2- Meeting Immortal Noah

Second Post in the Series "God, the Love Story: Autumn - 1"

I could hardly believe my eyes. Standing in front of me on the way to Christmas was Noah, THE Noah. What was he doing here and what did he want to tell me? Then it occurred to me how natural it was that Noah should appear on this barren road to Christmas when the earth awaits the great light of true life.

As I drew close enough for a conversation the excruciating pain in my feet turned to numbness. My heart was racing with the realization that I was about to talk with a patriarch of immortals. He held his hand out to help me climb up on the rock to sit beside him. “Welcome daughter.” Noah greeted me warmly.

“Father Noah why are you here?”

“My child, I could see your distress. I was sent to teach you how to walk on the earth.”

“It’s not me, I can walk fine! It’s these horrible pebbles. I have no choice but to step on them. If I don’t reach Christmas I will die!”

Noah bowed his head. Looking at the rocks at his feet he smiled pensively and then replied, “Your words reflect the brilliant intelligence but gross ignorance of a toddler.  Was I less of an aspiring immortal because I never experienced Christmas?”

“Father Noah, perhaps you forget, there was no rocky road to Christmas in your day. I am obligated to go to Christmas.”

“Ha-ha!” He seemed to be genuinely laughing at me! “When I walked the earth and the sons of God had children by the beautiful daughters of men; mankind thus corrupted the image of God. The pain of walking to Christmas is the pain of corruption and mortality.

Death and evil surround you, as the evil neighbors surrounded me and my family before the flood, and then even as it surrounded us in the Ark. There was no difference at all between the devastating flood and the evil men. Being in the Ark was a type of Baptism for my family, as it was for Jonah in the belly of the whale. Realize that the Spirit of God lies deep within your watery body, protecting you from corruption and mortality that surround you. Go there and find the righteousness that pleases God who does not want you to feel the pain of walking to Christmas. As long as Christmas is a remote place you struggle to reach, you will never get there. That is how you are to walk on the earth, my child.”

And he went on: “There are three things you must do to walk the earth pain-free. Listen to your conscience. Study and obey His commands, and receive your sight. Blind was the man who cried out saying, “Son of David, have mercy upon me.” When he received his sight and saw Jesus Christ, he acknowledged Him no longer as the Son of David but as the Son of God, and worshipped him. You too, my child must beg for spiritual sight to see the road that lies above the pebbles that torture you so. “

3- The Day After Noah

Part 3 of the series, God –The Love Story Autumn

With that Noah stood up and held out his hand to me. Reflexively I kissed it. He nodded slightly and said, “May we meet again in kingdom-come, my child.”

I whispered, “I hope so.” But before I could finish Noah had turned away and began to descend the boulders. I sat as still as the rock under me watching him go. His gait was as spry as if he was wearing shoes, which he wasn’t. I don’t know if I saw him actually disappear or if he merely went so far that I couldn’t see him anymore, or if my thoughts distracted me from seeing him disappear so mesmerized was I by the whirlwind in my mind.  

I knew that I was not ready to walk. Noah had given me a lot to think about so I sat there for one, maybe two hours trying to listen for my conscience. Suddenly I heard the buzzing sound of fairies. Had they been there all along? The largest fairy fluttered in front of my face. She looked so much like Tinkerbelle I had to chuckle with delight.

“You know he was right,” she said. “He’s a classic; that man did not make it this far being wrong!”

“Mine-Fairy,” I replied, “Are you my conscience?”

 She shrugged her little shoulders and said, “Let’s just say we’re related.”

 “May I ask you a question? If Christmas is in my heart, do I have to walk on those pebbles?”

“Dearie”, she said sounding slightly peeved with me, “You can’t sit here till Christmas or till kingdom comes. Because you still live in time, you must keep moving. The person who won’t move is like the man who hid all his talent because he was afraid to risk losing it.”

“Okay, if I’ll walk if I must, but what did he say about the pain?” I asked.

She fluttered over to my shoulder and landed, then whispered in my ear. “Try to remember. Look to see if Noah planted his words in your mind.”

I closed my eyes and thought as hard as I could. Sure enough, Noah’s words percolated to the surface, clear as crystal. ‘The pain of walking to Christmas is the pain of corruption and mortality.’ So, walking doesn’t have to be painful! If I can overcome corruption and mortality I can walk to Christmas or anywhere just as Noah did.”

“Right!” my fairy was so happy that I remembered what he said.

With the lines of communication fairly open to my conscience, or at least to Tinkerbelle, I was ready to move on to the second piece of Noah’s advice, to obey the commands. I was going to need a lot more help with this so I turned to look up at my fairy that by now was fluttering around the nearby olive tree. “What are the commands?” I shouted a bit to get her attention. “Did he mean the Ten Commandments; how did he even know them since he lived centuries before Moses?”

“Goodness-me! No wonder your feet hurt so much when you walk! Don’t you know anything? Noah didn’t need the tablets of stone because he simply did all that the Lord commanded him. That is how he distinguished himself from the rest of humanity. For you, it’s different. You need all the help you can get; the Ten Commandments are a start. But Jesus gave you about an hundred more commands. Remember what He said.”

 I was stumped. “Give me a hint.”

4- All One

 Part 4 of the series – God, the Love Story-Autumn

Noah left me with good advice about how to walk to Christmas without feeling the pain of the pebbles. He said that I need to overcome corruption and mortality. To do this I must:  1. Listen to my conscience, 2. Obey the commands, and 3. Achieve spiritual sight.

I sat on the boulder pondering all that while the three fairies hovered around me. With them representing my conscience, I felt ready for the next step, to obey the commands.

While trying to recall the commands I watched the littlest fairy flutter over to my face. “You aren’t ready for the commands; there is something you should know first.”

 “What is that I asked,” a little relieved by the distraction.

 “Why do you suppose Noah came to you?”

 “I guess he felt sorry for me and wanted to relieve my pain.”

“Nope; there are billions of people in pain; he went to none of them. Noah saw that you are alone and that’s why he came to you.”

“Noah teaches aspiring immortals like you not to absorb the violence and corruption of the world. The way those pebbles tormented you proves that you are easily attached to pain. Separate yourself even more. You are alone but not alone enough, let go to be able to listen.”

By now I wondered how I could be even more alone. My thoughts drifted back to Noah and how he managed. All those around him had corrupted the image of God that they had been created to reflect. They were violent. Noah did not argue with them but instead listened for God’s commands to him and he always obeyed. He was right to ignore the others. That’s probably why God called him righteous!

Not alone enough. What could that mean?

The Tinkerbelle fairy read my mind and flew towards me from the olive tree to say, “God is one.”

“Huh?” I replied. She was clearly not my conscience, but more like my teacher.

“God is one.” Tinkerbelle repeated. “Noah was not alone, truly alone and able to hear God’s commands through his conscience until Noah too was all one, I mean only with the one God. Do you understand yet?” she said with a wink and a smile and then added, “Not only, not lonely, not double minded or fractious but all one…completely alone.”

Tinkerbelle’s words finally penetrated and took root. While travelling the desolate rocky road to Christmas my focus on pain and pebbles was misplaced. Even though there were no other people as far as my eye could see, the place was crowded so long as I became distracted from, separated from, the God that Christmas brings to the body. With that thought my feet tingled.

I stood up on the boulder and looked around at the clear blue sky and broad road below. Suddenly, from the area around my heart I heard a resounding voice bellow, “Go forth and build an ark!” I laughed. God surely has a sense of humor and then I fearlessly descended the rock to continue my journey to Christmas.

9- Precious Mercy

Part 9 in the Series, God the Love Story Autumn

I have come a long way since deciding to take the most isolated and difficult road to Christmas. Never in a million years did I expect to meet Noah. When I started this trek I didn't even know that to overcome mortality I had to listen to my conscience, obey the commands, and gain spiritual sight. All I knew then was that I wanted to become immortal and that at Christmas God would come to earth to make immortality possible.

Listening for my conscience was not so very hard to do, but these commands are another story. "Don't resist the evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other [and let him hit that one too]; and if anyone wants to sue you give him even more than what he is asking for; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. If someone steals from you, don't demand it back. Don't worry about the future. Don't get divorced or marry a divorcee." (Mt5, Lk6)

Yesterday, I promised the commander that I would memorize these ninety-five commands so I will, but obeying them all is out of the question, especially in this day and age.

"Right-o!" chirped a little troll from behind me.

"Where did you come from?" I said masking my alarm with irritation.

Without reply he asked, "Are you talking to yourself?"

"No, Iím dictating my Journal entry. You happen to have intruded on my writing the Journal of an Aspiring Immortal; now go away!"

Ignoring banishment, the troll said, "Everyone decides for him or herself which commands to obey, and which they will dismiss. As for the acceptable commands, most are only for pretense. They fully expect to fail and ask for mercy like a crutch to fall back on because of their weakness or some other excuse. But is it weakness or hubris?"

"Did you hear me tell you to go away? You have no credibility troll!" I replied. And to myself I said, "How dare this imp interrupt my train of thought?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong humanoid, but credibility means NOTHING to you. When I entered you were saying that you didn't intend to obey God's commands. So why should I obey your command to leave?  I will not go away. Your little world will have to include me whether you want it to or not!"

It was true that I had no choice concerning who lives in my world. If I did I would certainly not admit this rude argumentative troll.

Continuing to taunt me the troll said, "Lucky for God that He decides who will live happily ever after and not you. When the moment comes for the narrow gate to the land of immortality to open who will pass? Will it be the aspiring immortals that focus on trimming themselves with the commands or will it be the fat cats who lay back and ask for mercy all day long? Mmm... I wonder?" [Command #35. Enter through the narrow gate -contracted by pressure and the way is straightened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are they who find it. [Zondervan Amplified Mt 7:14, Jer21:8, Deut 30:19]

The troll was really beginning to annoy me now.  "You are too hard on me. I am washed in the blood of the Lamb who set me free from sin and death. Jesus said, "In the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. I expect everyone to ignore most of the commands so I do too."

I thought that was a good answer, but the troll ignored it and went on with his tirade. "You walk to Christmas in joyful anticipation, a Christmas you can't even comprehend.  Christmas was actually more degrading than the Cross! Divesting himself of the flesh -- okay, but divesting himself of His power and wealth to become human, well, that is Credibility worthy of your obedience. Jesus led the way to become smaller for the greater good." And to show that he had heard me the troll exclaimed,"The Blood of Christ made immortality possible yes, but the Blood is not to be used as a license to ignore His commands, and His example. Don't fool yourself to death, mortal."

"What I have against you," said the troll relentlessly, "is that you don't even try. Is mercy magic that makes your duplicity appear to be sincerity?" [Command #87. Pay attention and be on guard, looking out for

one another; if your brother sins, solemnly tell him so and reprove him and if he repents, forgive him. Lk 17:3]

I yelled back, "So what is mercy good for?"

As expected, the troll had a ready response. "Mercy is for those who try, who are running the race with all their might and powers of concentration; it is for those athletes who fall. Mercy isn't a sweet melody of kirie

eleison to be used to calm nerves; it is the olive twig the Spirit dove presented after forty days of terror in the ark. Mercy is a gift you can't presume to receive."

With that the troll pierced my blue eyes with his. Lightening was followed by a roll of thunder. Petrified I turned to look for shelter, finding none. When I turned back the troll had disappeared. All was still. When my

heart stopped pounding I resumed my walk and wondered what made me so stubborn. Why didn't I even try to love the troll who was my enemy?

12- To See God

This entry is 12th in the series God the Love Story

When Abraham told me to be gone I didn’t dare look back. I was so anxious to arrive at Christmas that I walked faster and with a little skip in my step. The air had turned cool and crisp. It felt so good that I took several deep breaths.

I was glad to have some time alone with my thoughts as I reflected on what Abraham told me. "To gain spiritual sight draw near the source of light." That reminded me of the passage in Isaiah where he said, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned." Isaiah 9:2. At Christmas, the light of Christ rises on all who sit in the darkness of mortality. How wonderful it will be to the Christmas light.

Suddenly a man appeared by my side. “I am Moses and I have been sent to teach you about spiritual sight.”  

“Nice to meet you Moses,” I said respectfully, wondering where he came from and then not so respectfully added, “Aren’t you about the only person who actually saw God with your eyes? How can you teach me about spiritual sight?”

Untouched by my jab Moses replied, “Just as God called me to the top of Mount Sinai, you too can see God by climbing the mountain that Noah set before you.”

“Mountain, what mountain must I climb?” I said, fearing the worst.

“Remember Noah told you to ‘Listen to your conscience’ ‘Obey the commands’ and ‘Gain spiritual sight’. The order was no accident; it forms a mountain you must climb to see God.”

The conscience, often easy to hear, is the foot of the mountain. To master the commands is to climb the mountain. You may not ever want to kill or steal, but perhaps you are tempted to lie, and find it impossible to love your enemy. At the top of the mountain you will see God and through eyes like His you will see all of mankind as He sees us.”

“Spiritual sight is easy for demons because they are spirit. Remember in the Gospels how many times demons recognized Christ’s divinity? That was spiritual sight. When a human consciously tries to become like God then the spiritual becomes more vivid because God is spirit. Being like God, we can see others as He does. That is the kind of spiritual sight Noah meant. To gain spiritual sight without obeying the commands is demonic. With all of their spiritual sight, demons will not obey God’s commands.”

 “But Moses, all of this seems too difficult, almost impossible. Please tell me about mercy and forgiveness.”

“I cannot teach you about mercy.” Moses bowed his head slightly and added. “Remember that when I hit the rock twice I was not allowed enter the Promise Land even after leading God’s people there for forty years. No, sadly, I cannot teach you about mercy, only that it can’t be assumed. There comes one after me who  better qualified. I must be on my way and so must you. Merry Christmas my aspiring immortal friend, I hope you make it.” And with that Moses vanished as quickly and as surely as he appeared.