Growing up with Jesus

By Karen Dampier

Growing Up with Jesus is a fictional story of Jesus when he was a boy. Written from the perspective of Simon Peter, who is ten years older than Jesus, he chronicles the boyhood of Jesus. Simon recounts his relationship with Mary, the mother of Jesus, before Jesus was even born. He then weaves the story of Jesuss boyhood into his own life. Mutual associations with friends, religious events and holidays as well as occupational happenings will remind us of how life was as ordinary for Jesus growing up as ours is today. Simon relates his own daily life including his impatient personality, relationship observations, Roman political presence, dealing with the death of a loved one, and biblical morals and perspectives. Casual story-telling of epic biblical events, morals and perspectives are included in Simons narrative.

Obviously, the events you will read about are how the author imagines things might have been. References to Jewish practices, traditions, and holidays were thoroughly researched, and every effort was made to stay as true as possible while creating the story. It is supposed, by the author, that Simon and his brother Andrew might have known Jesus before they were called to follow him into ministry, leaving their homes and families behind. The geographical setting is used to include the sea on which Simon and Andrew could earn their living. The story ends significantly on Chapter 29, with Jesus at age twenty-nine and where the documented, biblical narrative of Jesus ministry begins.

The author developed this story over twenty years and has finally released it for children to read and enjoy. The hope is that after reading this book as a child or a curious adult, one will find the Bible to be captivating as they yearn to learn more about our Lord, Jesus Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504932721

Karen Dampier

Karen Dampier has taught children of all ages about the love of Jesus in a church setting. Through the years of Sunday school lessons, campfires, and youth retreats, questions of Jesus as a boy would intrigue the children. Drawing on her experience in writing articles for a monthly Christian magazine and occasional newspaper opinion pages, she decided to write the story of why we give gifts at Christmas time. The story grew and developed into a speculative of the daily life of Jesus. Karen has served in several capacities in her church, including choir, teaching the Bible to children and youth, director and committee member of children and youth departments, family-life enrichment chairperson, and church events coordinator. Most recently, she was the director of the women’s ministry in her large local church. She is happily married and has one lovely and talented daughter and two delightful grandsons.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Book%20Roman%20Chariot.tif

H ello, my name is Simon and I am 10 years old. I live in Capernaum. My best friends are Mordecai and Eli. They are younger than I am. Mordecai is 9 years old and Eli is 8 years old. We play together every day.

Our house isn’t the biggest in town but it is big enough for us. I have my own room and so does my little brother Andrew. Then, there’s mama and papa. Their names are Jonas and Joanna. My favorite place in my house, besides my bedroom, is the summer house on the roof. Sometimes it gets very hot here and so we sleep, play and eat our meals up there. We have a white cloth canopy attached over the top so it lets the breeze come through but protects us from the sun. I can see way into the desert up there, as well as the sea from the other side.

One day while Mordi and Eli were at my house playing, mama came out and asked us to taste a special food she was making. She had a big garden beside our house and grew a few vegetables there. You see, mama was very excited about the wedding that was coming up. She said it was going to be a very nice wedding and the party afterwards would probably last for three days! The bride’s name was Mary. She lived four houses down from us with her parents Joachim and Anna. Mary was a pretty girl and I think Mordi had a crush on her. Mary always said hi to us if she saw us outside. She called me Red sometimes, because of my red hair, I guess.

We told mama the food was very good and she went back into the house. Eli said Simon, let’s go watch the chariot races. So Mordi, Eli and I started running towards the fields where the races were going to be. The Roman soldiers had races and contests almost every day. We liked to watch the contests after we did our chores at home.

On the way out of town, we noticed a very bright light coming out of Mary’s house. So we stopped and crouched down under the window to see what was going on. Eli was the first to take a peek inside but he couldn’t say a word, he just motioned for us to look. In Mary’s house was a man dressed in a white robe and a bright light was all around him. It was so bright and beautiful. Mary looked a little scared but she was talking with the man anyway. Eli crouched down and said Let’s go! We’re going to miss the races! So off we ran but I decided to ask Mary about it later. *A

The race was great that day. The Roman soldiers seemed to have outdone themselves with the prettiest chariots I had ever seen. Eli just about got ran over by one of them! We have to watch out for him, you know. The horses that were pulling the chariots were huge. There were four racers; two with two wheeled chariots and two with three wheeled chariots. One of the chariots had golden decorations on it, while the others had carved ivory figures. They lined up and then one soldier cracked his whip on some rocks to signal the start of the race. Off they went, as fast as those horses could run. They were almost out of sight in just a moment but then they turned around and back toward us they came. We all moved back because they were coming fast. Well, the one with gold on it won! The Roman soldier who was driving it was such a big man. But I could tell he wasn’t as strong as my papa.

It was about supper time so we headed back to town. On the way back, we passed Mary’s house. She was praying beside the window so we didn’t stop to ask her about the man we saw her with earlier.

A few weeks later, Mary was loading a bag onto a travel wagon. It looked like she was going on a trip. So I ran over to her and she said she was going to visit her cousin Elizabeth in another town. Mary said she would be gone for a few months so she could help her cousin with a new baby. I told her goodbye just as Mordecai came running up. Mary had to explain the whole thing to him, too. Mordi was very sad the rest of the day. So we found Eli and we all went fishing down by the seashore.

Chapter 2

Book%20Roman%20Soldier.tif

O ne day, mama said she saw Mary back in town. It seemed like just a little while had passed but mama said Mary had been gone about three months. Mama said Mary’s wedding was going to be smaller than she thought. Mary had been visited by an angel who said that God had other plans for Mary; a special thing for her to do. So the wedding would be small and the party would only last one evening. Papa said it was OK with him; he had a lot of work to do to keep him busy if he didn’t have a three day wedding to go to.

We ate supper on the roof that night because it was so hot. Mama made my favorite meal with smashed grapes on flat bread and some fresh milk. Then mama played some music on her tabrets which are tiny cymbals she fastened to her fingers while papa played the reed flute and we danced. *B

It was getting warmer now. Spring was coming. One day, papa said we were going to take a trip. This trip would change our lives. Papa said we would go to a place called Bethlehem. He said the King wanted people to give him some money. But we had to go to the city where my grandparents lived and my papa was born. It was going to take us a few days to get there from our village.

I went to my room and looked at all my toys trying to decide which ones to take on our trip. Papa said I could only take three so I knew I had to decide very carefully. I knew I had to take my javelin. Then I chose my slingshot and my bow and arrows. I could use these things as we walked through the desert. There seemed to be a lot of people going on the same trip we were, and my friends Mordecai and Eli were coming along, too. Eli would surely bring his big ball for us to kick and throw. Now I would have friends to play with along the way.

It took four days to get to Bethlehem. Mordi, Eli and I had fun running ahead of the camels and playing in the sand and with our toys. We also had