Rights, Wrongs and Reasons

At Whit's End, Whit and Connie are tangled up in Whit's favorite guessing game, Rights, Wrongs and Reasons - was it the right thing or the wrong thing, and was it done for the right reason or the wrong one? When Jenny Roberts taps her way to the counter, orders a lemonade, and asks to play, the scenarios start flying. A girl fakes the flu to skip church and watch television...easy, wrong-wrong. But what about covering for a classmate who broke a window, or telling the truth just to get someone in trouble? Then Whit pulls out the puzzler that stumped Connie, a true story from the Bible: King David hauls the Ark of the Covenant home on a brand-new cart, the oxen stumble, and Uzzah is struck dead just for reaching out to steady it. Jenny and Connie learn that God had said not to touch the ark - and never wanted it on a cart at all - and that good intentions aren't enough, because God cares about how we do things, not just why.

Found on A Place of Wonder Album 15 · 13 episodes

The run See every episode

1 of 2 0211 The Mortal Coil When Whit programs an Imagination Station adventure meant to show that death holds no fear for a Christian, his creation proves far more powerful than anyone at Whit's End is prepared for.

2 of 2 0212 The Mortal Coil When a heart attack leaves Whit hanging between life and death, the people who love him must reckon with what he built, what he believed, and who else may have paid the price for it.

0213 Best Intentions When doctor-ordered rest turns into house arrest, Whit's overzealous caretakers face a determined old friend, a bumbling private eye, and a patient with escape on his mind.

0214 The Living Nativity When Odyssey's beloved Nativity scene is destroyed, Whit and the kids decide to become the Christmas story themselves - until an unexpected complaint threatens to shut them down.

0215 Caroling, Caroling On a snowy Christmas Eve in Odyssey, Whit takes Connie and the kids on an old-fashioned sleigh ride of caroling that turns each stop into a celebration of the first Christmas.

0216 Like Father, Like Son When the soccer team's fundraiser cash box vanishes, a boy whose father is in prison must fight to prove his innocence to a town - and a mother - all too ready to believe the worst.

0217 Rights, Wrongs and Reasons A blind girl's visit to Whit's End turns into a lively game of sorting right and wrong actions from the reasons behind them - until one biblical story proves harder to judge than anyone expected.

0218 A Class Act A financially desperate theater owner agrees to teach an acting class for the people of Odyssey, but an anonymous benefactor's money forces him to choose between flattery and honesty.

0219 Treasures of the Heart When a dinner-table question about what each family member would save from a fire sends George digging through the attic, the Barclays confront what they truly treasure - while Jimmy schemes to buy the most expensive sneakers in Odyssey.

0220 This is Chad Pearson? When a small-town errand accidentally wins Connie a day with TV's hottest teen heartthrob - a star she's never even watched - the celebrity meets the one fan who refuses to be impressed.

0221 It Is Well When a familiar hymn catches Lucy's ear at Whit's End, Whit reveals the astonishing true story of loss and faith behind its words.

0222 The Jesus Cloth When a scrap of cloth rumored to be from the robe of Jesus arrives at Whit's End, one whispered secret turns a quiet town's curiosity into a frenzy Whit can't contain.

0223 Real Time Trapped in a stalled elevator with a ticking clock, Whit and shock jock Bryan Dern must confront a bomber's revenge - and each other's beliefs - live on the air.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 7 more roles

7 supporting roles

King David Phil Lollar Jenny Roberts Natalie Babbitt Abinadab Hal Smith Israelite #1 Hal Smith Israelite #2 Actor Unknown Heather (b) Erin Love Sherry Janan Assaf

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Paul McCusker Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 4 min

At Whit's End, Connie Kendall and John Whittaker are deep in a friendly argument. They are playing a guessing game Whit invented called Rights, Wrongs and Reasons, and the scenario on the table has Connie thoroughly confused. Before Whit can untangle it for her, Jenny Roberts comes tapping her way to the counter with her cane. Jenny is blind, and the Connellsville School for the Blind has been teaching her to do things for herself; she finds the counter and the stool on her own, orders a glass of Whit's world-famous lemonade, and asks to learn the game.

Whit and Connie explain. Rights and wrongs are the things people do, and reasons are the why behind them, so every scenario lands in one of four categories: the right thing for the right reason, the right thing for the wrong reason, the wrong thing for the right reason, or the wrong thing for the wrong reason. Giving money to church because it is what God wants, Whit tells Jenny, is a right-right.

Connie starts Jenny off with an easy one about a girl named Heather. One Sunday morning, Heather's best friend Sherry calls to say a television interview with a star they both adore is airing at nine o'clock - exactly when Heather has to be in church. So Heather suddenly comes down with a very convenient flu, complete with staged sneezes and burning eyes, and the moment her family leaves for church she is on the phone crowing to Sherry. Jenny nails it at once: faking sick to skip church is the wrong thing, and doing it to watch television is the wrong reason. Wrong-wrong.

The next scenarios are trickier. Heather, terrified a bad math grade will get her thrown off the volleyball team, pressures Sherry into skipping Spanish class to help her study, reminding her of past favors until she caves. Jenny calls it another wrong-wrong, but Whit points out the scenario is really about Sherry, who did a wrong thing for a right reason - helping a friend. Then again, Connie argues, Sherry mostly gave in to pressure, which might make it wrong-wrong after all. Next the two girls are in the principal's office over a broken locker room window. Sherry claims she saw nothing, covering for the new girl who broke it, while Heather tells the truth about what happened - and afterward admits she told only because she dislikes the girl and wanted her in trouble. Jenny sorts it out: Sherry did wrong for a right reason, and Heather did the right thing for a wrong reason - until Jenny remembers that Heather goaded the girl into bouncing the basketball in the first place, hoping for exactly this. Wrong-wrong again.

At last Whit shares the scenario that had Connie so muddled, a true story from 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13. King David, newly crowned over all Israel after driving out the Philistines, declares his heart's desire: to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. The people go with him to the house of Abinadab, where the ark has rested. Abinadab protests that they have no sacred rods to carry it and that the law forbids a cart, but David has brought a brand-new cart made by the finest craftsmen in the land, and onto the cart it goes. As all Israel celebrates with songs and trumpets, the oxen stumble, and Abinadab's son Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark. God's anger burns against him, and Uzzah dies on the spot.

Connie cannot get past it. Uzzah was protecting Israel's most important worship object from falling in the mud - how can that be wrong? Jenny sees the harder truth: if Uzzah did the right thing, then God was wrong. Whit explains that God had said not to touch the ark, so Uzzah disobeyed even though his intentions were good. And there is a second wrong hiding in the story that both girls missed: the ark was never supposed to be on a cart at all. God had appointed the Levites to carry it on poles, and David and Israel did wrong from the beginning by trying to improve on God's design. One wrong led to another. Good intentions, Whit says, are not enough, because God is not only interested in results but in how we arrive at them. Do what God wants simply because He wants it, and you will be right-right every time.

Jenny is hooked and offers a scenario of her own, about two brothers named Cain and Abel. "Wrong, wrong," Whit and Connie answer together - it seems they have already played that one.