An exhausted messenger service | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: An exhausted messenger service | Previous Challenge Entry
By Josiah Kane
09/18/07
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

Gabriel was exhausted. He had already been to deliver more messages than he could count, although he lacked any reason to think that this next one should not be any more strenuous than most of the others. This, after all, was only to a country girl, not to a priest or a government minister. All he had to do was find her, give his speech, and leave before too many questions were asked. These people had an annoying habit of supposing that the messenger knew what was behind the message, and he had often been stuck for words. It was useful, of course, to have them as scared of the King’s emissary as he was of being the envoy in the first place, although this never was enough to completely stop his fears. If he had only listened harder in his rhetoric lessons he might not be in this muddle, but he did not really suppose that it would have made a difference. The only thing he could do now was to chant an old mantra that might help: “Do not be afraid.”

Gabriel was still chanting when he felt a small tug in the centre of his being while his energy reassembled itself to look human. After a single do not be afraid he began his message, a confusing muddle of sentences about a baby who was God and a plan to save mankind. His subject can hardly have comprehended that she had been chosen to bear God’s son, thought Gabriel, as she still wore the face of one who, as a matter of routine, encounters creatures dispatched by God who are beyond matter itself. The priest Zechariah had been in such shock that his eyes turned grey and his face a golden green. Even Daniel, the only man Gabriel had ever really liked, had failed to show total confidence in his presence. But this seventeen-year-old Mary looked tranquil, unhurried, like the perfect scene from atop a mountain. Gabriel was amazed.

Nonetheless he gave his message, heard her response, and escaped toward the clouds of Venus, the perfect holiday after such a hard day. Gabriel’s counsel had not caused the Trinity to change its decision to save these hunks of dirt, and after meeting Mary and Daniel, he actually had reasons other than his loathing of Lucifer to be glad it hadn’t. Michael could fight on his own as he’d done for thousands of years, Gabriel reasoned, but Gabriel would go along with the original plan.

After nine months on Venus he went back to heaven to hear his new assignment. Half a dozen shepherds were his next focus. He began his intonation. “Do not be afraid”...

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.