Category: hope

Phrase Forge Project- Noah’s Story

Victoria Upton Upton
Bible 10
Phrase-Forge Project
Noah was a great man full of wisdom and discernment. He was the only person who trusted in God with all his heart at that time. He had three sons and a wife. However, it took a great deal of trials and tribulations for Noah to get to this point. When he was younger, his faith in God made him incredibly disliked by his people. He was mocked and constantly made fun of. Therefore, he fell away from God because he was not willing to endure the mockery of his fellow people.
Soon after, he went through a great deal of loss within his family. He lost most of his possessions and his family soon became deathly ill. When this happened, he realized that he couldn’t live his life without the power and mercy of God. Once he repented, God opened a door for Noah to become a carpenter. He worked as a carpenter until his old age. God also granted him fertile soil to be able to plant and grow his own crops for his family and nurse them back to health. Continue reading →

DAUGHTER OF A LUNATIC

by – Kara Richter

I was fifteen. I was engaged. I had no idea what lay ahead of me. My
engagement would save my life.
Japheth was everything I had ever wanted in a husband. He was kind and faithful, strong and handsome, he loved The Lord. When he asked me to marry him, there was no question. Of course I would! We were so in love. About six months into our marriage, my father-in-law, Noah, said that God had spoken to him. He told us that God was going to destroy all of mankind with water from the sky. He said that God wanted him to build a giant boat. I must confess, I believed Noah to be slightly unhinged. I wasn’t the only one.
Noah’s humongous building project wasn’t very inconspicuous. People noticed.
When the story that God was going to send water from the sky to flood the earth got out, people talked. People laughed. People jeered. People told Noah that he was crazy. “Water from the sky to kill us all? What nonsense!” “Why don’t you build wings and fly away!” They called him names. “Freak” “drunk” “possessed” “lunatic”, he wasn’t deterred. The insults didn’t stop there, Japheth and his brothers, Shem and Ham got taunted as well. I did too. “You dirty little tramp! Do you actually believe him?” How being Noah’s daughter-in-law made me a tramp, I have no idea. “God must really hate you.” “Daughter of a lunatic!” I believed Noah. I didn’t mind the insults, as long as they were verbal.

Continue reading →

In the Mirror-part 5

The two girls ran and looked with awe at everything in the forest. They were so tired that they finally took a break. They climbed the nearest tree and sat in its high branches. Their eyelids had just closed, when they heard a twig snap. In a millisecond they reopened and looked around, instantly alert.  A twig rustling in the corner of Adel’s eye caught her attention and her head turned in the direction of the noise. A girl about her age came out of the bushes. She looked about the same as them, except her skin was a light shade of brown. Catalina and Adel both froze in terror.

The Indian girl motioned for them to follow her, and being as stunned as they were, they obeyed. The girl started to scamper silently through the forest. Adel and Catalina had to run after her, and the noise was loud enough to wake the dead. Continue reading →

In the Mirror-part 2

I was startled and my mouth went dry. I tried to speak, but my vocal chords decided to be stubborn and do nothing. I sat their like a deranged seal with my mouth hanging open until Mr. Chanon finally spoke. “So you’re really here. It took you long enough. I thought you would have already time traveled before, but I guess from the way you’re staring at me, you haven’t.” “Done what now?” “Time traveled of course. You’re a time traveler.” Mr. Chanon said this like it was nothing. “But how can I be?”, I asked really confused. “Let me ask you a question.” said Mr. Chanon, not even waiting for my consent. “What’s your favorite subject in school?” “History.” I answered quickly. “But that doesn’t mean I’m a time traveler, does it?” “If you don’t believe it, how are you here?” Mr. Chanon asked calmly. “I don’t know. It’s gotta be a dream.” I reasoned with myself. “Well, I’m having the same dream then.” Mr. Chanon said. Continue reading →

The Cross

Here I am. Sitting in a cold cell. With no other choice than to await my death. As I sit, I float into sleep. When I open my eyes, my home is before me. My daughter stands at the door waving to me as I walk up. When I reach her, I see her face is filled with happiness. This scene fades and horrible images come next. Me, on the path, my daughter, not being at the door, but dragged away by soldiers. My heart become stone, filled with hatred towards the Romans. I seek revenge. Fighting back is the only option I see. I do it. This goes on for several years until I get captured. Continue reading →

The Winter of my Life

I had a dream…
I was in the winter of my life, and the special people I met along the way were my only summer. During the day, I had visions of myself dancing and laughing and crying with them. Three years down the line of being on an endless road, I realized that my memories of them were the only thing that sustained me and my only real happy times.
I was just a girl. Not a very popular one. I once desired becoming more than that, but upon an unfortunate series of events I saw those dreams dash and divide like a million stars in the night sky. That I wished on. Over and over again. Sparkling and broken. But I didn’t really mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted and then losing it to know what true freedom is. People I used to know found out what I’d been doing; how I’d been living. But I realized there’s no use in talking to people who have a home. They have no idea what it is like to seek safety in other people; for home to be wherever you lie your head. Continue reading →

The Promise

Author – Emily T.

A long time ago, in the land of saints and sinners, there lived a man like no other . It was said that he could heal the blind and make lame men walk. It was also said that he could even bring people back from the dead. Some believed that he was the son of God. His name was Jesus. There was also a man named Jarius. Jarius was an important man, for he was the ruler of a synagogue. He had a pretty good life. He had a wife, a daughter, and a nice home as well. One day his daughter got sick, and so he went to his synagogue to pray. As he was coming home, he saw a crowd. In the middle of the crowd was a man he had never seen before.  It wasn’t that the man was ugly or alien. He had a look similar to others. Yet, there was something about him. Maybe it was the way his eyes shined with love, or maybe it was the warmth that radiated from him, or it could have been the feeling that the man gave him; the feeling that everything would be all right.  Jairus didn’t want to simply pass him by, but he knew he had to get home. Reluctantly, he left the crowd and walked toward his house. As soon as he got there, he could feel that something wasn’t right. His wife confirmed his premonition when she ran out of the house, face red and wet, tears flowing from eyes streaked with sorrow. He ran to her and enveloped her in a protective embrace. “What is wrong he asked?” “M…M…Maria is d…d..dead. Continue reading →

Dreaming

I dream of silent days and

I dream of peacful nights.

I dream of rambling rivers and

I dream of eagles flight.

I dream of desert days and

I dream of drier nights.

I dream of peaceful memories and

I dream of no more fright.

I dream of love that's lasting and

I dream of love that's sweet.

I dream of hearing laughter and

I dream of dreamless sleep.

The Demoniac

​Without doubt you’ll never guess who I was. I was mentioned in the gospels and Jesus completely revolutionized my life, but my name was never mentioned. I will say this though. When Jesus met me I was probably more in need of his help and a miracle in my life than anyone else in the entire Bible. I was certainly the grungiest and most disgusting looking. I was completely naked, unshaven, covered with slime, and prone to shrieking uncontrollably, and cut myself with rocks. You’ve probably figured it out now. Yeah, that was me, the demoniac. I was completely filled with demons when Jesus found me. I was the kind of person that people avoided. Well, I lived in a cemetery. My family and everyone in the cities had driven me out of town because of my violence and uncontrollable behavior. They had even tried unsuccessfully the shackle me with chains more than once. It didn’t matter. I just broke them all. I don’t even remember how it all started. Well, not exactly. All I know is that I loved to go to the various temples of Diana that were located in the Decapolis. Each time I betrayed my family and secretly went to worship at these temples I would begin to feel strange urges and conflicting desires within me. They would go away eventually, but I noticed, along with my wife, that I was getting a temper and becoming violent. The priestesses at the temple never told me what was happening. Others weren’t affected. Over time, I noticed that I was getting worse and worse. I would hear voices in my head and sometimes I would lose control of myself. Continue reading →

My Big Brother

             As I sat in my room and let the tears pour, I felt hatred. I felt like my insides were going to explode. All I wanted to do was make them pay. How could they do this? Why would they? All he ever did was for the glory of God, his father, and God’s people. He only ever listened to his heavenly father. Why would his father whom he loved and served greatly do this to him? Why would he sit there and watch him die? I began to feel hatred towards God as well. As the hatred began to grow, my mind raced to the time when I was a child.  When I was little I always watched him in the kitchen.  He helped my mom with the dishes and the laundry. He was always trying to help my father when it came to carpentry. And most of all, he was making sure that his true father was first. Sometimes I would be mad at him. Why? I thought he was too much of a rule follower. The problem was that he was perfect. It made me feel useless, like I was unimportant. In the end I looked up to him for everything. He was the one who encouraged me to be a better person.  A knock at the door makes me jump out of my thoughts. I hurried to wipe the tears from my face. Continue reading →