Problems are for Solving

Chapter 2: The Lake That Used to be a Wall

Dad felt out of shape quickly as he began to row the boat out into the lake. It took some time to get used to the oars and the oarlocks on the boat—and the muscles he was using were ones that he hadn’t used in years. After a few minutes, though, he got into a rhythm. A slow breeze picked up and blew the boat about—and very soon they lost their sense of direction. They glanced around hurriedly—but none of them could see Frieda’s room any longer.

Dad, refusing to be afraid (and still not sure this wasn’t a dream) encouraged everyone not to fret. “God is taking care of us, “ he reminded them. As they looked and looked and still could not find whence they had come finally mom spotted a beach—only a mile away in what seemed to be a westerly direction. They, of course, were not sure which direction was west because this was not a land with which they were at all familiar.

Dad rowed hard towards the shore that they could see, and the wind began to blow them in that direction, aiding their journey immensely. As they drifted up on the beach they noticed that this is not the typical sand beach—but one made up of small pebbles, much like the lawns you would see in front of homes in Arizona.

Still filled with adventurous spirit, dad climbed out of the boat and began walking around the beach. The spirit of exploration was contagious, though, and soon all of them were venturing around this new beach in the land that used to be a wall. Instantly they all noticed that their shoes and legs were still wet from wading around in Frieda’s room. When they noticed that, mom and Frieda began to be instantly homesick—wondering if they’d ever see their three bedroom ranch in central Indiana again. Dad comforted them, and they continued to search to see what could be found in this undiscovered land.

All of a sudden they came upon a huge conch shell. In fact, Frieda almost tripped over it. “Wow!� they all thought. “What a huge snail or animal must have had that shell.�

Dad picked it up and after making sure there wasn’t a live animal still in the shell, did what any of us would do—he put it up to his ear.

What he heard, though, was not the air echoing in the shell like the ocean—but a voice!

“HELP! HELP! I’m stuck in here!�

Sure enough, stuck inside this huge shell, was a little man no more than four inches tall.

Dad helped him get out of the shell. I’m still not sure how he did it, but right there in his hand was this little man.

“My name is Jack,� he explained. “Four days ago I was in my bedroom and my wall turned into a giant shell. I went over, still unsure, and touched it. The next thing I knew I was stuck inside of the shell. Until you came and rescued me, of course.�

The Abernathys (had I told you yet what their last name was?) told their story to Jack and they agreed to explore this strange but exciting land together. Jack rode on Frieda’s shoulder since he was small enough to do so and wouldn’t get lost that way.

The four companions came upon a tree that looked jus like a coconut tree. Knowing that Jack hadn’t eaten for days, Mr. Abernathy looked up to see if there were any coconuts in the tree. As he looked up he was amazed at what he saw, for it wasn’t coconuts in the tree—but APPLES. After getting over the initial shock of seeing apples in what otherwise was a perfectly good coconut tree, they decided to try to harvest the apples. It turned out that Jack was a fantastic climber and climbed up the trees and used his tiny pocket knife to cut the apples from the tree and the Abernathy clan caught them all before they hit the rocky beach. One apple, which was almost as big as Jack, was enough for him to be full—even after a four day fast. They thanked God for the food, and Jesus for His grace, and feasted upon the serendipitous apples.

Off in the distance now, they could hear something. Drums! And what sounded like fifes or flutes and some sort of stringed instrument. They all expressed surprise that they had not heard it before—since the sound was loud enough that they should have heard it sooner. Maybe, they agreed, the music had just begun while they were eating.

So they all got up from their feast, having eaten apples to fullness, and walked slowly towards the distant music, wondering what they would find. That story will have to wait for another time.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS