shall we get high on truth?

jueves, noviembre 30, 2006

Your faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God's song.
~Max Lucado

lunes, noviembre 27, 2006

Chapter F O U R


The sun started to set and the Philistine raiding group was approaching Beth Horon. About three hundred swordsmen and a few dozen chariots had been constantly on the move for most of the day. In just a couple hours they would reach Beth Horon. Their orders were simple: Cause chaos. They wanted to frighten the Israelites. This could mean killing a large amount of innocent men, women, and children and burning a few houses. Then they were to return to camp. By the time the sun came up tomorrow, they should be back at camp telling each other stories of how they inflicted havoc on the unexpecting town.


~~~
The sun had faded from view and Jonathan and his armor bearer were still running. The two young men had been running all evening. They didn’t even take the time to stop and eat but ate as they ran. Now they ran in the dim light of a half dark and half orange sky.

Finally they reached a small hill from which they could see the silhouettes of the Beth Horon houses. The Philistines hadn’t arrived… yet. Relief filled the spirits of the two men.

They paused for a second to catch their breath.

Jonathan said, “There is a mound to the south a little ways from here. I should be able to see how close the Philistine army is. You go and get everyone out of the town.”

The young soldiers split up. Jonathan ran as fast as he could. The darkness camouflaged a rock from his site and he tripped on it and found himself sprawled on the ground. As he stood back up he noticed a noise in the distance. The Philistines. And they sounded close!

He hurried to the mound and in a few seconds was on top of it. Jonathan lied on his stomach so as not to be seen and peered into the distance toward the south.


~~~
Gareb entered Beth Horon yelling. It was the best way to get everyone’s attention. “The Philistines are coming! The Philistines are coming! We must move!”

People started wandering out of their houses trying to make sense of what was happening. They all knew Gareb since he was a baby but he had never acted this way before.

Soon, Gareb had a crowd gathered at the town square. He stood on a table and spoke to the two dozen men that were gathered there. “The Philistines are coming! They are coming here to Beth Horon! You must get all your wives and children and escape to the woods up north. We must escape immediately! Do not take time to gather belongings.” The men started to scatter. “Make sure all of your neighbors are aware that we need to act immediately!”

Gareb jumped down and started to answer questions but then said, “We don’t have time for this! Go get your families!”


~~~
Jonathan was running faster than he ever had in his life. How would he convince the people of Beth Horon how desperate the situation was? Jonathan and Gareb had practically arrived at the town the same time as the Philistines had--only minutes ahead of them. In a few minutes Beth Horon would be swarming with mad Philistines. Hopefully Gareb had already made some progress.

Jonathan arrived at Beth Horon and watched as the families got ready to go. They were moving too slow. Jonathan started running from door to door telling them they needed to leave now. As he began to think ahead, he realized that the Philistines were likely to see them as they ran for the cover of the woods. So he started to yell, “The Philistines are upon us! Bring your slings with you!” He also began to grab some of the younger men just in case he would have to distract the Philistines while the people fled. Soon he ran into Gareb. Gareb was helping his family get together so they could leave.

“Gareb! The Philistines are so close I almost ran into them at the mound!”

After sending his family north, Gareb joined Jonathan and the group of young men. Most of the city was empty now. The families that had either young or elderly members were trying to move but progress was slow. In the distance, the Philistines were now running over the mound and closing the distance between them and the town. Jonathan started frantically ordering his men to carry the children out of the city.

The Philistines reached the town and the last residents made it out almost simultaneously. Several dozen yards outside Beth Horon, Jonathan gathered his group once more in a field as he realized that the fleeing people would in fact need a diversion. All the men had were slings; Jonathan and Gareb were the only two with melee weapons. So the men started to retrieve rocks from the ground and then watched as the Philistines got closer and closer.

Jonathan began to inform the group, “What ever we do, we cannot lead the Philistines back to the people. We are going to try to lead them north-west to a different part of the woods. We are going to have to work together so at my command we will fire stones at the Philistines and at my command we will run to the north-west.”

The Philistines by now had realized that the city was empty and started running toward Jonathan and his men. The group lined up with Jonathan and Gareb in the middle. Gareb quickly tied his sling to his finger and gabbed a couple rocks. Then Jonathan commanded them to start swinging. The Philistines were pouring out of Beth Horon and a few chariots emerged into view. The cries of the men were filled with rage and echoed across the fields. Then Jonathan’s voice sent the first volley of rocks.

The young Israelites had fairly good aim and several Philistines dropped to the ground and were trampled under by the oncoming army. The second volley was even better and even took out a charioteer. But four other chariots were fast approaching and Jonathan knew that they needed to quickly get to grounds that were impassible by chariots. It may have been too late already. He ordered the men to start running. The great thing about slings is that the skilled slingers are able to load, swing, and fire while still running and these men knew how to work their slings.

It seemed like the chase went on forever even though it only lasted a few minutes. The chariots were quickly gaining on the running men. To Jonathan’s horror, one Israelite man, who was lagging just a little behind, was speared as a chariot passed him. Gareb was then able to get a good shot at that same charioteer and hit him in the eye. The Philistine caught himself from falling out of the back of the chariot but couldn’t keep himself going over the front twisting and pulling the reins, causing the horse slow down and stumble. The cart tipped over and slid sideways blocking the path of the next chariot. The two chariots collided and splintered into pieces. The other charioteer was thrown into the air and violently bounced on the ground.

Another chariot caught up with the men and was along side them and started swinging his spear at the fleeing men. Another Hebrew became a victim to the spear and dropped to the ground. Two nearby Israelites grabbed their bleeding friend and continued on. Jonathan hacked his sword into the chariot’s wheel. The chariot lost balance and busted up on the ground. The charioteer lost his footing and he tumbled to the ground. He held on to the reins with dear life and was dragged along with the splintering chariot colliding with him. The horse suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground while Jonathan was still running close by. Jonathan had to make an amazing jump over the falling horse as the chariot came crashing down. When he landed, Jonathan stumbled but Gareb was at his side to help him back to his feet.

Just in time, the group reached the woods and to their joy there was also an incline at the tree line. They would especially have an advantage now. The Israelites started taking cover behind trees and started firing rocks at the approaching army. Jonathan looked back and noticed that the two men trying to carry the injured Israelite where struggling to stay ahead of the Philistines. They were being slowed down by the weight of the limp Hebrew and there was no way they were going to make it to the forest before the Philistine foot soldiers reached them. Jonathan stopped in his tracks and ran to their aid. The massive amount of Philistines yelled and screamed at Jonathan as he slashed his blade into the soldiers that were gaining on them. The army was continually pelted with rocks from Israelite slings. Once everyone had taking cover in the forest, the Philistines had quit advancing.

The Hebrews were now very well positioned to endure a large amount of attackers. The Philistines still had plenty of men but they had already lost many more than they had planned to loose. So the large army turned around and returned to Beth Horon and did the second part of their mission: burning buildings.

Jonathan knelt down beside the injured Hebrew. He had a blood all over one side of his face and down his neck. It was hard to tell where the cut was. The young soldier was still conscious but quickly fading away. He was constantly trying to say something but he kept choking on what was likely his own blood. An older man tried to wipe the blood off with his cloak to find the cut. Everyone gasped when they saw that the cut ran from his ear and down his neck to his collar bone. The older man tried to stop the bleeding by pressing cloth on his cut while Jonathan tried to get the young man to cough up the blood by pumping his chest with both hands. But nothing worked. The cut was very deep. His whole body began to shake and his face was turning blue. Then young man suddenly gave up the struggle and he quit gagging. His chest lost all of its air and he began to quickly turn pale.

No one spoke for a long time. The tiered men sat there, in the dark. They accomplished their goal. They completely distracted the army and saved all of the women and children but not without loosing a few Hebrew men. However, they still felt fortunate that any of them had survived such an assault by the fierce Philistines. The air was mixed with feelings of relief and chilled sorrow as they watched their enemies engulf their homes with bright yellow flames.



TO BE CONTINUED…

domingo, noviembre 19, 2006

It's National Siesta Week!

I know you are dieing to read the rest of D E L I V E R A N C E but I'm afraid this is the intermission. I'm taking the week off and giving you time catch up on reading if you need to do so. Just to let you know, this is where the story really heats up! Chapter F o u r is pretty much all non-stop action. Then Chapter F i v e is the dramatic aftermath of F o u r. Finally, the last and explosive chapter is definetly a must see... or, rather, a must read. Yes, I do sound proud of my work but how else am I going to get you lazy people to read if I don't make it sound like something great?

Enjoy Thanksgiving and do something for me: Be an encouragment all those Grandpeoples, Parents, Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Second Cousins, 127.5th Cousins, and those Friends of yours!

sábado, noviembre 18, 2006

I don't want your sacrifices--I want your love.
~Hosea 6:6

lunes, noviembre 13, 2006

Chapter T H R E E


Jonathan’s eyes opened wide. For the first time he was gazing out at the Philistine camp from a high branch in a tall tree.

“More then half of these soldiers have arrived within the last two days,” Zabdi, the scout, explained. “I tried to count them but I gave up three days ago. There are way too many to count. They have to be close to the hundreds of thousands now. I’ve counted about three thousand chariots.”

Jonathan tried to focus on a small group that had separated themselves from the main army. “What are they doing?”

Zabdi answered, “It’s probably another raiding group of three hundred men.”

“Another?” Jonathan repeated.

Zabdi nodded. “One group left this morning toward Ophrah. And just a few hours ago another one left toward Beth Horon.”

“Beth Horon?” Jonathan exclaimed. “Why wasn’t I told about this? The Philistines could arrive there tonight!”

Zabdi said, “The plan of the Philistines is to draw us out of our fortified area in Gilgal. Saul doesn’t want us to be distracted from our main task at hand. If we attack the main camp today, we have a chance of getting the raiding groups as well.”

“This is crazy,” Jonathan said under his breath. “What has my father done?”

“Yeah, I’m hoping that our God is as powerful as they say He is. Have we gotten any new arrivals since yesterday?”

“Uhm, we got another group from Benjamin with 147 men.”

Zabdi nodded. “That’s good. That puts us at around a thousand, right?”

Jonathan shook his head. “About a hundred men abandoned camp last night. We’re left with eight hundred and fifty soldiers.”

There was a long, awkward silence. Both of them knew that Israel was definitely the underdog and the blame was most likely on Jonathan’s father, King Saul.

Then Zabdi said, “Samuel is supposed to arrive today, isn’t he?”

“Yes he is and I better head back. If we want to stop the Philistines from raiding Beth Horon then we’ve got to attack as soon as Samuel arrives and makes the offering.”

Then Jonathan dropped down to the ground and headed back to camp.

Today was the big day. For many years now, Israel had been split in pieces ruled by different countries including Sisera, Moab, and Philistia. As big as the Philistine army was, Jonathan knew that God would keep his promise. Finally Israel could become a united nation again! The excitement in Jonathan began to build as he thought about the possibilities. All they needed was for Samuel to arrive and make the burnt offering.

On his way back he ran into a couple of Israelite soldiers. To Jonathan’s surprise they looked disgruntled. “Are you coming from camp?” Jonathan asked.

One answered, “Yes, and we suggest you do the same as us and high tail to a safer place.”

Jonathan gave them a puzzled look.

The other continued, “We have no chance to stand against those Philistines. Our numbers and weapons will never be enough even if Samuel does come. We’re going to find a safe place while the Philistines come down and cut your father to pieces.” Then they continued on their intended path.

Confusion and anger mixed in Jonathan and he stuttered, “You… you can’t do that! You can’t… Are you deliberately abandoning your country? And… what about your God? Stop cowards! Come back!”

When he realized that the men were never going to turn back around, Jonathan began to run full speed back to camp.


~~~
As Jonathan neared the camp he noticed small puffs of smoke coming from the far side. Had Samuel arrived? At camp, Jonathan was surprised to find that everyone was taking down the tents and packing up their things. Were they going to attack? Why is everyone wasting time packing up?

To answer his questions, Jonathan went straight to his father’s tent and was surprised once again to find even his father was packing.

“Father, what is going on?”

“We’re leaving.” Saul’s voice was loaded with despair.

“Where?”

“Down to Gibeah.”

“But that will draw the Philistines into the heart of Israel!”

Saul slammed his hand against the table in the center of the tent. The anger that was welling in Saul was now oozing out. “Jonathan, is it not obvious? My men are abandoning me! I made the sacrifice. And Samuel thought I did something wrong!”

“Father… you did the job of a priest? How could you?”

“I am king! Yet Samuel acts as if he never made me king and as if he is still the one and only judge.”

There was silence as if Saul had finished explaining but Jonathan still needed explanation.

“Why Gibeah?”

Saul exhaled heavily and gave Jonathan a look of warning and said, “I don’t know what to do. Samuel left me here with only 600 men left and I don’t know if I’m supposed to attack or hide. Samuel went back to Gibeah and I’m going to find him. If the Philistines destroy anything or anybody, it’s Samuel and Yahweh’s fault. I did all I could. Now go get ready to leave.”

Jonathan showed irritation. “But the Philistines are about to begin to raid the Israelite cities! They’ve sent out three raiding groups! We don’t have time for this!”

Saul threw his hands up into the air. “I know! Shut up! Leave me!”

Jonathan left his father’s tent seeing that his father’s temper was getting out of control. Against his wishes, Jonathan did what his father had told him and went to his tent to pack up. His young armor bearer, Gareb, had the job already half done.

“Thank God you’re here!” Gareb exclaimed when he saw Jonathan enter. “I thought the Philistines turned you into food for the dogs! But since you are alive, can you help me with our beds?”

Jonathan did as he was asked but his mind was elsewhere. Was there nothing that they could do? Would all Israel have to pay for the mistakes of one man? How could my father put so many people in danger?

“This isn’t right,” Jonathan said out loud.

“What isn’t right?” Gareb asked.

Jonathan hesitated. Gareb‘s home was Beth Horon--the town that was about to be attacked. Did he know his home was about to be attacked? Should he tell him? “All because of my father, the men, women, and children of Israel are left to beg for their lives at the end of the Philistine sword. Did they not tell you?”

Gareb shrugged, “Well, I figured your father knows what he is doing.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Jonathan rubbed his face. “They didn’t tell you about the raiding groups, did they?”

Gareb shook his head, puzzled.

“The Philistines sent out three raiding groups earlier today. One of them is headed toward Beth Horon.”

“My home town?”

“They left this morning and will probably arrive sometime tonight.”

Gareb was stunned. He started to say something but it got caught in his throat. “But my family!…My friends!”

Jonathan was now his normal, tough self. “Think about it Gareb. We would never make it in time.”

Gareb didn’t know what to do. He felt like crying but couldn’t because of the intense anger that was bubbling in him. Jonathan tried to think of something to comfort Gareb. But no. There was nothing that could possibly comfort him in this situation. They both suddenly felt extremely useless. Hopelessness invaded the minds of the young Hebrew soldiers and darkness clouded their thoughts. The life in them lost its fire and the life around them decayed. How could this be happening to the children of Yahweh? Was Yahweh going to allow Gareb’s friends and family suffer and possible die? Just then, Jonathan’s mind cleared.

“A whole army would never make it in time.” Jonathan stated. “But two young men might be able to at least evacuate the city… if we get there in time.”

An anxious grin suddenly burst all over Gareb’s face. “Yes! We can at least try!” Gareb grabbed Jonathan’s sword, his sling, and a small plowshare. Jonathan grabbed a small pack of meat and a few pieces of armor. Then, there was a small moment of hesitation. Were they doing the right thing? Then Jonathan said, “Let’s move before anyone stops us.”



TO BE CONTINUED…

miércoles, noviembre 08, 2006

Sometimes I feel disapointed
With the way I spend my time
How can I furthur your kingdom
When I'm so wrapped up in mine?
~mercyme

lunes, noviembre 06, 2006

Chapter T W O


Saul cupped his hands and dipped them into the flowing brook. Then bringing his hands up to his lips, the king took long, deep swallows of the cool water. After a couple more servings of water, Saul stood up and paused for the first time that day. The sky was cloudless and the breeze was cool. The light breeze ruffled the trees and created waves in the tall grass and fields across the large valley. It was the perfect weather to be outside. But strangely, Saul could not find pleasure in the beautiful scene before him. For the hundredth time, Saul rubbed his dark forehead with his hand. He wasn’t used to having to think this much. It was already long past midday and Saul had just realized that he was dehydrated. He had been so busy with the important matters of the day that he hadn’t paid attention to his need of a drink.

Today was the big day. After a long year of combat training and secret meetings, the main purpose of Saul’s anointment was finally about to be fulfilled. Today Samuel was supposed to arrive and offer the burnt and fellowship offerings. Then with the favor of the Lord on his side, Saul and his army would rid Israel of Philistine rule. Saul would be a hero and confirmed king of Israel. Sounds simple enough but there were some details that had come about that Saul had not expected. As according to plan, Saul had already been at the camp in Gilgal for seven days organizing and preparing his army. But for some reason, attendance was very poor. Only several hundred Israelites had arrived in comparison to the thousands of gathering Philistines on the other side of the valley.

As the days went on, the Philistine camp continued to grow and Saul had begun to feel very uncomfortable. There was such a difference between the size of the Philistine camp and the Israelite camp that they were not even comparable. Saul’s sleep had become restless while many unanswered questions tore at his well-being. Why had so few Israelites gathered? Did they not want to rid their land of the power of the Philistines? Was this not the reason they wanted a king? How was he to fight the Philistines with so few soldiers?

On top of that, he was already expecting a great disadvantage as far as weapons go. In fact, the Philistines had managed to monopolize the weapons industry while Israel was without a king. The only weapons the Israelite soldiers could afford were slings, plowshares, axes, and pitchforks. The clever Philistines had made sure that their enemies would never be able to afford swords and spears.

To make it even worse, Saul woke up this morning thinking that the camp looked different. Sure enough, after a head count, he found out that a few dozen tents and a hundred men were missing. Saul could only hope that the rest of the camp wouldn’t notice the missing cowards and get any ideas.

Saul was still looking across the valley when his armor bearer approached him. His voice was filled with desperation. “King Saul! Please return to camp quickly! The men have begun to argue with Abner and are talking of leaving!” Saul’s mind jumped back into the real world and he quickly noticed the loud voices coming deep inside the camp. The armor bearer continued, “Abner is trying to calm them down but it is useless.”

Saul exhaled heavily and began to march toward camp. As he and his armor bearer approached the camp, Saul tried to make out what the voices where yelling.

“What am I to do with just a plowshare? Am I to harvest them to death?”

Abner‘s voice came in, “Samuel is to arrive today and with the favor of the Lord on our side we will--”

“Those Philistines are going to get here before Samuel even puts fire on the offering!”

“Don’t forget we’re out numbered!”

“If our goal is to win I will have to kill a couple hundred by myself and most of us have never been in a battle!”

“Silence!” Saul now stood in the midst of them. “Men, this is no time to be yelling at each other.”

One soldier quickly spoke up, “Then show us one wise action you have made leading up to this day!”

Saul frowned but did not hesitate. “Have you forgotten already that I sent my son Jonathan to drive the Philistines out of Geba just over a week ago? He did and it was a great victory. Was that not a smart move?”

“You let all of Philistia know ahead of time that our plan is to drive them out! They wouldn‘t be gathering on the other side of the valley if you wouldn‘t have warned them!” a man replied.

“Now we’re out numbered a hundred to one! Or maybe more!” another added.

Saul answered, “Only because your fellow brothers have been unfaithful to my call!”

“No, they aren’t here because of you, King Saul. You have done nothing in the past year to retrieve the weapons that we have been lacking for years! And yet you still decide to stir the hornet nest!”
The soldiers had been complaining all week and Saul’s sleep depraved mind was tiered of it. “You all sound like infants.”

“That’s it!” one soldier threw up his hands. “I can’t stay here. The Philistines will be upon us before Samuel even gets here and all the Hebrew king can do is call me an infant!” They all nodded and grunted in agreement and started to walk away to grab their things.

“Wait!” Saul yelled at the top of his lungs. “You can’t leave! Samuel will come!”

Then Saul began to panic. Sweat began to bead up on his forehead. What could he say? What could he do? The small army that he had was now surrendering to their fears and abandoning their king! Little by little, groups of men started walking away from the camp. Saul thought frantically. He couldn’t let them leave! He had to do something! He was king! He could do anything!

Saul quickly glanced at the altar they had built earlier that day for this purpose. “I will sacrifice the offerings!” Saul screamed. “I will act in Samuel’s place as King Saul! God will accept my offering and we will go and fight the Philistines!”

Saul glanced around. Most of the men stopped in their tracks to see if Saul would follow through with his statement. Saul looked at his armor bearer and said, “Prepare the burnt and fellowship offerings.”

Abner put a hand on Saul’s shoulder and said, “Sir, I’m not sure you should do that.”

Then, straightening his tall form, Saul declared, “I am the king of the children of Yahweh! I CAN DO THIS!”


~~~
Two hours later, Saul had offered the cakes without yeast and the meat of the fellowship offering was eaten. Then Saul lit the burnt offering. Slowly the flames engulfed the sacrifice. It was done. They were ready to attack the Philistines with the Lord on their side. He had just finished it when Abner approached Saul. “Samuel has arrived.”

At that moment, a sharp dagger of guilt went deep into Saul’s spirit. But there was no reason to feel guilty! Saul had been give the position of king and Samuel would surely understand. Samuel should have come sooner if he wanted to make the silly offerings himself!

Saul rushed down the hill toward the ageing, grey-bearded prophet. When Saul got close he could see that something had clearly gone wrong by the look of Samuel’s face.

“Samuel! It’s so good to see you!” Saul said as he opened his arms to give Samuel an embrace.

But Samuel waved him off. “What have you done?”

Saul shrugged his shoulders. “What do you mean?”

Samuel angrily pointed up at the hill where a constant stream of black smoke was coming from the altar.

Saul glanced at the altar and then back at Samuel. “Oh, you mean that. Well…” Saul hesitated. “My men were scattering, and you weren’t coming, and the Philistines are assembling at Micmash, and I though that the Philistines would come down upon me, and I still didn’t have the Lord’s favor,” Saul paused to catch his breath and noticed that Samuel’s expression hadn’t changed. “So I felt compelled to do the offerings.”

Samuel closed his eyes and firmly shook his head. “You acted foolishly. You rejected the commandment the Lord your God gave you. If only you would have kept it, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

At that, Samuel turned and started back toward Gilgal. Saul was left speechless. He stood there and watched the old man walk away down the dusty road. Then he slowly returned to the altar and watched the breeze twist and dissipate the puffs of smoke.

Abner quietly came to Saul’s side. “What now sir? Should we attack?”

Saul slowly turned his head toward Abner. “How am I supposed to know?”

Abner hesitated. “You are king.”

Saul made a sarcastic chuckle, “Apparently I’m not even supposed to act as king of Israel! That old prophet frustrates me so much! Tell me how I am supposed to know if I have the Lord’s favor?” Saul frowned firmly. “I guess we can’t attack now, can we? I guess all we can do is hope that the Philistines will take it easy on us.”


TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter 3 will arrive November 13!