Scars of My Guardian Angel

by Russell L Martin

  They looked to be only a couple feet tall. I hear Allayer and Nipper chuckling, “Hey Chado, you have to understand, we are standing on the planet of Heaven. Always expect the unexpected.”

  I look back at this herd of little donkeys, “My goodness, it must be at least two or three hundred.”

  As we continue in their direction, they all slow down to a walk. I don’t know if it’s their curiosity or they just wanted to love up on us. We were now surrounded by a huge herd of donkeys. Some were nudging and licking our hands. Memories of home flashing through my mind as I rubbed the forehead of several of the cutest little animals I had ever seen. After only a short time with our new friends they all scattered into the surrounding clover fields and started grazing.

  We continue up and over the hill, my excitement growing with every step.

  Nipper asks, “So what did you think about the herd of donkeys?”

  “Well, they weren’t what I expected. I just knew when I heard the sounds of their hooves, I was about to see wild mustangs coming over this hill.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll get to see thousands of horses, they are scattered all over the pastures of Heaven. ”

  “Wow Nipper, pastures of Heaven? That sounds like the name of a song or a really cool book.”

  “Yep, sure does.”

  When we walk over the crest of the small foothill, my eyes widen with surprise. I can’t believe what I’m looking at. I feel weak-kneed as I plop down in ankle deep crimson clover. In the far distance, I see a tall flat top mountain with the shining city of Heaven perched on its back. The city’s great wall continues from my left and to my right what looks like over a thousand miles. The wall glitters, being adorned with different kinds of precious stones. The height of the wall reaches the clouds hovering over the city. From our location, I can see a gate, its doors glowing pearl white, having the same appearance and color as a full moon.

  There’s a certain glow around the city that reminds me of scripture. For the glory of God illuminated it and the Lamb is its light.

  I stand up and start heading in the direction of the city and I notice Allayer and Nipper aren’t following.

  “Hey guys are y’all ready? Let’s get cracking.”

  Allayer stands up and walks over very slowly with a sad look on his face.

  “What’s wrong Allayer, did I do something wrong?”

  “Of course not, it’s just that…, well this is where God wanted us to drop you off.”

  “What do you mean drop me off?”

  “He wanted us to bring you to this very spot so you could get a better picture of what Heaven looks like. At least from this overlook.”

  “Nipper, you can tell him.”

  “Chado, everyone else goes through a portal that drops them right in front of the gate and they can’t see what you’re seeing because they’re so close to the wall. God wanted you to get a different view for some reason. Oh yeah, just a little heads up; there are twelve gates and they have the same names as the planets, which are the same as the twelve tribes of Israel. One other thing, the wall is around fifteen hundred miles long and the city is square, so do the math.”

  “So it’s six thousand miles around Heaven?”

  “Yes, that’s about right.”

  “So do all the people on the planet of Heaven live inside the city?”

  “Absolutely not, God allows His people to live anywhere they want. Someone like you living your entire life in the country probably wouldn’t feel at home living in a city.”

  “Never thought of it like that. Well, will I ever see you guys again?”

  “We are almost certain that will happen.”

  “I feel like we’ve become really good friends over this journey, and I hate to say good bye.”

  Nipper looks down as he takes one foot and lightly brushes the tops of the clover with his sandal mumbling, “Yeah I know, we haven’t been able to spend this much time with anyone else we’ve ever transported. We both will miss you. But remember this, God knows our heart and He is the coolest, so I’m sure He will allow our paths to cross again.”

  Allayer and Nipper give me a big hug turning away and just like that, gone. Within a split second they both vanished.

  19

  Strange Critters

  I turn back around setting my sights on the big pearly gate in the distance, then take a small sip of wine and tie the pouch that Samson gave me back to my side. I start my journey alone to the City of Heaven.

  I walk for several hours enjoying the beauty of my surroundings, thinking of Allayer and Nipper, wishing they were here so I could pound them with a thousand more questions. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of something moving. My curiosity gets the best of me, so I change direction just a little to solve this mystery… then I see it again.

  Other than the herd of donkeys, I haven’t seen any other living creature.

  I slowly walk over to a thick grove of trees near a small running stream, and whatever it was has gone. I’m thinking this would be a good place to kick back for the night. I look around and see all sorts of wild berries growing along the creek.

  I’m thinking, No one but me; a good cool creek; well why not. I strip off my clothes down to my birthday suit and dive in.

  S o refreshing … I think back on my childhood when I would swim in Black Creek, our little piece of Heaven on Earth. You know, it’s no t much different than what I’m experiencing at this very moment.

  I’m suddenly startled when I hear a twig snap.

  “Hello, is anybody out there?” Nothing but silence, it must be my imagination. I dive back under the water and swim the width of the creek and when I surface I am face to face with two little spider monkeys. After catching my breath I say, “Well hello there little fellows.” They both just stare, and then at the same time turn around; one grabbing a sandal while the other takes my pants.

  The chase is on. As I claw my way up the steep creek bank, I grab my other sandal and shirt. I run as fast as possible, ducking and dodging tree limbs, trying to keep both monkeys in sight. I start thinking, what do I do if I can’t get my pants back? Just walk up to Heaven’s Gate nude and say, hey everybody I’m here on special assignment.

  Still chasing the two monkey thieves, we break out of the thick brush into an opening. I see both spider monkeys clearly now. They are both headed for what looks like an old timey barn. With every stride, I’m praying there won’t be any people there. I’m gaining on them over the open terrain, and suddenly I have a funny thought that Allayer and Nipper would get a kick out of this scene.

  Both monkeys stop right before going through the barn door and at the same time throw my clothes and sandal up in the air, turning and scurrying inside the barn.

  At that point I change my gait from a full speed run to a slow, cautious walk. This has got to be the most ridiculous situation I’ve ever been in.

  With the cool air hitting my lower parts reminding me I’m walking across an open pasture nude, I silently pray, Please God, don’t let anyone see me.

  I wonder if these two little rascals are setting me up for something. You would think from me chasing them, they would have quickly run up the nearest tree.

  * * *

  I finally get to my clothes, looking around to make sure no one saw this embarrassing moment. I hear a familiar sound; it was the whickering of a horse. Then again, I hear neighing.

  After tying my sandals, I walk inside the barn and there they are. A pair of the finest horses I’ve ever seen. They both look like twins bred from the same stock. As I’m admiring each one, I notice they both have the rear ends and chests of quarter horses and the height and length of a thoroughbred with the long erect ears and head of a Tennessee Walker. I am looking at horses made in Heaven.

  “ I wonder who you guys belong to, and I wish y’all were mine. So awesome… oh well, I got to get going fellows; I’ve got a long way to go.”

  As I turn to head out of the barn, both horses ne
igh at me. I look back and they are both shaking their heads up and down as if trying to tell me something.

  “Sorry friends, but you don’t belong to me and I sure don’t want to be labeled a horse thief right out of the batter’s box.”

  I look up at the great wall of Heaven with the barn blocking part of my view. I try to guess how many miles away it is when I suddenly have a memory from my childhood. I was around eight or ten years old and our family went on vacation to the mountains. I had only seen pictures in books or watched Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on our black and white TV, so I had no real idea of the grandeur of the mountains. When my dad said, “Hey, look at that kids, I can see the snowcapped mountains.” My brother and I thought we would arrive in the next few minutes, but after a couple more long hours staring through the windshield we finally made it.

  So I’m guessing I probably have at least a two or three day walk before I reach the base of Heaven’s Gate. Looking back at the setting sun I’m thinking this barn is as good a place as any to camp. When I walk in the barn, both horses whicker almost to tell me, welcome stranger. I rub both on the head as I pass, heading for a pile of hay in the corner of the barn.

  As I lie down, I look up at the two horses, both staring at me with their huge dark brown eyes. With feeling a sense of peace, I chuckle as I ask, “Hey guys, where did your little thieving monkey friends get off to?”

  I close my eyes, still thinking back about our childhood vacation to the mountains, and a funny memory came to me. We were staying at a cool ski resort hotel with a beautiful river running right behind it. With my family being from Louisiana, we loved to fish. It didn’t take long to figure out our fishing skills from the Deep South didn’t work in the mountain streams. When we gave up on catching trout from the icy cold waters, we were all exhausted from the trip and turned in for the night. Well, except my older brother. I don’t believe he had ever seen a fire alarm and was curious to what it would do if you pulled the red thingy down.

  Jarred from our deep sleep, we all jumped out of bed and ran for the stairway. Yep, he found out what the red thingy was. Oh yeah, country came to town.

  I open my eyes one more time before falling asleep and notice a beautiful sunset. The last few rays are shining through the open barn door, and I see dust particles hanging in the air from the occasional movement of the horses.

  As I close my eyes, sinking further down into the soft hay, my mind drifts off into a dream. I see myself sitting by a small camp fire laid back with my head resting against a leather saddle. Out of the shadows of darkness, a great lion appears. Someone with me says, “Fear not, be still and know that He is God.” The Lion has something in His mouth. As I turn to see who spoke to me, I’m suddenly at a different place, I can see millions of people all walking together, their path has a glow but they are surrounded by total darkness. The width of the line is six people across and the length is unending.

  A bright light flashes and I’m now looking down from the sky at the barn. I hear a soft spoken voice, “Take these animals, they will lead you. ” I ask, “Where will they lead me, where will they lead me?” over and over. As I wake and slowly open my eyes saying “Where will they lead me?” for the last time, I see the nose of one of the horses no more than an inch from my face. I feel the warm breath coming from his huge nostrils and suddenly he snorts and blasts my face with horse spittle.

  “Thanks a lot for the morning wake up and a big double thank you for the shower.” As I reach up and shove his head away, I notice I have a spider monkey still asleep wrapped halfway around my neck. As I stand up from my night’s sleep, I look around and see the other horse standing, holding a saddle blanket in his teeth. I chuckle, “So my hairy friend, what are you doing with that?” He walks over just like he knows what I had asked and places the blanket on the back of the other horse.

  Well, if that doesn’t beat all! In all my years of owning horses I have never seen anything like that.

  I suddenly remember my dream, “Take these animals they will lead you.”

  I just wonder if God set this whole thing up from the beginning. The monkeys stealing my clothes and leading me here to an old barn, with two of the finest horses in Heaven… what are the odds of something like this happening? Considering I’m way out here in the middle of nowhere… and come to think of it, Allayer and Nipper told me someone would show me the way, so I guess this is God showing me the way. Wow, not to mention providing transportation .

  I re-adjust the blanket the other horse had placed on the back of his friend, sliding it forward a few inches. I grab an ole timey saddle from the floor of the barn and start getting my stallion ready to ride.

  I hear something at the door of the barn, when I turn; I see the other spider monkey dragging a burlap sack with something in it. The little guy drops it at my feet, with both horses whickering at the same time sounding just like my horses at home when they knew it was time to be fed. The one already saddled nudges me from behind as if to tell me, “Open the sack, dummy .”

  As I reach down to grab the sack, I could smell the strong fragrance of fresh apples. Another nudge now coming from both horses, “Okay, okay, hold on to your hooves.” I reach in and pull out some of the largest apples I had ever laid my eyes on. After sharing the nice breakfast the little spider monkey had provided, I tie my wine pouch and the burlap sack with the remaining apples to the saddle horn.

  I lead the saddled horse out of the barn over to a tree stump. With the height of these stallions, I need all the help I can get. As I climb up on the tree stump, I notice my new horse bows, almost touching his stomach to the ground. I laugh as I jump off the stump and easily hop in the saddle of this mighty horse of Heaven without even using the stirrup. After he feels me settle into a riding position, he stands and we are now headed for Heaven’s Gate.

  * * *

  With the other horse taking the lead, we pass underneath the shade of a great big cypress tree. Out of nowhere, the two spider monkeys drop down from the low hanging branches onto the back of the lead horse. They both turn and look at me as each one grabs a handful of mane. I smile, “I’m glad you guys decided to join us on our journey. ”

  Both horses at the same time take off in a pretty fast gallop. I occasionally catch glimpses of the giant wall of Heaven as I look through the tall trees. The smooth gallop of my horse reminds me of riding my Tennessee Walker back home, as we dart in and out between scattered timbers. Through creek bottoms and foot hills we get closer with every stride.

  Both horses slow down to a walk as we come around the side of a big ravine. The two spider monkeys bail off the lead horse, and then run over to the edge of the ravine cliff. My horse comes to a stop and does his bowing trick. I slide out of the saddle and walk over to the cliff to see what’s going on.

  As I peep over the edge, I see three old men fly fishing in a beautiful stream. Something catches my attention coming out of the brush behind them. As I watch for a bit, I see a giant grizzly. I immediately start hollering at them to watch out! They all three at the same time turn around and wave at me. I shout at them again and point at the grizzly. Oh my God, they can’t hear me for the sounds of the water rushing over the rocks ! I stand helpless on the cliff watching as three guys are about to be eaten.

  The bear walks right up behind them, stands up on his back feet; Oh no, this thing looks like he’s twenty feet tall, maybe even taller. I hear the two spider monkeys squealing, both jumping up and down.

  One of the old men turns around, walks over to the bear and starts scratching his belly. I hear the bear letting out a huge roar, but it wasn’t a roar of attack, it was more of a happy playful roar. Then the old man reaches in his wicker trout basket, pulls out a couple trophy size trout and gave them to this friendly bear.

  The old man turns walks back to his spot on the river bank, and with the precision of a ballet dancer he takes his fly rod swinging it back and forth slowly releasing more and more line. The motion of his rod is perfect with the fly
line circling, gleaming in the rays of the morning sun, enticing the trout underneath the crystal clear mountain water, to strike as the fly touches down.

  I hear my horse whickering to tell me it’s time to move on. After a few more hours in the saddle, we come to a split in the trail. The passage to our right is angled in the direction of the wall, or should I say the City of God.

  The lead horse turns, heading down the narrow path to our left, with my steed continuing to follow. “Whoa, fellow, we need to go right!” I attempt to turn my horse in the direction of the city, “Come on now; get over there.” I pull back on the reins, he starts prancing with a little pitching then starts to buck, finally he snorts one time then settles back down and continues down the trail to the left. “What’s the matter with you, you crazy lug head?”

  Both monkeys on the lead horse jump up and down chattering as if they’re laughing at me in a foreign monkey language.

  I start to think, if God set this whole thing up, apparently they are bringing me somewhere special and I need to chill.

  I reach down and rub the side of my horse’s neck, “Hey ole buddy, sorry for talking to you like I did. I understand you know where we’re headed.” And with a couple gentle pats on his neck we continue on.

  Walking slowly through the narrow canyon I am now convinced God has more mysteries He wants me to see.

  The clattering sounds coming from their hooves as they make contact against the loose rocks lying in our trail echo through the narrow canyon. The cliff walls on each side reach up for several hundred feet. As I admire all the different rock formations and colors, it reminds me of the old western movies.

  My mind starts to drift off as the sound of the rocks clattering beneath the feet of the horses is almost hypnotizing. I have thoughts of the three fishermen. It would have been nice to have found a way down to the river so that I could have visited for a short spell. I could have asked about their huge friend the grizzly. The size of that thing was incredible.