I am called Rhoda and I am 12 years old and I am a household servant. I think that because I am young, adults don’t really listen to me. Have you ever felt like that? Let me tell you what happened once.

My mistress, Mary, was one of the followers of Jesus. She actually saw Him after He rose from the dead. The followers of Jesus often met in her home. Right at the time I am telling you about there were big problems with King Herod, I mean THIS Herod. There had been lots of Kings named Herod. It was like Herod the father and then Herod the son and so on. They were all bad kings. Why do they always let the boys become king? Well, maybe you don’t agree but I think girls would be better.

Anyway, Herod had killed the Apostle James and had put Peter in prison, planning to kill him, too. The followers of Jesus were all praying in the upstairs of Mary’s house, where I lived too. There was a knock at the door. I was told to go down and check it, but to be careful and not just open the door because it might be the Temple guards.

So I went down and asked who was there. I heard the voice and it was Peter! I was like “wow!” And I ran back upstairs and had to interrupt their praying to tell them it was Peter. And do you know what happened? They didn’t believe me! They said, “You’re out of your mind,” and then “It must be his angel.”

Now I’m only 12, but I thought, “You are praying that Peter get out of prison and you don’t believe it when it happens?” Well, anyway, Peter kept knocking and finally some of the others went down and saw that it really was Peter. I don’t know who said it but somebody was like, “Rhoda, why didn’t you let him in?” That made me mad and I could have said, “You all told me to be careful,” but everyone, including me, was so happy that I like let it go.

Peter told how a real angel came into the prison, made the chains fall off his arms and legs and made the gates open and led him so that he walked right out. Peter said he thought he was dreaming until he realized that he really was on the street. So, he came to our door. When Peter was done talking to the grownups, he said, “Thank you Rhoda, for telling the truth even when nobody believed you.”

In the morning the soldiers realized that Peter was gone and they were really scared. And of course, Herod blew his top. The guards were questioned and like told the truth that Peter had been chained and locked behind bars. They said there was no way he could have gotten out! But he was gone and that means the guards had to die. That’s the way kings think when they don’t really care about the truth.

Well the news the next few days showed that God was getting pretty upset with that nasty man. Herod went to Caesarea to make a big speech for the leaders of Tyre and Sidon. The people shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” Herod must have said something like “Thank-you-very-much” because an angel struck him down. And the people that saw it said it was really gross. His insides were all full of worms! I’m glad I wasn’t there!

So the lesson is that angels do what God tells them to do and they can do wonderful things for people who love God and terrible things to people who don’t. And if you are a grown up, try to listen to kids, even girls. And If you are a girl, think about whether it might be a good idea for girls to be kings – or, I guess it would be queens.

Acts 12

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