Church,  A School of Love

Part 3

Twenty-two

As soon as Aaron could, he ran to college and never went back. During holidays or summer break, he made excuses to his aunt about not coming to her house. Studying. Work. He didn’t care what the lie was. Most of all, no church. 

He met a sweet young lady and was falling in love. Before he could meet her family, she took him to church. A different church than anything he was used to. Everyone was dressed to the nines. Even the children. Every Sunday. Worship service was full of order. All the important people wore robes with sachets. This preacher was quite the showman. The choir sang like they were preforming at an awards show every week. 

At first Aaron liked this church. They had a food pantry. A clothing ministry. They sent shoe boxes to poor countries. Did coat and toy drives. He felt like he had finally found a church to call home. This made him love his sweetheart even more. 

One Sunday, he was late. There had been an accident on the highway making him 15 minutes late. As he got out of the car, he saw one of the deacons speaking harshly to someone that looked homeless. He was able to get close enough to hear the deacon talk to this man like a dog. No, less than a dog. 

When the deacon slammed the door in the homeless man’s face, Aaron followed him. “Sir, i don’t have any cash. Would you allow me to buy you lunch?”

Aaron and this man walked a block to a restaurant. They sat and talked until Aaron’s phone buzzed. It was his girlfriend. He explain what he was doing and invited her to join them. He was afraid the homeless man would get kicked out before he had finished his meal if he left. She reminded him they were supposed to have lunch with the preacher to talk about a possible engagement. He asked if they could join him? In a few minutes the reply came back, FINE.

Half way through their lunch, the homeless man excused himself to leave. Aaron got up from his new seat, walking him to the door. Upon his return to their table, both the preacher and his wife-to-be, scolded him under their breath. For doing something kind, he was made to feel incredibly guilty. HE missed church. HE made no offering. HE turned this luncheon; that was supposed to be about their future, into “YOUR LITTLE FEEL GOOD.” She smirked. The preacher nodding throughout her rant. 

Aaron smiled, “you both feel this way?” 

Yes, they nodded.

“There will be no wedding and I have no desire to be a member of this church.” He paid the bill for both tables and left. 

Lost Past; A Star Trek Story

Paramount Global owns the Star Trek franchise. This is a piece of fan fiction based on Star Trek the Next Generation.

Now what

“Where is she going?” Data was looking toward the palace.

Thor stood up watching as well. Sher was running toward the forest. Data watched in the direction she was running. 

“This is getting on my nerves. Why won’t she communicate with us?” Thor roared. 

Picard asked, “How much energy does it take for you to communicate with each other?”

“You have a point Captain” Thor sighed.

She was running in a circular pattern through the forest around the palace. She had made it halfway around the palace before Data took off running in her direction. It took him 5 seconds to disappear from sight. 

“Wow! Go grandpa!” Lenny stood up. “Look at him go.”

“Grandpa!” Picard and Beverly exclaimed at the same time.

“Go! Grandpa Go!” Lenny turned toward his dad, “dad can I run that fast? Can I?”

“With practice I don’t see why you couldn’t run faster than your grandfather.”

“I want to. I want to.” He jumped up and down in his chair.

“Sit son. Eat.” Lal smiled. “Run later.”

It’s story time!

Your story or poem can be as long or as short as you want it to be. All four pieces below have to be used. Go wild. 

The only thing is, you can’t kill your main character. 

Post your work in the comments below. Feel free to tag and share. 

Here are your story lines:

1 person who laughs at inappropriate times

2 butcher

3 wishes come true

4 shhhh!

Lost Past; A Star Trek Story

Paramount Global owns the Star Trek franchise. This is a piece of fan fiction based on Star Trek the Next Generation.

The feast

Thor had an out-door feast for his new friends. Everyone was having a wonderful time enjoying the sun and the food. Thor allowed Westerfield’s family to join them. They had done nothing wrong other than being associated with him.

Thor stood up to make a toast, “to our new friends in the Federation.”

“Here, here” the crowd roared, raising their glasses.

“If I am not mistaken, we have a special announcement here?” He looked around, “where is Commander Riker?”

Commander Riker stood up. His face was red with embarrassment. “Yes, there is a special announcement to make.” He cleared his throat. “I have asked Counselor Troi to be my wife and she has accepted.” She stood next to him. The crowd erupted with cheers.

After the cheers died down and everyone continued eating, Deanna felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Lal standing behind her. “Lal,” she gasped!

“No way.” Geordi exclaimed.

“Yes way,” she smiled. “Awesome eyes.”

“Thank you.” He acknowledged. 

“Congratulations by the way.” Lal smiled at Counselor Troy.

“Thank you.”

“I want you to meet someone.” From behind Lal stepped a little girl, this is my daughter Deanna. She wanted to meet her namesake.”

“Congratulations?” Deanna smiled.

Counselor Troi picked Deanna up, setting her on her lap. “Hello little one.”

“Mom, I thought Betazoid’s were bad people?”

“Not this one.” Lal smiled. “There are always good among the bad.”

“How about I take you on board the Enterprise?” Counselor Troi offered.

“I would like that, can my family come?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” Deanna hugged Counselor Troi. Then hopped off her lap, smiling.

Lal winked at her.

My last weight loss journey: nerves 

Since last we chatted about my journey, I’ve been experimenting. Nothing dangerous mind you. The doctor increased the protonix to twice per day. I did that for about a month. Then I was like no, I want less meds, not more. As needed, I’ve been drinking 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 8 ounces of water. I finally got over my nerves and tried it. 💪🏻

I’ve almost stopped drinking my beloved Mt. Dew. And eating or drinking anything with citric acid in it. 😢 Been adding more low or no caffeine options. Trying to eat smaller meals. 

As far as exercising goes, I just can’t seem to get back in the groove. If I was ever in it? 

As I shared, what little weight I had lost, I gained back. 😮 

Recently, I went to the doctor and had my annual blood work done. As much as I’ve been trying to add more protein to my life, my protein level was 6.1. Which is barely at the healthy mark. 😮 I have been reading that as we age, we need more protein because our bodies can’t break it down as easily. No kidding. 

Here is my recipe for this post. Enjoy. 

High Protein Overnight

Oats

Serves: 1

Prep Time 5 minutes Soak Time 4 hours

Oats, chia seeds, greek yogurt and cacao nibs come together in this creamy, absolutely protein-packed meal prep breakfast.

Ingredients

1/3 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons chia seeds

2 tablespoons cacao nibs

2 scoops Autumn’s Vanilla Protein Powder

2 tablespoons unflavored collagen powder

1/2 cup whole milk

1/4 cup greek yogurt

Instructions

In a glass meal prep container, add the oats, chia seeds, cacao nibs, protein powder and collagen powder. Stir with a fork.

2 Add the milk and greek yogurt and stir with a fork until well combined.

3 Cap the lid and pop in the fridge for at least 4 hours or up to 5 days.

I don’t use the unflavored collagen. It is great fun playing with these. Autumn also did a peanut butter one. Instead of using peanut butter, I tried peanut butter powder and chocolate protein powder. She has an orange chocolate recipe. Instead of the orange, I tried peach. Blueberry kefir. I swapped out the regular kefir for blueberry. 🫐 Playing, I did an apple cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Next up is a carrot cake one. 😉

I have discovered that if you use real fruit, it best to let those set an extra day. The flavors are much better. 

As a good southern girl, I like grits. Hmm 🤔