note -- to begin the homiletics (fancy way of saying "preaching") class we had an assignment designed to teach or remind us of various literary and homiletical devices such as metaphor, etc, as well as general creative stuff to show some flavor.  I didn't write down what the individual parts were, so your guess is as good as mine what aspect of creativity I was pursuing in each.  Never take a preaching class if you can help it.  It ruins listening to preachers for a long while, and takes away any ability to listen to particularly bad preachers.

  Creative Writing Assignment

Part One:

1)  Your smile is a beam of sunlight on an otherwise cloudy day.

2) I slept like a log last night

3) Though they had a advantage of 250 swords to 50 swords, God was no longer with them and they fled the field. 

4)  The church decided it would seek to grow in evangelistic outreach.

Part Two:

1) Theme: Understanding the work of the Spirit personally and in community.

2)  Early last December I decided I needed a bit of a change of pace, so I decided to start taking sailing lessons.  Sailing I have found is quite fun, but also quite confusing at times.  It requires oftentimes going against one's inclinations, first trusting that the teachers know what they are talking about, then actually following their advice, before this new way of traveling becomes "natural".  The most vital thing about sailing, of course, is the wind. You can't fight it, either purposely or unintentionally.  If you try, out of ignorance or arrogance, at the very least you will not go where you need to go, or will get there significantly slower.  Most likely you will simply get stuck in the water, sometimes in the way of oncoming boats.  If the wind is gusty and you don't move with it, the boat gets knocked over, and everyone goes for a swim, causing a great commotion and trouble before the boat can again be righted and off again (though the water now in the boat will be a permanent hassle).  To get anywhere one must understand the boat -- it's sails, its ropes,  it's controls--, know precisely where the wind is coming from, and continually interact with and trust those who are crewing the boat (whose skill or lack of it affects anything everyone else tries to do).  Only then the boat will move in a fluid, and downright exciting, fashion.

Part Three:

The rain of the previous night began to steam, first in gentle wisps, then in billowing clouds, rising from the valley below, as the morning sun began to assert itself on the dampened earth.  The trees glistened , reflecting the light in a myriad of directions, every shadow bursting with intensity.  The frosty morning was anointed by this morning sun, whose warmth filled the soul with delight, warming also the skin.  Birds of all sizes and songs chattered and twittered, surely in delight, though scientists might say otherwise.  A small rabbit momentarily willing to dare the world outside its safe blackberry briar quietly grazed upon the glistening grass.  Though the sounds of humanity, with their planes and cars, was not left behind, at this gentle moment nature asserted its own power, its beauty which makes serene even the most troubled heart.  The steam rising from the valley, from the grass ,from the hillside, from the branches and leaves, became a visible dance to the chorus of the crows, and the finches, and the sparrows.  The aroma of nearby eucalyptus trees wafted on a gentle breeze, mingling with the other accented smells which seemed so delicate and yet bold at this early hour.  As people rise, and go about their busyness increasingly, the sounds and smells retreat into the background, but are there for anyone who stops for a minute to listen, and look, and smell and feel that intricate dance and chorus of flora, fauna, light and shadow which the morning always brings .

Part Four:

1) Romans 2:6 -- For he will repay according to each one's deeds: 

2) God will respond to us in judgment, in the way that we choose.  It is up to us if we want to be for or against him.

3)  C.S. Lewis writes in his short story "The Great Divorce":

            "There are only two kinds of people in the end:  those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'  All that are in Hell, choose it.  Without that self-choice there can be no Hell.  No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.  Those who seek find.  To those who knock it is opened."

 "The Great Divorce", The Best of CS Lewis  (Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1969), 156ff.