Children of the Sanctuary

by David Pollitt

  Chapter 19

  The Accident

  Down from All Saints where University Avenue runs into I-64 going across the top of the mountain, a logging truck came up from the west. At the same time, a woman and her ten-year-old son were pulling out through the main light while leaving downtown Sewanee. The truck was topped out with newly cut logs, and the car was a small Mitibutsi Gallant. The truck ran the light and plowed into the passenger side of the car, right behind the young boy. The logs came loose, then lurched about, rolling and burying the car. A log landed on top of the car forcing the passenger side door open like a can top and crushed a wall of metal between the mother and her son. Her son, Will, wasn't there. He was pushed out the door and was rolled underneath the pile of logs. He wasn’t pinned but thrown against the end of a log and died instantly.

  Keel’s head lifted upward much like Aaron’s did when he got a message as Anne and Carey looked at him like he was weird, "What’s wrong with him?" they thought.

  Irish’s hand went into the air as she received her instructions. She looked at Keel saying, "You know what you have to do. Tell the others. You know how." She stepped up to Keel only inches from his face, looked him square in the eyes, not touching him. She was using her aura to put his mind and spirit into harmony. Keel heard the message the first time.

  "Go to the accident. Save the boy. Tell the others."

  He also heard Irish’s statement, then turned to say something to Anne and Carey, but Irish put her fingers to her lips while pointing to his head and heart, then nodded, yes. He understood. He was supposed to tell the others with his mind, heart, and spirit. He had no idea how to do it, but he knew he had to try.

  Keel closed his eyes and said, "Help me save the boy. Come to the accident. Now!" Nothing happened. Then he thought, "This isn’t a mind trick or magic. This is a spiritual event." He tried again.

  This time, he imagined a child in pain and shared that image with Jesus on the cross. As he thought about the boy, he was looking directly into the eyes of the Lord. He saw Jesus reaching down and laying hands on the boy to heal him. He saw the Lord taking the pain and hurt from the child. He was there with Jesus, touching Him, with all the children praying together, all touching and all praying. Around the Lord were thousands of hands and thousands of prayers from thousands of children. He felt their prayers and the power of their simple faith penetrating and supporting his as it mingled with the presence of His Lord and Savior. He felt all of their faith, flowing and pouring into the child. Every child, including Anne and Carey, heard and saw the message. It was like a bolt of lightning hitting them. They were each being called to help. They all saw exactly what Keel was seeing. They all felt the merged faith and the power of God moving through them.

  Some kids where in the Timberline Shop while some were at All Saints looking at the great stained-glass windows, including some near the accident. Many like Keel were near the white cross. They all dropped what they were doing and started running. They came out of side streets and across campus lawns. They streamed out of other gift shops and from the parked buses. They knew exactly where they were going. They flooded the streets, thronging

  over and through the traffic in a human swarm. They didn’t speak; they just ran along with Keel, Anne, and Carey.

  Isaac and Enya turned in surprise, not knowing what was happening. Isaac knew instantly enough, his hand going into the air. He turned to Enya and said, "Let's go see the beginning of the glory of God." He grabbed her hand, and they went running after the children.

  The road was blocked with thousands of children. Keel saw the kids, the wreck, and a woman staggering in the road as she wailed and cried. She wasn’t badly hurt; but emotionally, she was totally broken, hysterical. She saw her Will at the bottom of the pile, but there was no way for her to get to him, and she knew he was dead as she saw him lying in a pool of his own blood. She looked up to see children streaming towards her and was so upset that it didn’t register how strange this all looked, then she saw Keel maneuvering through the crowd of kids. Kids were all over the logs pointing to Will’s body, then Keel found his way to a small opening in the logs at ground level and figured that he could barely reach Will, but knew that it was enough.

  The truck driver came running over to Keel yelling at him. "Get out of here, all of you! Don’t you see he’s dead? What kind of people are you? You’all only want a good accident to get your kicks or something?" As the driver reached down to pull Keel away from the logs, he felt a large hand on his shoulder.

  "Leave the boy be! He’s got work to do!"

  Keel knew it was Aaron without seeing him. The truck driver turned to see Aaron’s eyes blazing brightly at him and sunk to his knees, passing out.

  The children were all there now. Keel vaguely heard the ambulance, but knew that he needed to act fast. He continued to crawl under the logs as he felt the wetness of Will’s blood seeping through his clothes. He was able to touch Will’s upper arm with his fingertips and saw Will’s head where it had hit the log, but it did not deter him. Keel felt hands on his calves and looked back as saw Anne and Carey touching him from behind. The children knew exactly what to do and gathered around the best they could, then touched each other while on their knees with their heads bent to the ground supplication.

  Keel started praying, "Lord, You have given us Your anointing, Your authority, Your glory. According to Your Word, Your power, Your Will, I pray for this boy’s healing. I pray for You to resurrect him now with the power of Your presence, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now, I thank You for answering our prayers."

  Every child was silent; and as if on cue, each child raised a hand into the air. In sweet musical tones, they all started saying, "Praise."

  It was together in long, prayerful sounds, over and over, "Praaaiiiisssee."

  It filled the air and the beautiful power of the word moved through everyone. The mountain knew God was here with these children. Immediately the "white anointing" came from every child’s mouth as they breathed. It was so visible that no one could miss it with every child praying, every child saying praise, every child filled and overflowing with the anointing of God. Keel felt the power of God moving through him. He felt like a giant conduit for God’s love. He felt every letter and syllable of the children’s words. He felt the power of God moving through him to Will. It was a hot, surging power of healing, and it was electric and life giving. He felt Will’s skin grow warm to his touch, and he opened his eyes in time to see Will’s head closing up and new hair growing back where only an open wound was before. He felt and saw Will’s own breath pouring out the “anointing.” Everyone knew what was happening and shared the joy. Everyone was weeping and singing their "praise" at the same time.

  Isaac and Enya knelt on the street pavement as they felt the presence of God and knew that God had ordained this. These were the last days, the days of Joel. This was what this scripture was talking about.

  "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days." Joel 2:28-29

  Will’s mother heard the ambulance, but she wasn’t even aware of anything around her. She ran to the ambulance driver, grabbed him by the collar, yelling, "My baby, my Will is under the logs! My baby is dead! I saw him! What can I do? What can anyone do?"

  The ambulance driver looked at all the kids praying and shook his head in disbelief. He asked, "What is this?" The others in the ambulance got out and stared, mystified.

  "Hey Joe, have you ever seen anything like this in your life? Where did all these kids come from? Who are they praying for?" asked a man getting out the stretcher.

  One of the ambulance nurses was a believer and said, "Joe, this is holy ground. I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but you couldn’t get any more holy grou
nd than if it was St. Peter’s Cathedral. God is here with these kids."

  It hit them all. Joe said, "They’re praying for the lady’s boy, but he’s dead. They’re praying for him to live again."

  Keel stood up and so did all the children. There was silence. Keel said to Will, "Call for your mom."

  He hollered, "Mom, I’m right here! I’m okay, Mom! Mom, I’m okay! I’m coming out!"

  He pulled himself through the pool of his own blood, and the children were able to move one end of a hanging log so he could squeeze himself out. The kids clapped, yelled, shouted, and jumped while Anne and Carey ran over hugging Keel and Will excitedly.

  His mother came screaming towards him, blubbering in confused joy and excitement. "My baby, my baby!"

  She looked up from her embrace and said, "How did you?" She spun him around examining him from head to toe.

  He said, "I was dead, Mom. I went to heaven. I saw Jesus, then I saw all these kids praying for me. Jesus said I had to go back. Mom, don’t you understand? I was dead."

  "He’s telling the truth, ma’am," Aaron said. She turned around to see both Aaron and Irish standing beside her. They wrapped their wings together around the two of them and held them in a loving family hug.

  Cole’s caravan was able to see the whole thing. "These truly are the times of Joel," thought Cole.

      

  Small Sanhedrin

  Near All Saints, in a small campus office, several priests and campus officials met in private. They had heard about the children resurrecting Will. They couldn’t deny its possibility in light of such obvious witnesses. They heard about the "white anointing." That bothered them more than anything.

  Scott Brannon said, "Don’t you know if the Lord wanted us to do that, then he’d have us doing it from the beginning?"

  University Professor of Theology, Sam Pendwight, said, "I agree with Father Scott. This must be another mass hallucination. It can’t be from God. What do we know about these kids? We know they are from Nashville, but what are their backgrounds? Are they from some cult or something? They don’t seem to have any denominational ties or support. Unless you count Kings Episcopal Church, and I understand that they were only transportation."

  Another priest, Albert Small, chimed in, "I heard they’re from the Mission in Nashville, and it was under quarantine for some kind of disease. People even died on the sidewalk in front of the Mission."

  Scott spoke again, "I heard from Sister Bernard that they were heading for the Boy Scout Jamboree Camp Grounds."

  Sam’s voice got loud, "Sister Bernard, now there’s a fanatic for you! I asked her to speak to my students recently. She had the guts to tell a group of my students that there was a real hell, sheep, and goats. She even told them that they had to make a personal decision to give their lives to Jesus before they could become Christians." At that point, the whole group broke out laughing hysterically in disrespect.

  "She sounds like one of those evangelists to me," Scott replied. "I’m glad I always taught about this wonderful inclusive Jesus, everyone makes it. Aren’t we all the children of God? It took me years to get my last parish to believe that Jesus automatically includes us all. After all, we’re educated Episcopalians, not a bunch of fundamentalists. You see, Sam, you taught me well. I’m definitely your prodigy."

  Sam replied, "Glad someone was listening. By the way, who’s their leader?"

  Albert answered, "I don’t think they have one. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was some teenager. Last anyone heard, their old leader was in jail for murder. You see what kind of nuts we could be dealing with?"

  Scott made a suggestion, "I believe we need to send some of us to visit them once they are settled in. We can offer to provide them with an approved worship service and the Eucharist. It would be nice if we could influence the children in the correct way of worship, especially since they really don’t seem to have real leadership right now." Scott leaned back in his chair feeling warm and fuzzy about his last suggestion. If anyone could teach liturgy to anyone, including children, it was Scott.

      

  Friends For The Journey

  Hunter and Nash were taking their time getting to storage. They had a long way to go and didn’t want to push so hard that they’d give out before dark. After two hours of walking, they sat down near Briley Parkway to eat their banana sandwiches. They were smart enough to pack some left-over grub from the Mission refrigerator.

  Nash held up his banana sandwich, "Truly a Southern delicacy."

  He wolfed it down and pulled out his tall coffee thermos. He watched the steam rise up into the air. He was infatuated while watching it drift upward, then above him, surprising them, loomed a strange man.

  "Got some coffee to spare, mister?" the stranger asked as he watched Nash and Hunter scrambling to their feet, completely startled. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to catch you off guard."

  Hunter was the first to notice the special look of this stranger, "I’d give him a drink if I were you, Nash." Nash looked inquisitively at Hunter and handed the stranger the thermos.

  "My name is Joseph. I'm heading Chattanooga way. Where are you heading?"

  Joseph was wearing brown khaki pants and a denim almost navy looking shirt. It wasn’t wrinkled but pressed perfectly in every corner. The pants were even creased down the middle. His shoes were heavy, expensive hiking boots. But, an absolute give away to Hunter was his coat. It was exactly like theirs. Although this guy wasn’t as big as Aaron, he looked powerfully built, at least he carried himself that way. His military haircut accented his full neck, seeming to fill the top of his coat up with his massive, muscular traps.

  "Yes, we’re heading that direction." Nash had to ask. "Joseph, I’m going to ask you a question. You don’t have to answer, but it would be nice if you do."

  Joseph was now sitting against a telephone pole while sipping his coffee but said between sips, "Sure, you’re the coffee man. It’s the least I can do."

  "Do you know anyone by the name of Aaron?"

  Nash waited with his fingers crossed behind his back. Hunter noticed and immediately did the same. It’d be nice to have an angel for company. He knew what Nash was thinking, but he couldn’t figure out why Nash didn’t ask him outright.

  Joseph smiled while trying not to laugh, and with a strained face said, "Yes, I know an Aaron."

  Nash continued, "Do you know someone called Caleb?"

  Joseph took a big gulp waiting dramatically too long for Nash, then said, "Yep, know a Caleb too."

  Nash added one more, "Do you know a lady named Lillie?" He didn’t use her nickname to see if it threw him.

  "You mean, Irish, don’t you, Nash?" Joseph laughed grandly. "I love your human games. Why didn’t you just come out and ask me, 'Joseph, are you an angel?'"

  "Because I wanted to make sure you weren’t from Dar-Raven’s group."

  Joseph frowned at the mention of Dar-Raven and answered, "I understand, but I’m only here to keep you company, including a little protection in case you need it, just doing a personal favor for Aaron. By the way, do you like my choice in coat gear? I actually like it myself. Aaron said to get the best."

  Joseph wasn’t wearing sunglasses, and there were no star eyes. Hunter said, "I thought angels had star eyes?"

  Joseph chuckled, "Contacts, Hunter, contacts." He popped one off, and Hunter was wide-eyed at the light, then he put it back on again.

  Nash had to ask, "How's Enya?"

  "Enya is fine. She’s knows you’re okay. Isaac told her. You’ll see her soon."

  Nash was still full of questions, "What about the children? Are they at Sanctuary, yet?"

  Joseph replied, "They got to Sanctuary on Monday morning. They slept over at All Saints. Since they didn’t make to the top of God’s Mountain until late Sunday afternoon, Aaron didn’t want them still setting up camp at dark. Keel, Carey, and Anne are helping organize the
kids, and Keel is stepping up to plate as one of God’s chosen. We need Hunter to finish up the team."

  Nash looked mystified, "Who’s Keel?"

  Joseph realized Nash had missed some events. He said, "Keel is someone God chose long ago to anoint with great power and authority for a time like this. God brought him up from Nashville in one of the straggler groups. He along with nine others came from Alex Tabor’s car lot on Lebanon Road. They made it out just in time before Dar-Raven showed up. Close call."

  Hunter jumped. "Hey, I worked for Alex Tabor at the downtown lot for awhile before the gangs got a hold of me. You mean to tell me a whole group of Christians were at the Lebanon location? That’s unreal! I’ve got to meet these guys! I bet some of them went to my high school."

  They all picked up their stuff and started walking down Murfreesboro Road. Joseph kept talking, "Hunter, you were the one who brought one of that group to the Lord."

  As they came to the airport runway, a group of ten teenagers rushed out from behind the abandoned Genesco Boot Factory on bicycles. They circled the three of them, brandishing knifes and chains. They were surprised that these three didn’t seem to be intimidated. A bigger kid, more a young adult, was riding what looked like was a ten-year-old's bike. He blocked their way and pulled out a butcher knife. He stepped threateningly towards Joseph while Nash buried his face in Hunter’s shoulder trying to hide his laughter. He thought it was like a guy shoving a toothpick into the face of someone with a chain saw, a bad example, but the only way Nash could compare it to.

  "Okay mister, that’s far enough. Drop your stuff, including those fine dude coats, and we’ll let you be. No one gets through the airport gang’s turf without paying." He pushed the knifepoint into Joseph’s chest, not quite breaking the skin. The other kids didn’t seem to be nearly as aggressive as this guy. Joseph wasn’t interested in hurting some kids, not after working with Aaron to save so many, but he had an idea.

  "How many of you kids are hanging out with this trash because you have to?" challenged Joseph as he pointed to the young man in front of him. No one raised their hand as the young man glared at each one.

  "What if I gave you a chance to start over somewhere special. Somewhere, where God protects and provides for you?"

  They all just looked at each other, and three of the girls fixed themselves on Joseph’s every word as if they were hoping for a good answer. The young man got angry and pushed his knife into Joseph while drawing a small bead of blood.

  "Mister, you must have a death wish. This is my gang. They do what I say, and nothing you say is going to change it. I’m tired of waiting on you."

  Joseph barged in, "You want to stick me so bad, buddy, then let me help you."

  Joseph grabbed the young man’s hands and plunged the knife into his own chest until nothing but the handle showed making blood spray in all directions. The boy tried to pull away, but Joseph didn’t let him. He held him to the knife and watched as his blood soaked both of their faces and clothes. There was a shrill, pathetic whine when the boy noticed that Joseph wasn’t dying. He felt panic, fear, and his knees started shaking. Joseph pulled the knife out, pried it from Billie's hands, and threw it into the middle of Murfreesboro Road.

  The others divided naturally. The three girls with two other guys moved closer to Nash and Hunter. The others were stumbling over themselves wanting to run away but still not wanting to leave their bikes. They were in shock by what they had seen, and Billie was trying to get them to help him counterattack when Joseph pulled his shirt open—no wound, not even a scratch. It was more than enough to send them all scrambling back to the Boot Factory Building—the heck with their bikes. The other five stood in one spot with their eyes to the ground.

  Nash immediately turned and witnessed to them about the Lord. He pointed to Joseph and explained how Joseph was an angel sent to help them go to a refuge for young people on Monteagle. His witness was so strong that they all went to their knees at Nash’s outside altar call. They wept as their sins were shoved far from them and replaced with God’s Spirit. Afterwards, they jumped around in circles in their new Godly excitement.

  Nash turned to Joseph, "Good call, Joseph. Good call. Looks like that we’ve added to the population of God’s Mountain. The kids hung onto Hunter’s every word as he told them about how God raised him from the dead and how Nash had battled with Dar-Raven in the jail. For the first time in their short lives, they had a reason to live. The next two hours went by fast, but no one noticed.

  They finally made it to storage. Nash opened the locked aluminum bay with his private codes, and there was true transport. He was thrilled that they stuck it here for safekeeping. He forgot that they put extra provisions for emergencies in the back. They had talked and planned to escape to Sewanee well before the times really got bad. The provisions they left were from that forethought. They knew the city was the worst place to be when the times got rough. Strange, they never felt about escaping, even recently. He thought God kept them from that decision for the kids' sakes. There was a four-man tent, bedrolls, a 50-pound bag of rice, cooking pots, kerosene lanterns, dried fruit bags. There was even a metal cash box filled with silver dimes. How could he forget about all this preparation? It was an excellent surprise. The Montero was still a bright, new blue with only a little dust covering it and had only 30,000 miles on it while the tires kept their inflation.

  Nash commented, "Okay guys, there are eight of us. Let’s load up and get out of here. I say we go right now and see if we can get to the mountain at least by five tonight. What does everyone say? How about you, Joseph?"

  "Good idea," said Joseph with the rest agreeing.

  After they hooked the battery backup, Nash cranked it up. The battery was connected to a small alkaline charger, which looked like a miniature battery itself.

  They all piled in with Joseph sitting up front on the passenger's side for legroom while Nash drove. They fit the three girls and Hunter in the back seat. He loved it, and they did too. They wanted to be as close to him as possible; he was their Jesus anchor.

  The other guys jumped in the back. One found a couple of portable radios from the survival gear, and they tuned in and tuned out while settling back on the rolled-up sleeping bags, reclining for the trip.

  Nash shouted, "Sewanee here we come! Movin' out raw hide," then he made a sound like a cracking whip. The kids weren’t amused, but Joseph liked it—more human humor.

      