Rough side of the mountain

    And there I stood facing what appeared to be a mountain.  It was too high for me to see what was beyond the fog that lay over the base. Behind me was nothing.  And even when I tried to step out into the darkness I would reappear facing the mountain again.  I had no choice but to ascend.  I don’t know how or why I stood there but something in my spirit was telling me that I had to make it to the top.  The only other option was to stand there and do nothing. There were three trails at the base of that mountain, but no sign indicating which I should take.  So I decided to take the one right in front of me.  The one that I could see that lead straight up to the top.  At least it looked like it did.  It was straight only winding ever so gently to the right, then to the left and back again. I assumed that eventually the top of the mountain and the trail finally did meet.  Without further hesitation I set out on my journey to the top because somehow I knew that until I moved up I would not rest.  I spent the first few steps looking around at the marvels and beauties of that mountain and every now and then I would look back to see just how far I had come. Slowly the starting point got further and further away until the fog covered most of where I had come from.  There was no turning back.  Looking around I could see pieces of another trail that would appear and disappear.  In the distance I thought I heard a voice calling my name.  I figured that it was just my mind hallucinating due to the stress of my journey.  About halfway up the mountain the smooth trail began to get a little rocky.  At times my footing deceived me until I eventually slipped, but fortunately I never quite fell.  Not all the way.  I’ve always been a little nifty by the feet.  I came upon a spring on a flat and level part of the mountain that was peaceful and the most beautiful place I had ever seen.  There I stayed for a time because it was so quiet and peaceful.  No voices no noises no bruises from neither thorns nor rocks.  It felt like heaven If there is such a place.  Just when I began to settle down and call that part of the mountain home, there was a great earthquake.  The mountain shook so violently that I was cast down into a part of the trail that I did not see the first time. Wait.  Now the other trail was a lot closer. I didn’t want to go back up the same way that I went the last time so I jumped across to the next one.  This one wasn’t as nice looking as the first but there were a lot of ridges and stumps that would allow me to get better footing in case of another earthquake.  This new trail was definitely rougher than the first.  I stopped to think; maybe I should have stayed on the other one.  The rocks and stumps are beginning to merge into bushes and thorns and I think I may have seen a snake.  God knows that I despise the very thought of being near snakes.  If I had to, I would rather start all over again than to travel in fear of snakes on this trail. My mind was playing tricks on me again.  I thought I heard someone calling my name.  I better get moving.  I made it through the bush and thorns with just a few scratches and a slight headache but I was fine otherwise.  Strangely I began to thirst just as I saw a pond ahead.  This time the water was still and it sat sideways on the mountain, not flat like the beautiful spring I had come to love before.  It appeared as if the water should run downhill but it just hovered there in place.  It was strange but my weary body compelled me to settle for a night regardless of the eeriness this place made me feel.  That night I fell into a deep sleep and I dreamed.  I dreamed that I was walking along a dark and unclean city street.  I felt alone as if I was the only one that existed in the entire universe.  I suddenly felt the need to talk to my mother but my mother had died years before.  I told myself that I couldn’t talk to her but another voice, one with more authority than my own said yes.  Yes you can and I raised my head to look forward and a great ball of light came around the corner towards me.  It looked like Ice or shimmering crystal or both.  The closer it came the stronger I felt until it touched me.  When it came in contact with me it lifted me from the ground and gave me a shock that energized every inch of my being.  It was so good that it hurt.  I could do nothing but yell with all of my strength until I was released.  When it finally let go some of the power that was in it was in me.  I was invincible and indestructible.  I had no fear.  The next morning when I rose I could still feel bits of the power from that light.  It wasn’t long before it faded in spite of my willing to hold on to it.  As I sat and thought of what it could have meant I once again heard a voice.  This time it wasn’t calling my name.  I couldn’t understand what it was saying.  I looked to see if there was someone there but it was just me.  Wait… there it is that light from my dream.  There it is at the top of the mountain.  Now I know. I have to make it to the light.  The voices said seek! I can hear it. Wait, not seek, shake? No... Snake? … Snake? Sounds like its saying snake.  Why would it say snake? I had a chill run down my spine and oooohhhhh!!!!!! Snakes! OOOOOOHHH! Snakes all over the pond!  Lord, have mercy on my soul.  I was so busy looking ahead that I didn’t see the nest there before my feet.  Fortunately my feet were smarter than I, and I know this because they were gone seconds before the rest of my body could catch up.  I finally caught up with them on the other side of the snake pit. If they weren’t a part of my body I would probably peg legging the rest of the way up behind them. Sooner than I thought, I was close to the top. I was getting closer to the light.  And the voice was getting louder but I still could not make out what it was saying so I fought my way towards it as fast as I could.  Who knows what it was warning me about this time? I ran and I heard.  I ran harder and jumped higher and I heard even more.  Now there was a ringing in my ear and I could see the shape of a man inside that light at the top of the mountain.  He was holding something in his hand and pointing at me. So I looked back because I thought there was something behind me and he was telling me to run. So …… I ran…. And I ran and I fell and slid and got up and kept running and the light got brighter the voices and ringing got louder and I felt a panic come over me just as I made it to the top.  I slid in face first in gravel and mud before I came to an abrupt halt.  I was out of breath and delirious. And I laid there worn and tired on the ground before the light.  The ringing had finally stopped. The man in the light was laughing. He was laughing at me.  I didn’t think that was cool. I knew I probably looked funny trying to get away from snakes and earthquakes and thorns and things but is it funny that I could have died?  So I asked the man in the light what was so funny.  He tried his best to hold down the chuckles but they kept poking me in my forehead.  Finally he stopped laughing.  He said Son, didn’t you hear me calling.  I said yeah that’s why I fought to get her as fast as I could.  He said didn’t you hear the ringing.  I said yes but I didn’t know what it was. I just knew I had to get up here.  He laughed again.  I asked why he was still laughing.  He said I knew when I created you, you would be something special.  Then it dawned on me.  This man in the light, the same as the light in my dream was Jesus.  But I couldn’t understand why he didn’t just float down and lift me to the top of that mountain.  Knowing my thoughts, he answered, it was up to you to get here.  I am just here to help.  He held in his hand something resembling a cellular phone.  Now I’m thinking they didn’t have cell phones back in his day.  He said well I tried to talk to you through your spirit like we used to do back then but you thought you were losing your mind.  I said Oh that was you? He looked at me with a look of “DUH” So I said oh Lord If I had known then what I know now I would have listened.  He started laughing again.  He put the cell phone up to his head and turned his face away from me.  There was that ringing again.  It must be when he is trying to talk to my mind spiritually and I just need to get my brain to the right frequency.  He said son you are something else.  He walked up to me shaking his head with a smile.  He touched my hip and I thought of the light touching me in my dream. He’s going to give me power. I was excited but I didn’t feel anything. The ringing started but louder this time! I looked down and there was the source of the ringing in his hand. It was another cell phone.  It was on my waist. How I didn’t notice it before is beyond me.  He opened it and on the screen it read King of kings. Use in case of emergency! It rang right in my face. He started laughing hysterically and put the phone up to my ear.  He said Marcus; remember that ringing in your ears after you heard the voice.  Remember your dream?  He said when I spoke to your spirit while you were at the bottom of the mountain before the quake you heard but you didn’t listen.  The ringing you heard was your cell phone.  I figured you would at least answer that since you are always on it anyway.  But you didn’t.  He chuckled.  He said do you remember that cell phone commercial that you liked? I said yes lord.  He said. “Can you hear me now?”  “Yes Lord.” He replied giggling, GOOD! Now what I was trying to tell you while you insisted on trying get up here your way, was that if you would walk around to the other side, there is an elevator that would lift you up to the top.  Before you started the journey all you had to do was ask for guidance and you would have been shown that.  He started laughing again. I said it was kind of funny huh.  He said you should have seen the look on your face when I put those rubber snakes in front of you.  That was surely one for the book.  What book, I asked.  “The book of life.”  He grinned and said we gotta put something under your name.  The snapshots will be played in our next meeting.  “For It is better to make my father laugh than to make him angry.” I replied “AMEN”