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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: DEFENSE (06/02/22)
The Key — a Monologue

WOMAN ADDRESSES AUDIENCE
Alone, defenseless. That's sometimes how I feel as a single, never-married woman. I have a SMART car which wasn't acting very smart the other day...certainly couldn't have been the owner.

I park, turn the key to remove it, and it is stuck. I pull and pull trying to extract it from the lock and gasp with dismay when I see the head of the key in my hand, leaving the shaft still in the lock. NOW what do I do?I felt bereft, defenseless. Where do I turn? And thus began the tale of the key.

And I think of a woman in the Bible who really knew what it was like to be bereft, defenseless and alone. The widow of Nain in Luke 7 whose only son died. In that culture, the husband was the protector.

After his death, her son was her protector. Now she was defenseless. I wonder what it would have been like to be the widow of Nain at her son’s funeral procession.

(PUTS ON HEADDRESS)
This funeral is tearing my heart, leaving a bleeding wound of loneliness. My son, my son, why did Jehovah take you from me? Have I not lost enough? I had to lose you too?

(LOOKS SLIGHTLY RIGHT AS IF SHE HAD SPOTTED SOMEONE) There's Jesus. “If only’s” fill my mind and heart. If only Jesus could have come and healed my son while there was still life, still hope. But it's too late....

Jesus is approaching me? What's that? What a dear man. He just told me, "Don't cry." Sweet thought but not possible. Jesus is so kind, so strong. I'll bet he is his mother's defender.

He just touched the funeral bier so the bearers would stop and said, "Young man, I say to you, get up." And...and.. my son is standing up! Oh Jehovah, I was so wrong. I was never without a protector. For you have been, you are, and will ever be my Defender, my Protector.

(TAKES OFF HEADDRESS AND ADDRESSES AUDIENCE)
God ever has, ever is and will ever be my Protecter, my Defender. And when I prayed fervently to God pouring my heart out to Him, my Protector, I once again tried to turn the shaft so I could pull it out, as I had so unsuccessfully tried so many, many times and… it came out! But then I had a shaft and a head, now what?

God put it in my mind that I had a spare key that I never used because its battery was dead. And I realized it would work in the ignition, and the shaftless head of my original key could still lock and unlock the doors. And then— I lost the spare key as it dropped off the carabiner when I wasn’t looking. One lone key somewhere in my house? Talk about a needle in a haystack.

So I went back to the puzzle of the shaft and head. Glue? Not glue? After agonizing for far too long, God put it into my head to just try pushing the two pieces back together. And they fit snugly, as if they had never separated. No glue needed!

And then I found the spare key lying on the carpet in front of my home office. I took it to the hardware store to have its battery replaced. And now instead of having to pay to have the shaft extracted from my ignition, instead of having to have my car towed, instead of paying $212 for a new key— for the price of a watch battery, I now have TWO fully functioning keys.

God is my Defender! God is my Protectir! Even when He is defending me from myself.

I realized that it is so appropriate that my lesson in trusting God as my provider revolved around a key.

If I could say what is the key
To live a life that is worry free
It’s that we need to plug into His power
And always rely on Him hour by hour

He loves us so much
All we need is His touch
To calm our nerves
Bring out our reserves

He is our defender
Anyone else a pretender

We bring our needs
Our worry and care
And rely on Him
Because He's always there

And when I get upset
And let worries pile on me
The reason is apparent
It's that I’ve misplaced the key.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Linda Lawrence 
06/09/22
The broken key incident has a worthwhile message, well-told. I think the insertion of the Nain mother's monologue detracts from the Tale of a Key. This may be a case where less is more.
Noel Mitaxa 
06/12/22
Including two testimonies is an interesting approach, but I think the widow's story could have been developed a little more to emphasise the parallels.