The Day Great Grampa Disappeared – Conclusion

By the time old man Kenan’s story was over, I was finished fixing his cart, he thanked me and was on his way. I started off for Grampa’s friends house again. But, by the time I got there, Grampa had already gone.”

“Not again! Where did he go this time?” asked his son.

“We’ll get to that in just a minute. You see, Ezra’s wife had just died a few days before and he was very sad and lonely. So Grampa Enoch had spent several hours visiting with Ezra, just talking and laughing and praying. Ezra said the visit with Grampa was just what he needed and just when he needed it. He said my Grampa Enoch was the best friend any man could ever have. He also said Grampa kept telling him to put his trust in the Lord. Then he told me that Grampa said something strange about going away on a trip and that he wasn’t sure when he might be coming back.”

“Then what?” asked Lamech’s son.

“That’s all he said. I asked him where Grampa Enoch had gone. Ezra said that after a long day, Grampa liked to walk in his fields among the trees and talk with the Lord, that I should try looking for him there.

So, off I went, back to where the day started at your Grampa’s farm to the fields that were next to his home…you know, where the creek runs toward the valley where all the trees grow.

By the time I got there it was dusk, the sun was just hitting the tops of the western hills and I could see Grampa Enoch walking among the trees. I started running toward him. I had learned so much about him that day that I wanted to talk to him more than ever. Then it happened.”

“Then what happened?” asked his son.

“There was a strange cloud that formed in the open field near the grove of trees. Your great Grampa Enoch was walking toward it. It looked like he was walking with someone I hadn’t been able to see before. I called out to my Grampa. He turned, smiled and waved and then the two of them walked right into that cloud. I started to run faster to try and catch up but the cloud began to disappear. By the time I got there, the cloud was gone and so were they. I couldn’t see them anywhere. Your great Grampa Enoch and his friend were just gone!”

“Then what?” asked Lamech’s son.

“Then nothing, I never saw him again. Like I said before, it was one of the worst days of my life and one of the best.

It was one of the worst because of all the things that kept happening to me that kept me from getting to see your great Grampa. I only got a glimpse of him at the end.

It was one of the best because of all the things that I learned about the kind of man your great Grampa Enoch was. I have spent a lot of time in my life thinking about him and I have tried to be the same sort of man.

Let me tell you what I learned about him.

He was gracious, compassionate, fed those in need, gave freely, did not fear evil, was steadfast, and always, always trusted in the Lord.

Son, I want you to learn to be the same sort of man,” said Lamech.

“I will, papa,” replied his son.

“I know you will, Noah,” Lamech said. “God is faithful, just you wait and see.”

The Day Great Grampa Disappeared – Part 3

“Oh no, I didn’t, but it did slow me down by about an hour. After I finished my lunch, I headed over to Ezra’s house.

On my way, there was an old man named Kenan sitting on the side of the road with his face in his hands. One of the wheels had fallen off his cart and most of the load had fallen off too. He was just sitting there sobbing but, I was in a hurry…”

“Then what?” asked Lamech’s son.

“I started to just run on by, but then I thought to myself, ‘What would Grampa Enoch do if he were here?’”

“So what did you do?” asked his son.

“I stopped and spent a couple hours unloading the cart, getting the wheel put pack on and reloading the cart for the old man. I would have gotten it done a lot faster but he kept asking me questions about me and my family. When I told him who my Grampa was, he lit up, smiled at me, and said, ‘Let me tell you something about your Grampa Enoch you may not know. He helped me one time when no one else would. You see there was a man who owned a huge neighboring farm and he wanted my land. At first he offered to buy it but I wouldn’t sell.’”

“The old man went on excitedly, ‘Then one of my fields mysteriously caught fire. My hands and I worked for a whole day putting that fire out. My neighbor showed up that night and offered to buy my farm again. That took a lot of gall and, to top it off, he offered me less money than before.’

The old man continued his story. ‘I went to the village elders but they were afraid to deal with the problem. My neighbor was a very rich and powerful man and he had warned the elders to stay out of his business. I knew there was only one man in our area that would stand by me and who was strong enough to stand up to my wicked neighbor – that man was your Grampa Enoch. I went to talk to him about it the next day. After hearing my story, the first thing he said was ‘Let’s pray.’ As the Lord lives, that man could pray! He talked to God like they were best friends. I don’t remember all he said, but I do remember he asked the Lord for wisdom to help me. Then he thanked God for answering the prayer, like he expected the Lord to answer him right away! He had such reverence and confidence when he prayed. I have not forgotten it all these years.’”

“Then what?” asked Lamech’s son.

“I’m getting there! Hang on to your tunic! Old man Kenan then told me what your great Grampa Enoch did next.

‘He gathered up some of his farm hands and, along with my farm hands, set a watch over my land for several nights. They would work the farms during the day and then watch over them by night. This went on for almost a week. One night they saw some men sneaking onto my land and watched as they tried to steal my sheep.

Your Grampa and his friends caught the thieves red handed’, old man Kenan said. ‘They tied the trouble makers up and put them in this very ox cart for safe keeping while they settled the sheep back down for the night.’

Old man Kenan continued his story, ‘Your Grampa Enoch got the thieves to confess what they had done and who had hired them to steal my sheep. We then took the thieves to the elders of the neighboring village. My evil neighbor was already there, boasting about how he was going to buy some additional land soon. When we showed up, his face went pale. Your Grampa Enoch was well known to the elders of the other village, so they were eager to listen to him. When your Grampa laid out the case against the evil man he became so enraged that they had to physically restrain him. The elders heard all the witnesses, found my neighbor guilty, put him in prison and seized all of his property.

Your Grampa Enoch was a steadfast friend if ever there was one. Whenever I started to get nervous about the situation he would say to me ‘The Lord is faithful, just you wait and see!’

The Day Great Grampa Disappeared – Part 2

‘Ha, ha, ha, do you know where my great Grampa is?’

“Still chuckling he said, ‘There is a family nearby who are suffering because they were too sick to harvest on time. They have also been hit hard by some sort of blight. In addition to the grain and seed, your Grampa Enoch is taking over a few farm hands to help harvest what they can and to teach the neighbor how to avoid the blight next year.’”

“I thought that was unusual, but the foreman said, ‘Let me tell you something about your Grampa Enoch you may not know. He does that sort of thing all the time. He is always very generous with his neighbors. He says that is why the Lord has given him so much. He believes God wants him to care for others and, well, he always wants to obey the Lord.’”

“Well that made me stop and think for just a moment. But, it still frustrated me because I really wanted to find him.”

“So, I asked Samuel where he was now. He told me your great grampa Enoch had gone into town to arrange the details of helping another family that had been completely wiped out by a fire. He was going to meet with the village elders to put together a group of people to rebuild the house and barn for them. He was going to pay for the wood and other materials, but he wanted others to pitch in with labor and other things.”

“Wow, Pop! Was he always that generous?”

Lamech touched his son’s head. “Samuel said he was. I was beginning to learn that it was just the way he was. I never really noticed before, but later on I remembered some things he said, like the Lord had blessed him so that he could bless others. He also said that is what the Lord would have him to do. And he always wanted to obey.”

Lamech’s son thought about it for a minute and then looked at his father and said, “So what did you do next?”

Lamech smiled. “What could I do? I had questions I needed to ask your Great Grampa. So I headed back to the village to see if I could catch up with him there.

But, by the time I got there, he had already done his business and left. I managed to speak to the elder who was a friend of my family and he said to me, ‘Let me tell you something about your Grampa Enoch you may not know. Today, he helped us deal with a very difficult situation. Two members of our village were very angry with each other. There was name calling and a lot of accusations of cheating and lying flying back and forth. It was very tense. He took each one aside separately and then talked with both of them together. By the time he was done with them, they had settled their differences and were both smiling and laughing. They even walked away together. Then your Grampa Enoch said farewell, too, and went on his way. It was amazing!’

I asked him where Grampa had gone. He told me he was going to go have lunch with his friend, Ezra, on the other side of the village. I was just about to head over to Ezra’s house when my sister, Naomi, told me Mother wanted me home to take care of some more chores and eat lunch. My hunt for your Great Grampa would have to wait.”

Lamech’s son jumped up and said, “Didn’t you tell her you had some real important questions for Great Grampa Enoch, and you needed to go see him first?”

Lamech chuckled. “I tried to, but she told me mother was not going to take no for an answer and you know your Grandmother Lois. She can be very persuasive when she wants to be, especially with her children. I didn’t dare disobey her, so I went home.”

It was his son’s turn to laugh. “You’re right; I remember a time when I tried to do something different than the way Grandmother Lois wanted it. She wouldn’t let me get away with it. She kept after me until I did it her way.”

“That’s your Grandmother! So you see, I went home for lunch.”

“You didn’t give up then, did you?” his son asked impatiently.

“Oh no, I didn’t, but it did slow me down by about an hour. After I finished my lunch, I headed over to Ezra’s house.

Here’s A Scene-Writing Exercise You Should Try – Jennifer Blanchard

Ah! A guest poster on a guest post! But, seriously, adding structure to your scenes is a great way to build your novel successfully.

Note: This is a guest post from my client, Stephanie Raffelock, a novelist and blogger. Enjoy!–jen If I possess the virtue of patience, even a little bit, it is deeply hidden under mounds of enthusiasm that doesn’t want to wait around for anything. But recently, I’ve had an epiphany of sorts that has brought me […]

Source: Here’s A Scene-Writing Exercise You Should Try – Jennifer Blanchard

4 Ways to Choose the Right Story Setting – Helping Writers Become Authors

Choosing the right setting is a key factor in pulling your readers into your story.

The Day Great Grampa Disappeared – Part 1

I am going to rerun some of my older stories from my collection of stories. Here is the first one in my book “The Kid Inside Bible Stories.” You can find it on Amazon if you’d like to read them all.

The Day Great Grampa Disappeared

Genesis 5:23-24 Enoch lived 365 years in all. He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life. Then suddenly, he disappeared because God took him.

“Oh, yes, I remember trying to find your great Grampa Enoch that day.” Lamech laughed and leaned back on the bench against the shade tree in his yard. “I remember it just like it was yesterday. Wow! It was one of the worst days of my life, and one of the best.”

“It was such a beautiful crisp, cool morning. I could smell fall in the air with fog still hanging in the trees. It made me feel so good I decided to run all the way to his house. I ran as hard as I could. I ran so fast the wind was blowing my hair back, and then…”

“Then what?” asked Lamech’s son.

“I broke a strap on my sandal, went flying head over heels, and landed flat on my face in an ant hill. I got up so fast those ants couldn’t get on me, but then I had to hop on one foot to get away from them. I sat down on a log and tied the strap back on. While I was doing that, I realized my knee was bleeding. I wiped it off with some grass and dry leaves, and then headed off to great Grampa Enoch’s house.”

“When I got there I knocked on the door until Hannah (she was Great Grampa’s housekeeper) answered the door. She took one look at me and said, ‘What happened to you?’”

“Oh, I was running and fell down. Is Grampa Enoch here?”

“No, he went out early this morning.”

“What? No! I wanted to talk to him about something very important and…well…he’s always here when I need to talk to him.”

Lamech chuckled, remembering his childish response.

“Well, Hannah just laughed at me and said, ‘Lamech, you’ve never been here quite so early. Let me tell you something about your Grampa Enoch you may not know. He always takes a walk down to the fields first thing in the morning. He tells me that he is walking and talking with the Lord. I know he does that, but I also think he likes to be by himself for a while before the day gets started. He is always so thoughtful and joyful when he comes home after that. But today, he said he won’t be coming home after his walk and not to make dinner for him tonight.’

That made me concerned because he never missed dinner. Something really special must be going on.”

Lamech’s son looked at his father and said, “What did you say next?”

“What did I say? I said…oh, right I asked. ‘Where is he going after his walk today?’”

“Then Hannah told me he was headed to the barns to talk over the day’s business with his foreman.”

“Well, I had my own chores to do, so I had to run back home, being very careful about my broken sandal strap. When I got there, your Grandmother Lois saw my knee and insisted on washing and bandaging it. She fussed and told me to be more careful and took a long time doing so.”

“Then, I did my chores as fast as I could and ran off to your great Grampa Enoch’s barns to look for him. I was going along pretty good when I saw a honey tree. I decided to stop for a minute and get a taste of the honey, but as soon as I stuck my hand in the hole…”

“What?” asked Lamech’s son.

“About a hundred bees came roaring out of the tree and chased me as I ran down the road. I ran even faster than I did earlier in the day. I had to jump into a pond and wait for them to go away!”

“Ha! That’s funny Pop, did you get any honey after all of that?”

“Well, I did get a small handful of honey, but I also got stung about eight times. That honey cost me a lot of pain, but it sure tasted good.”

“I’ll bet it did. Did you go home then?” asked his son.

“No, I kept going, but when I got to your great Grampa Enoch’s barns, I couldn’t find him anywhere, so I looked for his foreman, Samuel. He was busy ordering the farm hands to send some grain and seed to a neighbor.

When he saw me, he started laughing. I said, ‘What are you laughing at?’

“He said, ‘Between the drowned rat look, the bandage hanging around your ankle, and those bee stings on your face, you look awful funny.’”

Interview: Reading habits and the Classics with Bestselling Author KM Weiland

A fascinating interview with one of my favorite authors.

The Writing Train: Join the locomotion

WELCOME

TO THE

WRITING TRAIN

When you read a book, what do your eyes see? What do they perceive?

Writers extend to virtually every corner of the earth; east, west, south, north and arguably are the most fascinating people on the planet. Well if you ask me, they are the most fascinating people on the planet. It’s no great secret that I take great joy in interviewing them. To discover and share in their craft, learn how they tick, or don’t. Fascinating indeed.

I had a crazy thought of interviewing writers from a completely different perspective. Most writers began their journey as readers so why not get a view into this experience?  So here it is, the Forensic Lenses series. An investigative and exploratory approach into the minds of your favorite authors.

FORENSIC LENSES

SERIES

Do you–follow the reader?

I do…

Her name is KM Weiland.

Welcome Kate!

K.M…

View original post 1,459 more words

Speculative Fiction

Some excellent thoughts on the speculative fiction genre and people of faith.

Faith & Fantasy Alliance

by Tosca Lee

The inherent “what if” at the heart of any story (What if a promising lawyer took a job with a law firm—only to learn it was run by the mob?) ventures beyond the everyday plausible with speculative fiction. What if the rapture happened to passengers riding on a commercial airplane? (Left Behind) What if a modern-day woman touched a magic stone and went back in time to 18th Century Scotland? (Outlander) What if a vampire had an existential crisis? (Interview With the Vampire).

View original post 1,174 more words

Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 52: Stagnant Story Conflict – Helping Writers Become Authors

Getting real story conflict that matters to the readers is critical and too many writers get it wrong.

Too many authors write story conflict that isn’t so much conflict as a delaying tactic to fill their books. Learn how to fix this problem before it starts!

Source: Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 52: Stagnant Story Conflict – Helping Writers Become Authors