LXXII

LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME, DO NOT HINDER THEM; FOR TO SUCH BELONGS THE KINGDOM OF GOD

MARK 10:14

DESTINY KNIGHT-STORM

When Brock and I pulled into our long driveway, there was no mistaking Sevenia’s Maroon Volvo parked up by our old, but refurbished farmhouse. Seven, Sevenia’s father, referred to the car as “the tank” due to the make and model’s safety reputation. She was waiting to discuss a dream she had the previous night with Brock and me.

“Wow, whatever dream she had must have been intense,” Brock said. “We’re fifteen minutes ahead of the ETA you gave her.”

“Yeah,” I replied curiously.

Sevenia was bright, intelligent, and deeply spiritual, but rarely irrational. Whatever her night vision was, it had to be significant. We exchanged pleasantries with Sevenia, went inside, and I brewed us all a cup of herbal tea.

“You guys are probably gonna think I’m crazy,” Sevenia said with a sheepish smile.

“Your dad is my cousin, Sweet Pea,” Brock said with a coy smile as he put a hand over hers. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think it’s possible for you to say anything crazier than hundreds, yes thousands of things that have come out of his mouth.”

Sevenia giggled. “I don’t know if that helps or not.”

“Just go ahead and tell us, Sweetie,” I told her with a reassuring smile.

“Okay,” she said and then sighed as she ran a hand through her short, auburn hair. Her green and hazel eyes were wide with concern. “I don’t know if Amy and Mary Gold joining our little Bible study had anything to do with me having this dream. But do you remember the old railroad bridge from their stories?”

“Sure I do,” I replied as I glanced at Brock. He nodded.

In the e-book ‘Spoiled Produce’, by Johnathan Embers. He wrote the silly, but sweet love story of Mary Gold and Jake Weston. The setting for this tale took place in the 1980’s. The abandoned railroad bridge was the key place where Mary and Jake’s friendship turned romantic. I don’t know a single person in our church who isn’t acquainted with their love story and the bridge.

Amy and Dirk Easton began attending Cotton Creek Cove fellowship more than a half century later. When they became aware of the bridge, and its fairytale like significance, Dirk took Amy there. Their relationship also transformed into romantic there, albeit a bit more clumsily.

Amy and Dirk’s story is told in the last part of Brock’s and my story. It is found in the e-book ‘Knight Storm’, also by Johnathan Embers.

Sevenia continued. “So I had this vivid dream that I was out there. I saw a couple of frantic girls go underneath the bridge. Then I heard screams of ‘help me!’ I tried to get to them, but I kept going nowhere, and then the trail kept getting narrower. I started to slip off the narrow way, but I pressed on, crying to Jesus, ‘Lord save me I parish. And so do they…’ Then I woke up in a cold sweat.”

I didn’t know what to say. I glanced at Brock, as he glanced at me.

“This is where you’re gonna think I’m crazy,” she said, shyly. “I feel an overwhelming desire to go to the bridge and look. A need really. Will one of you go with me?”

“Sweet Pea,” Brock said mildly. “There’s more than a foot of snow on the ground, and that old bridge is almost a mile off the road.”

“This wasn’t a typical dream, though,” Sevenia urged. “I believe the Holy Spirit is leading me out there. I don’t really want to go alone, but I will.”

“It’s a wild goose chase, Sweet Pea,” Brock said patiently. “And a difficult one at that, what with all the snow and the sunsetting in about twenty minutes.”

“My dad and Zella said the same thing,” Sevenia said as she rose abruptly. She went toward the door. “I have to go though. I have to know there is no one out there.”

“I’ll go with you, Sweetie,” I told Sevenia as I grabbed her arm before she could exit the house.

“Oh, thank you Dee!” she said as she hugged me fiercely.

“Lets have a little common sense here,” Brock said. “It’s too cold and snowy for a couple girls to be out at that bridge. Ask yourself why a couple girls would possibly be at that bridge in the midst of winter.”

“My life was ultimately saved by a dream,” I replied with a shrug. “Not just my physical life, but my eternal life as well. Besides, what will Sevenia and I lose by looking? We’ll only gain a little exercise.”

“Hang on, I’m coming.” Brock said, rising and going for his coveralls and coat. I concealed a little smile. I actually didn’t like the thought of going out there without my muscle bound martial artist.

The bridge was back in some thick woods, but there was a narrow parting where the railroad tracks used to be and a trail made by deer. Between the animal tracks and the trees, the trail was easier to navigate than if it had been completely in the open.

With the tree cover and the sun lowering, it was rapidly getting dark and creepy! Sevenia and I followed Brock. When we were fifty feet from the bridge, Brock stopped and signaled for us to be quiet. In the stillness, we could here a faint murmur of voices. We eased another ten or twenty feet. It was really getting dark fast. Brock stopped us yet again.

“Look,” he whispered and pointed.

“What?” Sevenia and I whispered at the same time.

“See that glow? I think it’s from a fire. Let’s move, slowly, quietly.”

When we were almost to the bridge, there were clearly low voices and a faint sliver of yellow, orange light on the snow, coming from underneath the bridge. Brock signaled that he would go approach whoever was in a ramshackle little fort, consisting mostly of old plastic tarps, cardboard, and garbage sacks. Sevenia stopped him as he began to step down the slope to go under the bridge.

“It might be the girls I dreamed of,” she whispered. “No offense, but you will probably scare them if they see you first.”

Whoever was in the little shelter must have heard us. It became quiet, and the fire glow disappeared. I now could smell wood smoke, though. Brock and Sevenia made their way down the slope. I stayed on top of the bridge and looked down at them. I could have put a foot on top of Brock’s head.

“Hello in there,” Sevenia said with a friendly, clear voice.

It was eerily quiet for ten seconds before Sevenia spoke again. “Listen, I had a dream about you. Are you on the run from something bad? We want to help.”

More quiet. If it weren’t for the smell of wood smoke, it would have seemed the voices and faint glow of light hadn’t even existed a minute before.

“My name is Sevenia. Sevenia Sallie. Some people call me a girl prophetess because I teach Bible prophecy. But I think I actually had a prophetic dream about you. Are you on the run from something bad? My uncle is with me. He used to be a professional bodyguard. He looks pretty tough and mean, but he’s really a teddy bear. He won’t let anybody hurt you, I promise.”

Brock glanced up at me as if her comment hurt his feelings; but I know it didn’t. His face was becoming a shadow, but I could see the whites of his eyes and arched brow. I would have giggled if I weren’t so tense.

“I guess I should clarify, Brock is actually my dad’s cousin; but I love him so much I like to think of him as Uncle Brock.”

Brock glanced up at me and in sign language indicted he loved Sevenia. Then after a few seconds, he signed that he loved me, too. His lightheartedness during such a nerve racking time helped me to relax some. This in turn allowed me to giggle quietly.

“Can we come in?” Sevenia asked. “Or better yet, could you come out and talk? Your shelter doesn’t look very big.”

We waited in silence for several long seconds.

“We won’t tell anyone about you, I promise,” Sevenia continued. “You can come to my house and have something to eat and a warmer place to sleep.”

I felt my toes curl at her promise and offer. We didn’t even know who we were dealing with yet! Brock shone a flashlight at the entrance of the makeshift tent. Out came a young girl who looked about seventeen or eighteen. Following behind her was a girl of around eight or nine.

“Hi,” Sevenia said cheerfully.

“Hi,” said the older girl. She spoke so quietly I wasn’t sure I heard her. She eyed Brock skeptically, then gave me a quick look, glanced all around her, and then focused back on Sevenia.

“What’s your names?” Sevenia asked.

“I’m Marcy and this is Oralee,” the older girl replied.

“Are you homeless?”

“Sort of,” Marcy replied. “Well, yeah, I guess so. For the time being.”

“Where are your parents?”

“We’re both orphans,” Marcy said with an edge to her voice, as if she was not liking being questioned.

“Is there anyone else in there?”

Marcy shook her head. “Just me and Ora.”

“How long have you been staying under there?” Sevenia continued.

“About three days.”

“Where were you before this?”

“Are you all from social services?” Marcy asked angrily, looking at Brock. “I guess I should have not come out.”

With her raised voice, I detected an eastern accent, maybe Boston.

“Oh, no, no, nothing like that,” Sevenia said. “Like I said, I had a dream that there were two girls down here who needed help.”

“This is an answer to my prayers, Marcella,” the younger girl said. “See, I told you God is good.”

“Ssshh,” Marcy said to the smaller girl.

“Marcella got us away from some bad guys,” Oralee said

“Ora, I said quiet.”

“Please, you can trust us,” Sevenia said. “I believe Oralee is right. We may be an answer to your prayers.”

Marcy snorted and then eyed Brock skeptically again. I noticed both girls started to shiver. They weren’t wearing coats, they only had on sweatshirts, and it was well below freezing.

“Listen, everybody,” I spoke up. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go back to Brock’s and my house and I’ll make some soup, sandwiches, and hot chocolate. Then Marcy and Oralee can tell us what’s going on. Or not. But for the time being we just want to make sure you two are fed and have a warm place to spend the night. What do you say?”

“Please, Marcella, can we?” Oralee begged.

“Marcy, we promise we won’t tell a soul about you,” Sevenia said. “We’re Christians, and we just want to help.”

“Christians are the reason I ended up under this bridge anyhow,” Marcy said bitterly.

“Not me, Marcella,” Oralee said boldly.

“Shut up!” Marcy barked, and Oralee hung her head and began to whimper. Marcy crouched beside her and spoke softly. “I’m sorry, Ora.”

“I’m tired and hungry,” Oralee said. “Can I at least go with these nice people? You can stay if you want.”

“Oh sure! That’s the thanks I get for getting you…” Marcy stopped speaking and glared at Brock as if to question whether we were nice people. But then she looked at Sevenia and gave her a little smile from the corner of her mouth, and then spoke quietly. “Okay, we’ll go.” Then barely audible, she said, “thank you.”

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES)

In explaining His earthly mission, Jesus said. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18)

The world, though fallen, is not all sorrow and misery. In nature itself are messages of hope and comfort.

Satan has led men to view God as a being whose chief attribute is stern justice, a severe judge. It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among humanity.

In all humanity, Jesus saw fallen souls whom it was His mission to save. He lived to bless others!

It was to redeem us that Jesus lived, suffered, and died. He became “a man of sorrows,” that we might be made partakers of eternal life and joy.

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). It was the burden of sin, the sense of its terrible enormity, of its separation of the soul from God. It was this that broke the heart of the Son of God.

The Father loves us, not because of the great sacrifice, but He made the great sacrifice because He loves us. Christ was the medium through which God could poor out His infinite love upon a fallen world. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:29)

The price paid for our redemption, the infinite sacrifice of our heavenly Father in giving His Son to die for us, should give us exalted conceptions of what we may become through Christ.

Such love is without parallel! It’s a theme for the most profound contemplation and meditation. The infinite love of God for a world that did not love Him!

In Eden, man was originally endowed with noble powers and a well balanced mind. But through disobedience, his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love. Such is still the condition of the unrenewed heart. It is not in harmony with God. It finds no joy in communion with Him through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship.

It is no random decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven. They are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. Their own supreme love of self.

The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7). There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power id Christ! His grace alone can quicken the faculties of the soul, and attract it to God.

The Savior said, “Except a person be born from above, they cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3).

“Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all, there is but one answer. “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29).

Through Christ, earth is again linked with heaven. With His own merits, Christ has bridged the gulf which sin had made, so that the ministering angels can hold communion with humanity. Christ connects fallen man in his weakness and helplessness with the source of infinite power.

In vain are men’s dreams of progress, in vain all efforts for the uplifting of humanity, if they neglect the one source of hope and help for the fallen human race. There is no true excellence of character apart from Him. And the only way to God is Christ. “I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6).

The heart of God yearns over His earthly children with a love stronger than death. In giving up His Son, He has poured out to us all heaven in one gift. Let us contemplate the amazing sacrifice that has been made for us! Let us try to appreciate the labor and energy that Heaven is expending to reclaim the lost, and bring them back to the Father’s paradise.