Just You and Me

Jesus calls each of us by name and gives us our own path , we don't need to compare ourselves to others, because his love for us is completely personal.

Tonight's story is inspired by John 21:20-25, the Gospel reading for May 23, 2026.

About Baa Baa Bible: Bible-inspired bedtime stories for children ages 3-10. In every story, Jesus is the gentle Good Shepherd, teaching us the lessons of today's Bible reading. All the other characters are lambs and sheep, a warm reminder that we are all part of his flock. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening, little lambs. Tonight's story is called Just You and Me, inspired by the Gospel of John 2120 25. Tonight, the Bible teaches us that we never have to measure ourselves against anyone else. Jesus calls each of us by name and gives us our very own path to walk, because his love for us is personal, meant just for you. So sit with the lambs by the warm gray ashes of the morning fire, where Pebble is about to learn that what matters most is simply you and me. The morning fire had burned down to soft gray ash, and the lake shore was warm and still. Pebble was walking, not quickly, just slowly along the water's edge, the wet sand cooled beneath his hooves. Jesus was walking just ahead of him, and the light on the lake was gold and flat and beautiful, and everything felt different, lighter, like putting down a heavy rock you had been carrying for a long time. Yesterday by that same lake, Jesus had asked Pebble three questions, and Pebble had answered three times, and something old and heavy had finally, finally lifted. Now Jesus had said two words that Pebble was still turning over in his heart like a smooth stone. Follow me. He was trying to do exactly that. But then Pebble glanced back. He couldn't help it, just a quick look, because coming along the path behind them, a little way back, quiet and steady was Jonah. Jonah was a gentle lamb with cream colored wool and a way of walking that looked like he was never in a hurry and never lost all at once. Pebble liked Jonah, but right now watching him, Pebble felt something twist a little in his chest. Jonah always seemed so calm, so sure of where he was going. Pebble looked back at Jesus, then back at Jonah, then back at Jesus again. Lord, he said, what about him? Jesus stopped walking. He turned around, and when he looked at Pebble, there was a smile on his face that was warm right down to the edges. Pebble, he said gently, what is that to you? Pebble blinked. You follow me, Jesus said. Pebble stood very still. The water lapped quietly at the shore. A small bird passed overhead, going somewhere it knew about. He thought he understood, but he wanted to be sure. You mean Jonah has his own path? Jonah's path is between Jonah and me, Jesus said simply. Your path is between you and me. He tilted his head, and your path is just as good, just as known, just as loved. Pebble looked down at his hooves in the sand. He hadn't even realized he had been comparing. It had happened so fast, one quick glance sideways, and his whole heart had scooted off course. Does that happen to everyone? he asked. The sideways look? Yes, Jesus said, and his voice was so kind that Pebble almost laughed. All the time, to every lamb I have ever walked with. One second you are following me, and then you notice the lamb next to you, and wonder if their path looks better or easier or more special. He crouched down so they were eye to eye. But Pebble, when you are looking sideways, you cannot see where you are going. Later, back at the camp, Pebble told the others. Biskit flopped down in the grass beside Clover, her golden brown tuft sticking straight up and quivering with interest. He said that, she said. Just your path is yours? Your path is yours, Pebble said. Clover adjusted her blue scarf and was quiet for a moment, the little clover sprig turning slowly behind her left ear the way it did when she was thinking. I do that too, she said quietly. I look at Biskit sometimes, and she seems so easy, so ready, and I think why am I always the one who worries? Biskit looked at her, surprised. I look at you, she said, and I think Clover always knows how to ask the right questions. I just bounce around and say the first thing that comes into my head. They stared at each other. Old Woolly, who had been sitting nearby with his eyes half closed, and his silver sides rising and falling slowly, made the low sound in his throat that meant something was about to be worth hearing. The shepherd does not make two lambs the same, he said, in his voice like a fire you could sit beside, because the meadow needs all of them, one who bounces, one who questions, one who is steady, one who is brave. He opened one eye. Every path is different, every path is personal, and every path leads to the same shepherd. Pebble thought about that for a long time. That evening, when the stars were beginning to come out one by one, Jesus sat with them around the last of the fire and told them something that none of them forgot. If you wrote down every single thing I have ever done, he said, and his eyes were bright and full of something wonderful. Every kindness, every moment, every lamb I have ever loved, the whole world could not hold all the books you would need. Biscuit's tuft trembled. The whole world? she whispered. Every corner of it, Jesus said. Filled with books. Clover pressed her face into her blue scarf, and her eyes went soft and wide. The whole world and still not enough. That was how much there was to know about Jesus. That was how much love he had carried for all of them, for all the lambs who had ever come, for all the ones still on their way. And every single one of them, Pebble thought, had their own path, their own walk, their own follow me, spoken just to them. He looked up at the stars, then he stopped looking sideways, and he followed. Dear Jesus, thank you for giving me my very own path. Help me look at you instead of sideways at others. Remind me that you love me just for being me. Amen. Good night, little lamb. God loves you so much. Sweet dreams.