Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: OVERLOAD (10/06/16)
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TITLE: To Carry or Not to Carry | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
10/10/16 -
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“Ah, it’ll pass us by like they always do,” Brian, our teenage know-it-all son’s nonchalance evident, as usual.
Secretly, I agreed with him, but we had younger children than him, and I wasn’t sure about risking their safety, since they were too little to fend for themselves.
“We could go to Nana’s,” Garland piped up, “she makes us cookies and let’s us get away with things, like. . .”
My lifted questioning eyebrows stopped her in mid-sentence. My mother’s home was a safe place, surely, located two hours northwest, but I hesitated to subject us and our belongings to her small apartment. She had moved there after my father passed away, considerably downsizing at the time. Our four children, who usually visited one at a time, thought this a cozy, pleasant place because they got such individualized attention. This would definitely not be the case if we chose to land on her doorstep, en masse, like ragtag refugee groupies.
High winds had knocked out our cable TV stations and blew the air conditioning fuse box, but our retrieved trusty tiny transistor radio blared out the weather updates every 15 minutes.
“Residents are ordered to evacuate! No one should ignore the seriousness of this catastrophic event unfolding even as I speak,” Governor Williams' voice penetrating my husband’s militaristic orders to gather necessities for a scrambled departure.
Like little robots, the children obeyed their father’s instructions, gathering the “necessities” for a prolonged journey to load into our SUV. Everyone brought a stash of clothing and valued possessions and piled them side by side in the shrinking garage while I concentrated on food and first aid materials and, mother hen that I was, favorite toys, binkies, and blankies needed to pacify the littlest ones. I grabbed our family Bible and the computer zip drives that held precious memories of years of photos and important records.
“Take only necessities with you—there is no time for extras! Citizens, beware of trying to save too much,” the gymnasium loudspeaker screaming from the school’s nearby football stadium.
Thirty minutes later, we began loading boxes of toys, memorabilia and house contents into the van. We stuffed, we pulled, we pushed. We crunched, we shoved, we packed it all in until the vehicle looked like a stuffed sausage. Hubby retrieved the car-top carrier from the garage rafters and filled it with leftovers. All the while, the kids argued about what needed to be left behind, who left the dog chained up, which bicycle to take, while general mayhem ruled our shrinking garage.
“Okay, climb in, everyone, and fasten your seat——!”
Feeling much like the Old Woman in a Shoe, I wedged heads, feet, arms and legs into any available space. In between ouches and elbow-ings and yips from Buddy, Dad started up the van and inched it out into the elements.
Tree limbs were flying through the air like Tinker-toy sticks, non-boarded up window shutters were breaking off and skittering down the yards while doghouses and utility sheds blew siding pieces through the air. I shuddered as the kids’ tree house weaved between branches like a drunken houseboat. Neighbors much like us were exiting the area, their top heavy cars, trucks and vans fighting against the 60-mph wind gusts, creeping into traffic that was poking along the roads like bulging caterpillars.
The Bungee cords on the car top carrier snapped suddenly, our prized possessions tumbling out it’s cracked sides and blowing into the mayhem. The children were either crying or gasping, Dad was fighting to control the steering wheel, and I was praying for our lives. There were abandoned vehicles and unhitched trailers at the roadsides, loaded to their hilts with possessions no longer needed as the passengers were rescued from their roofs and shuttled to a nearby bunker shelter. Winds began to subside eventually as we plodded on, making it to Nana’s that evening—by God’s grace—minus unimportant luggage. . .
How many of us are loaded down by burdens of past regrets or fears for the future that God did not intend for us to carry?
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Psalm 55:22 Turn your burdens over to the LORD, and he will take care of you.
Matthew 6:31-33 So don’t ever worry by saying, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ because it is the unbelievers who are eager for all those things. Surely your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them! But first be concerned about God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well.
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