Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Click (04/18/13)
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TITLE: Just a Click Away | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lisa Johnson
04/25/13 -
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It seemed like only yesterday that Dani's life had been normal. School. . . parties with her friends. . . church with her family. . . Well, if she had to be honest, she'd never much cared for church. She'd only gone because her parents made her go. They'd really been into the whole Jesus thing, but organized religion. . . let's just say it had never clicked with her.
Now there was no church to go to. No parents, either.
Dani had not been home when the “Re-education Police” came to her house. When she got there, the house was empty. The only sound she heard was the click-click of the second hand marching around the clock. Her heels clicking on the hard wood floors echoed through the empty house.
The thought occurred to her that the RP's might come back. Then another thought occurred to her.
“I don't want to die for something I don't even believe in.”
She threw some belongings into her backpack and quickly left the house.
*****
Dani had gotten used to living in the shadows, but she had not quite gotten used to the constant fear. She never knew who was safe to talk to, and she never knew when the RP's would show up.
She'd found a pretty safe place to hide. It was ironic, since she'd never really cared for religion, but she figured that the last place anyone would look for her would be inside an old, boarded up church. Ironic, too, was the fact that she had grabbed her mother's Bible, when she left her home. She'd never intended to read it, but holding it seemed to give her some sort of comfort.
Nights were long and restless. Sometimes, she would hear gunshots in the distance. Street talk was that some people resisted re-education, and that the RP's had firing squads for those who would not turn.
Dani wondered if that had been her parents' fate. They'd always said that they would die before they would deny Jesus. She had never understood their conviction. It troubled her that she had never believed in anything that passionately.
*****
Dani did not know how long she had been asleep. She woke with a start. . . the inside of the church shadowy and still. She thought she heard the click of a door latch. She held her breath in fear, hoping whoever was there would move on without finding her.
“Please, God, help me,” she thought.
Out of the shadows stepped the figure of a man. She was well hidden, but he walked right up to her hiding place. She was shocked when he spoke.
“Dani. . .”
For a moment, that seemed like an eternity, Dani was speechless.
“Who are you. . . how did you find me here. . . how do you know my name?”
“I was sent to tell you that God loves you, Dani. Give me your mother's Bible.”
Dumbstruck, Dani produced the Bible from her backpack and gave it to the man.
Cross-legged on the floor, the man opened the Bible and began to read. Familiar passages. . . ones Dani had heard before, but this man made them come alive.
“For all have sinned. . .”
“For God so loved the world...”
“Jesus said, ' I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. . .”
“Whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. . .”
“I want to believe. . . but I'm scared," Dani whispered.
“God has not given you a spirit of fear," said the man, rebuking Satan in the Name of Jesus.
Something clicked inside Dani.
“I don't want to be afraid anymore," Dani said. “I want to believe in Jesus, even if it means dying for Him.”
Dani bowed her head, praying to ask Jesus to come into her heart.
The man stood up.
“Heaven is just a click away.”
He disappeared before her eyes.
Starving spiritually, Dani devoured page after page of the Bible. She wished she had given her life to Jesus sooner. . . that she could tell her parents she was a Christian.
Suddenly, the doors of the church flew open with a crash. RP's swarmed in like angry bees. Dani faced them without fear.
Snatching the Bible, the leader demanded an explanation.
“I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'll die before I'll ever deny Him.”
All around her, rifle chambers clicked.
*****
Scripture References:
Romans 3: 23
John 3: 16
John 14: 6
Acts 16:31
2 Timothy 1: 7
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