Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Blog (10/20/11)
-
TITLE: A Safe Place | Previous Challenge Entry
By Hiram Claudio
11/02/11 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“11 Dusty Place, suite #7. Yep, this is it.”
He’d been struggling in his faith, with his daily connection to the Lord. Doing church type things was okay. But the relationship part, that was hard for him. So a friend recommended a group he could attend that might help.
He stared at the door. All that appeared on it was a sign that read … ‘B.L.O.G.’
He really began to wonder about all this. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he knocked. A small rectangular opening right above the door sign slid open quickly. A pair of eyes looked out and then fixed on him directly. He heard a man’s voice.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, my name is Tony. Bill sent me … to get some help with my faith.”
“Did Bill tell you the password?”
“Oh yeah.” Thinking to himself for a moment, he then said, “I’m here because I need to ‘blog’ more.”
The opening in the door slid closed again. He heard the lock turn and the door opened. A tall middle aged man stood there smiling.
“Welcome Tony. My name is Steve. Let me welcome you to B.L.O.G.”
“Thanks. I assume the word stands for something?”
“It does. It stands for Believers Leaning On God. We are a group that gives Christians a place to come and express their individual fears and concerns … in a place that is safe. They also can come and just share their hopes for their family or for life in general.”
“I see. Why all the James Bond type mystery?”
“Well, in theory, a blog on the Internet is a place where a person can express themselves as an individual. Where you can be you. It’s sort of like a diary except that diaries are private and hidden and blogs are … on the Internet. They are places where people can express ideas and tend to be places where they work thoughts out.”
“I understand. So how does that relate here?”
“Unfortunately, many Christians feel uncomfortable working ideas out in their various church circles. We’ve people here that have been criticized for what we simply call unfinished ideas or ones that are still works in progress. It seems the church tends to like only fully developed and finished ideas that line up with scripture or church doctrine.”
“I see.”
“Now that clearly is our goal. But what about the journey getting there? We find many people need places to work the ideas out. This can, at times, mean expressing an idea that is more than just a little off. But how can you work past the off ideas if you never have the support to work through them. And do so in a loving and caring environment?”
“I’m starting to see why Bill said this place was special. But why all the secrecy?”
“We want to give Christians a safe place to … think out loud. We do help them stay focused on right thinking. And we are fully committed to a clear right and wrong. We just believe that the journey there needs to be one on which people feel some sense of safety.”
“What kinds of things do people work out here?”
“You name, we talk about it! From marriage and divorce to fidelity to sexuality to child rearing issues. It’s all here. The Bible says the heart is capable of all kinds of strange thoughts and ideas. We feel the best way to root them out is to work them out rather than trying to pretend they aren’t there. In the end, we always steer people towards a solid, bible based, approach to life.”
“I get it. And this gives the folks the ability to get there without the reputation of having once voiced ideas that were a little … off.”
“Exactly!”
“B.L.O.G., huh?”
“Yep! B.L.O.G. Because the only way to get through the many voices that come into our hearts and minds today is to lean on God completely. And sometimes it’s just nice to have help getting there.”
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.
You had a great start that developed an air of mystery right away. I was eager to keep reading.
My only suggestion would be about the numbers. Technically, you're not suppose to use numbers at the beginning of a sentence and write out numbers less than ten. Because he was reading off a sheet of paper, you could have fixed that by having the address in italics.
You did a clear concise job of communicating your message and point of the story.
This is very minor, but I'd suggest when writing out the name of the group the first time that you not use the periods, and just use BLOG. To me, the periods mean they are pronouncing the letters individually. But that could just be me.
I loved the ending and the connection between the group and online blogs.
I loved the entire premise, and I enjoyed the powerful message it evoked.
Beautifully written and great job of staying on topic in a unique and creative way.
Keep on writing- good job!
God Bless you~