Changed Forever More~A Redemption Story

        Today I have posted a story that I wrote for school about a person in Luke who was impacted by Jesus. I had some trouble deciding who to write about. I finally decided on a person who only shows up once (Okay, fine that describes a lot of people) and was a criminal. But I should probably stop talking about it and just let you read it. So enjoy!

        Drip..Sploush...Driiiippp...Splish...Drip.....Sploush....Drip, Drip...Splish, splash... The water dripped and then splished, splashed, or sploushed into the old wooden bucket that sat on the floor of the jail cell by the metal door. The rather sad looking bucket was set there to catch the water that was continually dripping from the ceiling. No one was sure why the water dripped down there, but no one gave it much thought, except for the rebel in that cell. He stared at the bucket in defeat, watching the water slowly drip and then land in the bucket.

       The man sighed a sigh of defeat. He was here in the dreary cell for who knew how long. He couldn't see the sun anymore, his cell was too deep. But, he knew he wouldn't be there much longer. Days had passed, for sure, and so he would be out again.
       Only I will not be free, I will be sentenced, and then... He sighed, and ran a hand through his dirty black hair. Straw stuck out of his mussed up hair and beard. I shall be sentenced to death.
       Clop, clop, clop, clop. The heavy footsteps of the guards patted the ground as he came down the stairs and hall to stop at the prisoner's cage. The two guards smirked at him.
      "Barabbas, you have been summoned before Pontius Pilate, seems you won't have to see this cell again." He paused, and laughing, turned to his friend. "or anything else."
      Barabbas looked up at the guard. He wanted to wring his neck and run away, back to his friends, and to help them overthrow the Romans who had captured them. But, his hands were chained together and his feet in stocks. He was defenseless and vulnerable and exposed.
      The first guard unlocked the door and both of them stepped inside.


      The crowd roared, as Barabbas stepped on to the platform. He noticed that the crowd was predominantly Jews.
      He huffed. Great! Sentenced by the same people I wanted to free! The irony! He thought grouchily, then thinking back to his crimes, he smiled a half smile. Those Romans never had a chance!  He thought back to the attack he lead against the Romans, killing their captain. His smile slowly faded. Neither do I have a chance, he sighed.
    "Hey!" A voice screamed from the crowd. "Away with this man already!"
They really can't wait to get rid off me. He kept his gaze down.
    "Give us Barabbas!" The person cried.
    "Yeah!" Another person screamed. "We want Barabbas!"
    Barabbas looked up, suddenly realizing that they wanted to release him. And for the first time he noticed that besides Pilate and the Roman guards on the platform, there was another man. He looked at the crowd with kind, searching eyes. A purple cloak rested on his shoulders almost mockingly, and a twisted mess of thorns pressed into his head.
    It almost looks like a crown. Was this man a king?
    "Crucify him!"
    What!?
    "Crucify! Crucify him!"
    Why!?
    Blood stained the cloak, his face bore bruises, and --Is that a tear?-- he appeared to be crying. But it feels like he is crying for them!
    A guard led Barabbas off of the platform. He heard Pilate say something about how the blood was not on his hands, and on the people.
    "You lucky rat!" The guard sneered.

    Barabbas kicked the rock as he walked down the road. Furious about all that he had found out in the past week. The people hadn't actually cared anything about him. They had let him go in their raging tantrum to get rid of the man named Jesus.
    "Hello," said a man that Barabbas hadn't noticed was walking next to him. "You appear to be deep in thought. Want to talk as we walk to the next town?"
    Barabbas blinked, "Ummm... Sure, I guess." Why had he not noticed him coming? "So were you at the crucifixion?"
    "Yes." He nodded.
    "Okay. So did you see that Jesus told one of the other men he would see him in paradise?"
    "Yes."
    "He was a criminal, but he asked to be forgiven and then Jesus says, see you in paradise, and forgives him."
    He nodded again.
    "I asked around and his followers are still doing his ministry. Some say that they even saw him. His disciples say that he was God's Son."
    "What do you think?"
    "He did miracles and forgave sins. And if those people are right then he rose from the dead. He claimed to be God's Son, and he continued doing miracles. If he was just a prophet and claimed that, how did he get away from that mob in Nazareth? God would not have let someone who wasn't actually that continue claiming to be his son?" Barabbas shook his head.  "I think that he was. He lines up with the prophets before hand."
    The man smiled, "Yes." Suddenly Barabbas realized this was Jesus. "I came to earth, I died for all sin, and I conquered death. All you have to do is believe."
    Barabbas' mouth dropped open, could this Jesus forgive him of all his sins? He had said it. Barabbas realized he just needed to put faith in him. Falling to his knees, he said, "Jesus, I believe."
    "I forgive you of your sins. Now rise and share the good news with others." Then Jesus vanished. And just like that's  Barabbas knew deep in his heart, he was changed forever more.

Fin

Choose Your Path~Amber Part Three~Home

      (Author's note: If you ever wonder why I post several things and then nothing at all. I find time, so I make some posts. Then I get busy with other things (more on those later), and work on my project, but not my blog. I am trying to work on both though. You may see more posts soon, hopefully. Anyway on to the third part of Amber's story.)
      
       Amber stood frozen behind the fort as the boy looked around for her. He popped open the can and waved the can slowly along the ground, while clucking his tongue. "Here, kitty cat." He whispered. "I have some food for you." Amber sniffed the air, the dirt, grass, boy, and salmon smells reached her nose. He smelled okay but, she should be cautious. The boy frowned and stopped waving the can and sat it down. "Kitty cat cat?" The boy sighed pulling his knees against his chest, he hugged himself tight. "Where did she go?" Then, he began to cry. 
        Amber swished her tail. The boy was crying. He smelled okay, but sad. He had food. Salmon. She had only had that once before in a trash can and she had loved it. He was crying. Sure he was a human, but he was upset. She felt a need inside of her. A longing. Not food. Not Salmon. Compassion. Comfort.
        Amber inched out of the fort, and sat down in front of the boy. He looked up at Amber. "Kitty cat?" She crouched down and began to eat, because she might as well eat the salmon while it was here. The boy reached out his hand palm down, inviting her to sniff. Amber looked up from her food, she sniffed the hand. "Hello kitty cat, I like you."
         He inched up next to her. She purred. She liked this boy who fed her salmon. He stroked her back. She stayed put. It felt nice, she liked being petted. He reached his arms around her and picked her up. She squirmed. He held on and set her in his lap. Amber realized that she liked being held. And then Amber purred.

         The End

Choose Your Path~Amber Part Two~Friend or Foe

        Sorry that nothing went up last week, I was in Florida, on vacation. I may put something on that later. But for now here is part two of Amber's adventure.
        Amber realizes that the animal is close by and she must find a good spot to hide. The box looks nice, safe, and comforting. She hops up over the fence and makes her way toward the box. The animal's scent gets stronger as she gets closer to the box. When she reaches the box it hits her that the scent is coming from inside of the box.
        A low growling noise comes from the box and Amber leaps backward. A Mastiff charged out of the box directly at Amber. She ran to the fence and quickly jumped over it. The dog barked and lunged at the fence making a huge racket. Amber ran past several houses and didn't look back.

        Finally coming to a stop at a house, she began to feel hungry. The calico cat slowly walked up to the house. There was a hole under the porch. The gap was an excellent place to find mice. She slipped into the hole and smelled the scents, no more scent of dog from earlier. She would watch out for that smell from now on. She did, however, smell the aroma of mice. Her eyes adjusted and she found the mouse hole in the back of the hollow space. Sitting down by the hole, she waited. 

        A few hours or so later a curious little mouse decided to go out. Amber darted her claws at the mouse and then before the mouse could run away, she grabbed it in her mouth, killing it instantly. Amber ate the mouse, then dozed off in her new home.

        Later a child who lived in the house came outside and decided to go to his fort under the porch. He rather enjoyed playing games inside of his fort that was outside. He crawled under the porch and was going to his fort when something caught his eye. There was a calico cat sitting by the small hole in the ground. The cat's blue eyes stared at him. He gasped and ran inside. He ran back out and slowly crawled under the porch, hoping the cat was still there. He held the metal can and looked around, but the calico was not to be seen. 

       Amber sat behind the fort, her tail curled around her, swishing a little bit as she sat thinking, Who is he? What does he want?

       What should Amber do? Run away, go up to the boy, or stay put? You decide! Vote in the polls on the side of the blog. Had Amber gone to the tire, she would have napped there and gone to the woods. Had she gone to the hollow tree, she would have met a Great Gray owl, and would have run the opposite direction as this story and found a slightly creepy house. She will remember choices made and they will help or hinder her. With that in mind, have fun and be careful what you choose!               The poll will expire 12/2/16!

Choose Your Path~Amber Part One~Amber's Journey Begins

        Since I don't know what happened to the calico kitten, here is a story. This will be a story where the next part will be decided by polls. The choices WILL affect the story! So be careful what you choose.

       A mother cat sat with her five kittens. Fahd (that name means panther) a black kitten was batting at his mother's tail with Amber his calico sister. Onyx and Leo tumbled as they each tried to grab each other. And Astra groomed her fur coat in a sunbeam as a cool fall breeze blew lazily. 

      They were now eight weeks old and would need to fend for themselves soon like all kittens do. They would go and journey through life with it's many dangers. Cats are solitary creatures and tend to keep to themselves, so they would all go on their own separate paths. 

       Amber, Fahd, Onyx, Astra, and Leo all left their mother that evening. But for now we will follow Amber as the calico kitten, who has just left her mother, struts along a fence line behind a house. She leaps off when the fence ends and walks along as a cool breeze blows through the surrounding trees, gently rustling the leaves. Amber scans the area with her keen night vision for a possible home to stay in as the sun sets.

       She locates a few options, a hollow in a tree that sits in small grouping of other trees behind a fenced in yard, a wooden box with weird lettering on it in the yard, and an old tire by the trees. Amber sits with her tail whipping up and down thinking about her options. She smells a strange scent that is of another animal and wonders where she could hide and rest.

Where do you think Amber should sleep?

The Cats ~Part 2~ The Missing Shadow

         Opps, sorry it looks like I posted three posts, left you in suspense, and then disappeared from the blogosphere for way too long! So, school has started and I have finally started another post for my poor blog. So here is Part Two...

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         Having rescued Emerald my parents posted on a neighborhood site saying we were looking for the kittens. We had seen two of them running around, one calico and the other black. After a while someone called us to say that the black kitten was in their garage.

"Yes, I was in someone's garage, what about it?"

         So, we got Emerald in a crate and carried her to their house. Then we sat on the floor trying to get the kitten out from under a car in the garage. We opened Emerald's crate door and took her out, thinking the kitten would come to her. Emerald sat calmly and we waited. The kitten was lured out by placing a dry cat food trail.

"I think there is food in here!"

"I know I heard something! It must be food!"

         He wanted to come to his mom, but she told him, no. But we did get him in the crate and with him in crate and just holding Emerald we went home.
         After a lengthy conversation and a doctor visit we named him Shadow, because he hides in the shadows and you don't know where he is when he is in plain sight.

"I AM the best at hide and seek.

My! I have grown so much since those pictures!"

"Wait a minute, are you taking my picture?"

"I am too fast for anyone to take my picture!"

You can just skip this next part.

It is very sad.

No one will judge you.

 You can continue though.

You do have free will after all.

       Several days after finding Shadow, we still were administering sweet Emerald her medicine and feeding her moist cat food. But sadly it was not enough, because one morning she had passed away. At least she knew that her Shadow had a good home. 

The End

(No one knows what became of the other kitten)

The Cats ~Part 1~ Emerald's Arrival

   Now this story is a very sad one, about two dogs and two cats who (Hold one) are all rescues. So, if you don't want to read a sad post, just skip this one. Because it is quite pitiful for the cats. So, if you wish to continue, you will just keep reading. Like you are doing right now. But, don't worry most of the sadness is in part two.

Caution!   Below this line is all of the sadness!   Caution!

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~In Memory Of Emerald, The Cat That Chose Us~ 





   One day I was washing dishes (Yes, I was washing dishes, strange way to start a story) when my mom said, "Oh, look there is a cat on our deck and it looks like it's drinking water from the flower basin."

   And of course I looked out the window and then I saw a grey tabby drinking from the flower basin. Then quickly, I went out onto the deck. I slowly approached the cat who was still drinking the water. As I inched closer the cat turned around and walked toward me. I asked Josiah to get something for the cat to eat. The cat rubbed up against me, so I petted her and then she went under a table to get in the shade.
    He came back saying that Mom was fixing some fish sticks. Now by this time I was under the table (because it was so hot!), petting the cat and praying that the cat would not run away (I already was thinking of what to name her!). Thankfully, a few minutes later Mom came with some water for the cat. Mom said the cat may be sick so I shouldn't pet her (little did she know I had already been petting the cat).
   Awhile later the fish sticks were ready and Mom came out with a few pieces and a crate. I tried to lure the cat to the crate, but the cat wasn't hungry. Mom researched how to rescue a cat and after a little research we decided to wrap a towel around the cat and put her in a box en route to the vet. I volunteered to do it but Mom thought the cat might scratch or bite me(I told her that the cat would not do that).
   So, off Mom goes to get on her protective gear. Being told to stay inside, me and my brother watched as Mom walked onto the deck, wearing a purple 'rain' coat and thick purple gloves. 
   Then my brother said, "Look it's Super Mom!"
   I silently laughed, when he tries to be funny he usually is not, when he attempts to be serious he is hilarious. This time he was being funny, and succeeded.
   I held the box on the ride to the vet. Bad news, they were booked, good news, there was another place we could go. So, we went to the other vet and they took us. Bad news, she had Feline AIDS. Good news, people can't catch it and she might get better if we feed her some antibiotic. (They also gave a bag of kitten food free! Thank You)
   Upon arriving home we prepared a litter box, bed, food and water. We discussed a name and finally decided on Emerald.

   A few days later we discovered that Emerald and Peter Pan have something in common.

"No, I'm not Peter Pan. But, I will be in the next post!"

   The End

 Until Part Two!

The Knock on the Door

     A few days ago, I got a surprise starting with a knock... 
  Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Frantic knocking comes from my door. What could be wrong? I thought, "What is it?" I said, wondering if I had forgotten that we had to go somewhere.
  "Come down stairs quick!" My 11 year old brother said excitedly. "You need to see this!"
Is a bird on the porch? Did the bees arrive already? I began to try to think of what could be so exciting as I hurried down the stairs, Josiah ahead of me. Did we get another dog? 
  Josiah opened the back door and said, "I caught some frogs!"
  My heart sank. I stood there for a moment. What?! I ran down here to see another frog!
  Josiah has caught a lot of frogs and toads (and other creatures) in his life (I have lost count). So, this was normal for him to have caught a frog, but not normal to run up to my room and say, 'You need to see this!'. So, I decided to walk out on to the porch to see the newest frog. To my surprise not one, but two frogs greeted me. Then I saw them, the cause for all of this excitement. Frog eggs!!



"Notice anything?"

  Josiah's frogs, Mr. and Mrs. Leap had laid eggs last night.

"Why buy a frog when you can catch two?"

   Sad to say the white eggs will not make it (According to my brother). Even sadder, a few days later we found out that none of the eggs would ever hatch (Because they turned white).
   Now it has been a while since I last wrote and I have a couple good stories, I have decided it best to add another story to this one.


The aerophonic Tower Gardens

Another Tower(and a mystery plant)

These are our Tower Gardens on April 28 this year, and here they are on June 6 this year about two months later.


Very tall Cilantro

The Squash and Zucchini leaves are big 

It is amazing what God has made.

The Towers yesterday



Changing the water (once a month)

(1)   Next time I hope to write about the cat that chose us and who purrs almost constantly!
(2)   Or about my book that I am working on!
(3)   Or maybe about our pets!
(4)   Oh, maybe I should just write about the mystery animal we are going to get!
(5)    What was that plant by the Tower Garden?
    But, I'll save that for next time. Comment which one you think I should write about!