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20th
Matthew 7:1 - 6
It's about the responsibilities people have for one another.
Relationships
vs 2
What you use to judge another will be used against you.
vs 3
Someone pointing out a small flaw in someone else while ignoring a massive flaw they themselves have.
Be generous.
vs 6
1 Timothy 1:2, or 2 Timothy 1:2.
(Applied to yourself or to your church community, rather than Timothy)
Sam ran to the elevator and pressed the button, but Fields was right on
his heels.
“Wait,” Fields said as she came up to him.
“I’m looking at things here.”
“You’re going to get into more trouble with Osborn.”
“I know,” Sam responded as the elevator door opened.
Fields followed Sam into the elevator. “You’ve poked the hornet’s nest.
You know that, right?”
“I guess so.”
“Which floor?”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked as the doors closed.
“You want to get away from Osborn don’t you?”
“Didn’t he send you after me?”
“He did,” Fields confirmed. “But I want you to get away. So which
floor?”
“I don’t trust you,” Sam said. “The roof.”
“It doesn’t go to the roof,” Fields said “And we’re already on the top
floor. We’ll go down to the floor just below us and then use the stairs.”
“Different idea. Find me a phone.”
“Calling home?”
Sandi Griffin had slept in, as the past week had been rather hectic. She
was making a late breakfast when the phone rang. She quickly picked it up.
“Hello, Sandi Griffin here.”
“It’s Sam. I need help! I crept into that new Oscorp building.”
“What!” Sandi said in concern. “You, like, shouldn’t have done that.”
Sam sighed. “I realise that now. So I may need your help, with
or without Daria.”
“Trying to find her would take time. I’ll get there quickly. Locate you
when I get there.”
Fields had listened in. “So, your sister and this Daria are two of the
vigilantes.”
“No comment.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I’m not saying anything more,” Sam said. “We’ll go to the roof now and
wait for Sandi.”
“Well, I won’t. I’ll be trying to keep Osborn busy.”
Sandi called the Morgendorffers, but there was no answer. ‘Of course
not,’ she thought. Helen was probably working overtime, Daria was either being
Dafoanairi or at the Historia and Quinn was probably either shopping or at the
Historia as well. She looked at the map of Lawndale on her wall. The Historia
was in a completely different direction to the new Oscorp building. “Not enough
time,” she murmured as she tied her hair back and grabbed her mask.
At the Historia, Donna received a call.
“I’m at the Historia, with Brittany,” she said
“As in Brittany Taylor? You see her at school,” her cousin
Daniela Bolton said.
“Yes, but we organized this,” Donna said.
“Fine!” Daniela said, “But can you pick me up?”
“You want me to bring you here?”
“I’d like to see the Historia.”
“Sure. I’ll just let Brittany know.”
Donna flipped her cell phone shut. “Ugh. She’s an only child and
therefore entitled.”
“Who’s that?” Brittany asked.
“My cousin, Daniela. I might have promised to show her the Historia at
some point.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry, but I have to go and get her,” Donna said as apology.
“That’s alright,” Brittany said. “We can spend more time here tomorrow.”
“But what are you going to do.”
“Some errands.”
‘Errands,’ Donna thought as she exited the Historia into the rear car
park. There was something about the way Brittany said that. She shook her head
and instead thought of her spoiled cousin.
Brittany headed up to the roof before looking in the direction of the
new Oscorp building. ‘I’ll be there in ten minutes,’ she thought.
SpiderGirl approached the building. ‘But where will Sam be?’ she
wondered.
The Enigma approached the Oscorp building. ‘Should I locate Sam now or
wait until I’m on the roof?’ She decided to wait until she was on the roof.
Arriving the roof, she saw Sam with Fields, near the door. “What sort of
trouble have you got yourself into?” she asked.
Sam remained silent.
“I’m waiting,” the Enigma prompted.
“I wanted to investigate,” Sam responded.
“Still, you drew Osborn’s attention to yourself.”
SpiderGirl swung up to the roof, but saw that the Enigma was there with
Sam. “Great! But what about Alchemax?” She wondered why Andrea’s sources seemed
to indicate that that the infiltration would occur in broad daylight. She
stayed at the edge, out of the Enigma’s line of sight.
At the same time, an Alchemax team approached the building through a
disused utility tunnel, one of many that lay beneath various parts of Lawndale.
The leader paused as he came to the door to the building’s basement. The door
didn’t look unused. It conformed his suspicions that Oscorp was using the
tunnels. “It’s been used recently,” he said. He then stepped aside to let one
of the other team members open it. But he watched to see whether there would be
a CCTV camera on the other side.
“Still, you drew Osborn’s attention to yourself,” his disguised sister
said.
Sam wasn’t sure what to say to that. Other than, “You’re not going to
tell…”
“I might,” his sister said.
“Right…” Sam realized. He was going to get in more trouble.
“But for now, I have to deal with what may be happening here.”
“I can’t stay with him,” Fields said. “Osborn will know I’ve been
obfuscating.”
“I knew you would say something like that. But I can’t use my perception
powers constantly. It would be exhausting,” the Enigma said.
“Sam will have to stay here, while you go down and look.”
‘Fields is still threading a fine line,’ SpiderGirl considered. She
swung down. The situation with the Enigma and Sam seemed under control. She was
more concerned about what Alchemax was doing.
Just above the ground level she took out her phone and saw that Ninja
Talon had arrived nearby.
“A complication?” Ninja Talon asked.
“Yes. Sam Griffin is present for some reason and he was up on the roof
with Fields and the Enigma,” SpiderGirl answered.
“That’s not good. But why would the Enigma be there with Sam?”
“No idea.”
“There might be a connection?” Ninja Talon suggested.
“Maybe, but we have to focus on Alchemax for now.”
Ninja Talon nodded.
Osborn was working on something as he waited for Fields to return from
escorting Sam out. Then the extension in the office rang. “Osborn here. This
better be important.”
“Sir, Alchemax agents have entered the basement. A team is on their
way.”
“That’s not all, is it?”
“SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon have been sighted nearby.”
“They probably have been tipped off about Alchemax.”
“I have been up here long enough,” Fields said.
“I’ll go down with you,” the Enigma said.
“Not a good idea.”
“We’ll get out on separate floors of course.”
Fields sighed. “Fine!”
SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon entered the building through a side door on
the northern side. “They’re already aware that there are intruders,” SpiderGirl
said.
Ninja Talon nodded.
SpiderGirl swung up to the ceiling and crawled along to the door before
webbing it open. She then looked out in the corridor. “No one,” she whispered.
The Enigma got out of the elevator on the 5th floor. “This is
as far as I’m, like, going. I can sense Osborn’s agitation.”
“You can read emotions?” Fields asked.
“If they’re particularly strong,” the Enigma answered as she pressed the
‘door close’ button.
“You’re not going to say more, are you?”
“Not now.”
The door closed, with Fields heading down further. The Enigma remembered
a few times when Stacy’s panic attacks were overwhelming to her. That had
taught her how to block other’s strong emotions more than her mother’s teaching
had.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to think about Stacy, although she
had been doing a lot better before the Fashion Club ended.
“There you are!” Osborn said to Fields as she entered the office.
“Sam is not inside,” she said.
“Good, because an Alchemax team is. They’re somewhere in the basement.
SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon are also present on the lower levels.”
“You want me to turn them against each other?”
“Continue what you were doing before I called you because of Sam,”
Osborn said. “I’ll handle the vigilantes.”
The Enigma focused. SpiderGirl was a few floors down. ‘But that’s not
all. We can’t really confront each other in the middle of an Oscorp building,’
she thought. ‘But we can help each other as happened when Oscorp tried to steal
from Alchemax.’
The Spider Talon team came to a corner and SpiderGirl carefully looked
around it. She quickly leaned back. “They’re here.”
“How many?” Ninja Talon asked quietly.
“Five.”
“We can handle that.”
“I knew you would say that,” SpiderGirl said before swinging up onto the
ceiling.
The leader of the Alchemax team knew something was off before he found
himself immobilized by some kind of web. “SpiderGirl!” he called out.
“That’s me!” SpiderGirl said from the ceiling.
He looked and saw Ninja Talon sparring with one of his team while
SpiderGirl tried to web up the rest. He tried to grab the fluid his immediate
boss had given him.
“Oh! You’re not going to get out quickly,” SpiderGirl said.
“Oscorp is working on something.”
“Duh! Of course they are.”
“Something worse than Groundhog Day,” the team leader said.
“I don’t doubt that, but you’re trespassing.”
“So are you. Are you sure you want to be on their side?”
“I’m not on their side,” SpiderGirl objected. “I don’t want Lawndale to
be a battleground between two corporations!”
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30th
Deuteronomy 6:5 - 9
The Shape of Mission
Exodus 15:13
God is the one who leads.
Matthew 28:18, 20
Where is your hill?
2 Corinthians 9:7, 8
Deuteronomy 6:4 - 6
Being obedient and disciplined.
We do mission because we love the God who first loved and redeemed us.
Genesis 12:4
Abram's call.
Trust and obedience.
God will be with you. He has everything you need.
Jonah
He was obedient despite not wanting to do it and trying to run away from the responsibility.
John 6:38
Deuteronomy 6:4 - 6
Moses was trying to encourage the Israelites as they prepared to enter the Promised Land.
Love - Hebrew "Avavah"
A-ha-vah
23rd
Isaiah 6:1 - 8
vs 1
Isaiah saw the Magnificence of God.
Isaiah's role - to be God's spokesperson; to call the people to repentance.
vs 5
Isaiah realised his sin was great
vs 7
Sins forgiven
Pointing forwards to Jesus
vs 8
God was giving Isaiah the opportunity to respond and he took it.
“Thanks
for letting me know about Kevin,” Peterson said when SpiderGIrl was finished.
“You’re right to be concerned. Obsessions like that can lead to trouble.”
“But
what about the other issue?” SpiderGirl asked.
“We will
have to pursue our enquiries, but you know that Osborn will deny involvement,”
“Of
course,” SpiderGirl responded. “I’ll be on my way. Get some sleep before
school.”
Lawndale
Sun-Herald
Friday
16th March, 2001
Favorite
Animal Fad? Melinda Parris
Daria
picked up the paper from next to the mailbox. “Why is that the headline?” she
wondered. ‘Even Ted wouldn’t let any of the students write such a frivolous
headline.’ She was sure of that. She turned back to the house, where her mother
had already left for work. ‘I would have liked to have her advice.’
Quinn
was having breakfast when Daria entered the kitchen and placed the paper on the
table. She read the headline. “Uh, she’s probably going on about some
conspiracy theory.”
“Most
likely,” Daria commented. “But at least it’s not the failure assignment, or
some propaganda from Oscorp disguised as a press release.”
“Good
point. But there has to be other articles.”
“Of
course there are. Mostly about what the council is doing and reports of the
vigilantes intervening in crime.”
“How
much of the latter would there be?” Quinn asked.
“Not all
that much. Today, it’s the usual sightings of SpiderGirl around the Historia
and otherwise downtown. There are also a few about Dafoanairi, also on Main
Street.”
“It’s
like they want to be seen,” Quinn commented. She knew that she did as
SpiderGirl. ‘But why would Daria as Dafoanairi?’
“I think
so too. The others are more content to be in the background.”
At the
Osborn mansion, an Oscorp middle manager filled Norman in on what had happened
to his snow scheme.
“SpiderGirl
and Ninja Talon,” he repeated.
“You
want me to do something, sir?”
“No.
Operation Rooftop is still viable. The agents just need to adapt to how they
have adapted.”
“Aye,
sir,” the middle manger said.
As the
students arrived at Lawndale High for the day, there was no mention of the fad,
other than comments about the newspaper article.
Kevin
wasn’t one of those who were talking about the newspaper article. His mind was
still on SpiderGirl. He was daydreaming as he opened his locker.
“Kevin!”
Mack called. “Are you OK?”
“Huh?”
Kevin asked.
“I
called your name about five times.”
“Oh.”
“You’re
thinking about SpiderGirl again, aren’t you?” Mack asked with a resigned tone.
“Of
course, Mack Daddy.”
“Don’t
call me that!” Mack paused. “I know Brittany permanently dumped you…”
“It’s
not a rebound.”
“It
totally is. Give it time.”
“No,”
Kevin said as he took out what he wanted, and then slammed the locker closed.
“You
can’t expect her to reveal her secret identity to you.”
“Of
course not. Not straight away. But, when she’s ready.”
Mack
thought about it as Kevin walked away. ‘Why do I think that this is just the
start of the trouble?’ He knew that he would have to keep an eye on the
situation. He looked around at the other students. ‘I’m sure SpiderGirl knows
by now.’
The bell
then rang and he headed to class.
Brittany
and Andrea caught up in a girl’s bathroom between classes. “There is no one
else here,” Andrea said.
“What
about the vents?”
“I doubt
anyone would be up on the roof listening.”
“Daria
and Jane are sometimes up there,” Brittany responded as she twirled a pigtail.
“Between
classes?” Andrea asked.
“Probably
not,” Brittany conceded. “So, what did you find?”
“That
the Country Club didn’t authorize any snow making last night.”
“We were
right!”
“But I
couldn’t find any reference to it in the Oscorp databases I could access,”
Andrea added.
“So,
Osborn might have the information elsewhere.”
O’Neill
was still uncertain about the outcome of the failure assignment. Brittany’s
encouragement the previous day had helped but he was sure it was time to let it
go. “I realize that the assignment hasn’t been entirely positive,” he said.
“So, I am concluding it today, so we can focus on actual classwork.”
“Are you
sure?” Brittany asked.
“Of
course. You may have found it positive but I’m not sure of most of the
classes.”
“That’s
reasonable,” Daria commented.
“He’ll
come up with something else, I’m sure,” Jane responded.
“But
it’s had its impact,” Daria added.
“Not as
much as everything else.”
“Really?”
Jane
then shrugged. “I might have gone conventional at some point.”
“As
unlikely as that sounds.”
“Kevin,
is there something you want to say?” O’Neill asked before the quarterback could
leave the classroom.
“No,”
Kevin responded as he made himself scarce.
“Oh
dear!”
At
lunch, Quinn and Brittany met on the roof and the latter relayed what Andrea
had told her.
“So,
that just confirms our suspicions that Oscorp was up to something,” Quinn said
when Brittany had finished.
“It’s
like he might have been acting out at the Country Club for not letting him in,”
Brittany mused as she twirled a pigtail.
“Like a
massive tantrum,” Quinn commented.
“But it
could also be a distraction?”
“Undoubtedly.
But from what? Or maybe he wants us paranoid.”
Down in
the cafeteria, Daria was thinking about the events of the week. Kevin, the
passing fad and failure assignment and the fact that most of the students had
taken the events in stride.
“O’Neill
told us his decision,” Sandi said as she sat down.
“It
shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” Daria said.
“But I
have made my own,” Sandi said.
“An
extracurricular activity?” Daria asked.
“What
extracurricular activity?” Jane asked as she also sat down.
Sandi
didn’t get a chance to answer, as Tania then joined them. “A long week,” she said.
“Every
week’s been long,” Daria responded.
“But
multiple strange things at once?” Tania asked.
“I
suppose,” Sandi said.
“William
and then the Robodactyl,” Daria mused.
“Right,”
Sandi said.
“So, how
do we stay ahead of all this?” Jane asked.
“No
idea; not without knowing more,” Daria responded.
Tania
thought about that as the group became silent. She knew that Daria was going to
keep digging. She glanced at Sandi. After Sam had followed them to her house,
she thought that she was either the Enigma or Dafoanairi.
“Anyway,
it is good that Tempest was mostly uninterrupted after what happened
with Beck.’”
“There’s
still tonight or tomorrow night,” Daria responded. “But you’re right.”
“Tonight
will be interesting,” Tania said.
“It’s
just the penultimate performance,” Daria said.
“That
means it will feel different,” Tania argued.
“You may
be right,” Daria said.
As
school let out, Jane changed to the Shadow on the roof before looking out over
Lawndale. The town had weathered the storm of the week’s weirdness. ‘But where
did that favorite animals fad come from?’ She still wasn’t sure.
Sirens
sounded from the direction of Dega Street. “Time for vanishing,” she said as
she drew out one of her dry ice pellets.
At the
same time, Daria met Sandi in a corridor near both of their lockers. “Tania
interrupted us earlier.”
“I
decided to try the Literature Club. I ready use a lot of long words,” Sandi
said.
“But
didn’t you dramatically fail the Spelling Bee?”
“Ugh! I
did it for the wrong reason. I was trying to show up Qu-inn and
humiliated myself. I won’t be doing that again.”
“I
thought that was what happened,” Daria responded, but although she responded
sarcastically, there was warmth there that wouldn’t have been there if the two
hadn’t been spending so much time with each other.
That
evening, the Historia was packed as the cast prepared for the penultimate show
of Tempest.
“I’ll
say one thing,” Quinn said as she turned to Dani Moreno, who was sitting in the
tech booth. “Tempest has been very successful.”
“I
agree,” Dani said as she looked over the electronic cues out of habit.
“It has
been reassuring at this time of crisis,” Quinn said.
Dani
looked at Quinn. “I wouldn’t call it a crisis, although Groundhog Day certainly
was.”
“I
suppose I was being a little hyperbolic.”
Dani
thought about what Quinn had said. Reports of crime within Lawndale were still
increasing despite the efforts of the vigilantes. ‘I suppose she thinks that is
indeed a crisis,’ she thought as she remembered what she had heard about Quinn
and Daria’s father’s death.
Sandi
was ready for another search. But she paused. “What is Kevin up to?” she mused.
She grabbed the energy drink but paused. Searching for Kevin seemed frivolous.
All she would find would be where he was, and what he would be doing at that
moment. She shook her head. “No,” she said as she grabbed the yearbook.
‘Four
more until Quinn,’ Sandi thought. She looked at the girl after Rachel Lincoln.
“Findu mann sem heiter: Marilla Lingari!”
She
found Marilla at the Historia, getting ready to see Tempest. ‘Not
surprising,’ Sandi thought.
At the
Thompson’s, Kevin was in his room, going through his closet. He was considering
something reckless, in his quest to meet SpiderGirl.
He soon
found a cloak. “Perfect,” he said. “But I also need a mask…”
He had
figured that one way he could meet SpiderGirl and ask her out, was if he was
out being a hero too. He had justified it as being like Ratboy, and
Lawndale needing yet another hero, not realizing that he was entirely unsuited.
At the
Historia, the curtain went down. Daria breathed a sigh of relief. The
performance had gone off without a hitch. ‘One more performance, then Tempest
will take a break.’
Quinn
came out of the tech room and climbed down to backstage. “It was the best yet.”
“People
usually improve over time,” Daria responded. “But you’re right. It also helps
that the show was sold out.”
“I does,
doesn’t it? But wonder if the other plays will be as popular?”
“We’ll
just have to wait and see.”