Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:4-7) (02/01/24)
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TITLE: Half-Way Home | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
02/08/24 -
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Two hunched figures, barefoot, draped in saggy jeans and oversized plaid shirts, straddled the wooden pasture fence as a small herd of cows lay nearby. One of the two figures, his hair crimson, frizzled, and puffed out like a peacock’s tail, reached for the lunar temptation. “Nothing more I’d like than to get a bite of a marshmallow moon,” he said. “Shoulda’ kept a piece of my daddy’s fortune. I’m halfway home but I’m as lost as I ever was when I finally stopped running.”
The second figure, bald as the back side of an ice cream scoop, slid off the rails, rested his elbows on the top rail, and planted his bearded chin on his knuckles. “If you’re heading home, why did you start running in the first place? Seems as if your daddy might not want to be welcoming you from your adventure.”
Frizzy hair nodded. “I expect you’re right. It’s more my brother that’s the issue.” He ran fingers through his hair and gazed at the gleaming orb overhead. “When my daddy let me go, my brother Benny said, ‘Hickory, you mark my words. You’ve been a disappointment to your daddy from the time you were born. You’re disappointing him now, again. Don’t waste all you have and think you’ll be welcome back again. If you want to get lost, then stay lost.’”
“What are you going to do?”
Hickory slipped off the rail, bent, snapped off a blade of grass, and chewed it. “I’ve been lost a long time now. Don’t much like how it feels.”
“What are you going to say?”
“Wish I knew. Those words of my brother slice me inside and out every day. They beat like a drum in my brain. ‘Stay lost. Stay lost. Stay lost.’”
“What’s your daddy like?”
Hickory flicked the blade of grass away and set his foot on the lower rail. “He’s not at all what you might think. He’d give the robe off his back to someone in need. He’s got this calf he loves like a baby. All our workers can’t do enough to help him out.” He wrapped his arms around himself tight and rocked back and forth slowly. “Once upon a time, I used to make him happy. But he was so dedicated to God. When mom died, I was so angry. He hardly seemed phased at all. Kept going on about how God gave and how he took.”
“Losing someone can be hard.”
“Losing yourself is hardest of all. I didn’t quite realize how hard until I lost everything else and only had myself left.”
“Maybe you can hire yourself out to someone.”
“Done that. I’ve never been so humiliated but it’s not the humiliation that gets me most. Sometimes, at night, under a full moon like this, all I want is a hug from my daddy. I want to know that everything is going to be okay again. Maybe God can’t forgive me for wasting my life, but maybe my daddy can.”
“That’s expecting a lot.”
Hickory stepped away from the fence and stood in the middle of the road looking up. “But where am I going to go if I don’t at least try? I don’t know what would be worse. Thinking he might reject me or actually having him reject me. I’m not sure I could live through that.”
“Can you live with life as it is now?”
“I’ve been on the street with the homeless. I’ve heard more stories of broken lives than I could ever imagine. I feel for these people. I just don’t want to be one of them.” Hickory sat where he was. “What about you? You’ve been homeless longer than me. What keeps you from going home?”
The young man joined Hickory on the road. “My daddy left long ago and my momma died. There ain’t no home to go to. If I had a chance I’d at least try.”
“Would you come with me? I’m sure my daddy would take you in.”
“Hickory, this is your story. If your daddy would take a stranger like me in, he surely would take you in. I think you should go.”
“You’re right. I’ve been lost long enough.”
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