Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Help (02/20/06)
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TITLE: Granpa Remembers | Previous Challenge Entry
By Patrick Verbeten
02/26/06 -
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“Were you scared, Grandpa?”
“Yes, and yet in a strange way, No. You see, it was God that got us into that mess, and, if anyone could get us out, it would have to be God. I was bound up - we were bound up - tightly, so tightly that our arms and legs bled from rope burns. Pain has a funny way of changing the way you think. I had to think about just how strongly I believed in the God of our fathers. Was I zealous enough to die for the faith?”
“Well, you lived Gramps, does that mean you did not?”
“Quite the contrary. That day I learned that my faith was not in vain. The God we have served - well… since the beginning - is worthy of our trust. I should have died, and yet I didn’t. God showed His mercy that day.”
“You make it sound like it was easy.”
“Trust me, it wasn’t easy going through it. Everyone was yelling at us. You’ve not met peer pressure like we felt that day. It would have been so much easier to “go along, to get along” as you children say today. Who would have known if we joined the others just one time…? God would have, that’s who. And, at least I had my few friends to keep me strong. Make sure you have good friends around you. They will help you stay strong in your days of trial.”
“Tell us about your friends.”
“What can I say? Like me, they too were in positions of authority, not that that mattered when our day of testing came. You see we were set up. They couldn’t destroy us personally, but just maybe if they could get between our God and us, then they could regain the power they so longed for. But like me, my friends were convinced that they could trust God. And trust they did.
“So now we’re back to that place where I started. Tied up with people surrounding us on all sides, jeering at us. They threw us into that inferno of death. We expected it would feel like the very flames of Hades in there, but somehow it did not. And it gets better. Not only did we not feel the pain they had promised us, but also inside our so-called dungeon, we encountered One like none have seen before. He was comfort. His words encouraged us. And strangely, I felt that I understood how Adam felt when he met God in the cool of the day before he left the Garden.”
“So then what happened?”
“What could happen? Eventually they saw their game of torture was futile and they let us out. Not only that, they chose that day to join us in believing in the only God that is real! In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined that would happen.”
“Speaking of dreams, Dad, that’s enough of your stories for one night. The children need to get some sleep.”
“These aren’t stories, dear. They are truth.”
I whispered a prayer as I tucked each grandchild into bed, “LORD, should they too face a test, be their help in times of trial. Amen.”
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