The Cranberry Village
- Kelly Venturo
- Oct 11
- 7 min read
Chapter 4: The secret to courage; the story of Fenton Frog
Fenton Frog is a mailman – or a mail-frog I should say. His job every day is to sort out all the letters and packages and things that come to the Cranberry Village and deliver them to the right houses. Fenton loves his job. He enjoys pedaling his bike down all the shady dirt paths of the village with his mail bag slung over his shoulder. He enjoys the singing of the birds and the breeze on his face.
Fenton lives on a lily pad on the Cranberry Pond. During the day, he keeps it moored to a reed on the bank, but every night he lets it loose to drift to the middle of the pond. Then he lies on his back, gazing up at the stars until the gently rocking water lulls him to sleep.
Fenton is a friendly frog. He smiles and waves and says “Hello” to everyone he passes as he pedals down the street. He enjoys talking to everyone he meets.
But one day, Fenton Frog woke up and felt sad. He thought about all the friends he had made in the village as he made his rounds with his mail bag. He thought about all the people he had ever talked to. He thought about all the new friends he would meet today. He felt sad because he had a feeling he was missing something, that there was something extremely important he ought to have said or done, but that he hadn’t said or done it. That there was something he must do differently today with the new friends he talked to.
Fenton had a pretty good guess as to what that something was. You see, Fenton Frog had a very special secret. And it was wonderful secret. You already know what that secret was from reading chapter 1. Fenton’s wonderful secret was that he knew God would never punish him for his sin. This was because Jesus had already been punished for him. Fenton Frog trusted in Jesus to rescue him from God’s anger and to clean away his sin.
Fenton Frog wanted other people to trust in Jesus and be rescued from God’s punishment. He thought that everyone in the world should have this as their own special secret. But how would they ever know? Who would tell them?
Fenton did not know the answer to this question. But one thing he did know—he was not the one to tell them. He couldn’t. He was too shy to share his special secret with everybody. He didn’t know the right words to say. He was not a preacher or a missionary—he was only an ordinary mail-frog. And besides, what would all his friends think of him if he told them his secret? They might think he was silly. They might laugh at him.
And yet Fenton was sad. He wanted everyone to know about his secret somehow. He did not want anyone to have to go to Hell.
So Fenton did everything he could to help others share his secret, for he knew he could never share it himself. He sent money to missionaries and pastors. He prayed for all the people he knew.
But Fenton Frog could not push down the feeling that what he was doing was not enough. There were people he talked to every day who would never hear the wonderful secret unless he told them. But he couldn’t tell them. He was too afraid.
One day, Fenton Frog found a letter in his bag addressed to Mrs. Cranberry, and he was glad. Mrs. Cranberry lived by the sparkling cranberry bog in a remote part of the island. Fenton loved pedaling down the beautiful path to the bog, and he also loved talking to Mrs. Cranberry, for she was his friend, and she always came out to say hi when he dropped off her mail.
Fenton Frog sailed happily through the trees on his bike. He sang with the birds and smelled the nice earthy smell of the quiet forest and felt the warm sunshine on his skin. When he reached the cranberry bog, he stopped to gaze at the glittering jewels resting in the water. He breathed in deeply the warm tart smell of the berries and sighed.
“What a wonderful place,” he thought to himself. “What a wonderful job I have. And what a wonderful secret too.”
But even as he thought this, he felt a twinge of sadness, because, as you know, his wonderful secret was his alone.
A kind voice suddenly broke into Fenton’s thoughts: “Why, hello, Fenton Frog!”
Fenton looked up to see an old brown rabbit coming toward him. He smiled. “Hi, Mrs. Cranberry! I have a letter here for you.”
He fished around in his bag and pulled it out. He handed it to Mrs. Cranberry.
“Thank you, Fenton,” said Mrs. Cranberry. “And I have a letter here for you too.”
Mrs. Cranberry pulled a fat letter out of her shawl and handed it to Fenton Frog. “This is for a friend of mine who lives far away on the mainland in a place called Blueberry Hill. Now Fenton, it is extremely important that this letter does not get lost, because it’s a very special letter. I’ve worked all day on it. You see, this letter contains a special secret that I have decided to share with my friend.”
Fenton Frog perked up. “You have a special secret too!?”
“Oh yes,” Mrs. Cranberry winked. “It is the secret I learned when I first discovered this island. It is the secret of the Cranberry Bog. It is the wonderful secret that Jesus came and died on the cross and was buried and came alive again to save us from God’s anger.”
“Why, that’s my secret too!” cried Fenton.
“I know it is, Fenton,” said Mrs. Cranberry, smiling. “But, you see, my friend doesn’t know about this secret. For a long time I have wanted her to know. But I was too afraid to talk about it. I was embarrassed. I didn’t want her to think I was strange.”
Fenton’s eyes grew wide. “Really!?” he exclaimed.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Cranberry. “But yesterday I came across a verse in the Bible that made me stop and think. And that verse taught me the secret to courage—to do what I know is right even when I’m afraid.”
“It did?!” Fenton cried. “What verse was that?”
The Cranberry Secret: The Cranberry Secret Mrs. Cranberry shared with Fenton Frog that day comes from John chapter 14 verse 15. In this verse, Jesus says to His followers, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
If we really love Jesus, we will obey Him. One of the commands Jesus has given us is to share the Good News about Himself to everyone in the world (Matthew 28: 18-20).
Think about a time when you received something you really, really wanted for Christmas. You wanted to tell everyone the good news, right? Now think about the best news in the world. Jesus – God as man – died to take the punishment for your sin so that you wouldn’t have to. He was buried and came alive again so that He can offer mercy to anyone who asks Him for it (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 2 Corinthians 5:21). Don’t you think everybody ought to know this?
Jesus certainly wants everyone to know this, because He wants everyone to trust in Him and live (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus commands His followers to share the Gospel with the world so that people can be rescued from death. And He commands all His followers, not just the pastors and Bible teachers.
But sharing the Gospel is really hard. Like Fenton, we are so afraid to talk to people about Jesus. We are afraid they will think we are weird or silly. We are afraid they will get angry. Or we think we can’t share the Gospel because we are not trained enough.
“I don’t know about the Bible,” we may say.
“I’m not a pastor or a missionary.”
“I’m just a kid.”
“I’ve never even been to college.”
But what Mrs. Cranberry learned in her Bible that day was that none of these things matter. The fact is, if we love Jesus, we will obey Him, and if we do not love Him, we will not obey Him. You do not have to be a pastor or go to college to share the Gospel. All you need to do is tell your friends your own special secret—what Jesus has done for you!
Fenton Frog learned an important lesson that day with Mrs. Cranberry. Now he is eager to share his secret with everyone he meets. He is still nervous talking about it with his friends. But Fenton loves Jesus more than he is afraid. Fenton is now known as the friendly mail-frog who rides around delivering mail and talking to people about Jesus. Fenton has learned the secret to courage—love for Jesus helps us obey Him even when we are afraid.
Pray today that Jesus will help you to love Him, and that He will take away your fear. He has promised to be with you forever! This is the secret to courage.
If you’re not sure how to share your secret with the world, check out this article I wrote that will give you some fun and creative ideas for spreading the Gospel even if you’re a kid—they will help you get started, and then you can think of your own ideas!
Check out Matthew 28:18-20 to read for yourself Jesus’ great command and incredible promise!
Featured artwork by Daniel Venturo. All other artwork by Joshua Venturo
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.
