Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Red (10/01/09)
-
TITLE: Happy National Day | Previous Challenge Entry
By Cecile Hurst
10/03/09 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Today marked sixty years of Communist glory in China. It was very red. Everyone seemed to have one of the seemingly blood-stained-cotton flags with its mustard yellow stars crested in one corner. “I just want to be left alone today, okay?” she prayed fervently, finding it difficult to share in the Chinese joviality.
Myra Dina Whitaker stopped for some cold milk-tea with jelly pearls inside. She sipped, she chewed, and she waited for bus 78 or 41. She would wait as long as it took. She would wait for a half empty bus. Sometimes it took an hour so she sipped and chewed quite slowly.
“Happy National Day! Welcome to China!”
She pretended she hadn’t heard.
“How are you? Welcome to China!”
She turned and gave the young man a confused expression, pretending she didn’t speak English.
“Are you believe in the God?”
“Yes,” she answered testily, the red of a thousand passing flags seeping into her eyes.
“It’s very good! I wait you here.”
Myra’s impatience soared. The last thing she wanted was to make plans with this stranger. “No.”
“You are busy?”
Had she been beside herself she would have given herself a shove. “No…” she wasn’t really.
“Very good!” the smooth face beamed. “I wait you here!”
“Why?”
“I did the...” he clasped his hands in front of his nose.
“Pray?”
“Yes. I did the pray – then I wait for you here.”
Myra tried to grasp his meaning… could it be he had prayed for God to send someone to talk to him at the bus stop? “Thank you for waiting,” she said unbelieving.
He nodded rapidly, smiling. He looked to be about 20 although his face still didn’t have a hint of facial hair, save for the mole at the nape of his neck sprouting long black strands. He was probably a college student. There were a few universities nearby. He interrupted her guesses with a question: “Can the God make a rock too big for move?” His smile disappeared, he crossed his arms.
“What?” Myra moved back from the street to avoid a bit of the jostle from the crowds as they talked.
“The God can do the everything, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Can the God make a rock too big for move?”
“Can God make a rock too big for Him to move?” Myra asked back.
“Yes.”
“No,” she answered.
“So the God not all the power.”
This kid’s Chinglish was atrocious, as was the question – Myra had never thought of it before. If God is all-powerful can he create a rock too big for Him to move? It was a trick she realized – if she reiterated no, He wasn’t powerful enough to make big rocks; if she said yes, He wasn’t powerful enough to pick them up. She wasn’t a theology student, for crying out sideways! She didn’t know what to say… But a verse hovered in her heart, Mark 13:11: ‘Do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.’ [ESV]
So she opened her mouth and waited. It didn’t take long.
“God can’t because He is Love. He is therefore, so to speak, restricted by love. This is why we can feel safe with God. This is why we can trust Him. It is this fact that He can’t which makes Him better than any other god.” Myra held her breath and prayed for his comprehension.
Red flags waved. Clouds dripped. Cicadas blared. The young man’s lips parted once again into a beaming smile. And the angels in heaven started making a racket.
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.