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Level II Winner - Isaac Behrens
Franklin Middle School, Cedar Rapids
"Joshua" by Joseph Girzone

Dear Joseph Grizone,

          After I finished reading, I had so many things streaming through my mind.  I couldn't think about anything else.  Before, I couldn't stop reading the book, but now, I can't stop thinking about it, pondering about it.  Your book Joshua, has caused me to rethink my faith.  It has caused me to make discoveries about myself, and my relationship with God.

            I realized that for the first twelve years of my life, I had used others as a crutch to hold up my faith in God.  I "believed" everything that was said and done in church, but it was a shallow faith, without meaning.  I was just another face in church, not thinking about my faith as a journey, as much as just going to church.  I wasn't truly a believer.

            I took your book at face value, seeing Joshua as a modern day, Jesus Christ, who had come back to a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia to show others the love of God.  Along the way, I saw him criticizing church leaders who had become power hungry.  I never saw more than what the words said, just as in my faith.  After I had read the book, I set it aside like all the other books that I read, and I picked up a new one and got buried in its story.  I never thought about past books, and what they could teach me.  My life was just as shallow as my faith.  I was putting all my weight on my crutch, which was only as strong as the people holding it up.

            My life turned around in one single moment.  The main support in my crutch broke, and along with it, I came toppling down.  My father had died.  It was a sudden blow, and wasn't expected at all.  I think that I took this pretty well, or at least as well as someone can take it when they lose their closest friend.  Some people said that I recovered because I was a "strong, and self-reliant" person.  They were wrong.  They had only seen me, and not me and my crutch.  They had taken me at face value, just like I had taken my whole life.  It was God that helped me recover so fast.  It is amazing what God can do.  He can turn a life around, even if that person had done nothing for him.  Look at Aaron, who was all about earthly wonders, and not about the "big picture," God.  Joshua showed him how to live his life, through patient teaching, and sacrifices from himself, even though when Joshua had done his work with Aaron, he thought of them as gifts to others.  I think this is what God has done for me.  He has turned my life around, even though I've done nothing for him.  I suppose that's what he had done for all of us.

            I've rebuilt my crutch now, but instead of building it out of people, who have crutches of their own, I've built it with God.  I have learned that I cannot live without God, because he is the one God, the one "crutch" that can support us all, even though we've done nothing for him.  He bears our burdens without being asked, and he comes back, even if we run away from him.  He is our firm foundation.  Instead of building a house upon the sand, I now have a house on the rock, and I am thankful for it, because I am always safe.  I want to thank you for your book.  It really has helped me be able to connect to God in my faith.  It has been one of my guides in building my crutch.  It has helped me to understand what I'm going through.  I'm just another resident of Auburn, who has now been opened to the light.  Thank you so very much.

 

Sincerely,

Isaac Behrens
Eighth Grade