Introduction
Aunt Bee is a wonderful cook, except when it comes to her pickles. For some reason, her homemade pickles are simply awful. Andy and Barney try to like Aunt Bees pickles, but they just can’t. But rather than tell Aunt Bee that her pickles are bad, they pretend that they like them to save her feelings. This time, Aunt Bee has made eight quarts of the "Kerosene Cucumbers" and the boys are desperate. They stage an elaborate plan to replace Aunt Bee’s bad pickles with good ‘ol store-bought pickles. Andy and Barney think they have gotten away with it until Aunt Bee decides to enter the pickles in the county fair pickle contest…

Lesson Points
Honesty (Col. 3:9,10)

            Protective lying – to protect others

            Good intentions

            Is it ever ok?

Deception (Prov 12:20)

            Innocent beginnings

            Tangled webs

            Broken trust

Feelings (Phil. 2:3)

            Others versus your own

            Awareness

            Putting others first

Consequences (Ecc. 7:29)

            Do our schemes work?

            Results of deception

            Ended up with a mess

Discussion
Barney and Andy give the impression that they liked Aunt Bee’s pickles. Even though they are trying to protect Aunt Bee’s feelings, does their attempt to hide the truth benefit anyone involved? Is it ever ok to "bend" the truth if your intentions are good? Why or why not?

In a hilarious scene, Barney fabricates a story about a trip to explain the suitcase that contains the evidence of the pickle swap. Using Barney as an example, what do you notice about our attempts to deceive each other? How hard is it to break the cycle of deception once we begin down that road?

At first Andy isn’t concerned about Aunt Bee entering store-bought pickles in the contest. But after talking to Clara, he changes his mind. What did this example teach you about being aware of the feelings of others?

Andy and Barney devised an elaborate plan to deal with Aunt Bee’s pickles. Did their efforts achieve the result they wanted? Regardless of our intentions, when we resort to deception or trickery, what will the consequences of our actions be?

Final Thought
"Shoo fly…he’s dead" -Barney