Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Camping (07/11/05)
-
TITLE: The greatest treasure | Previous Challenge Entry
By Aziel Karthak
07/18/05 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
His father’s words shot through Piper like a shock. The ruckus the inmates were creating had numbed him. He walked in the undersized aisle, head bent, trying his best to pray. It appeared impossible. He was concentrating more on walking as straight as he possibly could. A little tangent from the line he treaded and he could so easily be dragged towards the bars, towards people who seemingly took pleasure in breaking every commandment of God. Within moments Piper was going to be seated four feet from the most notorious inmate of them all, Bruno. It worried him.
Images came thick and fast. Piper sweated under the trauma it bore. She was a sweet girl of eighteen, defiled and murdered in the most brutal manner. The badly swollen eyes, the bruised face, the ruptured neck…… Now he had to preach to the proud perpetrator of this malice. SAVE HIM, because God so willed.
The first meeting had been an arduous exercise. Bruno had taken a swing at him, missing by millimeters, before guards had restrained the hulking criminal. This time, he seemed to be listening more. Perhaps he thought it best to agree to whatever the young preacher had to say – Jesus dying on the cross was not a long story – and he would be relieved of the torture. Psychopaths don’t like to be preached at. They love control. It was Piper though, who was battling himself. The images of the girl swarmed him like a strong rushing tide, and his most reliable harbor – his faith – collapsed under the force. Piper walked out of the chamber and ran.
That night, Piper wept bitterly. His ineptness in carrying out the task had bruised his pride. He chided himself for being so weak; he bit his lip in disappointment till blood appeared as a symbol of his agony. He was merely a puppet to the strings of human frailty. Then, like it has happened so many times in human history – some documented, most not – and will continue to happen till the end of time, God spoke through his wondrous grace. “PIPER”, the voice inside spoke like a gale of limitless power that simply blew away the onrushing tempest. “WHY DO YOU LIMIT ME?” Piper got up, lighted a candle, and excitedly flipped through the pages of his bible. He stopped at a place he’d been before, a verse he had read a thousand times. Philippians 4:13 - I can do anything through Him who gives me strength. The fears died, the agony rested. Tomorrow, the devil was going to be put to place.
For three hours he spoke with a spirit he’d never done before. Bruno listened, quietly and conscientiously, like a child spellbound in the hypnotic pull of a fairytale. Except that he was lending ears to the greatest truth ever told. When Piper ended, Bruno broke down bitterly. The ramparts he had built around the criminal in him, wilted under the power of God’s love. Piper remembered his father’s words.
IT IS EASIER TO SIT IN THE CALM AND WORK FOR GOD. SO I TELL YOU SON, GET OUT OF THIS COMFORT; TAKE YOUR BIBLE, YOUR FAITH AND CAMP YOURSELF IN TERRITORIES WHERE THE DEVIL HAS THE STRONGEST HOLD. THAT’S WHERE YOUR GREATEST TESTS LIE. THAT’S WHERE YOUR GREATEST TREASURES HIDE.
He had a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. He extended his hand towards a born again friend, once a criminal who had murdered his sister.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Well done!
Blessings, Lynda