Fear is a liar

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.