Author: Darvin

Hi! Hey. Pull your chair a little closer to the screen you’re reading from. …A little bit closer. …Closer. Okay. Perfect. You didn’t move your chair an inch did you? I was hoping… Never mind. Blogging on.

Going to post a short story today. Enjoy!

Mean Spelling Bee

“Nefarious. N-E-F… Could you use it in a sentence please?” “Of course Miss Spangler. Devon was nefarious for picking things out of his nose in the cafeteria.” “Oh yes. I remember. Thank you. Nefarious. N-E-F-A-R-I-O-U-S. Nefarious.” “That is correct Miss Spangler. Please take your seat.

Henry Waldrop, you’re up next please.”

Eleven year old, Black American, Roddert Harley, with every black hair on his head barbered, black shoes highly shined, and white shirt and navy blue slacks professionally pressed, whispers, “Wow Miss Spangler—I mean Jilly. At first I thought you were going to blow it!” “Me too Roddert. For a minute I couldn’t remember if the word had one F in it or two,” Jilly Spangler whispers back. Her clothes and age matched Roddert’s exactly. Her being a Caucasian girl with dark curly blond hair and dimples were where they differed. “Yeah, me neither. But you got it right Jilly. That’s all that counts,” Roddert said with a friendly smile. Rolling her eyes, Jilly commented, “Yeah. I’m just glad they don’t ask us what these big words mean. It’s tough enough for us sixth graders just to spell them.” “You got that right Jilly.” “Oh. Shhh, Roddert. Merissa Ogglemeyer is up now,” Jilly whispered. “People say she’s the best speller in the whole city.”

“Miss Ogglemeyer, the word is prerequisite.” Merissa, also a Caucasian girl, age 11, was dressed the same as her competitors, but with a superior look on her face, that was scrunched up with disapproval. She flipped some strands of her long brown hair over her shoulder, then folded her arms like a Sargent in the Marine corps.

“Prerequisite? Lady, you’re kidding me right? That word is way too easy for me to spell. I’m not like these Spelling Bee wannabe’s. Give me a harder word to spell.”

The pronouncer adjusted her glasses and stared at the sixth grade rude thing standing on the stage, after which she proceeded to read the girl her rights.

“Uh, excuse me Miss Ogglemeyer. Your assigned word is prerequisite. And you have now only twenty-seven more seconds to spell it, or you will be disqualified. Or is that too easy for you to understand?”

“Okay, okay. I got it. Prerequisite. P-R-E-R-E-Q-U-I-S-I-T-E. Prerequisite.”

“That is correct Miss Ogglemeyer. Now please kindly return to your seat.” Mr. Roddert Harley you’re up next please.”

Going back to her chair, next to Jilly Spangler and Roddert Harley, Merissa Ogglemeyer whispers to them as she takes her seat.

G’day mates! Just trying to perfect me down under accent, hey?. Pretty good, huh? My problem is though, I wrote the words with an American accent. I know, I know. Stick to blogging, right? Yeah. I been meaning to get my sense of humor hammered, but you know how it is. Excuses excuses. Time to write on.

Not being able to see is very devastating. I’ve never experienced real blindness, but I have walked around a while in the house with my eyes closed. I’d just like to say, I couldn’t see not one obstacle, or person, or anything dangerous. I had to move by feel, counting on my hands and feet to be my eyesight.

But now, let me throw in a “What If” atchya. What if I could see, but couldn’t see danger? Would you say then that I had a kind of blindness?

Whoa blogger! What do you mean by “what if you couldn’t see danger?” Now that’s a great question! I was hoping somebody reading this post might want to know just what in the name of Sam Hill I was talking about!

But first, let me just go and see why my neighbor’s barking dog seems to be outside losing its mind. Just kidding. Seriously though, what I mean is, take for instance, if I were walking in the park and there were a venomous snake on the trail. What if I saw the snake, but did not recognize the snake as being a threat to me. Or, even better still! If I saw an angry person running towards me waving a stick, but I didn’t see that what I was looking at was an instant hospital vacation. Wouldn’t you agree that I would have a kind of blindness?

Blindness, by definition, means a state of sightlessness. That’s what being spiritually blind is. Not being able to see evil for what it is, or good as not evil. Confusing, huh?

It was for me too! I had to go and see a specialist to get some spiritual understanding! Nope. Not an ophthalmologist or an eye surgeon. Because my human eyes weren’t the problem. I needed to be able to see spiritual truth. I had to be able to see so well that I could see what was a threat to my body and my soul, and what wasn’t. So I… You guessed it! I made an appointment to see the Son of God!

When I got down on my knees and asked Him to accept me as one of His loyal and dedicated patients, He accepted me, gave me spiritual sight, and paid my bill! Then he put me on the Jesus healthcare plan for eternal life.

Imagine what it really means to be spiritually blind. -And not being able to see that when you’re doing something wrong it isn’t any kind of right, or not being able to see why getting into heaven is so important. …Or see what it will cost eternally if we run out of time before we sign up for Jesus’s healthcare plan for eternal life.

I was spiritually blind, but now I see! Thanks to my accepting the Jesus plan, I’m able to see what’s good or evil just fine now. Call now, and get enrolled! His prayer line is open 24/7.

God bless you. And thanks for reading!

Well, here I was, sitting in front of the keyboard with my head as empty as a new piggy bank straight out of the box. I was Just sitting and staring at the screen. Then after a short eternity it hit me. I wasn’t supposed to be just sitting and staring. I was supposed to be typing! But what?! There wasn’t any answer for my question. The silence around me was kind of spooky. I knew that blogging wasn’t supposed to work this way. But fear not, everybody. A cartoon lightbulb appeared over my head. The light didn’t light up the whole room as I expected. I think it was a forty watt bulb. But anyway, it was like God dropped off today’s blog idea to me. So I leaned forward and started typing.

You ever take notice of anyone laughing and crying at the same time? Strange, huh? I’ve seen it happen in the movies plenty of times. But I never really thought about it as being a big deal. …Not until it happened to me in church.

I represent only one man’s opinion here, but I think laughing while crying is a marvel. …Laughing while crying?

Only two things I can think of that would cause this phenomenon to happen. Hysteria or joy. -Which is the exact thing that happened to me in church. No! Not the hysteria thing. The joy thing.

I was singing a praise song to God. Not like the way we sing happy birthday. You know. Kind of without that much bounce to it. Nope. I was singing with the power of big gratitude and thankfulness that was blended with enthusiasm. I was clapping, with my eyes closed, my head was tilted up, and I was step dancing, side to side, like a choir member. Then all of a sudden… I know, I know. You’re expecting me to say “It hit me, right?” Well, when you’re right you’re right!

It felt like a charge of antigravity energy went through my head and shoulders, making me feel like I weighed less than my usual 235lbs.

I was so overwhelmed my tear ducts poured uncontrollably and I started laughing. Now ain’t that something? -A grown man laughing and crying in the middle of a crowd. Undignified huh? But I didn’t care. As long as that charge of power was in me, I could handle the stares.

I guess I’m sharing all this to get people to recognize the human phenomena we see and overlook. -To take a look at one thing concerning being human and being blessed. Being human and being loved, and so on. Yup. I know you can tell where I’m coming from.

When you can recognize how real God is, it really changes how you look at things. Here’s hoping you experience the happy joyful side of laughing and crying. Thanks for reading along!

“A Penny’s Worth”

A penny lay in plain sight on the parking lot floor.

My eyes did spy it, and my mind did implore.

“Pick it up pick it up, my mind did say.

“A penny in your pocket you may need it someday.”

So I picked up the penny and dusted it off.

I looked at its manufacture date and got ready to scoff.

However it was minted in 1926, of the rare “S” series.

It was worth $150,000, it was a king among pennies!

With tender tears I put the penny slowly into my pocket.

And quietly thanked God for making sure I was the one who got it.

The breaths we take are borrowed. The steps we take prepaid.

Our heart beats are granted one by one. Our last day on Earth delayed.

God covers all our expenses. He never misses a payment due.

All we have to do is have faith to trust His promise,

that He’ll bless us with a great eternity too.