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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

One Thousand Years: Genesage "Walking on...water" (chp 1:6)


One Thousand Years

Genesage

"Walking on...Water"

(Chp 1:6)








“Were you thinking of me?”

A voice traveled softly across the water. Its gentle tone carried to the ears of the person who had just washed his face in it. As refreshing as the water was, the voice was instantly recognized.
   
Sputtering with surprise the reply came,
                   
                                                               “Yes”

Hardly visible, not too far from the distant shore, an outline of someone was walking towards Eben from across the water. Walking on water as if it was the most natural thing to do. Natural for some maybe, but certainly extraordinary to Eben.

         Smiling Eben thought to himself,      
I’ll never get used to that.

He watched at what could have been a ghost come walking towards him. Fascinated he stared as the person approached. Looking down he noted how each foot was placed in the water displacing the liquid.  Every step almost forming a footprint in the water. Some people could leave footprints in the sand, only the Son of God would leave them in the water. The water hid his trail as soon as he walked on.

But it was obvious to Eben, only one would be walking on water to him.



When each foot was lifted there was obviously water being splashed; but the depth should have almost drowned the person walking calmly across it. He had to be walking on top of it.., Eben was obviously focused on the thoughts of the water. For some reason Eben was overly focused on the water. The wet water.


Looking at the figure in the middle of the lake, without a boat, wasn’t something Eben really wanted to do. Eben was well aware of drowning. He never learned how to swim. Looking at someone in the middle reminded him of that.
I’ll never get…,
“…used to it”

Jesus added speaking out loud, reading his mind.     

Eben laughed out loud. It was just like Jesus to do that; read his mind. As awe inspiring as the Son of God could be, there were times like these when Eben enjoyed that it was just, Jesus. Jesus and he himself alone.
“Come up here”
Jesus said,             

Last time I heard that one I wound up in the highest heaven…,

thought Eben to himself though he might as well as said it out loud. 
                                and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb[1].

Jesus had a habit of surprising personal expectations. Today was no exception. Just when you thought you had him in a box of your own understanding, he taught you origami. And the box became a butterfly. There was no limiting what Jesus could do, or would do. He would always surprise you out of complacency.

He called to Eben from the middle of the lake. He was still walking towards him, but for Eben to ‘come up here’ he was going to have to meet Jesus somewhere in the middle. Somewhere in the middle of the lake.

The “Here” was where HE, Jesus was, not where Eben would have preferred to meet him.  Like on dry land. Middle of the Lake?, not exactly what Eben had in mind.

The wet lake; the lake full of water; the cold lake; the one Eben was more familiar with being on….if he was in a boat. A solid boat or even a raft, maybe a canoe would do. Any of those would be fine if they had a life preserver. But on just the water?...well…Eben did not know how to swim.

Still, Eben got up and promptly started walking to meet his Messiah[2] in the middle of the lake. He knew he needed to learn this; he knew he had tried before; he knew he wanted to learn this; so gently humming the Song of Lemmud he stepped forward gingerly….,
I will walk where you have…,

Before he could say or think “walk” there was a loud splash.

Eben wasn’t swimming, nor was he walking on water. Eben couldn’t swim which was obvious now, but he probably couldn’t drown either, so there He was flat on his face in shallow water. Shallow water that he had landed in. He had barely walked a few feet, “on the water” till something gave way, or someone.


Still near shore when he went down instead of up, he started spluttering and giggling; rolling over on his back. Hard to imagine an old man laughing and lying there. Lying flat on his back now in humor all wet, but that was Eben.

Flat on his back looking up, all wet, laughing.



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All Writers with Poor Christian, will allow you to read their complete manuscript as they continue writing them.
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[1] The Event in Heaven  where Jesus met his faithful followers from the rapture enjoyed a Wedding Celebration of those  who had followed him
while on earth and found worthy By the  Father to be invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God.
[2] Messiah is the term for the “Christ” or anointed one of God. Anointed by the Spirit of God.

One Thousand Years: Genesage: "They Saw God" (Chp 1:4)





One Thousand Years

Genesage

"They saw God"

(Chp 1:4)






He knew God had a sense of humor.


While this attire was perfect for the current environment they were in, modern mankind would have considered the kingdom appearances a cult.

“Ordinary” in the kingdom was a little different than the old western mindset had imagined. The “End is Near” had come so to speak but it was suits and ties that ushered it in with warnings, not a robed bearded man in long hair sandals and placard. In fact even lab technicians and scientist had gotten on the bandwagon leading up to 2012 panic in the old world calendar.

Nostradamus and the Incas hadn’t been right, but they weren’t wrong either. Sometimes the obvious answer is obvious. Right or wrong the panic of 2012 had set the stage for God to operate. The patient has been wheeled in to the operating room and God had gotten to work to save the patient.


God had poured out his wrath on the earth.


Eben was glad he wasn’t there to see it. Others weren’t so lucky. Most died and the unlucky ones lived. That was why he was here, for the unlucky ones. People had tried to warn each other. Ancient texts had said dire predictions. Scientist had added their ideas, Church’s had taught it, everyone said they had heard it. Almost everyone had been pretty close in their predictions. Still by the time it was happening, people were immune to the warning.



They had heard it so much, it didn’t matter anymore. They figured they would survive. They figured if they missed the “rapture”, they could go later. Even those who thought they were going were ill prepared when they didn’t. No one was prepared for what really happened. It was a “great surprise”.



No one believed it would happened to them………until it was too late……and then the great deception took care of believing in anything after the fact. 



Most would not think that living through the Great Tribulation was unlucky, but having seen the results of what it was like on the Survivors of God, well….. The old joke was, it was not nice to fool with Mother Nature. Mother Nature was nothing compared to Father God, the Creator of All. Some previous cartoons had a caption showing someone getting zapped by lightning with the punch line added,

“You pissed me off.”


The idea of it being that God sent a bolt of lightning killing the person.

That would have been easy compared to living through the actual Judgment Time on Earth.  Going through the Great Tribulation period was far worse. Lightning would have been the least of worries. It was certain though that if God was not angry, he sure could save his judgment for a setting no one would ever forget. Ever.

God knew how to make a Scene.


Eben thought he would rather fall down on his face for grace than any other place he might have wound up. During that time of tribulation there were no undercover agents for God. There were no heroes who lived. The good ones died martyrs, the few who lived were not so lucky.
They saw God.


It was a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a Living God.


Being prepared to meet God was one thing. Jesus and John had mentioned how inspiring that could be. Those whom God had given His Spirit to live, even exist, in the same place and time where He was, that was too be expected.  Even those who were transformed and made ready to join Jesus in the Great Feast in Heaven, that made sense.

Taking human beings in a fallen state, and exposing them to a Living Creator of the Universe, removing all hope of non-existence, that was insane.

Insanity was the first hurdle for the Survivors of the Tribulation to overcome.




Read the Book first, if you like, Donate, if not, don’t !

(link will appear here later)

Poor Christians Almanac is bringing you this book Free of Charge. It is hoped you ejoy it. If you do, please consider donating any amount to the Author. Once you have finished reading the book presented in sections, there will be a link in place to donate directly to the Author.



All Writers with Poor Christian, will allow you to read their complete manuscript as they continue writing them.
Some are published, some are works in progress, all are complete.



In email format it is for your enjoyment. It is hoped you donate to the work, livelihood, and ministry of each Author presented or book.  This is your way to support the Author and the work they do. If you do not like the book after reading it, don’t send a donation.


This is your way to support them and the work they do.

One Thousand Years: Genesage "Heavenly minded" (Chp 1:3)






One Thousand Years

Genesage

"Heavenly Minded"

(Chp 1:3)


Humming the words to the Song of Limmud Eben was happy with the memories he did recall.
What have you seen…,

He recalled when he went to heaven. It seemed as though everywhere you went there was a song being sung. Somehow that first morning in heaven refrain was not even a drop in the ocean compared to the impact heaven had on all the senses, much less the auditory.  It just now occurred to him that it was almost nonstop. No matter where you went, somehow, in the background, there was music going on.
Music that seemed to resonate through and thru in resonance, as though it were one eternal harmonic.

Even those who spoke to him seemed to phrase the way they talked with an almost lyrical flow. It wasn’t wordy but it seemed poetic or metered. He recalled some people getting that way in some venues back on earth with rap, or rhyme, iambic pentameter and cordial Elizabethan dialogue.

But this went far more and in many ways, far less than that. It could be abrupt as well as courteous. There was an order to it. A style and flair when the words seemed spoken but were in fact crafted as sung.
Calling that a song was…..almost to lessen it….it was….living.

What have you heard “

Eben remembered asking an angel in heaven that was explaining the heavenly scene to him. Typical Eben, He asked a question out of left field. And always at the worst of times.  




“Doesn’t anyone laugh here?”
As he recalled, the angel never answered him.            

He did get a response but not the one He expected, which at the time, was to be expected.



Nothing in heaven was quite what one thought, though it did exceed all comparisons. There was always so much MORE about Heaven. The response came from what he observed. Experiencing it and not quantifying or questioning it.  Absorbing what was occurring right before your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, being. Heaven as someone once said was indeed a state of being.



That “state” being achieved by actually being there.

It was…heavenly.


The deeper in heaven you went, the deeper it got. The more you tried to explain or relate to it, the less it fit the understanding of it. Heaven was baffling. The fullness of it exceeded explanation or description. Even in its constitution it was enigmatic as it was like solid, yet also not. Vaporous though solidified, extant, yet distant.


Shaking his head Eben chuckled thinking about it.


Reality certainly had a greater detail in depth than anyone thought. It was in fact easier to accept the reality of heaven than to figure out. When that “acceptance” became a thought in Eben’s mind, he “felt” himself “sync” with heaven. It was as though heaven itself  accepted and synchronized him into itself. As though the place of heaven was as living as the “being” of living.



The same was true in the physical plane Eben lived in. So often in living life as he knew it, so much was taken for granted. The details of living were missed. The less important prioritized. Living was forgotten to mean living it. Experiencing it. Appreciating life in all its splendor. Recognizing life is design with the sculpting of one’s choices to master its infinite detail.



Heaven really was in the recognition of the infinite minutiae all around. Heaven was within and without.



It really had Ebens head spinning the short time he was there.  Heaven had so much more occurring than just the aspect of it, there was scarcely time on such a short visit to take it all in.

Chuckling Eben thought he needed eternity just to get a handle on it. Even then he thought he might not.



Eben loved to laugh. It was a character trait of his. Eben certainly was a character. Fortunately he was a character with a sense of humor. Oddly He didn’t recall any laughter in heaven.  Only once did he remember there was silence in heaven. The rest of the time it seemed to be music in the air.


What have you handled with your own hands?

Laughing quietly he knelt down, cupping one hand; He scooped water from the lake. Drinking deep it was refreshing. His morning shot of coffee. It woke him up just fine. No cost, no lines, no waiting for a double shot.  If he wanted that he just double dipped himself a palm, palm of his hand that is.



Somehow free tasted so… oh.. sooo…. good!


Dawn was a different story here in the Kingdom. That first morning in heaven had been something to see but while a nice place to visit, Eben wasn’t sure if he wanted to live there, yet. All that singing made you thirsty. And being in heaven you wouldn’t want to get so heavenly minded you were no earthly good, now would you?



Or would you?


Dawn in the new “here and now” simply meant from darkness to less dark. From light to lighter, but never to sunrise. No sun had been seen in sixty-nine years.



Still smiling at the lake, switching memories from heaven to earth, Eben remembered a famous comedian who commented on the weather. He said the weather was “dark” followed by occasional patches of “light” which as he recalled even now made him laugh. Something about a hippy dippy weather man[1].



This time of morning lightening, the dark was giving way to light. In this light his silhouette could be seen as an average man. Average height man with an average beard, wearing an average robe. Not unlike others in the Kingdom, which in the kingdom, was average,

But anywhere else would have gotten you locked up in a strait jacket.

Here in the Kingdom of God his attire did not stand out. 


No tight confining or provocative outer wear, at this time he was just robed in white.  The robes felt silky but sturdy. Light and durable with flow that conformed to the body’s actions. Seemingly silky but durable, not so satiny. It was in fact comfortable and seemed custom fit for the times and the season. Like sandals from days of old that had not worn out, this material appeared to be unusually sound.

Eben was robed but he didn’t have a halo nor act in some peculiar way. He was just an average guy.


Average if you considered the old cartoon of the long haired man walking around town with a sign saying the end is near wearing a robe and beard.
Thought Eben.          

Thinking again of stereotypes, misconceptions, and the fact that the “crazies” weren’t so crazy after all.






Read the Book first, if you like, Donate, if not, don’t !
(link will appear here later)

Poor Christians Almanac is bringing you this book Free of Charge. It is hoped you ejoy it. If you do, please consider donating any amount to the Author. Once you have finished reading the book presented in sections, there will be a link in place to donate directly to the Author.

All Writers with Poor Christian, will allow you to read their complete manuscript as they continue writing them.
Some are published, some are works in progress, all are complete.

In email format it is for your enjoyment. It is hoped you donate to the work, livelihood, and ministry of each Author presented or book.  This is your way to support the Author and the work they do. If you do not like the book after reading it, don’t send a donation.


This is your way to support them and the work they do.







[1] A skit attributed to George Carlin in the 20th Century America

Monday, March 8, 2010

One Thousand Years: "Meeting a Biblical Legend" (Chp 1:2)


One Thousand Years

Genesage

"Meeting a Biblical Legend"

(Chp 1:2)





He enjoyed the fact that water was finally returning to barren places. Some more returning more quickly than others, like his lake. It had been awhile.  He recalled when this lake was no more than a rock shelf without any water in it. 


Sixty years later he had a lake. Shallow lake to be sure, but still a body of water where once there had been none. Being that it was within walking distance Eben walked to the lake.


 Not long till dawn,


       He thought with water dripping from him.
          

Splashing water on his face was a great wakeup call.  Eben did so every morning before dawn. He liked to take this time to walk the short distance to the lake. It was a good time to be alone with his thoughts. Morning routines were a lot different now in the Kingdom for Eben. No more “getting ready” to meet the day. It was, ready or not, here I come. Each day a greeting of what experiences lay ahead. 




No dread, just looking ahead.



Eben met the days with anticipation. A morning “splashdown” helped refresh that thought. Shaking his face a little from the water, he combed his beard with his fingers. Stroking his beard he tossed his wet head of hair back smiling at the sky. He was a little bemused by the water running down his beard to the ground.




Didn’t Aaron tell him he had oil run down his beard and that it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.


Thinking of all that oil that would have been dumped on Aaron, Eben looked at the face of the waters of the lake and thought. That would have been olive oil. A lot of olive oil.  A lot of olive oil poured over his head and running down his beard. Enough oil running down to form a pool at his feet.


Eben shivered. 

                            
Hmmm, that would make it the first oil slick wouldn’t it?



Fortunately Eben thoughts were private, more or less, but once started, you never knew where they would go. Still thinking along those lines as water rushed off his hair and beard he considered,



Would that make Aaron the first greaser? How……,





At the thought of the word “ironic” Eben paused.





He recalled the time he had met “the Aaron[1]”. He remembered hisfaux pas when he tried to ‘act’ less in awe of the man.  He had tried to comment on how aaronic it was playing on the word “ironic”…., and…, he had failed miserably. SO BAD was his comment he couldn’t recall what he said.  But he remembered how Aaron had stared at him ‘not getting’ the humor of it.





Eben finally blushed and shut up.




It wasn’t the first time Eben had “blown it” in meeting someone from the Bible. 


It certainly wouldn’t be his last. Something about generational, cultural, even “faith” gaps were evident when one started talking without thinking first. Since so many people came from a different setting and mindset, communication was interesting. Not to mentions the “ages” differences.  Different also with the variety of personalities represented. A lot of people, including Eben, had to learn to “choose” their words wisely since not every word meant the same thing to everyone involved.


Politically correct became less than that. It wasn’t about image here.  But more along the lines of words meaning what words were saying. What the words were; what the words meant. No one in his day every meant what they said, but in some places, words were all you meant. Now it the Kingdom of THE WORD…Well.


No innuendo’s or implied meaning. No subtleties or double meanings. If you said yes, it really did mean yes.  No question about it. The rest was adaptive. Everyone had a different way of looking at things. This was about telling someone else how you looked at it from your point of view. Literal now was genuinely literal. If you said yes or no you better mean it.


Your Word was your Word.


At least that was what was being taught in the Kingdom. Of course the teachers were still learning that “truth” too. They like everyone else had to learn a new attitude. A new way to think; a better way to respond; a more accurate way to arrange your speech. It made for some interesting conversations. 

The learning curve had plenty of time to level out with a thousand years or so to go. For Ancients[2]change came easy, for those born into the Kingdom it was all they knew. For everyone it was a matter of course and came as natural as learning to walk and talk.


But the Survivors…,well….,  that was a different story.


They had a complete set of issues all their own.


Learning communication and adapting to the Kingdom seemed to be challenging for them. Eben sometimes would rather talk to someone long dead, buried then resurrected than talk to those who had survived alive to enter the Kingdom of God by living through the Great Tribulation[3].


They just seemed to have this wild idea, sixty years later, that they were the head of the class being the last generation.


They were too smart or “intelligent” to realize they were back of the bus when it came to learning how to communicate correctly. Almost all Survivors had presumed their way was the “right” way. Some not only thought their way was the right way but almost acted as if it was the only way. Never mind the obvious, they had their way and of course, it was the only way.


Regardless of the challenges, they were learning to adapt, just slower than all the rest. Those who thought to be so wise were allowed to keep thinking that even if no one else agreed with them. Survivors were an obstinate lot, some said stiff necked.


Opposite to that were the Elders from the Scriptures.  It was pretty amazing looking at an ancient ancestor. One of those heroes of the faith, or characters from the Bible, long dead before, but now alive in the Kingdom.  

Inspiring till some of the illusions of imagining what they were like in real life wore off. They were different than what one wanted them to be or imagined how they would act. Imagination was often greater than observation of a person in day to day living.


Most ideas were like that. Idealistically they were great men and women come from Bible Times.


In your imagination they could appear to be bigger than life. After all they were Heroes of the Faith. Stories were told about them. Myths and legends had grown up around them. They were bigger than normal life after all. They were “ALL CHRIST-LIKE HEROES”.
                                                                 “Yeah right”
Thought Eben combing his beard with his fingers.              
The one to one interaction of everyday life in the everyday world was often left out of the “stories”. Sometimes they were included too, but no one paid that close attention to. It was obvious everyone had been a sinner at one time…..everyone.


The reality was the image of the person in one’s mind was easier to believe in than the person in flesh and blood. The idea of who that person was might be a lot greater than the person could actually be in person.  Sometimes it was hard to believe that these “saints” were just people too. It was too easy to have attached hopes of creating them into in image rather than a fact.


A fact that they were people with feelings and emotions. They had successes and failures like everyone else. That was hard to swallow. It was easier to want them to be bigger than life. At least till you met with them a few times. When you got to know them better it was easier to accept them as they are. Begin to meet with them personally and see how they dealt with this New Life. Share with them common experiences. Then it was good to enjoy them for who they really were. Appreciate the person that they were and see the being they were becoming.


Trying to relive their past life as you interpreted it compared to the life the person remembered, well, that was like trying to put the baby back in the womb, it just didn’t fit grown up.


That was when the heroic came out of the fantasy.


Dealing with that taught Eben to watch his tongue and keep his hero worship in check.


Eben learned the hard way to keep quiet, sort of. It was challenging to keep the hero worship down at times. Inspiration was where you found it, or He found you. Eben was easily inspired by the drop of a famous name or the song of a seagull, even the whispering in the breeze.


Singing often inspired him. When Aaron had led the singing with the Song of Moses[i] back “in the Day”. Eben was immediately awe struck, temporarily. He just stood there with his mouth open till some of those marching through Jerusalem almost trampled him. He quickly got in step and sang too.


When it came time to sing the Song of Limmud, Aaron was first in line to sing with Eben picking up the words on the second time through. Songs were sung three times when led by the 144,000.  In order to familiarize, four more times were often sung by others with styles and variances mixed in. It made for quite choir as somehow even the variations harmonized in the Kingdom. There were a lot of singers here. Elvis certainly was in the building and singing was a national past time here. Everyone liked to sing, harmony came natural

.
Apparently Aaron liked to sing, so did Eben.  

Eben had thought to comment to Aaron once on the golden calf incident making a joke about loving to party, but having already made one dumb mistake, he wasn’t about to confound it with two. Much later he told others of his thoughts and attempts at humor.


They didn’t laugh either. Of course this didn’t slow Eben down, he laughed loud enough, long enough and deep enough for three people, maybe four.  Of course when it came to the hero worship, he never told the people he met what he had previously thought of them. It was a little embarrassing to admit how elevated an idea of them could ruin a good friendship with them.


For Eben it was a good idea not to bring up the past too much.




Read the Book first, if you like, Donate, if not, don’t !
(link will appear here later)

Poor Christians Almanac is bringing you this book Free of Charge. It is hoped you ejoy it. If you do, please consider donating any amount to the Author. Once you have finished reading the book presented in sections, there will be a link in place to donate directly to the Author.

All Writers with Poor Christian, will allow you to read their complete manuscript as they continue writing them.
Some are published, some are works in progress, all are complete.

In email format it is for your enjoyment. It is hoped you donate to the work, livelihood, and ministry of each Author presented or book.  This is your way to support the Author and the work they do. If you do not like the book after reading it, don’t send a donation.


This is your way to support them and the work they do.


[1] Aaron brother of Moses recorded in the Bible. First High Priest of Israel. Starter of the Aaronic priesthood, a Levite.
[2] Ancients, familiar name for Previous heroes of the faith and bible.
[3] Great Tribulation described by Jesus and written in Book of Daniel and Revelation of the Bible.