Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Proverbs 3:5 (04/06/23)
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TITLE: Spinning Wheels | Previous Challenge Entry
By Philippa Geaney
04/13/23 -
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As pet shops go, it was okay, but I couldn't see past the hamster in the window, spinning compulsively in a wheel.
I felt it was me.
I work at the Strawberry Hills (seriously, that's the name) Police Station, where before the daily briefing, I'd send a constable over to Mick's Pit Stop café to buy us all a coffee.
Mick, who brews the best coffee in the city, operates directly opposite Ace Pets.
Six months ago, arriving early, there was no constable to run the errand, so I headed downstairs and paused at the red pedestrian signal. I turned. Sure enough, Squeak - as I'd come to call my little mate - was hard at it.
Or was the old Squeak dead from exhaustion, and this was a new Squeak?
My parents warned me I'd grow weary of fighting endless circles of crime. Proud that I'd earned a law degree, they were less so when I used it to fast-track me into Serious Crimes, where, inflated by my academic success, I believed Hercule Poirot's little grey cells were about to be challenged.
To some extent, they were. As a team, we did pretty well. A framed picture on the wall shows us standing proudly, fixed grins, staring into the camera after we'd received an award from the mayor Outstanding Service was written on a plaque below.
Mase -for Mason – who had surreptitiously ensured his gun grip could be seen from beneath his suit coat, often wore a drawn cowboy hat and mustache on the glass in that photo. It made him mad.
But now, after three years, the hamster's wheel effect has begun. I'd maintained a nodding acquaintance with God that seemed to help – apart from an unexplained restlessness that disappeared after a few beers. Lately, though, it was proving fixed.
Overall the Serious Crimes Unit was a cynical and mouthy bunch – capable of turning the air as blue as the victims we worked hard to provide with posthumous justice.
The language was nothing to boast about, but I did nothing to stem the flow and even joined in when times were stressful.
Which was every day.
Stress often tempted us to blur lines when seeking justice. We trusted no one. Suspects, by definition, especially.
We pushed hard on the questioning for fear of getting nowhere.
Spinning wheels.
Adding to my woes, my considerable interest in a woman named Molly went nowhere. She was a professing Christian, and apparently, I was not.
It was hard to understand why Molly's commitment to God influenced who she dated.
'You're a good man, Daniel,' she'd said. 'But Jesus is my first love, and He is not yours. We wouldn't work.'
'Hey, I own a Bible!'
She looked at me skeptically, but I held her gaze. 'Admittedly, it's only twenty pages thick and has drawings of Moses in a watertight basket and David beheading Goliath. But my namesake's there shutting the mouths of hungry lions.'
'Nice try Daniel. But think about it. Your namesake had a close relationship with God. He placed all his trust in the Lord no matter the outcome, refusing to do what everyone else understood to be the only way of preserving their lives.'
I shivered. 'How'd he get to that level of trust, Molly?' At the thought, my compass lost all bearing.
'You could buy yourself an adult Bible, Daniel. I won't spoon-feed you because I know you'll start to follow it as a detective. But if you recognize an interest within, believe it. He's calling you.' She took my hand. 'Read John 3:3 and follow the lead to other references about being born again, coming out of the sinful realm of darkness you may not even recognize you're in, and into His kingdom of light, love, and joy. Ask Him to help you understand what He sees as necessary, but Daniel, from the very start, you must distrust your reasoning power if it differs from the Bible. As your relationship grows, you'll trust Him more and more.'
Eventually, I saw great sense in handing my life to the Lord and, little by little, worked my way through the Bible with Molly's help.
Trust came, man, to God as I got to know Him.
In crime-solving, He is my team leader. Rather than always understanding, I lean into His favor and believe He quite likes surprising us. And the guilty.
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