Everywhere

This story is for FineArts at my church, and You'll most likely like this if your Christian.

Chapter 1: Senegal, Africa

 

            Whoosh!  Dave Kline stepped off the small airplane and onto the cement slab, looking around. He let out a breath of air, wiping his brow. He was here. He had finally made it to Senegal, yet no one seemed to notice.

            “Where is everyone?” His translator, Matt Johnson asked himself, also searching the open area they were in. The work they had done to make this trip happen was beyond imaginable, yet in all that time Dave hadn’t been able to learn the native language. So he had been given a translator, who was at least 10 years younger than him. He felt a strange feeling from the fact someone so much younger than him had to talk for him. But he had grown to like Matt, especially because they were the only two ministering to this tribe.          

            “Maybe we should go look.” He replied.

Matt shrugged. “If you will.” They advanced cautiously, ready at any moment for someone to jump out and kill them. Finally, as they were in the forest, Dave stopped. “Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.”

Matt looked at him as if he were crazy. “You kidding? This is exactly what God wants from us.” That was the thing about Matt. He had the "ready to do anything" optimism that Dave only wished he had. Dave was more of a quiet, think before you act type of person.

            “Couldn’t we just have done some type of orphanage service? At least they’d be glad to see us.”

Matt grinned. “Relax Dave. God’s watching over us.” Dave knew this, but couldn’t help but worry. As they walked farther into the deep forest which seemed to have no end, an arrow whizzed past Dave’s head. Matt looked surprised, and then commented sarcastically, “Yeah, they sure are happy to see us.” Dave ignored this, and called out, “Hello?” Automatically, Matt translated. “We come in peace!” Again, Matt spoke a flood of the other language. When he finished, there was a rustle, and a tan figure leaned out of the bushes. Matt spoke some more. The boy looked scared, and listened to Matt while he regarded at Dave suspiciously. When he finished, the boy nodded doubtfully and crept off. Matt followed, and Dave jogged after him.

“What did you just say?” Dave hissed into Matt’s ear.

“We have news for your tribe. Can you bring us to your village?”

Dave looked at him surprised. “And he agreed?”

Matt grinned. “Yeah. I guess I just have a good way of making people cooperate.” They followed this quiet boy until they reached a clearing. There was a large cluster of black men and women of all ages, working and caring for their young. There were also kids, who either played if they were young, or were working along with men, probably their fathers. As they approached, the boy ran ahead to a grown man sitting on a chair. The boy spoke the dialect as the man nodded and looked at them. Then he stood and called out to his people in the words of their land. They all looked at the team, shocked. Dave felt so out of place. "We are Americans." Matt translated. "We have come to tell you the story of Jesus Christ." As Matt finished converting this, the people looked around in confusion. Dave felt his stomach turning. The old missionaries had always said people won't always like what you tell them, but still, Dave was nervous about what might happen. The man, who Dave assumed was their leader, began to speak to Matt. Matt nodded and spoke to Dave. "He says he will let us. But if we upset his people, he will never accept our type of people again." Dave felt his stomach tighten.

            "Great." He said quietly, his voice shaking. Matt smiled.

            "Don't worry. God will help us through this."

Dave nodded. "Right." Dave turned to the people and began speaking, with Matt echoing. They worked endlessly through the night, with the people hanging on to his every word. The people seemed to enjoy what they were hearing, that is, until Dave uttered one line.

            "You all can accept Jesus as your Savior if you will only renounce your faith.” After Matt said this, the people stopped their smiling. A murmur began among the people. Matt began to frown. "This isn't good." He whispered nervously. Dave began to panic. If Matt didn't think something would be okay, then that meant this was something big. The ruler jumped to his feet and began to shout at the two. "Uh-Oh." Matt murmured. "Run." But it was too late. A few of the men grabbed spears and began walking toward them. Dave turned to leave, but someone grabbed him from behind and pushed him to the ground. A black man pressed his spear to Dave's chest. He looked to Matt for help, but he was in the same situation. He closed his eyes tightly and began to pray. God, he began, I need help! I'm doing this for you. Please……

 

 

 

Chapter 2: New York, North America

 

 

            Emily Carson brushed through her middle school hallway, trying to avoid colliding into other kids.

            "Watch it freak!" A boy called out as she moved past him.

            "Get out of my way dork." A cheerleader shouted at her.

            "What's the matter with you?" Another boy yelled at her. She tried to ignore all this. Yet, every insult, every name she was called, she did hear. She finally arrived at her locker, where she dumped off her load of books from science class. Oh boy, she thought. Time for Algebra. She gathered her Algebra books; her biggest, heaviest load. She shut her locker and began to walk to class, when she was tripped by a boy and went careening to the ground, books scattering everywhere. The whole hallway erupted with laughter, pointing and teasing. As she held back the tears, she gathered her books and continued walking. No one knew what she was going through. Her parents had recently divorced, and she had to move with her mom from North Carolina to New York. And, even though three months had passed, no one would accept her. She sniffed, and stumbled away from the laughing crowd. In a matter of minutes, she arrived at her class. Her teacher came to her as soon as she came in, and did not look happy. "Emily." She began calmly. "Where is your math paper?" She felt her stomach sink. She had forgotten, again.

"I-I was busy." The truth was her mom had gone to another court session, and she had been dragged in and was left with no time for all her homework. Her teacher frowned.

             "You know what that means." She gulped. "You have a detention." It couldn't be. Detentions at her school were one of the worst things to have to get. Only the Goths, bullies, and 

Freaks hung out there. And to get a detention…it was practically suicide for her. "But…couldn't I just do something else? Please not a detention." Her teacher was unyielding.

            "You've had too many missing assignments to do that now."

Emily could feel the lump emerging in her throat. Today was not her day. No, she corrected herself, it's never my day. She trudged to her seat, where she laid her head softly on her desk. God, she prayed to herself. I hate life! Where are you?

 

 

 

Chapter 3: China, Asia

 

       Ping Wu sat huddled in a corner of his neighbor, Sun Kwong's house, reading the Bible. He knew it was dangerous, but that didn't matter. All that mattered to him was Jesus. Once, a missionary had given Sun a Bible, and from then on they had held a Bible Study every Saturday at her house.     

            "In Matthew, it says…." He continued talking in his thick Chinese accent, but was stopped. There was a knock at the door. "Shh…." Sun put her finger to her lips.

            "Open up, it’s the police." The voice commanded from outside the door. Their eyes locked: Hide the Bible and let them in. Sun rushed to their hole in which they stashed the Bible as Ping opened the door.

            "Can I help you?" he asked the police.

            "Uh, yes. We've heard the town has taken Bibles from a recent missionary."

            "Bible?"

The policeman was unaffected. "I need to come in and check this house out." And before Ping could answer, the policeman shoved his way in. "I'd rather you not-" But the officer was already searching the house. Sun stood to the side, terrified. There wasn’t much inside Sun’s house, and Ping already knew the police could easily find it. “What is this?!” He roared. Ping knew this was the end. The policeman turned to him, holding up their Bible.

            “That-that isn’t mine!” he exclaimed. The police knew better.

            “It was one of yours, so I’m going to have to arrest the both of you for hiding away Bibles.” Before either of them could protest, the official grabbed their hands and escorted them out the door. Ping knew this would mean arrest, maybe even death. But he had to do this…for God and for Jesus. God, he started inside his head, I am about to be sentenced to death. Save me!

 

 

 

Chapter 4: Senegal, Africa

 

Dave felt the cold, merciless tip of the spear pressed to his chest. God, if this is your will for me to die, then fine… Even though he knew God would do what’s best, he couldn’t help but feel like he shouldn’t have done this. Matt was muttering words of the Senegalese quietly, but the men did not care. They drove closer, the spear cutting into his throat. Just as he thought death was here, he heard a shout. The men stopped and turned to the source of the sound. There was a young woman, standing in front of them. Dave and Matt looked at each other in confusion. She began talking in the language quickly. The Senegalese seemed to respect her, and watched her quietly as she spoke. “Matt…what’s she saying?” Dave spoke in a low tone.

“Let them go, they are from the true God.” He gasped. “She said she had just received a vision about us.” He turned to Dave and smiled. “Looks like God was really looking out for us.” Dave knew he was right. God had been there the whole time, and was waiting for the right moment to show it. Thanks God, he thought, smiling. He was everywhere.     

 

Chapter 5: New York, North America

 

 Emily laid her head softly between her knees, sitting by her locker, crying. She hated life. As she began to consider suicide, she heard a voice above her.

“Hey,” a male voice spoke quietly. “You okay?” Slowly, she looked up to see a boy standing over her. He had curly, brown hair, and friendly blue eyes that somehow told Emily this was a nice guy. “Oh…I just…I’m fine.” He gave a little smile.

“I’m Aiden. You seem….depressed."

"Well, things have been going on in my life lately." He sat down beside her.

"What kind of things?" She tried hard to hold back the tears that just kept coming.

"My parents just divorced, I moved here from South Carolina, no one likes me…" She took a breath. "My life is a wreck." He looked at her solemnly.

"Are you a Christian?"

She nodded halfheartedly. "I am, but he doesn't seem to really be here anymore."

            "God is watching out for you, Maybe he's doing this to test your faith." She nodded. "Like in Proverbs 15:3, it says, The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”

               Lauren widened her eyes. “Wow.” They continued talking and in the end, Aiden helped Emily rededicate herself to God. She managed a weak smile. “Thank you so much Aiden.”

            He smiled back. “No problem. Don’t worry about what others think about you; God’s always gonna be there for you.” She got up.

            “I’ll see ya later.” As she walked confidently to her next class, she realized what God had just done. In her worst moment, where she was close to death, God had stepped in and saved her. She beamed. He is real…

 

 

Chapter 6: China, Asia

 

            Ping walked obediently along with the police officer, not saying anything. If this was God’s will, go he would, but even so, death was not his favorite option. He was brought up to a fierce looking man, who held a gun behind him. His caught his breath. Not this…

            “Okay fella,” The police started. “Time to say goodbye.” The man came over to him and held the cold gun to the temple of his head. This was it. He could hear the lever being pulled and then….. –Click– An empty shot. The man frowned and looked at the gun.

            “Where are the bullets?” The policeman barked madly, looking around.

            “Uh-Oh.” The man’s face turned down, and he looked at the official. “I’m all out.”

The police grumbled, and then turned to them. “You’re lucky, China-Boy. Get outta here. And if I ever see you with that Bible again.” He made a neck cutting motion.

            “Y-yes sir.” The police left and Ping smiled at Sun. He was lucky. By the grace of God they had been saved. God truly was everywhere.

 

Author's Note

I'm a Christian and not afraid to chare my faith, so please don't write negative comments on how it's about God.

Reviews

[David Carlson]

It's about God??? How could you POSSIBLY write something about GOD??? LAUGH OUT LOUD!

Actually I liked it. It seemed like a rough draft, but you could turn this into a story that would point out a valid statement: God is everywhere. It's often that we acknowledge all the things He does for us or others, but we rarely realize that He's actually doing everything we hear He's doing at the same time!

Good job, but I'd focus either more on one character in the Africa setting, or step back from so much in-head writing (what the characters are thinking individually). It's a little disorienting how often you switch from Dave's head to Matt's head. I'd focus on one of them, or take a more third-person view and assume they're thinking similar thoughts, as they likely would.

Keep working on it.

[---]

i enjoyed that story very much! I don't know what I would do in those situations, but it is very comforting to know that God is right there beside you.