I stood there taking in the sights and sounds: the water as it gently
lapped the bank, the playful twitter of what I could only assume were
birds of some sort as I couldn't see anything through the dense foliage,
the tall - monstrously tall - trees, thick with leaves of deep green, gold, red, orange, and purple (I swear - purple leaves!).
How had he done that? How had Mr. Throgmorgenson transported me here?
This island shouldn't exist anymore. The Naterans took care of that
hundreds of years ago, and yet here I am. I'm not complaining. I mean,
this is amazing. Awesome. I scanned the landscape, but it was impossible
to see anything through the pack of trees that stood at attention like a
massive army. The center of the island could be mountains, or valleys, a
huge crater, or maybe marshes, it could be forest all the way through
to the other side. There was only one way to find out. I headed inland,
but just as I began to walk, enjoying the peace and the time to think, I
heard the scream. It stopped me cold in my tracks. "Sam?" I whispered and began to run in the direction of that blood-curdling sound.
The barren one is now in her sixth month. Not one promise from God is empty of power for nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1: 37 The Passion Translation I've never thought that much about Elizabeth. Gabriel speaks here to Mary - the mother-to-be of none other than GOD Himself! Who has a thought to spare for this side character in THE story of divine visitation? God come to earth. Wow. Talk about a headline for the New York Times! Why does Gabriel even mention Elizabeth? I don't know, but I'm glad he did. I read these verses with a different perspective this morning. "The barren one." Elizabeth is now past childbearing years. It's not a secret. Everyone in her community knows she's barren (it's obvious). The life part of her life is over. There is no hope for her to have her dream - a life like her friends have. She's different from her family, her neighbors. In a time when children are everything, she has nothing. And now it's too late...
Dang... don't leave us hanging like that! Was it really Sam? What was wrong? Was it as bad as she feared?
ReplyDeleteI MUST KNOW!!!
;-)