Here is a story I wrote back in 2001 after I became disabled. U had a Christian English teacher from whom I took and creative writing class and I wrote for that class. My wife had it all this time and just told me she had it a month or so ago.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
.
The moon rose on the snow covered landscape flooding my world with
bright moonlight. I finished my reading for the evening, turned the Iight off, and
leaned back against the couch thinking while I watched the scattered clouds drift
by under the full moon. The clouds made moving patches of darkness across an
otherwise brilliantly white landscape, as they slid under the moon.
My mind wandered back to a few weeks before when I had been baptized
and committed my life to Christ. I relived again that wonderful feeling I
experienced as I came up out of the watery grave of baptism into a new life. I
had never before known the peace and happiness in my life that I had
experienced since I had met Jesus and committed my life to Him. My days and
nights were spent in prayer, praise, and study of the Word of God. The
depression I had known for years seemed to have vanished into thin air.
As I lay there counting my blessings, my heart overflowed with gratitude
towards my Creator. He had rescued me from the life of self-destruction that I
had led since t graduated from high school. Because of this I could relate to the
words of David very well, when he said, "He brought me up out of an horrible pit,
out of the miry clay, set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Psalm
4O:2. I felt Iike nothing that I could offer Him was good enough, for my life up till
then had been one great failure.
I came out of my reverie, thanked God once again for my new life, and
looked back out the window at the magnificent view that I felt God had provided
just for me that night.
Suddenly, t was not where I had been the moment before. I was no
longer looking out the picture window of my parent's living room at Montana's
Yaak River Valley.
I was now standing in a large room with no windows. The building was a
large one of log construction, and at one end of the room was a Iarge, river-rock
fireplace with mantel and hearth. A large fire burned in the fireplace and there
was someone standing in front of the fireplace, back towards me, looking into the
fire. A large, very long table capable of seating maybe a hundred people filled
most of the room. I stood at one end of the table, facing down its length, to the
person in front of fireplace at the opposite end. On either side of the table were
people facing away from me wearing !ong, black, hooded robes, and I slowly
became aware of the sounds of chanting coming from the hooded figures.
I stood wondering where I was, but for some reason feeling no fear, even
though I had never experienced anything like this before. I looked back down to
the other end of the long table, and the person standing there slowly turned
around and walked up to his end of the table without looking up at me. I couldn't
see his face because this person too was wearing a hood, and the light coming
from the fire behind him was only light source in the room. He Iooked up when
he got to the end of the table, threw the hood back and then ! could see his face
and eyes. He locked eyes with me, raised his arm, and pointing at me began to
beckon with his index finger.
"You're mine, you're mine, you're mine," he said, still beckoning me
towards him with his index finger. Slowly I began to float down the length of that
massive table. His eyes were locked on mine and I could not tear mine away.
He seemed to be willing me on down the table, causing me to come ever closer
to him.
I had come to within a couple of inches of his face and felt I was about to
be sucked right into him, when the realization struck me who this was. This was
a one-way trip from which I was never to return. The devil had come to try take
over my mind.
Suddenly the spell was broken as I realized all this and my hearts cry
burst out of my lips. "No!" was all I could scream, but it was enough.
l was once again lying on the couch in my parent's home in Yaak,
Montana. The goose bumps stood out all over me and my heart was beating like
a jackhammer on steroids. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood
on end. I knew fear as I had never known it before, and have never known it like
that since
I rolled over on the couch and began to pray, but as I did a scene from my
past came before me with lifelike clarity. I remembered telling the devil I was his.
A long forgotten deed had come back to haunt me.
I had been willing to squander my soul for a momentary pleasure, and
thus had come to the point of telling the devil I was his. I had made a bargain
with the devil and now he had come to claim what was rightfully his.
With desperation I began to pray again. I told the Lord that I knew I had
done this. I told Him I had gotten into this through my own stupidity, and I
confessed just how wrong I had been and told God that I was in over my head. I
told Him I had no chance to win fighting with the devil, and with that I began to
claim the promises I had learned in the Bible. I claimed the promise of 2nd
Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in
weakness." I claimed Psalm 91:11, "For He shall give his angels charge over
thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I claimed the promise that ma,il. extremity is
God's opportunity and every other promise that I could think of. I prayed as
Jacob must have prayed at the Brook Jabbok the night he thought he was
wrestling for his life with his brother Esau.
As I prayed and claimed the promises of God I could feel the struggle in
the room. There was an actual physical struggle in that room that night for I
could feelwingtips brush against my back as I Iay face down and prayed for help.
I would feelwarm ones and cold ones, sometimes lightly brushing against me
and sometimes forcefully hitting me. I don't know how long I prayed. lt might
have been hours, or it might have been only a few minutes. Ijust do not know.
All I know is I have never been so afraid.
Finally the struggle was over, and a warmth and peace filled that living
room that I have not the words to describe. I lay there and told God how thankful
I was for His loving care and slowly drifted off to sleep. I was at peace, and my
heart was filled with gratitude.
Do I believe in angels? Oh yes, definitely yes. ls God real? Oh yes,
definitely yes.
When I am told that the Bible is just my "guide" and that I should not take it
literally, I know different. When I am told that the Bible does not apply today, I
know different. The promises of God's Word are as true today as they were the
day they were given. When He says, "Come now, and let us reason together,
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as woo)" believe Him. He has always kept His word
with me, and He will with you too.
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
.
The moon rose on the snow covered landscape flooding my world with
bright moonlight. I finished my reading for the evening, turned the Iight off, and
leaned back against the couch thinking while I watched the scattered clouds drift
by under the full moon. The clouds made moving patches of darkness across an
otherwise brilliantly white landscape, as they slid under the moon.
My mind wandered back to a few weeks before when I had been baptized
and committed my life to Christ. I relived again that wonderful feeling I
experienced as I came up out of the watery grave of baptism into a new life. I
had never before known the peace and happiness in my life that I had
experienced since I had met Jesus and committed my life to Him. My days and
nights were spent in prayer, praise, and study of the Word of God. The
depression I had known for years seemed to have vanished into thin air.
As I lay there counting my blessings, my heart overflowed with gratitude
towards my Creator. He had rescued me from the life of self-destruction that I
had led since t graduated from high school. Because of this I could relate to the
words of David very well, when he said, "He brought me up out of an horrible pit,
out of the miry clay, set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Psalm
4O:2. I felt Iike nothing that I could offer Him was good enough, for my life up till
then had been one great failure.
I came out of my reverie, thanked God once again for my new life, and
looked back out the window at the magnificent view that I felt God had provided
just for me that night.
Suddenly, t was not where I had been the moment before. I was no
longer looking out the picture window of my parent's living room at Montana's
Yaak River Valley.
I was now standing in a large room with no windows. The building was a
large one of log construction, and at one end of the room was a Iarge, river-rock
fireplace with mantel and hearth. A large fire burned in the fireplace and there
was someone standing in front of the fireplace, back towards me, looking into the
fire. A large, very long table capable of seating maybe a hundred people filled
most of the room. I stood at one end of the table, facing down its length, to the
person in front of fireplace at the opposite end. On either side of the table were
people facing away from me wearing !ong, black, hooded robes, and I slowly
became aware of the sounds of chanting coming from the hooded figures.
I stood wondering where I was, but for some reason feeling no fear, even
though I had never experienced anything like this before. I looked back down to
the other end of the long table, and the person standing there slowly turned
around and walked up to his end of the table without looking up at me. I couldn't
see his face because this person too was wearing a hood, and the light coming
from the fire behind him was only light source in the room. He Iooked up when
he got to the end of the table, threw the hood back and then ! could see his face
and eyes. He locked eyes with me, raised his arm, and pointing at me began to
beckon with his index finger.
"You're mine, you're mine, you're mine," he said, still beckoning me
towards him with his index finger. Slowly I began to float down the length of that
massive table. His eyes were locked on mine and I could not tear mine away.
He seemed to be willing me on down the table, causing me to come ever closer
to him.
I had come to within a couple of inches of his face and felt I was about to
be sucked right into him, when the realization struck me who this was. This was
a one-way trip from which I was never to return. The devil had come to try take
over my mind.
Suddenly the spell was broken as I realized all this and my hearts cry
burst out of my lips. "No!" was all I could scream, but it was enough.
l was once again lying on the couch in my parent's home in Yaak,
Montana. The goose bumps stood out all over me and my heart was beating like
a jackhammer on steroids. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood
on end. I knew fear as I had never known it before, and have never known it like
that since
I rolled over on the couch and began to pray, but as I did a scene from my
past came before me with lifelike clarity. I remembered telling the devil I was his.
A long forgotten deed had come back to haunt me.
I had been willing to squander my soul for a momentary pleasure, and
thus had come to the point of telling the devil I was his. I had made a bargain
with the devil and now he had come to claim what was rightfully his.
With desperation I began to pray again. I told the Lord that I knew I had
done this. I told Him I had gotten into this through my own stupidity, and I
confessed just how wrong I had been and told God that I was in over my head. I
told Him I had no chance to win fighting with the devil, and with that I began to
claim the promises I had learned in the Bible. I claimed the promise of 2nd
Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in
weakness." I claimed Psalm 91:11, "For He shall give his angels charge over
thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." I claimed the promise that ma,il. extremity is
God's opportunity and every other promise that I could think of. I prayed as
Jacob must have prayed at the Brook Jabbok the night he thought he was
wrestling for his life with his brother Esau.
As I prayed and claimed the promises of God I could feel the struggle in
the room. There was an actual physical struggle in that room that night for I
could feelwingtips brush against my back as I Iay face down and prayed for help.
I would feelwarm ones and cold ones, sometimes lightly brushing against me
and sometimes forcefully hitting me. I don't know how long I prayed. lt might
have been hours, or it might have been only a few minutes. Ijust do not know.
All I know is I have never been so afraid.
Finally the struggle was over, and a warmth and peace filled that living
room that I have not the words to describe. I lay there and told God how thankful
I was for His loving care and slowly drifted off to sleep. I was at peace, and my
heart was filled with gratitude.
Do I believe in angels? Oh yes, definitely yes. ls God real? Oh yes,
definitely yes.
When I am told that the Bible is just my "guide" and that I should not take it
literally, I know different. When I am told that the Bible does not apply today, I
know different. The promises of God's Word are as true today as they were the
day they were given. When He says, "Come now, and let us reason together,
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red
like crimson, they shall be as woo)" believe Him. He has always kept His word
with me, and He will with you too.
