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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Lock and Key (08/21/14)
Do you remember the sheriff from Mayberry with his enormous ring of jangling keys? Jailers and janitors use keys to lock and unlock….well, almost everything. The man with the keys is the man with the answers and power. Every motel room opens with a key that’s big enough to not get lost in the recesses of a purse.


Kids wear strings around their necks with keys attached. School children going home to empty houses (because Moms and Dads are still at work) are identified by their keys. They are called Latchkey Kids. Say a special prayer for these kids who have the material benefits of affluence without the after- school cookies directly from Moms’ hands.


At least there used to be lots of keys. There are still locks on doors everywhere, but there are fewer and fewer keys. Motels and hotels provide you with a card to slide instead of a key. Sometimes the green button lights up and I can claim success. “I’m good at this card swiping,” I find myself thinking as I view the welcoming room inside. If the access box doesn’t recognize my presence or my card I feel neglected and ignored. It’s a personal affront. What I really want at this time is a good old- fashioned key.


Our family lives in a rural Midwestern community where we don’t lock our doors, neither house nor car. Our car is old enough that it doesn’t have one of those hand- held devices that alert you to your car’s location with lights and whistles and then unlocks and starts the engine to cool down or warm up the interior. I love it when you take me with you in your car. Watching your headlights blink as we hurry across the parking lot following a concert is half the fun of the evening.


I am the proud owner of four keys. It takes two keys if I want to both unlock my trunk and start my car. More often than not the trunk is not locked so I won’t be using both keys today. My other two keys get me into the church and then into the school room where I will diagram sentences and solve math equations with fourteen students.


Late Wednesday afternoon I’ll drive my car to a Bible study class with women inmates at the local county jail. There are dozens of locks but few keys here because this small jail has been updated. The fifty men and half a dozen women are locked behind section doors controlled from the communication center. “Unlock Gate 54B,” the attendant calls on his hand held radio. Those numbers seem rather high to me because this county jail has less than a dozen doors that divide off hallways. But the metal door slides open and with Bibles in hand, my friend and I enter into the first holding area.


Three more gates open and close by remote action and we are now face to face with six women. One or two seem eager to see us, some look up briefly, and another sits with her head down and her back toward us. All are dressed in uniforms of black horizontal- bar- stripes on white and bright orange crocks.


For one hour we share basic stories about Jesus. The ladies’ backgrounds are varied. We have found one baptized believer in jail who just needs to be encouraged. One young lady says she’s never read the Bible but she thinks Adam is a friend of Jesus. Two women have accepted Jesus during the Bible study lessons. Most just listen without comment.


Today, the Bible study time is over, and the deputy arrives to release us through the series of gates. I pull my car keys out of my pocket. (The jail parking lot is one place I do lock my car.) One of the inmates looks longingly at my keys and says, “I wish I had a key. A key means I have a car. It means I have a place to live. This place is locked, but I don’t have the key.”


My comment at this time should have been, “You do have a key, the only key that matters. You have the power to unlock your heart to Jesus. It’s the key of life. It’s the MAIN KEY in life.” Words of wisdom, remembered too late today, but a truth for another time.
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This article has been read 496 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Jody Day 
08/28/14
A good take on the topic. It's hard to think of what to say at the time we need it, isn't it?

I would start this pieces at "I am the proud owner of four keys." Your story gets really interesting starting there. We don't really need the upper paragraphs telling us about what kinds of keys, etc., although I love the reference to Mayberry.

Good job, keep writing!
C D Swanson 
08/29/14
An entry that bears reading again and I did! It was an interesting approach to the topic, which you nailed completely and then some.

Well done! Loved this.

God bless~
Larry Whittington
08/30/14
I enjoyed reading about the little bits about keys. At one time I had a whole ring of them.

Each little section seemed complete and the transitions seemed fitting.

This may be in your next piece about keys. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom. Peter used the keys as he preached the gospel news that those who believed that Jesus was both Lord and Christ could be baptized for the forgiveness of their sin and they would be ushered into the kingdom by being given the Holy Spirit.

You did a great job. Keep it up.