When Life Began | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: When Life Began | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tammy Dovichak
08/27/09
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Jason stood confident behind a wooden podium and stared out at his congregation. This would be the first service he would lead on his own. Oddly enough, nervousness had yet to set in. He simply felt as though God had led him to this spot and would continue to lead him wherever he was destined to travel.

Six years and 3 months earlier showed a very different Jason. Tears poured from his heartbroken face as he held his premature daughters tiny hand. Alcohol had left a residual cloud around him and the nurses all held the same look of contempt when their eyes shifted in his direction. He knew what they were thinking. They were right to think it. He was a loser.

Kneeling beside the clear plastic box that held his newborn daughter he let his mind wander through his past. When exactly had he sipped that first drop of alcohol? He couldn’t remember. Sadly, he couldn’t remember the last time he had held down a job for more than a few months, either.

Shelly had kicked him out months ago. She told him that this baby meant everything to her and she wasn’t about to let his drinking ruin their lives. She lived with her parents now. He probably wouldn’t even be allowed to see his daughter… If she survived.

“I named her Aubrey.” Said a quiet voice from behind him.

He turned and saw the angel he had disappointed so many times sitting stiffly in a wheelchair. Even in a shabby blue hospital gown, she took his breath away.

“She’s beautiful.” He replied.

“The doctors say she’s having trouble breathing on her own. It’s normal for premature babies to contract infections.” Tears forced her into silence.

Jason didn’t move from his spot. For reasons he could not explain, he was terrified to let go of little Aubrey’s fingers. The two sat beside their newborn and simply watched. Hours would pass them by unnoticed.

After being told he would need to leave the area and come back during visiting hours, Jason headed down the hall toward the exit and stopped abruptly when a dark room caught his eye. A cross hung securely on the wall beside the door, telling him that this was the hospital Chapel.

Without telling his feet where to go, Jason was led into that room and to a rail at the front. He knelt down, laid his head in his hands and began to have the first of many conversations with a God he had, until this day, only heard about.

Prayers tumbled from his lips. Prayers for strength, courage, understanding… Prayers to quit drinking and to be the father his little Aubrey deserved… For his perfect little girl to survive and leave this hospital… For his wife to take him back…

If you ask Jason when he had his first taste of alcohol, he would not be able to recall. But, if you ask him when was the last… He would say six years and 3 months ago.

“Let us pray”, he began, bowing his head in front of his congregation. “Lord, today we ask only for you to lead us away from our own paths and set us firmly onto yours. In Jesus name… Amen.

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