Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Patience (08/21/08)
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TITLE: Dance With Me | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lynne Eliason
08/27/08 -
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It was a sunny October day on the windswept Dakota prairie. Tucker Elliott was hot and tired and in a hurry. He was maneuvering a classic green John Deere tractor attached to an aging just as green hay baler and really just wanted to get the field done. The alfalfa was more than ready, so it was very necessary to get this hay crop baled and into the barn before snow would fly. Besides, he had a date that evening with a very pretty, very sweet Laurie Sutton for the Harvest Dance and had no intention of being late.
The ornery baler belched and shut down. It had been temperamental all day. Tucker banged his fist on the steering wheel and swung down from the tractor. He stomped on his appropriate John Deere cap, scratched his head and decided the only solution would be to reach in with his right hand and pull out the blasted hay that was causing the machine to jam. He did and the baler promptly fed his hand in to a point of no return. Tucker realized instantly that he was in trouble. His hand was stuck and he was not able to pull his arm out.
The pain was excruciating. Bones were crushing and the rollers of the menacing baler were searing his back and shoulder where he laid against it. This was not good. Tucker tried to calmly consider his options. There shouldn’t be anyone coming around to check on him for several hours. He wouldn’t last that long. He struggled to remain conscious, knowing the only thing left was to pray. He must not lose hope. It was just he and God in this now. “Lord, please bring someone… Give me strength…please help me…forgive me my sins…I know I’ve been selfish…I know you suffered on the cross…please God, let me live…and please Lord, God bless my family and friends…I must be patient…I must hang on for them…Please God, let me live for a greater reason.”
Time passed and couldn’t be measured. Tucker was dying. He barely heard the voice calling his name. It was his father who had felt an unexplained notion to go check on his son’s progress. Within minutes emergency assistance and neighbors arrived. His father watched helplessly as they tried frantically to remove his precious son from the unforgiving machinery. Finally, they succeeded, but the ambulance crew loaded Tucker with somber faces and raced to the nearest hospital, still many miles away.
The pursuit to the hospital was agonizing for both the ambulance crew and Tucker’s parents. His father drove, his mother said her own prayers. “Please spare my son.” She bargained with God. “We’ll give you whatever you need, Lord.” Once at the hospital, the doctor was kind but direct. He wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. He was certain about one thing - he wouldn’t be able to save Tucker’s arm. It would have to be amputated.
Those same family and friends that Tucker had been praying for gathered and waited, some as prayer warriors full of hope, some as pillars of strength. Word from the doctors became more promising. He would live. It would be without his right arm, but he would live.
In the days that followed, Tucker faced peaks and valleys. He was grateful to be alive. Surgeries and therapy became the norm at that point. The skills he had always taken for granted now must be accomplished in a new way. Eating took on new meaning. Dressing was now a task. He struggled to not become impatient and cynical, but God reminded him daily in small ways that his prayers that day from the baler had not gone unheard. There must be some reason God let him live.
That would eventually become apparent. Tucker married Laurie Sutton. She became his right arm and together they raised four bright and beautiful daughters, all teenagers at the same time. This required a great deal of patience, many talks with the Lord and a bunch of lopsided hugs. He may have missed his date that fateful October day - but he didn’t miss the dance after all.
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I think word count may have gotten you a bit, but try to show a little more. For example, "Tucker Elliott was hot and tired and in a hurry." could have been "Tucker Elliott's face dripped with sweat, as he worked feverishly to finish the job."
Great job, over all. I'm glad everything turned out okay in the end.