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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: STORM (10/05/17)
“And great was the fall of it.” Pastor Glen shut the book and glanced up at the room full of teenagers. Only a few were paying attention to his ramblings while most of them were occupied with their phones.

'Probably posting to their social media accounts about how boring this retreat is,' thought Pastor Glen. 'But how do I inspire them? Lord, grant me wisdom. Thank you!'

The sixty-year old pastor thought long and hard that night about his dilemma. It seemed like this new generation of young ones just did not know how the Bible related to their lives. Most of them could quote Scripture at their convenience but when pressed for the verse they stammered as if their minds were blank.

It was during his Morning Prayer time that he was hit with an idea. He mulled over it while sudsing up in the shower and over breakfast wrote a brief outline for his talk that afternoon.

“Anyone ever heard of Ms. Jolie?” As expected all the hands in the room were raised. “Well, in my day there was a Hollywood star bigger than she is. Everyone knew about her and she was always in the newspapers. We didn’t have social media accounts to follow back then and the newspapers and radio always painted her in a positive light. It seemed like she could do nothing wrong and her life was perfect. She had the husband and four children and everyone was happy for all the photos. The only time we saw a frown was when her character in the most recent movie required one.”

“Sounds like a dream,” Olivia whispered to her friend Joyce.

“I heard that Olivia, and no it was not a dream. It was a nightmare.”

By now Pastor Glen had everyone’s rapt attention squarely focused on him as he expounded on the saga of the rise and fall of one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses. He skipped quite a few details as he zeroed in on his point.

“For most of the world, the scandal came out of nowhere. How could someone who had such a good image on the screen be who the newspapers were saying she was? An adulteress? Really? Wild sex parties at her mansion? What about her four children?” He paused for effect as the impact of his words fell on the young audience.

“Unfortunately for her, it was all true. Every last tidbit of gossip. Her husband left and took the children. She served time in jail for various misdemeanors and eventually lost all her money as well as her infamous mansion. She had nothing left to live for.”

“Does this have a happy ending Pastor Glen?” Ms. Rachel asked. At thirty-nine she was just as absorbed in the story as her charges and loved fairy-tale endings.

“She did have the gospel shared with her while in rehab one last time and made that life-changing decision, if that’s what you mean.”

“Yes. I guess so. I was just wondering if she ever made a comeback.”

“No. Not as far as I know. I think everyone would know if she did. Now, should I share the point of my story?”

A resounding “Yes” greeted him in response.

“Yesterday I shared about the wise man and the foolish man and their respective houses from Matthew 7. The wise man survived the storms of life because he built his house on faith in God. Nothing could topple him. The foolish man, on the other hand, his house (i.e. his life) fell dramatically and it probably did not take much of a storm to do it either. What was his foundation? Sand. Nothing substantial.”

“But what does that have to do with Ms. ? Did you say her name?”

“No, I did not Michael. I did that on purpose. She could be any one of us if we don’t build our lives on THE ROCK. From the outside everyone can pretend like nothing is wrong and have smiles pasted on their faces for their profile picture. But when the storms of life come they will reveal the foundation. Those built on nothing will fall. And great will be their fall. No one is immune to storms but only those who have a solid foundation (or strong faith) will survive. Remember, foolish survivors don’t exist no matter how many smiling selfies they posted.”

Pastor Glen smiled as he finished. He had connected with the teenagers after all.
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This article has been read 379 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Jenny Fulton 
10/13/17
Great job on presenting the lesson in an engaging and interesting way.
Larry Whittington
10/16/17
Yes, all Christians, young and old, need to be aware of the possibility of being deceived and failing to be faithful to Jesus till death. I don't know who needs to be warned the most.

Keep writing your story form of articles.
Rebecca Bithyah
10/17/17
I wanted to know who the actress was!!! I like how you use the profile pictures metaphor. For some red ink -
"Resounding yes" is a cliche. Perhaps you could have made the scene more real by describing how the room actually sounded in that moment. What did the teenagers actually say? This would have allowed the reader to enter the scene more fully. Otherwise, I enjoyed experiencing Pastor Glen's triumph.