A Late Night Story -- By Reggie 1.25-26-2008

His heart puts rapidly and he can feel the surge of power rushing through his body. It's there. It stirs within his blood, beneath his veins, and in his hands. His mind turns and this thoughts flow in his head like a rushing river over a high mountain cliff. The bottom of his thoughts is one of ambition: to be a writer. There's not escaping the strong desire and passion of transferring his thoughts onto a computer screen or even on paper. Many years this would be a foreign concept to him. Writing would be the bane of his existence and homework would be a mystery only known to the scholars in his school. Nevertheless, it's within him now, that desire that consumes the thoughts and hearts of those who have stories to tell and adventures to share. There is simply no escape from writing, even if he tried. He just can't avoid it; it's like the black plague! It's killing him very slowly but eventually spreads to his every being every day and every hour. He's just got better at ignoring it. But...tonight, he can't do that. As the vampires said in Blade the movie, "sooner or later the thirst always wins." In this case, the thirst is writing.

Kenneth sat in his chair gleaming at the computer screen while images of people came into his mind. Place were conceived and tasks were given to each one of them. Pretty soon names of these people formed in his mind as well as what they did, ate, wore, and spent their life doing appeared in his mind. He glanced down at the corner of the screen at the digital clock on his right side. It read 1:43am Saturday morning. Geesh!! He's been up since 7:10 this morning and he's tired. But writing won't let him. It's got him in a headlock and it's not letting go until it's ready to crush him and force the story to come out of his head. It's driving him insane. The music from the CD on the tv isn't helping either; it produces a rapid tone as if something were about to chase him. It's similar to the music where Jaws comes out and the action scene starts to get intense and the characters brace themselves for battle. In this case, Kenneth was battling with writing. All he wanted to do was sleep. The sound of his dormmates coming in from the lounge filled the hallway. Surely, they heard his music and while shaking their heads, not in surprise but in typical concern, quickly fled to their room to avoid hearing of what they call "strange music" from his room. Afterall, it was after hours and it shouldn't be that loud. Besides, Kenneth was mostly hot from the hot that blasted from his heater. He went to turn it off and tried to concentrate on writing. Writing what? He didn't know and like always, he just started with one word and went to the next and then the next one, so on and so forth.

Desire. That was all he could think about right now. That one word described everything that was going on with him right now. Not sinful desire, as some may think, but rather the desire to do something like...write! It was a good and safe desire one that would bless people and honor God. Only...tonight it was on his mind to write some things about his life and create a story that was forming in his mind. However, other words did accompany his thoughts: ambition, ambitious, planning, school, writing, work, college small group, Sunday school, church service, and Historical books. My...such a long history of things to think about!! Still, nothing wavered his mind. He continued to write as if he were led by the Spirit of God to record what was in his heart and mind. Kenneth took a deep breathe, bit his lip, and as the fire in his hands intensified he simply started to type almost every word he was thinking hoping that it would result into a story or something close to it anyway.

It's January 26 and it's very early in the morning. I'm not asleep yet and I don't know when I'll go to sleep. It's been a long day but it has also been productive. Classes went well and I met some interesting people today that live in my dorm. I had a great breakfast this morning with coffee, bacon, eggs, and french toast, and grits. Later, I had a side order of Hebrews & General Epistles with a helping of Intro to Sociology. After that, I had lunch. I then went back to my room and played a videogame and it wasn't before long that I started dozing off. I then shut it off and went to take a nap until dinner time. I ate, met with some friends, and then retreated back to my room and resumed my game. I never did do that one thing that I had time to do, but I guess that's what the weekends are for. Oh well, not much is going on later today anyway. Blast!! I have to change this CD!!

Scratch, scratch! My glasses are irritating my face and I can slowly feel tears being formed behind my eyes almost ready to show how tired I really am! My head itches and it's been doing that all day; guess it's time to wash it huh? I sure do need to shave my face though, my beard is annoying and I can slowly feel my mustache growing back in to cause me more grief. I wish my facial hair wasn't so fast growing back in; I inherited the rapid hair growth gene from my mother! From my father, just his looks maybe his charm, but probably not many more things. Hence the name Kenneth, which means handsome. I've always loved that name anyway!! Ah, sigh, yawn, my mind is spinning and wondering down so many circles and lanes that I'm not sure which one to pass. All I have done is just ramble on about nothing and it seems to be getting me nowhere but dreamland (which is good). Hey, what to hear a joke?

There were two guys that sat at a table during dinner. Both of them had the same type of food: chicken, fish, and broccoli. The first guy said to the second guy, "This is good food today. Normally, it's terrible in this place but lately they've been doing real well." The second guy said, "I agree, but I wasn't aware that the food was terrible before. Where did you hear that?" The first guy smiled and said to the second guy, "From the cook that just got out of the hospital from trying last night's killer salad! Apparently, it was too "ranch" for him!" Okay, bad joke, I know. I was the only one laughing (still am). So, it's a desire to laugh. So laugh already; don't know how. I'll help you: ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, and ha, and oh...ha ha and hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! Okay, you got the picture. Or maybe this is more you're style: nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk!! Well...it could be much worse: I could laugh while yawning to get: ha ya ha ya ha ya ha ya ha ya!!

Okay, okay. No more jokes. How about a bedtime story. Err...you might be asleep at 2:15am in the morning, but hey for those late nighters who are watching MTV and wasting the early morning surfing on the net (would question why you're doing this this late unless it was homework for school or something like that) this is something for ya to enjoy and think about. Picture this: there was a man standing in the middle of a garden. This garden was pretty with flowers, orchids, and even large trees about the size of houses. Even animals like lambs and goats were running around grazing on the delicious greenery that the garden had to offer. As the man walked around the garden, he came to the goat and then stopped. He gazed at it as though he were about to trample on it's head. He gazes at it intently and then notices how it went to the the grass, grabbed a mouthful of grass, chewed it and then swallowed it. The man also noticed how the goat managed to find other things to eat like corn, more greenery, and vegetables. Then, he turned his attention to the lamb. The lamb was small, very fragile and appeared to be very weak. It's coat was dirty from traveling around in the garden. No longer was the coat white but it sure was fluffy, like a pillow. He noticed how the little lamb when to the grass and then back again to the soil. He kept doing this until the man realized that the lamb really didn't know where it was going. So, as he continued to observe both animals, he suddenly decided to test them to see if they would follow him back to this house. He gently took the goat and tapped his head until the goat stared him in the eyes. The goat eventually followed him. The man called out to the lamb, and without hesitation the lamb followed the man and the goat.

As the man traveled with the goat and the lamb, he walked through a road in the garden that was smooth, even-leveled, and steady. The lamb and the goat seemed to be exactly where he was. However, moments later the road shifted from smooth to rocky and even contained some dust and dirt. The goat, the man noticed, looked as though it had trouble keeping up him. It tripped a couple of times, but eventually got back up. Unfortunately, one of it's legs were injured and it walked with a slight cripple. The lamb, on the other hand, walked very slowly to the point of almost being left behind. The man called out to the lamb and it soon treaded past the goat, through the dirt and over the rough rocks towards the man. All three of them traveled to the next road.

This next road was not only rocky and bumpy but now it was smelly, uncomfortable and very unpleasant. The weather grew cold and the air suddenly started draining the strength from the travelers. The man threw his arms around himself to tighten the feel of his wool sweater that kept him partially warm from the cold. As he continued to make his way through the treacherous road, he glanced back to notice that the goat was far from him. It wasn't keeping up and it appeared to be glossy and almost staggering as though it were about to die. Nevertheless, it was determined to move on. It used all the rest of its strength to keep up with the man, but regardless of what it did the man was still far off. The goat, nonetheless, continued traveling the treacherous road hoping that it would get easier. The man, then, noticed the lamb. It was extremely fair off. It was even traveling at it's own pace and seemed to be lost for a moment. The lamb traveled toward the side of the road near an ice patch that was about to trap it and freeze it's wool off. As the lamb came closer to the danger of falling into the ice patch, the man yelled out to the lamb and the lamb immediately moved away, and after hearing it's master's voice it somehow moved in the right direction. The lamb eventually passed the goat, but all three traveled to the final road together.

This final road was tougher than the two previous roads put together. The last road was rocky, bumpy, coat, unpleasant, uncomfortable and dangerous. This road, however, was not rocky, not bumpy, not cold, not dangerous, but rather was a bridge. It seemed, however, that this bridge was extremely narrow and that they would have to travel one after the other to get across and not side by side as before. So, the man traveled across the bridge first, hoping that both the lamb and goat would follow him to the house straight across from it. The man easily traveled across bridge and then stopped and watched whether or not the lamb and goat would follow. As he gazed at the goat, he noticed that it had stood before the bridge, but instead of crossing it let out a big cry. Apparently, it didn't want to cross the bridge but wanted to go another way that wasn't so narrow. Besides, the bridge looked as though it could collapse at any moment if anymore weight were applied to it. So, the goat, in frustration, yelped for the man to come back, but man said to the goat: "You can't get across it? I'll come and get you, just hold on." As the man went forward across the bridge to get the crying animal, the goat suddenly let out a rage and then fled back towards the two roads. The man shook his head in sadness and felt sorry for the animal that was now lost. This left him heeding the attention of the lamb.

He crossed back over and then called the lamb to come across the bridge. As he took a closer look, however, he noticed that the lamb didn't move. Rather, it jerked it's head back and forth appearing as though it was trying to listen out for the man's voice. The lamb then took a small step towards what it thought was the bridge but was a ledge leading to a big gap that would land the lamb into a dark abyss. The lamb suddenly felt the road disappear under it's step and before it could recover it's step, suddenly lost it's grip and then fell halfway off the ledge. All of this happened so suddenly but the man realized that the lamb was blind and that it couldn't even see where it was going. It was simply keeping up by listening to the man's voice. And now it was in danger of dying because it thought it was at the bridge but was in fact at a ledge leading to death. The sheep suddenly gave a humble cry and appeared to be reaching out towards the sky; it looked like it wanted the man to save it. So, the man ran across the bridge and rescued the lamb. Then, the lamb nestled in the man's arms appearing thankful and happy that it was saved and the man carried the lamb to the bridge, kissed it's eyes and then allowed the lamb to bit his pants leg and together the man escorted the lamb across the bridge and stopped once the lamb got into his house. Actually, it was his father's house and he was staying there for a while. The man simply went to inspect his father's garden and found two animals needing attention: the lamb and the goat.

Once home, the father asked his son, "How was the walk in the garden today?"

"It was great, father! I even met some new friends, a goat and this little lamb."

"Oh, it's looks so pretty. It's awfully dirty though; aren't you going to clean him?"

"I am. But do we have any soap?"

"We have something better." The father said pointing to the sons cup filled with a red liquid.

"Okay, I'll use that. Thanks."

The son took the cup and the red liquid and took off his warm, white wool sweater and washed the lamb with it. Once he was done, the lamb was whiter than snow. The lamb was happy and was given a small little sweater to wear, similar to what the man was wearing. Very soon, the lamb ran around the house and played at the master's feet. The father then asked the son, "By the way, you said you met two friends: a goat and a lamb. The lamb is here, but where is the goat?"

The son dropped his head in sadness and said to his father, "The goat turned back once the road to the house got bad. It almost made it to the end but right at the crossing bridge it turned back. I was going back to get it but it got impatient and decided to find another way. Unfortunately, it ran back in the same direction it left and it never came back. Only this blind, meek, lowly, little lamb made it home despite all the trials."

The father then looked at the son and asked, "If this lamb was blind, then how is it now able to see?"

The son smiled and said, "I opened his eyes with my love and compassion and then I carried him to the bridge and then guided him over it with my leading. Before that, though, it was about to fall into a pit to die but it called out for me to save it and so I ran across with all I had and pulled it from the ledge, almost falling myself. That's when we get here."

The father smiled, took the lamb in his lap and then said to the lamb, "welcome home little fella. I'm your father and that's your brother. This is your family forever and no one can harm you ever again. For enduring the trip, I'm going to give you a new fresh wool patch. Well done my son!"

The son then said to the father, "I'm going out to find more family members to bring home."

"Okay, be home for supper."

"I will. I'm almost ready. Going out to get my brothers and sisters first."

"What about your bride?"

"Is it time to bring her home yet?"

"Almost. You should be get ready."

"But I need to go out and..."

"I'll the dove out to call them. You just get ready for the marriage feast."

"Yes, father."

The father sent dozens of doves out into the garden and soon they brought back many sheep that were blind and were searching for a home. Just like that little lamb that found his way home, the rest of them soon found themselves saved by grace through the faith in what the dove's message was to them: "if you want to live, listen to my voice and obey my words and you will find life and all that you need." Of course, there were many that followed and many that went their own way. For those that followed, they had been wash from their filthiness and cleansed by the red liquid that flowed from the cup of the son. Those that didn't follow died in the cold abyss right beside the bridge of salvation. In the end, it was a new world and a new place called home that never vanished or went away.

"All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." (Isa 53:6) NASB

"Just as it is written: for your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered to be slaughtered." (Romans 8:36) NASB

"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again." (John 10:14-17) NASB

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev 2:20-22) NASB

Kenneth finished the story. It was a great one indeed. But it was extremely late and he was tired. With gentle quiet music playing in the background and the sound of air filling the hallway, the scent of dreams beckoned him to the bed. Not only that, but the CD kept skipping which soon brought an end to a peaceful and quiet aura to the dorm room. Typing up his last line, Kenneth yelled his last yawn, saved his file, and then turned off the tv. He nestled into his bed, burying his head into his pillow, said a small prayer, and then was fast asleep, at least until the light of day, the Lord's breathe, awakened him the next day.