F.Y.I.

I just thought that I would tell you all that I have decided to change this blog's name to: The Story Girl! Hope you all don't mind =D Have a great day!

 

The Warning

   The 

Warning

    Hello there! My name is Scott Denton and today I have a story to tell you; but this isn’t just an ordinary story, this is the story about how my life changed in a matter of minutes. And this is how it all began…

~

“Hey Scott!” hollered Lewis Cross from across the sidewalk, he ran over to me and grabbed my shoulder to keep him up from running so hard.

“So, are you…coming…or not?” he asked gasping for breath.

“I don’t know,” I said reluctantly, “What if old Mr. Douglass catches us on his private property?”

“He won’t!” Lewis said, “That old grouch is always cooped up in that old trailer of his!”

“Well, I don’t know,” I said, “who else is going?”

“Oh just Hector, Noah, and Aaron.” Lewis replied.

I signed, “All right I’ll go, but if we get caught I’m blaming it on you since it was your idea and all.”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “Whatever! We won’t get caught we never do!” He said with a smile, “besides it’s going to be fun.”

~

I stood on my front porch dreading what I was about to do in a few moments, Lewis and his buddies were going to meet me on their bikes and then we were going to sneak onto Mr. Douglass’s property to catch some rattlesnakes that Lewis had supposedly seen on the property.  we were going to capture them and sell them to this guy Lewis knew about that would give a pretty penny for some snake skins.

“What am I thinking?” I thought to myself, “One of us could get seriously hurt or worse! Rattlesnakes are poisonous, I know Lewis said he has some thick gloves that we were going to wear, and we all had been instructed to wear rubber boots so we wouldn’t be able to be bitten on the leg.”

“I hate high school!” I muttered to him, “All of a sudden I’m trying to fit in with the crowd and doing stupid stuff just to have some popular friends.”

I kicked a pebble across the road, “and mom would kill me if she knew what I was doing.”
 A few minutes later Lewis and his friends showed up on their bikes, “You ready Scott?” Lewis asked.

“Ya, I guess,” I muttered beneath my breath.

“You look a little hesitant,” Hector said.
‘ Ya, well maybe we shouldn’t go! I mean someone could get bitten.” I said with my eyes to the ground.

Lewis laughed out loud.

“You chicken Scott?” Noah asked with a smirk on his face.

“Chicken, chicken!” Aaron started chanting until they all joined in.

“No, I’m not!” I said firmly, “I’m coming, I was just being cautious is all.”

The boys smirked.

“Well then get your bike and come on!” Lewis hollered before he started pedaling down the road.

~

When we got to Mr. Douglass’s fence there was warning signs all over. My eyes roamed all over the many warnings.

DO NOT ENTER

WARNING: Dangerous territory

PRIVatE PROPERY

“UH, guys, look at the…” I started to say but when I looked up I saw that the others had already crawled under the fence and were walking away not even noticing the signs.

I sighed and then took off after them.

~

I looked around carefully and tried to walk as quietly as I could in the dense woods.

“The nest is right ahead,” Lewis whispered, “You got the bag Aaron?”
“ Ya,” he whispered back.

“Ok, I brought these things to catch them with!” Lewis said.

I looked at the four long stick things with a claw at the end of them.

“Are you sure that’s what you’re supposed to use?” I asked, “It looks like those pooper scooper things you can get at Wal-Mart, or those things that people pick up garbage off the side of the road with.”

Lewis gave me a hard glare and growled, ‘I saw them use this on TV to capture snakes and I DIDN’T GET IT AT WAL-MART!”
“ Whoa!” I said backing up, “No reason to get angry, “But um… where did you get it?” I asked with a smile.

“None of your business!” He screamed.

Aaron & Noah snickered, and Hector butted in, “I saw him get them at Target,” He said laughing.

I grinned and was about to laugh when Lewis stomped off and said over his shoulder, “You better learn to keep your mouth shut Hector!”

  After a few minutes we found the rattlesnake’s nest, it actually wasn’t that hard since you could already here their rattlers.

“What now?” Noah asked.

“We get them!” Lewis said with a cocky grin on his face, “Scott would you like to have the honor of capturing the first one?”

I gulped, “Well I…”

“I’ll take that as a yes!” He said shoving the bag in my arms and gave me the claw thing.

“But how do I…” Suddenly my voice was cut off from a loud gunshot in the distance.

Before I knew what happened I heard Aaron scream in pain and drop to the floor, Lewis started running, and my first instinct was to duck. I heard another scream from Noah and I looked up to see him a few feet away holding his leg that was bleeding.

I laid there on the ground my heart-thumping and head pounding. I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t know what to do.

I heard footsteps a few feet to my right, looking around I saw Mr. Douglass with a shotgun in his hand and a shocked expression on his face, “What have I done?” He screamed collapsing on the ground, “I thought it was an animal! Oh Lord, what have I done?” He yelled tears falling down his cheeks. I tried to crawl away as fast as I could my body shaking in fright. I started running. I heard a hiss and then a sharp pain in my leg, I screamed in pain, but kept running. I didn’t know where I was going but I had to get away, I had to get help.

~

I opened my eyes and heard the faint noise of beeping, I looked around  and saw that I was lying in a hospital bed; my mom and dad were sitting asleep in a chair in the room’s corner. My leg still throbbed in pain.

“What happened?” I whispered, “Where am I?”
And then I remembered the awful scene that I had witnessed.  I remember running, and running until I got to my house and then collapsing on the front porch.

“Mom?” I said loud enough for her to hear me, “dad?”

They stirred and then woke up.

My mom jumped up and ran to me, “Oh Scott!” She said tears rolling down her eyes, “I was so worried! How are you feeling? How is your leg?”

“What…what happened?” I asked, “Where are all of the other boys?”

My mom reached out and patted my hand more tears coming into her eyes.

I tried to sit up but it hurt to bad, “What? Where are Aaron, and Noah, and what about Lewis?”

“Scott,” My dad said softly, “How about you lay down for a few minutes and rest.”
“No!” I screamed, “What’s going on?”

My dad sighed, “Scott do you remember anything about what actually happened in the woods?”

I shook my head, “No not much.”
“ Scott I don’t know what you guys were doing out there but I know this -you should have never been there!”

“I know, I know!” I said, “I tried to tell them to listen to the warning signs but they didn’t!”

My dad sighed, “You could have listened.”

I put my head down in shame, “I know, I’m sorry! But can you please tell me what happened?”

 “Well… Mr. Douglass was out on his property hunting when he saw you boys out there; well let’s say he didn’t know it was you. He has bad eyesight and the woods are thick out there and he thought you boys were deer and…”

“He didn’t shoot someone did he?” I asked eyes wide, “Please tell me the others are OK, please tell me…”
“Scott,” my dad said tears beginning to form, “Aaron was shot in the back, he died before we could even get him to the hospital, and Noah got shot in the leg… it had to be amputated.”

I laid back on my pillows the tears flowing down my cheeks, “and Lewis?”

“He got scared by the gunshots and ran but he… he fell unto some rattlesnakes and got bitten various times. He’s… he’s gone too.”

“But, how?...why?... Why am I still here? Why am I not dead?”

“You only got bit by one snake, your wound was bad but you’re going to make it just fine.”

Tears fell down so rapidly I could barely see.

“Why, couldn’t I have died too? It’s not fair that all of those boys got killed, besides Noah who now he doesn’t have a leg! How can he live like that? Why did I turn out Ok? Why…”

“Scott!” My mom said, “Please don’t talk like that, God let you live. And I am so glad that He did.”

“Well I’m not!” I screamed, “The man who killed my friends is going to pay! He’s going to…”

“Scott,” my dad whispered sadness filling his eyes; “Mr. Douglass didn’t mean to kill them! He didn’t know. He tried to keep them away by putting up warning signs but you guys didn’t listen!”
“ Still, I…”

“Scott, you’ve been unconscious for four days. And in that time…well… Mr. Douglass has committed suicide. He blamed himself for the accident.”

I looked up at the ceiling and wished that I would die right there and then for I wouldn’t have to live with those memories haunting me. But at that time I didn’t know that God had something else planned for me…

~

4 weeks later

“Hey there Scottie!” My Grandpa hollered at me from his rocking chair on his front porch.

I waved and smiled.

My Grandpa was probably my favorite person on the planet; I hadn’t seen him for a while so I decided to come visit him for the day.

“Hey Grandpa, haven’t seen you for awhile.” I said cheerfully, I hadn’t smiled much since the accident but Grandpa always had a way of making a person cheerful.

“Yes sireee! Haven’t seen you in 4 weeks to be exact!”

“Ya, I guess that’s about right,” I said.

I walked up onto his front porch and sat down next to his rocker.

“How are you doing?” Grandpa asked quietly.

“Uh…not so good,” I said bluntly looking at the ground.

“Want to talk about it?”

“No, not really.” I said.

“Well, I feel like I should talk about something to you.” Grandpa said, “You know this accident made me think about something; I was thinking about what a good opportunity it is for me to tell you about God and…”
“OH Grandpa!” I said holding up my hands in protest I really don’t want to hear about your religion again! I’ve heard it already!”
“ Scott, won’t you at least hear what I have to say!?!” Grandpa asked, his eyes pleading.

“All right,” I said sighing.

“First off Scott don’t you ever think about how blessed you are to still be alive? Don’t you think there is a reason?”

“Uh first off I was just lucky, and you know what!?! I wish I had died, because every day now those horrible memories flood my mind! I’m miserable.” I said tears about ready to fall down my cheeks.

“I know you’re miserable Scott, but it doesn’t have to be that way!” Grandpa said.

“Grandpa I…”

“Just let me finish, please!?!”

“Fine,” I said blowing out my breath, “I guess it won’t hurt.”

~

“Scott remember those warning signs that you and your friends saw on Mr. Douglas’s property?” My grandpa asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Well you know what those warning signs remind me of? They remind me of people like me- Christians. Who are trying to tell others about Jesus and about the penalty of sin which is Hell! And just like you and your friends ignored those warning signs, so are so many lost sinners ignoring the Warning that we are giving them about sin and its penalty. And while so many people think that they have all the time in the world to live the way they want and to sin against God without getting punished, they are wrong! Just like how you and your friends ignored the warning signs, you didn’t think you get caught or hurt, but what happened?”

“We got caught…and hurt.” I said choking.

“Yes and it cost you a terrible price! But an even more terrible thing than getting bit by a rattlesnake or shot because you ignored a warning, would be to ignore the warning God’s people are giving you and then to die and spend eternity in Hell! It would be far, far worse.” My grandpa said tears in his eyes.

I could feel tears in my eyes threatening to spill.

“And the thing is Scottie,” he said choking up, “I don’t think you’ve listened to my warnings, and if you had died in the woods that day… I just… I just would have never forgiven myself.” He said breaking in to a sob, “I want you to know Scott that I love you and Jesus does too!”

Tears began to block my vision and my body began to tremble, “Thanks grandpa, I love you too!” I said running up to him and embraced him in a hug, I didn’t care if I was 16, I truly loved My Grandpa and I wasn’t ashamed to show it. “Grandpa, do you think that God would really forgive me and save me after all I’ve done?”

“Yes!” He said with a wide grin, “Yes Scottie, he will.”

~

And that’s the story of how my life changed, and now even though it’s hard to believe, by God’s grace I am a preacher of a Baptist Church and have a beautiful family. You see I’m so glad my grandpa told me how to be saved, and even though I wanted to die after that accident, I believe that God kept me alive for a purpose!

   And Let me tell you if you are a Christian to keep on telling others about Jesus and how they can escape Hell. Because while some people might not listen to your Warning some people might. Because even though I didn’t listen to Mr. Douglass’s warning, I listened to my grandpa’s and that was the most important Warning a person can ever listen to.

Always remember…

ONE WARNING CAN CHANGE A PERSON’S LIFE.

Clair Bridge Character Quiz

Guess what guys!?! Yep, you got it right, I'm having another quiz! You all seem to really like them so... Let's begin!

 

Q.1 What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?

A. You love to read, write, and play the piano.

B. You love to bake, cook, and you also love playing with animals.

C. You love photography, volley-ball, and you love to be with your loved ones.

D. You love to hang out with friends, watch your favorite T.V. shows, and play Video Games.

 

Q.2 What do you think about school?

A. You really don't care about it. You don't like or dislike school.

B. You HATE school! It's like the worst thing to you.

C. You like school just because you get to see your friends, but you would prefer to home-school.

D. You LOVE school! It's like the best thing on earth.

 

Q.3 What would you say is your greatest quality?

A. Your talents; playing the piano, writing,...

B. Your amazing sense of humor, and outgoing personality.

C.  Your willingness to help others.

D. Your good looks.

 

Q.4 What would you do if you were cornered by a bully at school?

A. Try to ignore him and get away peacefully.

B. Challenge him, and show him who's boss! You aren't going to let no bully push you around!

C. Back down, and let him bully you.

D. Plot out an unfair revenge, and get him into major trouble.

 

Q.5 What is your biggest pet peeve?

A. When people are uncaring and selfish.

B. When people act like a total jerk, trying to impress others.

C. You really don't notice Small things about people because you are always trying to look for the good things in them.

D. When people are demanding and bossy.

 

Q.6 What is your favorite animal?

A. Cats.

B. Horses.

C. Dogs.

D. You don't really like animals, because you are allergic to them.

 

Q.7 What do you struggle with the most spiritually?

A. Forgiveness

B. Patience

C. Faith

D. Obedience

And now for the results... 

 

If you answered mostly A's you are: Clair Bridge

 

If you answered mostly B's you are: Nichole Winters ( This is who I am =)

 

If you answered mostly C's you are: Victoria Stanley

 

If you answered mostly D's your are: Dianna Collins

I hope you enjoyed this Quiz! Please comment and tell me who you are! 

To get to know more about these characters read my book: CLAIR BRIDGE

A life worth Loving

A life worth loving

A Valentine’s Day story

“I hate my life!” screamed Valerie throwing her piano’s sheet music against the wall in frustration, “I hate it! Hate it! Hate it!” she screamed.

Valerie’s mom, Mrs. Branson ran down the stairs, “Valerie! Why are you screaming? Settle down!”

“I can’t!” screamed Valerie tears running down her grey eyes, “I hate my life!” she said again sliding to the floor.

“Oh, Honey!” said Mrs. Branson, “Please don’t say that! Please don’t! You should be thankful for your life. You should be thanking God that you still are alive.”

Valerie looked up her, eyes full of hatred, “I wish he would have let me die!”

~

When Valerie Branson was six months old her father dropped her on her head. All of the doctors said that she would surely die from the serious concussion that the baby Valerie had. But they were wrong, Valerie survived, but she would be blind for the rest of her life! The concussion had robbed her of her vision for life. Mrs. Branson never forgave her husband for accidently dropping her only child, after the dramatic event she had tried to file a divorce but her husband did not consent knowing that divorce was wrong and because he still loved his wife with all his heart. But yet Mrs. Branson still held deep bitterness towards her husband. Valerie was now fifteen years old and was as miserable as could be. She hated her life; she wanted to be able to see! She blamed God for taking her sight away and she was bitter at everyone around her. Her parents were trying to get her to learn piano but Valerie would have outbursts of anger every time she missed a note and couldn’t figure out her piece. She was making her life miserable as long as her parent’s life also. The Branson’s were living a life without love.

~

“Valerie, I was looking online the other day and I found this lady who helps the blind.” Mrs. Branson was telling her daughter, “She seems like a very lovely lady, and she also teaches piano! I was thinking that it would be great if she could come meet you and maybe help you.”

“Help me!” screamed Valerie, “what do you mean help me? Am I not good enough for you? What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” said Mrs. Branson, “it’s just that I was thinking that you could use the company.”
“ I have you!”

“Yes, but I work and so does your father!” said Mrs. Branson.

“I don’t want no help!” said Valerie firmly, “Just stay out of my life.”

I will stay in your life!” said Mrs. Branson firmly, “I have already asked this kind lady to come! Her name is Eloise Glacier.”

“I hate you!” screamed Valerie, “You always have to go and make things worse for me!”

Valerie stomped up the stairs and locked herself in her room.

Mrs. Branson still sat where she had been sitting tears rolling down her eyes, Oh how hard it was to hear her daughter tell her she hated her. Something needed to happen with Valerie! Maybe, just maybe this Eloise lady could help.

~

“Hello dear! You must be Valerie; who I have heard so much about!” said Miss Eloise the day she arrived a few days later.

 Valerie stood in front of the lady a frown on her face, and her arms crossed, “hello.” Valerie said drawing out each syllable in a nasty tone.

“Valerie that is not the way you introduce yourself!” said Mr. Branson gently but firm.

Valerie stood still and did not utter a word.

Miss Eloise smiled, “well I will enjoy working with you! Should we start by doing a piano lesson?”

~

“I can’t do it!” screamed Valerie at Miss Eloise who was reviewing a song they had been going over.

“Your right,” said Miss Eloise flatly.

Valerie’s head shot back in surprise, she had never heard that response before. Usually people told her that she could do it, and felt sorry for her.

“What did you just say?” asked Valerie.

“I said “Your right”

“How dare you…” started Valerie.

“I said you are right because you cannot do it!” said Miss Eloise interrupting Valerie, “you can’t do it with that attitude! Of course it is possible for you to do it, but only if you let God do it through you! None of us can accomplish anything without God doing it through us.”

Valerie stiffened, “I don’t believe that God will help me.”
“ Well I do!” stated Miss Eloise, “He will help you if you ask him to!”
“ God doesn’t help blind people do amazing things!”

“Oh, yes he does!” said Miss Eloise in a firm voice.

“Prove it!” said Valerie with her hands on her hips.

“Well, I know a man, his name is Kurt Labouve. He is an amazing pianist, he writes his own music and then plays it, and he also sings! He is truly an amazing man!”
“So,” said Valerie, “I have heard of lots of great pianists, what makes him so special?”

“He is blind,” said Miss Eloise, “and all of his music is glorifying to God! He does it all for God, because God gave him his talent. He wouldn’t be able to do what he does without God doing it through him.”

Valerie sat in silence, “why do you help the blind if you are not blind?” asked Valerie after a few moments.

Miss Eloise looked down in surprise, “well… I guess it is because when I was a little girl, I had a brother. When I was nine and he was five we were climbing a tree. He did something to make me mad and I… I pushed him! He fell out of the tree onto the ground hard.” tears came into Miss Eloise’s eyes, “I thought he was dead, but he lived. But he was blind. I always blamed myself and lived with guilt and regret. Many years later my brother killed himself. He killed himself because he hated his life. He hated having to live without being able to see. At first I blamed myself, but then I realized that I could help other people like I could have helped my brother. I could show them how beautiful life really was. Life is beautiful; God put us all on this world to live, and to love the life he had given us.”

“You don’t understand! You aren’t blind!” said Valerie.

“Your right,” said Miss Eloise said, “I don’t know what it is like to be blind. But I still know that your life is precious, if you want to be. You can also make other people’s life precious. But if you don’t love life you aren’t going to have a good one!’

After a pause Miss Eloise said, “Think of a piano piece for instance, “said Miss Eloise, “Let’s say you have to do a piano piece for a recital and then all of a sudden you miss one of the notes, what do you do? You have two choices- either keep on playing the piece or stop playing. If you finish the piece people will not remember that little missed note, they will remember how you kept on going! But if you stop going there is nothing for the people to be blessed by!”
Valerie sat in silence, “I guess that kind of makes sense,” Said Valerie, “But…” Valerie looked up at Miss Eloise with tears in her eyes, “How does God use me to be a blessing to others? How will he make me love life when I don’t?”
“ Valerie “said Miss Eloise softly “Have you ever trusted God as your savior?”
“ No, I never really felt like God could do anything good for me. He took my sight away, why then would he want to comfort and help me?”
“ Valerie, if you give your heart to God, I know he will give you peace, and I know he will give you a love for life!”

“You really think so?” asked Valerie.

“No, I know so!” said Miss Eloise with a smile.

~

A few days later Valerie accepted Christ into her heart to be her Savior! Instant joy filled her, and she began to see how wonderful life really was, she had two wonderful parents who loved her, and all she was doing was being a burden to them not a blessing.

“I must try to make things better!” said Valerie.

Later that day Valerie went up to her mother to speak to her.

“Mom, I know I have been hard to control lately, I know I have made things hard for you and dad. Miss Eloise led me to Jesus! I prayed last night and asked him to save me! Mom I feel so much better now, I feel like God put me here for a purpose! I’ve decided that instead of hating life and making other people miserable by my attitude, I am going to try to be a blessing to others! I want to try to be a blessing to you mom, I know I can’t help with a lot since I’m blind but I want to help you in any way possible. I am so sorry for telling you I hated you! I love you mom, I really do.”

“Oh, Honey! You are a blessing, and I am so glad you have gotten saved! That means so much to me.”
 Valerie’s mom came up and gave her a hug, “I love you dear.”

“Do you love dad?” asked Valerie softly.

Mrs. Branson jumped back in surprise, “Why would you ever ask that?”
“ Because you guys seem so distant like you don’t really love each other.”
“ Well we do love each other.” Said Mrs. Branson.

“You haven’t forgiven him for dropping me have you?” asked Valerie.

Mrs. Branson stood still, “Honey, it really doesn’t concern you,” she said softly.

“Yes, it does!” said Valerie, “You are my parents and I want us to be a proper family, a family that loves each other no matter what!”

~

Miss Eloise left a week weeks after that to go back to her home, since she had helped Valerie so much. Valerie had improved greatly on the piano; she was doing better in her school-work. And she had totally changed inside and out.

“I will miss you so much! You have changed my life, please write to me! I love you.” Cried out Valerie to Miss Eloise before she left.

“I will miss you too! And of course I will right you.”

“Thank you so much for everything you have done. You have truly done something amazing, I don’t know how you did it!” said Mrs. Branson hugging Miss Eloise goodbye.

“It only takes a little love, Mrs. Branson. Love can change anything!” said Miss Eloise.

Miss. Branson smiled, “Good-bye! And happy Valentine’s Day! It is so sad that you have to go on a holiday!”

“Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday; I wanted to spend it with some family!”

   Later that day when Mr. Branson got home from work he walked into the kitchen to see his wife crying.

“What is wrong?” he asked with concern.

“Go away! Just go.” Said Mrs. Branson miserably.

“ Laura,” said Mr. Branson calling her name softly, “ I got you something, I know you are still mad angry at me, but can’t we fix this!?! You will never know how much I hate myself for dropping Valerie, Can’t you understand! I love her as much as you do. And look at her; she is blossoming into a wonderful young lady. Miss Eloise certainly worked a miracle with her.”

“Billy, you don’t understand!” said Mrs. Branson, “I… I’m sorry. I never really realized how much you love me and Valerie. You could have divorced me, but you didn’t because you still loved me after I hurt you and blamed you for something that you could not have prevented! Miss Eloise has taught all of us something, and it is that when we love life, our life will be better, And I wasn’t loving life! I was hating it and… and… Billy I’m sorry! I love you, I really still do; it just took me awhile to see that!”

“Oh Laura,” said Mr. Branson full of emotion, “I always have loved you and I always will!”

“Happy Valentine’s day!” said Valerie when she walked down the stairs hearing her parent’s words, “Don’t you feel wonderful know that you guys are at peace! Isn’t life beautiful!?!”
“ Yes, yes it is!”