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.”

6- Commander Lightfoot

Part 6 in the series God The Love Story-Autumn

Alone together the commander looked at me with his sparkling blue eyes and a grin that took over his face.  In a warm baritone voice he opened with, “Shall we begin? Would you rather walk or sit?”

“Um, do you mind if we keep walking,” I replied, “I don’t want to be late for Christmas?”

“Neither do I.” he agreed.  With a little skip in his step to keep up with my longer legs, the commander went on to say that I had placed him in an interesting predicament since most of the commands are from Jesus who will be born on Christmas Day which waits for us at the end of the road.

“I am not worried about that,” I said, “because God always comes to us from the future. For just this once, you and I can go to the infant Jesus already knowing what He will tell us when he matures!”

 “Good thinking! I’m going to like you! Now let’s begin.” Then his tone changed dramatically. He started to speak slowly and with much conviction, “Pay close attention. Just as every tree if it is to endure must have strong roots that reach deep into the earth to withstand the winds and earth’s heaving movements, even violent earthquakes, likewise, the aspiring immortal must be rooted in obedience to the commands for the soul to endure the tumult of the first life and the transition to the new earth.”

Before I could speak, the commander grabbed the space of his own pause and added, “To become united to The Immortal God, you must first know what He is like, which you can by knowing what He likes…which He clearly tells you by His commands!”

When I was sure it was my turn to speak, I asked whether my conscience instinctively knows these commands, which would explain why I should listen for my conscience?”

“No.” he replied, “Like a new laptop, the conscience comes with certain basics but you must install the commands.” I was surprised that this archaic little man knew what a laptop was. At this point I figured that I was ready to challenge him.

“My sister said that faith, and mercy, and grace all override the need to obey the commands.”

“Absurd!” I could tell that I struck a bad chord when his face turned angry red. ” Daily, millions of people pray ‘Thy Will be done’, and within an hour they violate God’s will. They are either grossly ignorant of the commands or… the commander paused to regain his composure. Under his breath I heard him say to himself, ‘Make and maintain peace’.

I quietly gave him all the time he needed. Finally, he spoke to me again. “Or like your sister,  they believe that God’s mercy is permission. If your sister thinks that Jesus gave you license to neglect his commands, why would He say, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.’ Too many people want to walk on the highway to Christmas who won’t accept the suicide of self discipline that Christmas ultimately calls us to.”

My feet started to hurt but I tried not to let it show. The problem was that I couldn’t think about what he was saying and praise God to keep from feeling the pain all at the same time.

“Can we sit for a minute?” I asked and collapsed without waiting for his reply. The commander collapsed with me. Once we settled in comfortable positions, I asked him whether God loved me enough to let me be myself.

I was surprised how calmly the commander took this question, he merely lowered his head and said, “The person who has my commands and keeps them is the one who really loves Me, and whoever really loves Me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” I sensed that the commander was starting to get impatient with me when he got up and walked on alone leaving me sitting on the hard lumpy pebbles.