Short Stories
Ariana Knightly at 18 years old was already in training to be a prophet. She had given her heart to Jesus at age 14, and been filled with the Holy Ghost a year later. She was on fire for God and wanted all her friends to come to him too. She believed Jesus was going to rapture His people soon, so she wanted to have her friends ready, so they wouldn’t be left behind.
Picking up her cell phone, she dialed her friend Selena Jerabek. “Hello?”
“Selena, are you going to church with me this morning?” Ariana asked, with hope.
“Nope,” was the reply. “I have things to do. Dennis and I are going boating! It’s going to be a blast! You can come too. Church is boring anyway.”
“It is not, Selena! Pastor Kasson is a wonderful Preacher. I love to listen to him. He helps me a lot!” Ariana said, knowing not to be pushy with her friend. She would come when she was ready. She just hoped Selena hadn’t backslidden so much she would be left behind. She wondered how much her friend had left her first love.
Hanging up the phone, Ariana finished getting ready and headed to Church. The weather was nice at the moment. There had been a lot of tropical storms lately, and to her the strange weather patterns showed it was the last days. Things were speeding up. The glory of God was becoming stronger, and the darkness seemed to be getting darker and darker.
Driving into the parking lot in her teal green 4-dr. Chevette, Ariana saw the sign that said “Faith in Christ”. She lived in a coastal village in the south, named “Pirates Cove”. She heard it was named that because Pirates had taken over the area two hundred years ago and they had named it. Later, when the pirates were arrested, the people for some reason didn’t change the name. They thought it was romantic or something. A lot of the people made their living on shrimp boats, and fishing boats. Others went to the nearby town to get work that had 60,000 people. It wasn’t easy finding work around here. It sure paid to have God on your side in these last days. Pirates Cove had a whopping 2,000 people living here. It barely qualified for being a town, in her opinion. But, Ariana loved it here. This was where she had grown up. “Faith in Christ” usually ran around 500 people on Sunday mornings. There were some who came from the nearby town that was a 40-minute drive, just to come to their church.
Settling into her chair inside the church, she watched as Pastor Kendrick Kasson stood in front of the pulpit.
Pastor Kasson opened his Bible, and said, “Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 25 and read the first 13 verses. He started reading.
Matthew 25:1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Pastor Kasson said, “The five wise virgins were the ones who were digging into the Word and spending time with God pleasing Him. They were led of the Spirit of God daily.”
“The five foolish virgins were the ones who had the Spirit of God, but weren’t cultivating it. They mostly lived the way they wanted to, and only spent time with God, and attended His meetings when they felt like it, or were bored and there was nothing else to do. They weren’t in love with their God. Therefore, they ran out of oil, so their light had gone out.”
“When the Bridegroom returned the five wise virgins who had their lamp filled up with oil was ready to go with the Bridegroom. They were rejoicing to be found worthy to be taken.”
“When the call came, the five virgins who weren’t ready thought they could get ready in a hurry, and started trying to fill up their lamp with oil. But, alas, they had run out of time, and there wasn’t enough time to get their lamps filled up again. When they finally had a little oil, they thought they would be let in too, but it was too late, and they found they had been left behind. The Bridegroom wouldn’t accept them because they hadn’t been ready.”
After church Ariana walked out the door with the rest of the people. The weather had started getting bad. It looked like that tropical storm had turned into a hurricane and was headed their way. Ariana began to pray; as did others that the hurricane wouldn’t harm them or their loved ones, and would pass over their homes and church without causing any damage.
Then, Ariana thought of her friend Selena. “Oh God, please keep her safe. Protect her from harm, and please if she went boating, get her to safety, Lord. In Jesus name, please get her to land.” She knew if Selena had been close to God, God would be able to warn her and then she would be safe. Would Selena hear God’s warning? Could she still hear Him, and if she can hear Him, would she listen and heed the warning?? She hoped her friend would be okay.
~To Be Continued ~
Copyright © 2005 Faith in Christ – Caroline Alderson
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