On Facebook I receive updates
from writerslife.org with small writing assignments. Usually fun and creativity
kickers. The other day this one came:
Write your story about the
image below.
Shared by www.WritersLife.org
Here originally was linked to
a picture showing a cupboard overflowing with banknotes. It has apparantly been
taken down, and it was not to be found by searching Google.
The sight of these many
thousands of dollars surprised me a lot. At first I felt a great relief. Now I
could buy that luxury SUV I had been looking at for so long. Anyway this feeling
only lasted two seconds. I was then hit by worry and fear. Who had placed this
much money in a cupboard in my new home? I pictured gangsters, robbers and
finance wizards with gold watches. What if they came back to collect it? I had
no weapon to defend myself, and I could not hide indefinitely. I knew the
number series on the bank notes were recorded. If I called the police I might
be accused of robbery or crime related to this exact money. I decided the best
thing would be to lock the cupboard and put a seal on it. I also purchased and
installed the best theft protection available. So I waited. And waited. No one
came to collect the money. I had a hard time getting a good nights sleep. I
became overly sensitive to unknown noises, and I was prescribed drugs from my
psychiatrist in order to cope with this unpleasant situation. My friends were
very persistent in asking what was hidden inside this safe as it were. I tried
different stories, but they failed because they were not coherent. So I had to
dump most of my good and old friends. The money had become a pestilence in my
life. I had to quit my job as a school teacher due to several nervous
breakdowns in classes. I bought an automatic rifle, a baseball bat and a dog
for the last money that month I sacked myself. Months went by. I survived by
eating weeds from the garden. I sent out the dog to hunt for his own food,
while inside I was preparing to die. Actually I had considered very seriously
to end it all myself.
One sunny day I had a glance
through the blinders of a very beautiful lady walking up to my door. She rang
the door bell five times. I was very hesitant to open the door. But after she
had persistently ringed the bell for five minutes I went to the door, decided
to give it a go. I was to die anyway so what could go wrong. The lady handed me
her business card, and presented herself as partner in Simmons, Ericsson &
Simmons, solicitors in the city I lived in. "I come to present the will of
the late Sir Edward to Windborrow Castle and cattle farm. May I come in?"
Hesitantly I showed her in, placed her in the couch and gave her a glass of
water. Long story short what she told me was that Sir Edward's will had been
hidden and long forgotten in her office. Suddenly yesterday she had found it,
and realized that I should get to know about it right away. The will told of a
large sum of money placed in a cupboard in the very house I lived in. Then it
came to my mind how I had bought the house. A niece of Sir Edwards had told me
that her uncle wanted to sell the house to me for very cheep. I had only seen
Sir Edward once when I was 16, but I had made a lasting impression on him, so
that he wanted me to have his house which previously had been inhabited by his
fiscal manager. I was pleasantly surprised by this outstretched hand, and was
sorry I could not thank Sir Edward personally. This very large sum of money was
mine! I embraced the lady solicitor, and shook her hand violently with loud
outbursts of "Thank You, Thank You".
My dear dog "Bailey"
had been away hunting for food for several days now. I was beginning to worry
if he would ever return to me. Luckily the same evening he stood barking
outside the door, I let him in and we were happily united. He looked at me with
his good eyes as if he would say “Now everything shall be good again”.
A couple of days later as I
had been out buying new clothes and had been in a meeting with my bank advisor,
I met Jenny Simmons in the street. I was very happy to see her, and invited her
home for at cup of coffee.
Jenny asked about my life, and
I told honestly and without further ado about the terrible years with the safe.
Jenny told me she was very sorry to hear how fear completely had controlled my
life. But she knew that God had taken care of me and that it was he who had
saved me in the end. She did understand that I had been so scared since I did
not know Jesus. I did not quite understand what she meant – would I have been
less scared if I had known Jesus?
“If you know Jesus you know
love, the most beautiful and all perfect love, and then you know that no matter
what happend you have nothing to fear. Jesus says numerous of times in the
Bible “Fear not””.
I kept seeing Jenny, we were
comfortable together. After a while I also learned what it means to have faith
in Jesus, and as time went by I knew that Jesus has saved me, and that I by the
faith I have in my heart always is accompanied by Jesus as my best friend. I
asked Jesus for forgivenes that I had been in so much fear that I almost died.
When a year had gone by, I proposed
to Jenny and we were married seven months after. I had again become a teacher
in my old school, and I had regained contact with most of my friends except for
those who were offended by my faith in Jesus. Life was not perfect, but a light
had been lit, it kept up flaming, and could not be put out.
