Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: SLIP OF THE TONGUE (01/26/17)
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TITLE: Taming the Loose Tongue | Previous Challenge Entry
By Robert Rutaagi
02/02/17 -
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Musa, later, turned Moses, following his salvation and conversion to Christianity, is a member of my fellowship [Bible Study Fellowship (BSF)]. About two weeks ago, as we studied the book of John, Moses shared his most recent testimony and asked the fellowship to pray for him to overcome the grief he was experiencing.
As a Moslem, Moses married three wives at different times. The first wife passed away, leaving three children. The two remaining wives were constantly fighting over him and a host of other reasons – money, children, witchcraft, politics, property, friends [Moses’s] etc.
At first, Musa tried to intervene but in vain until he exhausted his physical, mental and psychological resources. He reached a point when he simply became a helpless witness of a breaking family.
At a point which appeared to mark his darkest hour of his life, he met an Anglican Reverend who preached him the gospel of Jesus. He responded well by receiving salvation. A month later, he was baptized and given a new name – Moses. 2Cor. 5:17.
His conversion into Christianity, galvanized unprecedented persecution from his immediate family, friends and members of the wider moslem community. The two wives added fuel to fire. What started as a family feud grew into a war of jihadist proportion championed especially by Moses’ second wife [Sarah] whom he decided to divorce immediately. She fled to UK until today.
The third wife, reading between and beyond marital and religious lines, put her tools down and started behaving correctly. To crown it all, she converted into Christianity and, like her husband, embraced salvation. Both the trick and divine intervention worked very well for Moses. The wars subsided and eventually stopped completely.
If Musa had never seen miracle of life, Moses saw one. The peace that descended upon him and his family was the best example. This persisted for ten years until two weeks ago when hell broke out again.
Moses was celebrating his birth day. Everything was going well and according to plan. It was, like the Jewish ending of a Sabbath, at about 6:00pm. The family prayer and thanksgiving hour, led by Moses, was proceeding.
“Lord, I thank you for the gift of life,
The gift my wife – Sarah’’ [long silence].
Olive [the wife], bolted out of the prayer room. The children, too, followed, leaving their father alone.
By the time Moses gathered enough courage to come out of the prayer room, Olive had already driven out of the compound to where no one knew. By 10am the following morning, she had not returned home or rang. There was panic. They checked with relatives, friends, the Reverend but all in vain.
Moses’ premonition guided him to try their rural home, about 50 mms away. Reaching there he saw her car parked in the compound. What a solace! That was enough. At least he knew that she was safe by asking a neighbor whom he paid not to disclose that he had come around. Not wishing to confront her but also lacking courage to face her, he decided to drive back to their city home.
Two days later, Olive returned home but unable to utter a word to Moses, except the children and only when it was absolutely necessary and in measured tones. She could not even look in the direction where Moses’ presence was suspected to be or his voice came from.
Days later, bearing it no longer, Moses gathered some courage to send her an sms message apologizing for the regrettable slip of a tongue in which he mixed her name with that of her former co-wife. James 3:6-10; Col 3:13.
Up to the time Moses shared this sad testimony with the fellowship, Olive has strictly observed her silence – the very reason for Moses’ prayer request from BSF and, through me, FaithWriters.com fraternity.
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Well written thank you
My biggest concern is with one of the criteria for the writing contest, which asks "Is the entry on topic?" The topic "slip of the tongue" generally means a minor mistake in speaking or writing, like when you mean to say "soda pop" but you say "poda sop" instead. So the judges may have rated that criteria a bit low.
Nevertheless, this is a strong and compelling entry, and I'm glad to have read it.
For me the story and the way you told it overcame any punctuation or grammar mistakes one might find. I hope it does well with the judges.
Blessings~