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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Bark is Worse than His/Her Bite (10/17/13)
This was a day to visit another never before visited Church in the District to fill the Pulpit for a vacationing Pastor.

He drove his car into the parking lot and saw the welcoming committee approaching, two dogs. One of the dogs was white and one of them was black.

Sam smiled at the passing thought of the dogs and of their apparent feeling of importance, as they greeted him. It certainly was a new experience.

As Sam walked to the front door of the Church the dogs began to disagree. It appeared there was jealously between them of who should be the appointed escort to the Church door and they broke into a scuffle, growling and barking, rolling around on the ground as they disagreed.

It did not seem probable to Sam that the dogs were the Lord's appointees to the welcoming committee. But then, people sometimes behave in strange ways as well.

The incident was a bit unsettling because of an experience that happened to Sam long ago as a man in his thirties.

Sam had gone to the home of an elderly lady. She loved dogs and had a house too full of them. Miss Mary would always assure everyone that the dogs might bark, but they never bit anyone.

That may have been a true report until the day Sam rang the door bell and Miss Mary appeared at the door with her choir of barkers.

Miss Mary greeted Sam in the warmest of tones and invited him to "Come in," which he did and was immediately attacked by one of the dogs and was bitten on his knee cap.

The knee cap does not have a lot of flesh on it, so you may think that it was not a serious bite; perhaps not, as bites can be measured. No chunk of Sam's body was missing, but the follow-up procedures from a dog bite are costly and numerous and time consuming.

I am thinking that Sam would not agree that "His bark was worse than his bite." Sam would probably say that it could be a truth only if the dog had no teeth and could do no more that "gum" the object of its attack.

The old adage implies that something threatens to do what it cannot produce; a dog with teeth can produce; ask Sam, he knows.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
10/26/13
This was an interesting approach to the topic...the story held my attention and you brought the images to life.

Thank you. God bless~
Larry Whittington
10/27/13
It sounds like a real story of a real preacher. Well written.

I like the short paragraphs. These make it easier to read.
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
10/27/13
I enjoyed the part about Miss May and Sam. You did a nice job of describing that part. People can behave like animals sometimes. You did a nice job of painting a picture of the disagreeing dogs.

I admit I was a bit confused in the beginning. I couldn't quite figure out why dogs were going to church. I wonder if it was meant as an analogy that went over my head. That happens to me a lot. Remember that words like pastor, district, and church are common nouns and shouldn't be capitalized unless part of a name.

You did a nice job on what I thought was a difficult topic. You may want to check out Jan's Writing Basics on the message board. She has a thread that gives great advice for beginners and master writers alike. Keep writing. Only you can tell the story that God puts on your heart. Your story will make people stop and think. That's always a good thing. :)