Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: New (01/01/26)
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TITLE: Radar Gun Redemption | Previous Challenge Entry
By Corinne Smelker
01/07/26 -
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For years, she’d clocked speeders the old way: dashboard clock, stopwatch, and gut instinct. It worked just fine in a town where the biggest excitement was who forgot to bring dessert to the potluck.
But this January, Maggie had decided it was time for change. “We gotta move with the times,” she’d announced at the community meeting. Folks smiled, nodded, then went right back to debating whose dog was digging up Mrs. Langley’s petunias.
Now, three days in, the gadget was causing pure havoc. It had clocked Widow Fletcher at 52 in a 30, while her car was up on blocks in the driveway. Then it tagged old Mr. Grayson’s tractor at 68 mph. Grayson swore the thing hadn’t hit third gear since the county fair parade.
Maggie’s phone hadn’t stopped ringing. Half the town wanted tickets issued. The other half wanted the “infernal contraption” melted down before it started World War III.
She pushed through the door of Daisy’s Diner for coffee and a moment of quiet. No such luck, the place was buzzing, everyone waving blurry printouts from the gun’s wild readings.”
This thing’s got the devil in it!” boomed Deacon Willard from his corner booth, waving his Bible like a fly swatter. “Registered my golf cart at 88 miles an hour, gonna send me straight to glory!”
Daisy slid a mug across the counter. “Sugar, why fix what never was broke? Your daddy kept the peace just fine without space-age toys.”
Maggie rubbed her temples. “I figured updating things would make us safer. More efficient. Respectable.”
Pastor Hayes from the little white church on the hill paused mid-bite of cherry pie. “Maggie, come January, we all chase the shiny and new—apps, diets, gadgets—thinking it’ll finally make us better. But the Lord says in Isaiah 43:19, ‘See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.’ He’s the one who brings the real fresh start, not our plans or our toys.”
The diner went still for a beat, then soft laughter spread like warm syrup.
Mrs. Langley chimed in. “So you’re saying toss the gizmo and watch for what God’s up to?”
Pastor Hayes grinned. “Exactly. Sometimes the newest thing He does is open our eyes to the good He’s already doing right here.”
Maggie looked around at the familiar faces—nosy, opinionated, but family all the same. She pulled the radar gun from her belt and set it on the counter with a thud.
“Daisy, you still got that old sledgehammer in the back?”
A few minutes later, the gun was in pieces, and the diner erupted in cheers.
Outside, January sunlight glinted off the quiet street. Willow Creek hadn’t changed one bit. And for the first time all week, that felt perfectly right.
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