27 June 2026, Freewriters Community Daily Writing Prompt Day 3147: found acceptance
“So, it's actually right here, like Sis. Smith said in Ephesians 1:1-6, and it is hard to understand but not really – it's like you get to be a little boy and get into and out of trouble, I get to be an actual person, Edwina gets to not have to break bad but have a way to learn how to be the sweet little girl she really wants to be, Amanda gets to think about keeping everything and everyone safe because she is safe, Grayson gets to build all he can, and Rob can grow up into his younger version of the Robert Edward Ludlowness he shares with Upgrade Papa – and Eleanor and Andrew can be kids too and not have to try so hard to raise us. We have found acceptance in a way that lets us grow right, and that's how God accepts us coming out of all our sins and stuff into Christ.”
Ten-year-old Glendella Ludlow was explaining high theology to her nine-year-old brother George, and...
“I get it now!” he said. “It's all gonna be OK – it's all in the plan and stuff!”
“Yep, that's what it says here – we are accepted in the beloved,” Glendella said, putting her finger down on the verse. “It makes sense if you are in the right house so that the people who are supposed to be modeling the stuff actually do.”
“But, see, this is why the world is messed up, because, ain't no way – my real parents and my foster parents didn't know none of this, and the way people act in the world, they just can't know any of this,” George said as he took his grandfather's Bible from Glendella to look at the verses for himself.
“I guess not – I mean, Grumps and Bad Grandma didn't even have a Bible at the house, so, you can't know about it if you don't have one,” Glendella said.
“But I thought your grandparents went to church,” George said.
“They do, but there are churches, and there are churches that have Bibles getting dust on them, and then there are churches like the Good Neighbors Fellowship and Smallwood Baptist where we actually read the Bibles,” Glendella said, “and these are not the same.”
“Whoa,” George said. “There are a lot of churches in Lofton County, but the way things are, there's a lot of Bibles missing or collecting dust.”
“Yep,” Glendella said, “because, no – Jesus would never!”
“I mean, we're living in Tinyville now and I like it here,” George said, “but I liked our house back at the Veteran's Lodge, too, and there's like 30 years of lies that had to go on down the road to mess up that whole situation. Jesus would never!”
“And there's another reason He would never,” Glendella said. “He invented math, so of course He knows the difference between a 90-foot pylon and a 200-foot pylon.”
George considered this.
“I wonder why He didn't just turn the 90-foot pylons into 200-foot pylons, though – I mean, He could have,” he said.
Glendella thought about this for some time, and then shook her head.
“Here's the thing, George. If we would ask the Lord to help us before we got into trouble, we wouldn't need Him to do a miracle to get us out.”
“Well, yeah, because how many times have I been praying after getting grounded,” George said.
“The other thing is, I think God likes to save from the front – I mean, Jesus died and rose like 2,000 years before we even got here,” Glendella said, “and then there's prophecy, where God was telling people centuries in advance, 'If you do evil, I'm going to have to punish you.'”
“Yeah,” George said. “He's way ahead of us.”
“So, about the pylons,” Glendella said, “if I understand what Upgrade Papa and also Grayson have been saying, your great-grandfather and therefore my Extra Upgrade Papa told folks in 1952 not to build Bayard Heights because Bayard Creek could reroute, and if it did, unless the houses were pinned to the bedrook 200 feet below, they were all going to go. So, that's 1952. Not quite a hundred years, but the Lord sent the prophet Edwin Ludlow to help the people, and they didn't listen.”
“So, what you're saying is,” George said, “God is going to do a warning or a miracle, but maybe not both.”
“Uh, no, that's not it,” Glendella said. “I mean, He can do whatever he wants, but, it's like not listening to Papa and then expecting him to not ground you.”
“Well, yeah, because God is a good Father, too,” George said, “so, like the commercial says, the more you mess around, the more you are going to find out – find out about these consequences.”
“Yep,” Glendella said. “That's it. The Ultimate Upgrade Papa loves us, but because He does, if we need to learn the hard way, I think sometimes He just lets it happen – like, um, well... .”
“What?” George said.
“When we play pickup basketball tonight,” Glendella said, “please don't have the Lord be letting everything happen to you after you tell Rob again that he can't guard you.”
“Look, I've learned my lesson. No more smack talk until I get Hakeen Olajuwon's Dream Shake combined with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's skyhook combined with Michael Jordan's fadeaway!”
“Didn't you run into the side of the garage the last time you tried that combo?” Glendella said.
“The mark of a champion is not giving up!” George said.
“But the bruises are a mark of messing around and finding out,” Glendella said gently, “and like the commercial says, the more you mess around, the more you're going to find out.”
“Well, yeah, I guess I better wait until my elevator basketball shoes get here, too,” George said.