Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: PROTECT (04/16/20)
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TITLE: The Shadow of the Cross | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lori Othouse
04/23/20 -
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I stumbled and clawed my way up the hill, looking for some kind of help, some kind of relief. It started to rain and I slipped on the wet ground, the rocks bruising and cutting into my weakened muscles. My hope was all but gone.
My steps became a crawl. Thunder crashed overhead as the lightning became more intense. I was terrified, but completely exposed and unable to protect myself in any way. Even if I could, should I?
I deserved it. I deserved it all.
See, this burden was self-inflicted. I chose it. I willingly picked it up and held the ugly, offensive, putrid thing close to my heart. Then, when I saw it for what it really was, it was too late. I couldn’t get rid of it. Attached to me like a boil, it grew and grew, heavier and heavier, until it nearly strangled me.
So, here I was. Foolishly trying to run from something that was a part of me. I ran because I didn’t know what else to do. But how do you run from yourself? I looked up into the raging sky, tears mingling with the rain, crying out for help that I wasn't even sure was there.
That’s when I first felt it. It was a rumbling, but not like the thunder. This seemed to come from deep in the earth. It was far away, but I could still feel its immense power.
There it was again, stronger.
I wanted to run again, but how do you escape from the earth and the sky? It came in waves, over and over again, stronger each time. It must be an earthquake, but unlike nothing I had ever known.
I crouched down to the ground, trembling. It was a terrifying way to end – the pain of my body and the guilt of my heart culminating in one final showdown to take me out. I blinked upward one last time to see an intense streak of lightning, as if in slow motion, streaking its way toward me. This was it.
Bracing myself and squeezing my eyes shut, I felt the earth roar as the lightning pierced through my eyelids. I was tossed and turned in a shaking that left me flat on the ground, face down in the dirt. And then….silence.
I blinked, trying to look around, afraid to move. The storm had stopped, but there was still a darkness of sorts. Trying to get up, I realized I wasn’t hurting anymore and, wait, what happened? I felt my back where the burden had been attached…it was gone.
Scrambling up, I saw something that hadn’t been there before. A structure of some kind. It was strong and tall and -
It was a cross. And I stood, protected, in its shadow.
It was then that I noticed the storm still raging around me. It hadn’t stopped, but it couldn’t touch me anymore.
The tears flowed as I leaned hard on its rough, rugged, blood-stained post. He did it for me. Reaching down to hold me at my worst. Saving me when I couldn’t save myself. Protecting me from myself. It was a love I had never known and never wanted to leave. And I knew, at that moment, I never would.
I was safe.
I was protected.
I was His.
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