Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Time (11/15/12)
-
TITLE: Andy�s Dilemma | Previous Challenge Entry
By Ken Ebright
11/20/12 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
"Pastor Andy, this is Leonard from church."
Andy took off the sheets and sat up. "Yeah, what's going on?"
"Maryanne Rodgers called; something's happened. Can you call her right away?”
Andy stood up, rubbed his eyes, and put on his bathrobe. "I have to get ready for church."
"Pastor, I know, but I’m concerned she's going to hurt herself."
Yawing pastor rummaged through the stack of mail until he found a pen. "Okay, I'll call. What's her number?"
He jotted down the number and paced back and forth while dialing it.
"Hel...lo. Aaaaah aaaah.”
"Is this Maryanne?"
"Aaaah... Aaaaaah."
"Maryanne, are you okay? This is Pastor Andy."
"Pastor…Andy. Aaaaah Aaaaah."
"What happened, Maryanne?"
Maryanne cleared her throat and coughed a few times. "My husband left me."
Pastor's eyes opened wide when he looked at the clock. "Maryanne, I feel so bad, but your but needs are important. I just ran out of time and need to hurry to get ready for church. I would like to have my wife come over and pick you up and take you out for breakfast and to church. Would that be okay?"
"That's fine."
Andy dumped the coffee in the sink. "I'd like to meet with you after church. I feel so awful that I can’t meet with you sooner. Jesus loves you and he can get you through this situation. I would like to say a quick prayer. Father, you know what the situation is. I just pray that you would give Maryanne peace and give me the wisdom when we meet to resolve the issues between her and her husband. Amen. I'll see you after second service in my office. You live at 104 fourth street right?"
"Yes."
Pastor's wife strolled into the kitchen. "My wife is right here and she will be over shortly."
"Thank you Pastor."
********
After the service, Pastor Andy and Maryanne met in his office. He sat down at his desk. "Maryann, please have a seat and tell me what happened."
Maryann tipped her head into the chest. "My sister had trouble paying her electric bill. She is not very good at managing money. I want to help her but my husband doesn't think I should do that. We argued and he walked out last night. We normally don’t fight like this."
Andy leaned back in his chair. "Have you written a check to your sister?"
"No."
Pastor sat up in his chair. "It just so happens the church has a fund set aside to help people in emergencies like this. If you email me all the pertinent facts, we’ll get in touch with her and help her out. As for your husband, you've been together for a long time. I know both of you very well. I'm surprised he'd walk out over this. I have his cell phone number and I’ll call him and talk to him."
Maryanne let out a long breath then started to smile. "Oh Pastor, thank you so much."
"Maryanne, I'm sorry I didn't have the time to talk to you earlier. There was nothing I could do, people were waiting for me. I felt so bad. I am just so sorry. I hope that spending time with my wife helped?"
Maryanne's face glowed like the sun. “Yes it did."
"The good news is in Heaven we won‘t have to worry about time. I don‘t think there‘ll be time clocks there."
Maryanne stood up and shook Andy's hand. "Pastor Andy, you're so kind and thoughtful. I am glad you finally had time to talk to me. You’ve made me feel so good."
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Just a suggestion: I would have loved to see a little more depth to your characters. A simplistic story is fine, but maybe work on creating characters that allow readers to experience more of an emotional connection to them. This would add a new level to your storytelling. Overall, well done!
God bless~