Scared to Life

The warden of a prison in Macedonia had seen it all . . or so he thought. Paul and Silas had come to town and were upsetting the locals, so charges were brought against them and they were thrown in jail. . . But along about midnight there was this . . rumbling, this earthquake, this . . incident!

Bible Reference: Acts 16:16-40
Cast: 1 male
Set, lighting, sound: standard
Costumes: traditional likely
Time: 8

Sample of Script

(Actor, asking a question.)

ACTOR:
You want to talk about scared? I was simply beside myself—I was so scared!

And that is saying something. I mean, I am the warden, in charge of a large prison near Philippi in Macedonia.

With that kind of job, I tell you, I run into a lot of scary situations, scary people. I mean, there are people in that prison who have done some awful things, and I work with them, trying to make them into good citizens.

So sometimes I am in situations that most people would consider very scary indeed.

But I want to tell you, all the fear I had ever known was nothing compared to the night when…

(Pauses, collecting thoughts.)

Listen, why don’t I start at the beginning? Makes sense, right?

See, we had some travelers from Jerusalem come to Philippi. A couple of men from Jerusalem, I think, talking about some kind of new religion—it sounded like.

Me, I have no time for yet another religion. Who needs it? I always say.

Anyhow, on the Sabbath, these two guys—Paul and Silas were their names—they went outside the city gates, out to the river. A bunch of our womenfolk were at the river, washing clothing, and Paul and Silas got to talking with the ladies.

One of the ladies, Lydia—a rich trader from Thyatira—she decided she wanted to be baptized.

Apparently, that is what they do when a person decides to grab hold of this particular religion.

Anyhow, this got everyone around town talking about these two foreigners and their strange new religion.

Personally, the way I feel is—so long as they don’t cause trouble, don’t go over the line—what harm is there? So me, and most other folks in town, we just kinda ignored them.

That is, until a few days later, when the two strangers were walking through town with a bunch of their friends, minding their own business.

Along comes this slave girl fortune teller.

I gotta tell you, this young lady is not what you would call real sound of mind—know what I mean?

But thing is, she was popular with guys who wanted their fortunes told.

Don’t ask me if her fortune-telling was on the up and up—never did try her myself.

All I know is, this slave girl made a ton of money for the guys who owned her.

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