Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: FAITH (strong, confident belief in God) (02/26/15)
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TITLE: It Doesn't Have to Be Hard | Previous Challenge Entry
By Julene Celander
03/03/15 -
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It was at an elementary school dinner that I was attending with my family, where I saw my grade school bus driver who was also the janitor at my two classes to a room small elementary school. I had known him since first grade and he drove my bus until I graduated from the eighth grade. His name was Paul Lecouris.
As I sat talking with friends Mr Lecouris came up to our table and threw his car keys to me. I know the look on my face had to be one of astonishment. He wanted me to go pick up his son from basketball practice. We all went to high school in a town ten miles away. Still being the janitor at the elementary school, Mr Lecouris had to stay and put everything back in order at the school.
He directed me to the car and explained it was a stick shift on the column. I began protesting that I didn’t know how to drive a stick shift. His answer… “then it’s time you learned”. I was still leery but he told me what to do and explained the clutch. I got in, he shut the door and I bucked my way in reverse out of the parking lot and onto the road.
It was dark and there was snow on the road. I took a deep breath and pushed in the clutch as the engine whined when the car got up to twenty miles per hour. I gently placed the shifter in second and let out the clutch. More jerking. I waited until the engine began whining again at forty five and once again pushed in the clutch. Third gear…where did Mr Lecouris say third gear was? Must be the three on the indicator light.
The car slipped into third as I once again let out the clutch and applied the gas. This time the transition was smoother. Who knew you had to be coordinated to drive a straight transmission!? I was just glad to be in third and not have to change gears any more for another eight miles!
All the way to town I worried about what would happen when I got there. Should I take the short cut and try to get this hunk of heavy metal up the hill while shifting or go the long way around and have to deal with the stop lights? I decided the less traffic in my way was the better choice so it would be up the hill.
Whatever made Mr Lecouris think I could handle this? After all, there were male teenagers in the room who could drive a stick shift as easily as himself! Why in the world had he asked me?
I arrived at the high school and the look on Kent’s face (AKA Mr Lecouris’ son) was as priceless as mine had to be back at the elementary school. His only words were, “what are you doing here?”. All I could say was “your father sent me to get you”. I promptly scooted across the front seat and Kent got behind the wheel shaking his head.
Once we returned to the elementary school, Mr Lecouris was beaming as we came through the door. “I knew you could do it!” My response? “How did you know?”
At this point he sat me down and told me. “Because I had faith in you and in my God Jesus. I love and trust my Lord enough to have all the faith I need to know He will carry me through anything…and I do mean ANYTHING! I already had a big trust in you and knew you would do exactly as I asked you to do. I left the rest in God’s hands and by faith knew He would answer my prayers to keep you safe.”
This was my introduction to Jesus. Mr Lecouris was the reason I wanted to know more about this person called Jesus. He taught me that having faith doesn’t have to be hard if we love and trust Jesus with everything in our lives. Mr Lecouris, what a wonderful man who had the faith of Abraham! What a witness of faith to everyone.
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God bless~
I am sure this will be a top 5 article without a doubt!
God Bless!
I could relate to the small towns. They tore our high school down the year I graduated and consoladated the area.
A good way to demonstrate faith in God and faith in someone else.
One last thing was Lecouris his real name. I was totally expecting a different kind of story with this name
God Bless~
Just so you know...I know this sounds like fiction, but it truly is a real life happening.
I grew up on a farm where the doors were never locked, no gas was ever stolen from our own personal 150 gal tanks of gas and desiel, and the neighbors trusted their neighbors.
Mr Lecouris having been both my bus driver and the small school janitor (80 students in the entire rural school) was very well acquainted with all of my family and with me. We had learned to trust each other over the years.
I DID finally learn to drive a stick shift and grew up to not only drive my dad's grain trucks but also get my CDL and become a school bus driver. The first school bus I drove every day was a straight transmission.
I also learned to drive my ex husband's 1969 Chevy SS396 and could shift better than he could...but that is another story!