Under the Potted Rose: A journey of discovery

By Nancy Chase

Great! That\'s just great! Just because I skipped out on that stupid economics class one too many times, I can\'t graduate with the rest of my class. Now that horrible man, Principal Speace, is assigning me some lame \"special assignment\" to earn my diploma. As if I haven\'t already worked hard enough in the past twelve years. He gave me 50 days to get it done, and it looks like it will take every bit of that ...

Sara is 18 and ready to graduate high school, but because she has skipped class too many times, Principal Speace will not give her a diploma. She is faced with an ultimatum: either complete a special assignment that will last 50 days or return next semester to complete the class.

Coming from an abusive, single-parent home, Sara is eager to graduate so she can get a job and move out on her own, so she grudgingly accepts the assignment.

Each assignment is a mystery. When Sara completes an assignment and leaves her report under the potted rose in front of the school, she finds another brief note from Principal Speace about her next adventure.

What follows are situations that challenge her in every way and shape the rest of her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685706012

Book preview

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Under the Potted Rose

A journey of discovery

Nancy Chase

ISBN 978-1-68570-600-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68570-601-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Nancy Chase and John Chase

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

The Final Review

About the Author

To our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

John and I have had a healing and deliverance ministry for over twelve years. If ever someone passed away who we were not able to help, or someone was badly injured, we would shake our fists at the devil and proclaim, This is going to cost you souls, Satan! Sometimes we would declare a hundred, sometimes a thousand.

Our prayer is that this book will bring those hundreds of thousands of souls to salvation through Jesus Christ.

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NASB)

Acknowledgments

I want to thank my dear friends who took the time to read through this book and help with corrections and ideas. This is a better book because of their input.

Alejandra, Nancy, Alaina, Damon, and Mary Jo

Some of the names in this book refer to dear friends who were inspirations for the story, although the stories are total fiction.

Introduction

Hi. My name is Sara. I'm eighteen years old, and I want to tell you about the most incredible journey that I have been on. My life has been forever changed, and I never even left town. This journey of discovery was forced on me against my will, and I'm eternally grateful.

Chapter 1

The Assignment

Great! That's just great! Just because I skipped out on that stupid economics class one too many times, I can't graduate with the rest of my class. Now that horrible man, Principal Speace, is assigning me some lame special assignment to earn my diploma. As if I haven't already worked hard enough in the past twelve years. He gave me fifty days to get it done, and it looks like it will take every bit of that.

Yeah, I know it sounds like I've really got a stinking attitude, and maybe I do; but if you were living my life, you would understand why. My dad, and I use that term loosely, skipped out long before I was born. My mom has had a string of boyfriends for as long as I can remember. Some last a night, some a year, but they're all losers. I won't even tell you what some of them have done to me. It's best to just not think about it. Since Mom was either working, drinking, or dating, I was left to raise myself. With a home like that, I couldn't have friends over, and I was afraid to get close to anyone because then they might find out how we lived. I would just die of embarrassment. Now that I'm eighteen, I'm ready to get out in the world and start my own life. But first, I have to finish this lame assignment.

So anyway, on the last day of school, Principal Speace told me that I won't be graduating this month. He handed me an envelope and told me that I need to follow the instructions and turn in reports. The assignment lasts fifty days. He said that if I complete it to his satisfaction, then I get my diploma. If not, then I have to attend another semester. Who does he think he is, God?

All the note says is, Look under the potted rose in front of the main entrance to the school. Well, I waited in front of the school until no one was around before I looked under the flower pot. There I found an envelope. The note inside says:

Hello Sara,

Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to talk to ten people. You are to get to know them at the heart level by spending four days with each one. On the fifth day, they will take you home. In 100 to 150 words, you are to summarize what you learned in the previous four days.

The following day, which would be the sixth day, you are to arrive at school by no later than 7:30 a.m. to pick up your new assignment under the potted rose. Place your report in the same envelope and put it back underneath. This schedule will repeat itself until you have completed all ten assignments.

Your journey begins with Stacy. She will meet you at the same potted rose this coming Monday at 7:30 a.m. Keep an open mind, Sara. The next fifty days may very well change your life forever.

Principal Speace

No kidding, this is going to change my life? I have perfected the art of keeping my distance both physically and emotionally. In fact, I'm at the masters' level of being private and alone. Maybe I don't want to change. Maybe life is just fine the way it is. Maybe I don't need a diploma. The thought of spending four days with a complete stranger makes my skin crawl. I don't even like people. It's not like anyone has ever gone out of their way to be nice to me or make my life easy. I'm a natural-born loner, and I like it that way. Keep your distance, and you can't get hurt, right? What is he trying to prove anyway? He has no right to change my life!

Sunday was a day of turmoil for me. One minute I was ready to just forget the whole thing and go get a job flipping burgers, the next I was trying to get up my nerve to tackle Principal Speace's assignment. Really, what could it hurt? I don't have to change if I don't want to. Nobody can make me change. The deciding factor for me was when Mom came home with a new boyfriend. He was bigger and uglier than most of the rest, and he reeked of stale tobacco and beer. Suddenly, getting out of the house for fifty days sounded like a trip to Disneyland.

Hey, Mom. My dumb principal said that I can't graduate unless I do some special assignment this summer. It starts this Monday and will go for fifty days straight. I'll have to visit some people and will be out for four days at a time. Do you have a problem with that? I asked.

"What do I care what you do? Just be sure you clean up the kitchen when you get home because you can't expect me to do your work just because you're out running around," was mommy-dearest's reply. Well, I guess that settles it. Road trip, here I come.

Chapter 2

Assignment 1—Stacy

~ Unconditional Love and Hard Work ~

I can't believe that I'm really going through with this. Am I nuts? I don't even like people, and I'm going to spend fifty days with ten complete strangers! They better at least feed me. What could be in their hearts that is worth me spending all this time with them? We're all pretty much the same, aren't we?

Bright and early Monday morning, I head for the potted rose in front of the school with some clothes and bathroom junk stuffed in my backpack. I don't know what to expect, and I'm a little nervous, but at least I don't have to deal with Mom's boyfriend-of-the-week.

I pull out the envelope and read the letter:

Hi Sara,

Your first adventure is with a young woman named Stacy. She is very kind, and I think you will enjoy her company.

Remember to keep an open mind to what you can learn. There really are a lot of good people in the world.

Principal Speace

Day 1

Right on schedule, seven-thirty sharp, a dusty Jeep Cherokee pulled up, and a lady about ten years older than me stepped out. You must be Sara, she says as she approaches me.

And that must make you Stacy, I replied.

Ignoring my snotty attitude, she smiled and asked, "Are you ready to