Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: PHOTOS and/or SOUVENIR(S) (vacation) (07/16/15)
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TITLE: Twists and Turns | Previous Challenge Entry
By D. Michael Newell
07/20/15 -
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While living in England, we took a mini holiday (mini vacation), which is common among the Brits. This was our last day, and we had spent the night in a B&B. After breakfast, we started home and did a little more sightseeing along the way.
One thing I had wanted to see was the Chesterfield Cathedral. I’d heard many stories about the steeple and decided I wanted to see it in person.
I have never seen anything like it. I had taken pictures of bell towers and steeples all my life. Before this, the one I liked the most was of the Bell Tower in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Back then, cameras used film, and I could only afford black and white film. It was too expensive for my twelve-year old budget to process color photographs. I have grown older and am now digitized.
We drove over to the Cathedral. It was a sight to behold. I started going around the building looking for the best place to take my picture. Then, I found the perfect place with a good view of this unusual tower. The partially clouded blue sky provided a stunning background. Framed by trees on both sides, the tower showcased its twisted steeple.
Many people have tried to explain the twists in the steeple. One such tale professes that demons lived in the steeple and the tower twisted in protest. The story I choose to believe seems to make the most sense to me. The builders did not let the green oak dry before using it. After the wood was in place, the sun dried the excess moisture, which caused its twists and turns. It twisted, all because someone got in a hurry.
This twisted steeple represents my life. Pressures and mistakes in my life have impacted the direction my life twisted. God didn’t intend that path, but He allowed me to take it, and eventually molded it into something beautiful.
Sometimes clouds provide me with shade, but other times they bring a storm into my life to help me grow stronger. Sometimes they bring spiritual refreshment, and that helps me serve Him better.
The twist in the steeple is caused by the builders taking green oak and not letting it dry before construction. It does not pay for me to get in a hurry. I sometimes try to run ahead of God. I’m glad he loves me. He slows me down and uses me in spite of this.
The trees that frame the steeple give added color and texture to my life.
Because the steeple is also leaning, expensive and intensive study is being done on how to make it upright or at least to keep it from leaning further. Likewise, God is still working on me to keep me pointing others to Jesus. Yes, He’s still working on me.
The picture came out as lovely as I had hoped it would; it even won second place in a photo contest. Today it hangs in my office where I have an unobstructed view of God’s glory.
May my life be as beautiful to God as this picture is to me.
So is this a picture, a souvenir or a lesson in life? Just maybe, “all of the above”.
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God bless~
photograph.
Red Ink: I also thought your story should have begun with the tower. I also noticed that you had a tendency to switch from the past tense (beginning) to the present tense (end) and vice versa.
God bless~