Console—Six Sentence Story

Robert walked up to the pastor while he was delivering the sermon, lay flat on the platform in front of the congregation and screamed at the top of his voice, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” Then he rose and walked with indifference to the back of the church expecting a lecture of some sort from Jeremy because of the disturbance he caused. In his own defense he would argue that all he was trying to do was call on the name of the Lord to prove that such magic tricks don’t work especially for the likes of him.

Jeremy, who let Robert enter wondering what delightful mischief was on his mind today, waited for him unsure whether to reprimand or console. Without understanding what good it would do but with Robert’s permission Jeremy followed the request of a soft inward voice to put his hands on each side of Robert’s head and say, “Jesus!”

It surprised Jeremy to see Robert crumble to the floor weeping with an uncontrolled joy knowing finally that even someone like himself could never be the same again.

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Denise offers the prompt word “console” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

This tale is fictional. However, if you have a born-again relationship with the Holy Spirit, what happened between Jeremy and Robert is not the result of magic tricks nor hypnosis. Hearing His soft inward voice should not be confused with talking to oneself (nor with some demon’s temptation to do something inappropriate). His voice will tell you what to do. You will not likely feel comfortable doing it, but He responds to your obedience out of love for you and those around you for His own glory.

Equal—Ovi Poetry Challenge

The Father’s God and Jesus, too.
The Holy Spirit filling you
who overflows and makes you new—
He’s also the same God.

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Ronovan Hester’s Ovi Poetry Challenge offers the word “equal” as inspiration. Posted also on Poet’s Corner.

The bottom line about the Trinity is that there’s a difference between absolute identity used in mathematics to allow for substituting terms (such as 1+1 which can be substituted with 2 only because 1+1 = 2 under all circumstances) and relative identity that works best in the real world (such as identifying the morning star with the evening star which are both equal or identical to Venus even though it doesn’t make sense to call Venus the evening star when you see it in the morning). Think of relative identity should you ever look at the Trinity as a logical puzzle. The Trinity also makes sense out of the philosophical problem of the One and the Many. If you don’t think the Trinity is in the Bible, read Matthew 3:16-17. All three Persons of the Trinity are at the baptism of Jesus by John. The fathers of the church taught the Trinity long before the Council of Nicaea.

Race—Ovi Poetry Challenge

I lost myself with some disgrace.
The mirror cringed to see my face.
I didn’t think it was a race
until I knew it was.

But that was then and now is now.
With soil turned beneath the plow
the seed was planted—God knows how—
and everything was changed.

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Ronovan Hester’s Ovi Poetry Challenge this week offers the word “race” as inspiration. Posted also at Poet’s Corner.

Strain—Six Sentence Story

For Stan the idea that anything might exist put a strain on what he could philosophically tolerate. Asserting himself he told his students that there wasn’t a single good reason why any of them were here.

But all of that was before the accident, the emergency room, the coma and the visitations. Things started to click when one visitor with attractive horns offered him a full twenty years in exchange for his spirit.

Stan wished he could have told his students what he discovered before his life support was removed. He consoled himself with the thought that they would find it more credible if they heard it from someone else.

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Denise offers the prompt word “strain” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Independence

Depending only on the Lord
I took His word, a two-edged sword,
but left the demon’s sparkling hoard
I used to wish was mine.

That change of life I won’t forget:
within reborn without regret,
with joy the well, with river wet
which flows with living water.

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For Ronovan Hester’s Ovi Poetry Challenge. Posted on Poet’s Corner.

Melancholy—Six Sentence Story

The hostility between Steve and Bobby was miraculously resolved during the funeral of their older-by-twelve-years sister and Fred’s wife, Lily. During Fred’s eulogy for his wife he handed Steve and Bobby separate boxes containing mementos of their lives from infancy through grade school that Lily saved having watched over them many decades ago. He then handed them envelops with the words “Last Will” written on them containing a letter asking her two brothers to stop fighting with each other.

Touched by a sense of melancholy while going through the box he received from Fred, Bobby apologized to and forgave Steve who seeing this as a sign of weakness announced to all at the funeral that this long-overdue confession coming from the likes of Bobby was a miracle (which it may well have been).

In spite of that remark peace between them lasted until Steve insisted moments later that he get credit for being the one who apologized first which everyone at the funeral knew was a lie. Through the resulting commotion Fred called for silence and handed the brothers another envelop containing Lily’s second Last Will which simply read, “Didn’t I tell you two to STOP FIGHTING?”

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Denise offers the prompt word “melancholy” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

1 John 2:9
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

White Flower