Stephen worked on his speech the whole week to make sure every word and every pause, noted with a comma, was just right.
When the day came for him to speak he didn’t want to forget anything. He printed his speech in big letters on many sheets of paper so he could see the words clearly.
As he looked out upon the crowd who were wondering what he would have to say gusts of wind carried away those sheets of paper leaving him with, seemingly, nothing to rely on as he spoke.
Although what Stephen said was in line with what he had prepared the words that came out of his own mouth surprised him. The crowd prepared its punch with murderous anger but when it was all over Stephen was carried away, victorious, by the King of glory.
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Denise offers the prompt word “punch” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Acts 7:54-56 KJV
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 
Love this. What a great take on Stephen’s story. Blessings.
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Thank you, Michael! I noticed we both posted on Stephen today. Blessings to you!
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FYI – I will be off the grid for the rest of September so my engagement will be limited. Blessings.
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I love it! I wonder if Stephen had script! I hate script….I love scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit.
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I don’t think Stephen did. I started writing this a week ago about a pastor who had prepared a sermon only to have all of his notes blow away by the wind as he was delivering the message. Then I heard the song. Then I thought of Acts 7. Once Denise provided the prompt word I tucked it in somewhere. When I scheduled the post on Sunday I hoped all of the pieces tied together since I don’t think they appeared by chance. Thank you, Mary, and blessings!
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Nice retelling! Although like you, I don’t believe he had notes, he simply knew to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide him in what to say, as Jesus said we could and should do.
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I agree he relied on the Holy Spirit just as we should. Blessings and thank you, Mimi!
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I like how you took existing scripture and gave it modern language. As someone once said, “He who controls the language controls the narrative.”
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It’s true that those who control the language control the narrative, at least, until a reaction occurs. Thank you, Misky!
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public speaking… always at the top of the list for the thing that most of us would not enjoy doing.
that said, what we do here, in this bloghop, surely is a form of public speaking. Fiction or fact, I would offer that we, all of us, in this genre (prompt writing) feel a little of the trepidation when we hit ‘Publish’
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It is public speaking even if it could also be called public writing. Words are powerful. We get the world we articulate. Thank you, Clark!
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Well done, Stephen – it’s never easy to speak in a crowd.
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Good point. Thank you, Chris!
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All boils down to faith, doesn’t it, Frank? We have the choice of giving in to fear and freezing up or finding a way to relax and believe sufficient words will come.
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It does all boil down to faith. Thank you, Denise!
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I’ve done quite a bit of public speaking from commercial presentations to staff training lectures, and often I’ve strayed from my notes and gone off at a tangent to great effect!
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I also prefer listening to speakers who don’t require notes. It is a good thing the wind blew them away. Thank you, Keith!
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Thanks for reading ,y blog
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