The Story of Andy, 5

It was a new branch of the nationwide fellowship The New Life Zenter. Andy hoped that by joining he could find the secret that would allow him to move past the masks in his life that he couldn't seem to take down. Based loosely in Zen, the "club" (the term "church" was not applied to the fellowship because it was assumed to be too off-putting) updated the ancient precepts to make the disciplines more palatable to the general public. But the core beliefs remained - mostly. One of the "fathers" of the movement had belonged to AA and convinced the other leaders that - as evidenced by the success of the 12 step program - numbers helped people grasp concepts. So they developed the 530 Exciting Obstacles to a Free Spiritual Life (a copy of which was given to each recruit once they had paid their annual "offering".) Though some of the others suggested that like prunes one never knew what number was too few and what number was too many. Someone suggested that overcoming the obstacles should be "exciting" for the members and so the term was added to the publicity. Andy wrinkled his face and pondered the 530 exciting obstacles. He wondered what happened if one could only get past 529. But he brightened. He just knew he was committed to master 531 if necessary.