermonStudio

James Evans
(See Easter 6, Cycle A for an alternative approach to vv. 8-20.)

Schuyler Rhodes
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (v. 10). "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). These two powerful statements reveal for us the inadequacies of the translation process of the English language. These two juxtaposing passages reveal only a tiny fraction of the contradictions and conflicts found within our holy Word. No wonder people have trouble reading and understanding.
Scott Suskovic
"... suffer as I do" (2 Timothy 1:12).

It was in 1965 that the Rolling Stones recorded the song, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." Even today, over forty years later, we are still saying the same words and feeling the same emptiness of trying and trying, but getting no satisfaction. Commercials promise it with whiter teeth and fresher breath. Wall Street promises it with higher returns. Soap operas promise it with a dynamic love life. Yet those who have conquered each of those summits come up with the same cry, "I can't get no satisfaction." Can you?

Stephen M. Crotts
Have you ever had this experience? You walk into a dark room to do something, flick on the light switch, and nothing happens. I suspect a lot of our Thanksgivings are like that. Thursday late in November rolls around and suddenly it's Thanksgiving! So everybody gives thanks! But quite often the gratitude is just not there. Like the light switch, we reach for it at the appropriate time and it won't work. It's burned out.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
Once there was a wise king who died. His son, who was young and rather brash, came to the throne and after only two months ordered a review all of his father's appointments. He called in the royal secretary, the royal treasurer, and the viceroy for interviews. He found them all to be unworthy and sent them into exile with only the shirts on their backs. Next he decided to interview the local bishop. A courier was sent to the bishop's residence with this message: "You are to report to the palace and answer the following three questions: 1) What direction does God face? 2) What am I worth?

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL