Sermon Central
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The Runaway Elephant
Contributed by David Dunn on Oct 23, 2025 (message contributor)
When I was about five years old, my family lived in a far-away country called Burma—a warm, green land filled with rice fields, parrots, and elephants that helped people pull heavy logs out of the forest.
Burma even has towns with funny names like Maymyo and Meowmya—names that sound as if cats helped make them up!
And the people there gave me a funny name too. They called me Meowpew (it sounds like meow-pyoo), which in Burmese means “White Monkey.”
I guess it fit me, because I had light hair and I was always climbing things—especially mango trees! I could spend hours up there, hiding among the branches, eating mangoes that dripped juice all the way down my elbows.
One sunny day my dad stopped our old van at a place where people were cutting big trees into boards for building houses. The air smelled like fresh wood, and you could hear the buzzing of saws. Out beyond the piles of wood stood a group of elephants. Some were enormous, and some were mothers with babies tucked close beside them.
A friendly man smiled and said, “Would you like a ride, Meowpew?”
Would I ever! He lifted me up behind a baby elephant’s ears and gave its back a pat. For a few minutes it was wonderful. We walked slowly through the sunshine. I could feel the warmth of his skin and the soft flapping of his ears against my knees. I thought, This is the best day of my life!
Then, all at once, something startled him—maybe a loud noise, maybe a bird flying too close. That calm baby elephant suddenly took off running!
He crashed through the trees, branches slapping my arms, the ground shaking like thunder. I shouted, “Daddy! Mommy! Jesus!”—every name I could think of!
The other elephants started trumpeting, and the workers ran after us, waving their arms and yelling. The baby’s mother was running too, calling after him with her deep trumpet voice!
Finally, the little elephant slowed down, breathing hard. My knees were shaking like jelly. The men caught up, lifted me down, and I ran straight into my sister’s arms.
For a moment everyone just stood there, breathing hard. Then somebody started laughing—and soon we were all laughing. Even the elephant flapped his ears as if to say, “Sorry about that, Meowpew!”
Later that night, when I thought about it, I realized something. God must have been riding with me the whole time. Even though I was scared, I wasn’t hurt.
The Bible says in Psalm 91 that God gives His angels charge over us—to keep us in all our ways.
So whenever life feels big and wild and a little out of control, I remember that runaway elephant—and I smile. Because God knew exactly where Meowpew was the whole time… and He still does.
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Lesson:
Even when life feels wild or scary, God always knows where you are, and He keeps you safe in His care.
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