Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Red (10/01/09)
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TITLE: The Red Wristband | Previous Challenge Entry
By Allan Morelos
10/06/09 -
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“Hello, Moses! How’s God today?” howled my brother and I as we mocked Adele of her new-found interest in religion. She just smiled back. We're flabbergasted!
It’s a few months now since these surprising changes in our sister’s life. She's changed! Unbelievable! The Adele we see now is not the same older sibling we horribly experienced months ago.
“I'll crack your #%!*!# rib and break your nose if you’d mess with me, !+%#$!!!”
Months before, that's how she'd normally respond even when unprovoked. She best expressed her seething anger in her power-kicks and no-holds-bar-punches.
Adele looks frail and harmless. You can't tell she ranks second in her Kung-Fu club. But she can literally break a bone or two. Rough and raging a fighter, she’s merciless and foul-mouthed even in friendly matches.
Since she turned “into Jesus” though, we've never seen her that angry. We also haven't seen the black wrist band on her strong left arm. A bright red one flashes instead.
“Are you in love again?” My brother teased.
“She is!” I butted in. “Is this why you're kind to us these days?” I mocked.
Mock I did. Envied her new sense of being, I have.
“What's with her now?” I pondered. I know what that black wristband meant. She wore it since she had her tender heart pulverized two years ago. A dear boyfriend of hers just left her for a non-Kung-Fu girl at school. That, I guess, was the rage in her heart. But what's the red wristband about?
Days passed and Adele has literally turned kinder, humbler, gentler and more helpful, even to me. FYI, I'm no cute-n-nice a brother. Mom can whack me any time of the day and you can be sure I deserve it. Mean and annoyingly mischievous, that's in my genes. It's why I'm overwhelmingly astonished that Adele can now tolerate and show me lots of kindness!
“What's of the red wristband?” I queried one evening when I came to her room. Even her room has this gentle touch now.
“I'm in love,” Adele smiled. “It's more that I'm loved than I've loved.”
Puzzled, I comfortably sat on her bed as my curiosity heightened. The soft incandescent light illuminated the room. Her countenance was as soothing as she tenderly looked at me. She gently read me her Bible.
“... God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.*”
She paused letting this life-changing news sink.
“What does that thing have to do with the red wristband?” I asked.
“This is love: not that we loved God,” she continued, her face gleaming. “But that he loved us....*”
“Really?”
Then Adele kindly looked straight to me. With misty eyes, she boldly said, “He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.*”
I got wonderfully confused. I sensed the presence of a gentle, loving and kind Spirit hovering over me. I felt lighter.
“For real?”
She nodded. Excitedly, she flipped the previous pages and read,
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.*”
Then, she emphasized, “...and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.*”
Tears now drenched her face. “The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all my sins,” she cried, raising her arm to show me her red wristband.
“Can His blood really...” I choked.
My heart got excited. Then, my mind raced through all the stupid things I did. With grief and joy and a mixture of faith and unbelief, I whimpered. “Will He thoroughly cleanse my heart?”
“Yes, He will,” she replied. “He sheds His blood for us. That's pure love sacrificially given to us.”
Tears of sorrow,then, joy filled my soul as we cried together in prayer. Truly, how joyous is the man whose sins are forgiven!
Got it. The red wristband's mine as well! And the joy that followed.
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*(1 John 4:8-9;1:7, NIV)
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Avoid exclamation points whenever possible, especially in narrative.
This was a good read.