Thank you for letting me talk. It has been good for me to talk and to remember those happy days of childhood. I had a good home and a good childhood. I needed some happy memories of a time when life was stable and content. Those memories have given me something to stand on again; a place from which I can begin to reconstruct my life.”
Bailey decided that she liked this man.
She and Saul had been sitting comfortably together for a while when they heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They knew that two people were approaching. Then a voice called, “Can we come in?” That was the voice of Judas, the master of the household. As he entered with his companion, a man of mature years, about his own age, he said to Saul, “Allow me to introduce myself. Your condition has not allowed me to do so before. I am Judas, Master of this household. I welcome you. It is good to see you recovering.”
“Yes I am very much better now thanks, in no small measure to Bailey and her two friends here,” looking toward Duncan and Bear. “But do you know who I am?”
“Indeed I do,” and then he repeated some of the words that Bailey had said previously. “In this household, when need is a guest; no questions are asked. Welcome, Saul of Tarsus to the household of Judas.”
Bailey stood and was about to depart and leave the men to their business but Saul said, “Bailey, please don’t go. I want you to know what is happening here. I knew you were special when I first saw you and I feel as if you belong. If ever I could have a daughter, I would want her to be exactly like you but I am beginning to believe that there will be no place in my life for a wife or family. People like you will have to fill that place in passing moments of life.”
Judas’ companion then spoke to Saul, “My name is Ananias. I greet you formally, both on my own account and on behalf of the followers of The Way in Damascus. Saul of Tarsus, fellow believer and follower of Saviour, I welcome you to Damascus and to the fellowship of The Way.”
He placed his hands on Saul’s shoulders and said, “Stand up. I want to talk to you face to face as a man and an equal under the authority of Saviour.”
When Saul was on his feet, Ananias said, “Saul of Tarsus, look at me.” Saul turned his eyes toward the sound of the voice and found himself looking straight into the eyes of Ananias. He could see.
Ananias continued, “Saul of Tarsus, Saviour wants you to join us in welcoming The Presence into your life,” Immediately Saul had another experience of being able to see. What he saw was a total awareness that the love and Presence of Saviour would never leave him.
Bailey sat in silence, aware of the power of The Presence filling the room and of the new life flooding into her friend, Saul.
Saul had one more question for Ananias, “Did Saviour give you any other message as to what I must do next? He promised to send someone to tell me what he wanted me to do.”
“Yes, he did. He said to tell you that your job would be to spread the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come, all throughout the Empire, to the non-Jewish world, as well as to the Jews. You will even have the opportunities to tell Kings and Rulers about it. When those opportunities come, you must grasp them with both hands.”
Saul sensed that Ananias was not telling him everything and said, “Was there anything else?”
“Well, yes, there was something that I don’t quite understand. He said something to the effect that he would be treating you to a display of the problems and difficulties that you will have to face right throughout this task.”
“Thank you.” Saul said. “That goes a long way to confirming what I had already begun to feel; that there will be no space in my life for wife or family. I think that there will be too much turmoil. If this proves to be the case I am sad about it, but the satisfaction of obedience will be greater than the loss. We are in service to the king.”
That evening was marked by the fact that Saul sat down with the household and shared a meal with them. Nobody complained when he came back for seconds. He had some catching up to do.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE- WHAT BAILEY UNDERSTOOD
The next morning, Saul was in conference with Judas, explaining his plans for the immediate future.
Earlier, he had told Bailey that he had just experienced an eventful night. During the night, The Presence had been strongly with him and he had been given instructions for the days that lay ahead. He said, “I fought what I was being told. I wanted to get on with spreading the good news right away but Saviour told me clearly that I must first go on a pilgrimage throughout the Sinai Peninsular in Arabia and visit the places where The Great One had spoken so clearly to our ancestors and to Moses. He said that there are many things I must learn if I am to tell the story accurately and effectively.”
Saul had wasted no time and departed early that morning. Life settled back to normal in the household of Judas and in the city of Damascus. Without Saul, there was no threat to The Way. After all, he had the extradition papers, so the rest of his party returned to Jerusalem and settled into their normal routines. A life of routine returned for Bailey as well. Perhaps it was a little too predictable for her comfort. She had become so used to excitement and change that she missed it.
She remembered those times that she thought of as her journeys. There had been the time in The Before when The Great One had spoken and everything had changed so dramatically. The worlds of material stuff had been made. Bailey remembered the Time of The Speaking when chaos and darkness had become order and life. The Great One had spoken it all into being. Always it was The Speaking in one form or another.
She remembered the loss of the Kingdom that man had ruled over in the good place on earth and the sadness it had caused both man and The Great One when man had done that foolish thing and lost his ability to rule.
She remembered how, because of the foolish thing that man had done, The Great One had been forced into another kind of Speaking that brought great sadness to Him. This Speaking put a curse on the earth and all its inhabitants which took them outside of the awareness of His presence. Everything that was on the earth was thrown into a state of confusion, so that no path was straight and no truth complete.
Then, Bailey remembered a young woman giving birth to a baby boy; a boy who had not been conceived in her by a man but by The Great One himself. This was the most amazing and impossible thing to comprehend. Through his mother the child had been born human but through his Father he had been born as the true son of The Great One.
Bailey pondered this and was reminded of how the first King, Adam had been moulded from the stuff of the earth but had his life and spirit breathed into him by The Great One.
She had seen this new son reveal himself to be The Speaking of The Great One, again bringing order and light into the chaos caused by the foolish thing man had done. He had grown up and done all this in the community and nation in which he lived. She had seen this man, this second King, open the gates to the place where the dead go, removing the power of the curse that The Great One had been forced to put on the earth. By only doing what he saw his Father doing and only saying what he knew his Father wanted him to say, he had re-established The Kingdom in the name of both man and The Great One.
She knew that what she was in the midst of now was part of another journey. She was seeing the Kingdom being re-established in an ever-broadening way. It would no longer be confined to the community and nation to which Saviour had belonged. It would extend right throughout the world.
The Speaking was again central. It was coming through man and the words of The Speaking were originating from The Great One himself through The Presence. Bailey knew she was witnessing a truly remarkable thing. It was the establishment of a combined rule with man standing hand in hand with The Great One. She did not believe that anything could break the rule of this kingdom. The Way was being ever more firmly established.
What she did find hard to understand was how it could be that she remembered all these things so vividl
y but could not remember at all where she lived or what she did when she was not on a journey.
She wished that she could talk to Saul about this. There was something special about the way he grasped the truth about events. But he was a long way away, in some inhospitable place called Arabia.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX- DUNCAN IN LOVE
It was just a few days after these events that Bailey received a summons to the room of administration in the household of Judas. She was a little fearful as Judas was an important man with responsibilities throughout the city and she had been given no explanation as to why she had been called.
When she entered the room she was relieved to see a smile of welcome on Judas’ face. She stood formally before him and waited. He waved her aside and said, “No, no please sit. There is something I must talk to you about, but first let me give you an apology. I am sorry that I have not been able to spend more time with you. I have been exceptionally busy and, if truth be told, have not been home very often.”
Bailey was still feeling a little embarrassed but waited patiently until Judas continued.
“Something very unusual happened last night that concerns you. I wanted to see you alone so that you can make your own decisions without interference or pressure, and so that any necessary plans and explanations can be formulated.”
Bailey was surprised because Judas seemed to be having trouble getting to the point. What could have happened that caused a man of his experience to become unsure of how to approach a simple meeting with a girl? She decided that the simple approach might be the best, so went straight to the point, “Judas, Master of the House, what has happened?”
“Yes, of course, you are right, Bailey, I must tell you. Last night I was sitting right here, where I am sitting now, planning today’s activities when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was shocked, almost paralysed with fear. It was impossible for anybody to be in the room. The door was locked. I jumped to my feet and, turning to face the intruder, found myself looking into the face of a youngish man with the most intelligent eyes I have ever seen.”
“While I stood, for a moment immobilised by the shock of his sudden entry into my life, he apologised and said, “I am sorry I did not mean to alarm you. My name is Alias. I am a messenger from The Great One. Your young friends, Bailey and Duncan know me and will vouch for me. I am speaking to you because you are the Master of this house. I have a task for you to organise that involves them.”
Judas continued, “I did not know what to think. I have never before had any kind of heavenly messenger visit me. Of course, I have read about such incidents in The Ancient Book of Records but could not believe that such a thing could intrude into my life. I still think that I may have been dreaming and it is all a meaningless nothing.”
Bailey was no stranger to the confusion that unexpected and new experiences can cause. She felt a sudden kinship with this man and came quickly to his rescue. “Yes, I know Alias. He was with us, and helped us on some of our journeys. Duncan and Bear were with me. They would vouch for him also if you could understand their talk.”
It was then that Judas gave the most surprising command, “Get Duncan!”
Bailey turned and ran, for she felt the urgency in Judas’ voice. It took a little while to wake Duncan and make him understand that he was needed. When she returned with Duncan they were met by Judas who crouched in front of them. Duncan immediately went into sniff and search mode, which wasn’t unusual for him. What was a little unexpected, was the fact that his nose took him immediately to the exact spot where Alias had placed his hand on Judas’ shoulder. Duncan sniffed that spot over and over, all the time pushing against Judas as if he had discovered a special friend.
Judas seemed about to accept this as sufficient confirmation when Duncan’s nose went into overdrive. He became crazy, mad, excited, out of control! Bailey did not know what to do. There was a box in the corner that was in danger of being destroyed, or at best badly damaged. It was some kind of storage box and Duncan was sniffing it frantically up and down, all the time scratching at its lid and yapping uncontrollably.
“Duncan! No!” Bailey screamed, almost as out of control as her dog. Now it was Judas’ turn to do what Alias had done to him. He put his hand on Bailey’s shoulder and said gently, “Leave him.”
He went over to the box and, squatting beside it, carefully opened the lid.
Incredibly, Duncan sat and waited.
Judas reached into the box and carefully removed a short piece of wood. It looked like a piece of a straight tree branch that had been smoothed at both ends. Duncan took this gently between his teeth and lay with it under his chin. His look of absolute bliss was unmistakable. If Duncan had been human Bailey would have said, “Duncan is in love.”
It was at that moment that Bailey remembered something that had seemed insignificant at the time. She recalled the time when they had been together in the Beautiful Place. Just after the animals had been spoken into existence by The Great One, this Beautiful dog had come to greet Duncan. It had been carrying a piece of wood exactly like this.
Judas looked at Duncan and then at Bailey and said, “Well, I need ask no more questions. Duncan has vouched for Alias. When he came to me with his message he said that piece of wood was a gift to Duncan from a very special friend in the Beautiful Place. I don’t know where that place is but I do know that, in all my travels, I have never seen timber of this type before.”
TIME TO PAUSE AGAIN
This is a time to just be you, the individual who is different from any other individual that exists, the individual with thoughts, ideas and reactions that are yours alone.
I want you to consider your reading of the book so far and write down the most positive reaction you had to any part of it and the most negative reaction you had to any part of it. These are your reactions. You do not have to judge them as good or bad, right or wrong. Just accept them as being part of you. In the same way accept the reactions of the others in the group as being just as valid as your own. In this I want you to just share your reactions and listen to the reactions of others. Do not discuss or argue. Then sit in silence for a while as you listen to The Presence in the room. If anybody is in distress, pray with them.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN- ANOTHER JOURNEY FOR BAILEY
Judas wasted no time in implementing the instructions that Alias had given him. Shortly after the household had retired to bed, Bailey, Duncan and a donkey called Asbuz, stood outside by the stables. A closer look showed the observer that the Donkey was loaded for travel. Another figure was standing in the doorway, watching the proceedings.
The observer was Judas. He was not comfortable with what he was doing. He was used to giving orders, not following them. His discomfort was intensified by the fact that these instructions had been given in such a mysterious way that no rational mind could understand their significance. He did not like acting blind but knew that the messenger of The Great One must be obeyed.
As he stood watching, something even more frightening happened. The air around the group before him began to shimmer like the rippling of water when a pebble is thrown into a pond. Then they were gone – just gone. Judas would have panicked if The Presence had not been so strong around him, reassuring him that all was well.
Lost in a sense of awe, he returned to Bailey’s sleeping quarters and looked around. It was just as Alias had told him. Bear was gone. He had been taken home, whatever that meant. But he knew that was not where Bailey was being taken. His misgiving was strong as he realised the one thing he had forgotten to do was to tell her what Alias had said about her destination. She would not know where she was going.
The shimmering that Judas had seen when Bailey was taken from them was experienced firsthand by her. She immediately recognised what was happening. The memory of a previous journey was immediate. She may not have known where she was going but she did know what was happening. This was a pleasant way t
o travel, not like being in that ancient lift that had brought her to this place in the beginning.
Nobody was in sight when a girl, a dog and a donkey appeared in the desert. When the shimmering stopped and the landscape began to come into focus, Bailey could see that the night was coming to an end. The eastern horizon was just beginning to lighten. She needed time to get her bearings. She looked around. It was a dreary place with little sign of life and no sign of habitation. She didn’t know which way to go.
Asbuz, her donkey, didn’t have any such problem. He seemed to know where to go. She let him walk freely. Holding his lead in her right hand and her bundle of personal things in her left, she let him have his head and followed him slowly southward.
As the visibility increased with the rising of the sun, she noticed a small tentlike structure ahead. She wanted to stop and consider whether to proceed, but Asbuz didn’t see any reason to hesitate. In this decision she had little choice. A determined donkey can be difficult for a girl to control, so she continued her slow trudge toward the camp, determined to appear as unconcerned as possible. The last thing Bailey wanted was to attract attention with any undue disturbance.
As she approached the camp, a figure emerged from under the shelter. He was a slightly built man, heavily bearded and leaning heavily on a stick. She judged him to be no great threat. At least he should be easily outrun if flight became necessary.
Her cautious approach was completely ruined by a flurry of activity beside her. Duncan had taken off from beside her. Like a bullet, he rushed toward the man. Duncan knew something that Bailey did not. In some things dogs are cleverer than humans. This man was unrecognisable to Bailey but not to Duncan. This scruffy, frail man looked nothing like the upstanding, aristocratic scholar they had known in Damascus but, to Duncan, he smelt like Saul. Duncan was an expert when it came to smells. His nose was never wrong. He ran straight to Saul and jumped up to hug him in a doggy embrace.
The Biovantic Bear Page 9
