FireQuill Publications
The Short Stories And Bible Studies
The Short Stories And Bible Studies
of Kathy Kearney
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Spiritual Stories L - Z
LAYING IT DOWN IS SO HARD TO DOFirst John 3: 16: “. . .He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay our lives down for each other.”
Die for my family in Christ? No sweat!
Fantasy: My Christian sister is standing in the middle of the road with a twenty ton semi plummeting straight for her unsuspecting self. I throw myself between them. Voila! My sister is alive and well on planet earth, and I am alive and well in heaven. Send me back to earth, and I can do the same thing every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
It’s never the big death that makes me hesitate. That’s the stuff heroes and sagas are made of. Besides, it can only happen once.
LOVE IS FOR GIVING AWAY
It was raining when I pulled into the teacher’s parking lot. I reluctantly maneuvered my car into a space for I wasn’t looking forward to the drenched trek across the well puddle lot to the building. I switched off the ignition and sat for a minute thinking of how different it was teaching in a large, city high school from the small town one I had just left this fall.
It was not the microscopic increase in pay that had attracted me, but rather the fact that I would be close to the university where I was taking my masters. I could hardly wait to complete my studies and return to my safe, out of the way community in the valley. Most of the time I had been here I felt awkward, uncomfortable, and unhappy. The only time I felt at home was in my class. I loved teaching and my students. I had actually instilled a liking for Shakespeare in them. Now that’s what I call bridging the generation gap!
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LOVE’S FIERCE GRIP
One of the most fascinating memories of my childhood has to do with Blaine Miller. He was either old when I knew him, or he just looked old as most adults do to young children. His sheep farm was about 10 miles from our apple orchards. Blaine's son, Dale, grew up with my dad in the muted softness of Pennsylvania's gentle green hills.
Dale never married. Although, I did hear my mother make reference to a woman that Dale had been courting for about 5 years or so. But I don't imagine they'll marry until Blaine dies," she would say, shaking her head. "Dale would never leave his father, and no woman would come and live in that house."
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MOUNT UP
During the summer months my family, which consisted of a mother and a father, with a brother thrown in, lived on a farm in Pennsylvania. I remember most vividly an experience I had the summer I was 11.
Gary, my brother and Vernon, a neighbor boy were constant companions. Vernon owned a pony; I remember that pony well, and not just because he had one blue eye and one brown eye. A barnyard separated our two farms, and I can recall scurrying across to the other side with that animal chasing me, and just dying to get a nip at my hastening self. He was a large pinto pony, and had the disposition of a Gila monster. And to top off this conglomeration of bad news, Vernon had named him Prince. Prince indeed!
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ROBBERY BY RACISM
I was a sophomore at Pasadena City College in California. My parents told me I needed to get a job to help with my living expenses since I was 400 miles from home.
Of all things, I got a job as a cook for a wealthy family in the South Pasadena area. Now, my cooking skills were limited to asking Mom, “What’s for dinner?” But the employment office at the college recommended that I try for a job as a domestic with live-in privileges, so off I went to several interviews.
SHAMELESS CONFIDENCE
I John 3:28 “And now little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”
Nearly everyone has financial problems from time to time. But let me tell you, when I have them, they drive me up a wall. Most of the time I would rant and rave to my husband about how I can’t take this anymore. Why doesn’t God provide the money when it’s needed, not when it’s two weeks too late?
Why doesn’t He give us enough to do the things we want, rather than barely enough to pay our obligations?
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SHRINK WRAPPED
Now, little children abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. First John 2:28
Recently, in our weekly Bible study, I was teaching the second chapter of First John. When I came across these verses I thought, sure I know exactly what they mean. The abiding walk of the Christian has to do with being about our Father’s work when He comes for us. Simple enough interpretation; but I always forget the application.
THE WAY OF EAGLES
A lone eagle circles above a canyon river in a hot summer sky. His powerful wings catch the shimmering heat waves surfing him higher into cooler air while from a nest high on the side of the canyon wall his mate nestles protectively on two eggs tucked beneath her feathers. She watches the male's glorious flight as he navigates between the canyon walls guarding against intruders.
Suddenly the eagle hears a sound behind him. Screeching a warning, he skews about, talons ready to slash the unwise invader.
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WHAT CAN A WOMAN DO?
Can a woman be a priest, a pastor, a CEO, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker? Is her only domain the kitchen, and being barefoot her only permissible fashion statement? Is her absolute, written-in-stone occupation, childbearing?
During America's suffragist movement, women suffered tremendous abuse for the "crime" of petitioning their government to accord them with the same rights men enjoyed. Their English sisters didn't fare much better in their quest for equality.
