The Garden

Chapter 7Distract

As the twins walked towards Mr. Erwin's house, they noticed a nice-looking convertible sports car in the driveway. When they walked towards the two trees, they saw the forbidden tree had twenty-dollar bills attached to all the leaves. On the bench next to where Mr. Erwin sat was a basket of candy filled with bags of gummies, sours, chocolates, and chews. The twins looked at each other and just shrugged in unison.

“Whose car is that in the driveway?” asked Jay. His shoulders were slumped again and his arms were full of bruises.

“It's mine. Why are you thinking about it?” asked Mr. Erwin, with his crutches by his side.

“I don't know. I just saw it, and it looks really cool,” said Jay. “I'd love to have a car like that one day.”

“What's with the money on the trees and the candy?” asked Kay.

“Distractions,” said Mr. Erwin. “The car, the money, the candy—they caught your attention, right?

“Yeah,” said the twins at the same time.

“It's all you've been thinking about. The fourth D I want to share with you is Distract and the enemy uses distractions all the time to catch our attention and lead us away from what matters most. In the story of Adam and Eve it says that the fruit was pleasing to the eye and desirable. It looked good and she wanted it so Eve ate the fruit first and then gave it to Adam to eat and he ate as well. The enemy is a master of distraction and getting our attention with things that are pleasing to the eye and desirable but distract us from what ...