The Past and the Future:

            Kylie woke early in the morning to dress and wait at the beach. She knew that Stan might be watching from his home, and she thought, Joshua will be here, and I’ll be safe today. She was sitting in the same place where she had previously viewed the land that seemed far from Sanctuary. It seemed like it was just past a thin veil. She still wasn’t sure if it was a dream or reality. She sat and reimagined the pictures in her mind.

            During her reverie, she heard, “You look so peaceful, my love.” 

            “I was waiting for you, Joshua.” Kylie rose and ran to Joshua. They hugged and sat on the beach.

            “Did anything exciting happen this past week?”

            Kylie felt a bit unsure. Should she tell him about what happened with Stan?

             “Something unpleasant?”

            “Stan was vulgar, lewd, and offensive this past week. He called me to his office on false pretenses, locked the door, and tried to harass me.”

            “That wouldn’t surprise me. Stan has been immoral for a very long time. We’ve been constantly on opposite sides of everything.”

            “But, Joshua, he tried to force himself on me! Like I’d even want him?”

            “Kylie, Stan has wanted everything that he doesn’t since before recorded time. Because you are my betrothed, you are even more of a gamble for him. He wants your love and adoration because you freely give it to me.”

            “Joshua, he threatened the other followers because of me! I feel so responsible!” Joshua turned her head and looked directly into her eyes. “Kylie, he’s been at war with me longer than you know. He will do whatever it takes to have revenge on me; you have nothing to do with this conflict, and you are not responsible for any of his actions. I will always love you more than you’ll know.”

            “Joshua, he had the strangest reaction to that spot remover you gave me. He said it burned his skin. I used this oil that you gave me . . . “

            Joshua laughed. “That makes perfect sense. That oil has special properties that would irritate him.” Kylie laid her head comfortably on Joshua’s shoulder.

            “Any other excitement that I should know about?”

             “Joshua, I had the strangest . . . was it a dream?” 

            “Do you want to tell me?”

            “Joshua, I visited a beautiful place where I still smell and taste the sensations. It was more than I can describe. The beauty overwhelmed my human senses to be able to take in the splendor!”

            He smiled. “I know that sight. It was the original and future goal for people. Humanity disrupted the original plan by choosing sin. The first parents were given a choice, knowing the consequences, and each individually chose to sin.”

            Kylie looked quizzically at him, “You said, ‘and future goal’; does that mean all people will go to that beautiful place eventually?”

            “That was the original plan, but sin corrupted everything it touched. Would you want to see Stan there?” 

            “NO!” Kylie protested quickly.

            Joshua rattled off some of the worst mass murderers in history. “Should they be given a right to go to that beautiful land you saw?”

            “NO!”

            “Let’s make the question a little more difficult. Would it be right to give access to that home to someone who lived a horrible life and killed many people but repented in the end, solely to be allowed in?”

            “I don’t think that would be right, Joshua. I would question whether the repentance was real.” Joshua asked Kylie what she thought repentance really meant. Kylie thought for a moment and responded that it meant changing something.

            “The actual meaning is to change direction, to follow the opposite path. How long does it take to show that change? Can someone have genuine deathbed repentance?”

            Kylie weighed out the responses. “I guess someone could have a deathbed conversion,” Joshua assured her that many people realize at the end of their lives that their choices were wrong and try to change their futures.

            “Kylie, let me change the situation a little. Let’s assume that a parent sets up boundaries for a child to keep that innocent child from going to a dangerous area that would hurt or kill the child, but the toddler climbs the boundary and goes into the dangerous area. Is that parent responsible for the child’s choice?”

            Kylie considered her legal background and said that the parent wouldn’t be responsible if he or she had done everything to prevent the child from danger.

            Kylie thought about all Joshua had said since she had known him, remembering from the first days that sin is missing the mark or going out of the boundaries. The first parents intentionally went outside the original boundaries set in love for their safety and peace. The parents deliberately choose, and everyday people choose to miss the best for their own life. So, sin is an intentional choice through thought, word, or deed. Many people think not making a choice is an excuse, but it is not a release from sin.

            Joshua knew Kylie was thinking about their game with the bowling balls. “Kylie, when we played the game with the balls, any ball’s curve outside the boundaries was ‘sin’?”

            Kylie understood. Sin was outside the boundaries set up for the peace and protection of the people. But people decided to find out what was outside the boundaries and found sin in all its painful consequences. It was a sin whether the ball’s edge was kissing the outside line or very far out from the circle.

            Joshua reminded Kylie of how the balls had been able to follow the leader ball and how his balls were all pulled together. “Would it have mattered what color I painted the other balls, size, or where they were when we played the game? The balls followed the leader because their elemental structure followed the natural laws of motion and physics.”

            Joshua also reminded Kylie of how the apples were planted in the same water, water, and soil, grew on the same tree, and had the same potential, but one apple became an empty cover, and the other was a healthy apple. The difference was one small worm: sin. One small sin can destroy an otherwise nutritious apple. That one apple can’t, and never will, achieve its best. Joshua reminded Kylie that the rotten tree, a sinful life lived for an extended period, can never produce good fruit. A life given to sin can never achieve its best purpose.

            Kylie put her head softly on Joshua’s shoulder. “Joshua, the time I love most is the time we spend alone together. Months ago, I would have never thought that sitting on a beach with you would mean so much to me.”

            “Kylie, believe it or not, I treasure our time together. I love simply being with you, talking to you, feeling your trust, honesty, and love.

            Your freely given love means more to me than you’ll ever know.” Joshua looked deeply into Kylie’s eyes, and she felt like their souls were one. “When we are apart, I can see you and crave your thoughts, and I truly created you for communion with me. That unity, love, and trust is what I desire for all my people. Being who you are means more to me than you’ll ever know.” Joshua investigated the sky. “Kylie, I love you, and I’ll die for you.”

            He must be exaggerating, though that doesn’t seem to be a part of his character, Kylie thought as she watched Joshua while he stared into the sky. She wondered about this strange man who had won her heart and given him so gently.

            “I have a wonderful lunch prepared,” Joshua said as he and Kylie sat beside the beach, held hands, bowed their heads, and prayed in unison. Joshua always prepared everything perfectly.

            After lunch, Kylie asked Joshua the question that had been on her mind since the lesson on the mountain. “Joshua, why would people choose to sin when they generally know the consequences?”

            Joshua replied thoughtfully, “Why do people fail tests?” 

            “Joshua, why would a loving God create such tests?”

            Joshua explained that while everything is possible in a perfect world, nothing is beneficial. “Kylie, if your mother gave you the keys to the car before you could see over the dash, would that be a loving action?”

            “Joshua, I think that’s an exaggeration!”

            “Some tests are designed to show the person what they need to develop and grow. Think of Abraham offering his only son. Do you think God knew that Abraham would offer his son?1 ^[1].  He already had the ram prepared for the offering. So, the test of Abraham wasn’t so God would know if Abraham would offer the sacrifice, but the test was to show Abraham that he could offer his most precious gift of his only son to God. The testing of Abraham was designed as his own personal test to find out if he would overcome his own natural propensities and trust God to provide for his only promised son’s redemption. Abraham needed to know that God is the only God who will provide.^[2] That one seed, his son Isaac, would produce as many spiritual children as the sand of the sea.^[3]

            “God created each person’s individual cliff, call it a test, to show each person his or her greatest value. If each person passed that test, he or she would go to a more serious, challenging assessment AND more blessings. But if you failed or got stopped at that exam, God, in his love, will provide you another opportunity to take the test again until you are prepared to overcome that trial and move on to another analysis.”

            “Couldn’t we just have a life without assessments?”

            Joshua laughed. “That sounds good on the surface, but do you want to trust your life, health, or home construction to someone who hasn’t passed a test? Do you want to pay someone to build a house which then falls on you and kills your family because there was no test?”

            Joshua said, “Sin’s effects are death, slow or quick. But sin also can be like being in quicksand. Kylie, if you fall into quicksand, the more you struggle, the more you will succumb to the condition. The quicksand is primarily liquid land. So, imagine walking on the ground, only to have the ground collapse. Imagine yourself in the middle of the quicksand, struggling to stand upright in what seems like water.”

            “Joshua, nobody would be able to stand in the quicksand. What would someone do? How would someone survive?” Joshua told her that the only sure way to survive in the quicksand was to have someone not affected by the quicksand pull the victim out.

            Joshua explained that a life of sin leads to more poor choices. God warns people using other people, history, signs, dreams, and many other tools to warn people to make better choices. Ultimately, each person fails in tests that cause sin. There was no perfect king, prophet, priest, judge, or “commoner” in the Bible. All people were equals in needing a covering for sin.

            Joshua explained that God wants people to make wise choices because He wants people to love Him truly. He wants to spend time only with each person–truly loving that individual for who he is or what they conquered, how much they struggled, and how much pain they’ve overcome. A struggle creates who they are, like the diamonds created by heat and pressure. God is love; part of love is being open with the other. Nobody knows a person’s struggles like God, who connects with each person. Every time a person truly opens to God, a thread connects the person to God. A life spent loving God can be a beautiful tapestry of dark and light times. However, sin breaks that connection, making a hole where God should be. That hole grows as the person moves away from God by making more mistakes. God didn’t create sin, but He provided a way to reconnect. Since God didn’t break the thread, the person needs to repair the thread by turning back to God. Still, God can use our tapestry’s holes, weaknesses, and dark times to create a work of beauty. “Look at Michelangelo’s David. Someone once asked him how he determined where to cut, and he said, ‘Remove what doesn’t belong.’ As Michelangelo took what didn’t belong from exactly the right place, the marble in the statue showed the artist’s mastery. I think the remaining marble looked very good; don’t you think?’

            Joshua looked in Kylie’s eyes. “God doesn’t just love; God is love.^[4] It is who He is. His whole nature is to love. He always leaves the door open to those who sin to rejoin with His love.”

            Kylie looked at Joshua’s face, so full of love, zeal, and delight for people. He even ached for people who sinned and hurt him. He loved people so much, and she loved him more each day that she learned more about him. Joshua said, “God loves not just those who think they are doing everything perfectly as required; he loves those who have hurt him and turned from his best for them. He continued to love everyone until that person died, and then He must respect that final choice of rejection. Still, it is not His will.”

            The sun started to set, and Kylie wished she could reverse the sun’s course.^[5]  As her day with Joshua ended, Joshua pulled out a beautifully wrapped gift. “I wanted you always to be able to hear me even if you can’t see me. So, please accept this token of my love for you. Seeing you growing, making good choices, and loving even those difficult for you.”

            Kylie opened the gold paper to see a perfectly matched pair of large, golden pearl earrings with beautiful gold settings on a post. “Joshua, you are so generous and loving. I’m speechless.”

            “My beloved, do you know what a pearl symbolizes?” Unable to speak, Kylie shook her head no. “Everything has more meaning than what appears on the surface. A pearl means God’s truth and His people formed to endure suffering. A pearl is developed by an oyster constantly irritated with painful, sharp sand. That sand scrapes the surface of a tender oyster. As a result, the oyster forms a protective surface.”

            Kylie noticed the strange setting on the pearls. Kylie wanted to put the earrings in her ears, but her ears were not pierced. “As long as you wear the earrings, you’ll hear my words in your soul and feel my love in your heart. You need to keep enduring and suffering, but I will be with you always to nurture you. Nothing that will happen will be outside of my control.”

            “But, Joshua, why do you want me to pierce my ears?” 

            “In the Bible, if you are willing to submit to being a slave after seven years of service, the master takes the slave to the doorpost, pierces the slave’s ear, and makes the slave into a slave of love.^[6] Anything you love will pierce your heart with suffering or love. Are you willing to take my burden upon you and submit to me in love?”

            “Joshua, I will submit to you with everything you want.” Joshua and Kylie hugged, and the moment seemed to last forever and for seconds simultaneously. As night started to fall, they walked hand in hand to Kylie’s home.

            Before Kylie headed home, she thought getting to know Puah better was time. Kylie walked to Puah’s home and knocked gently on the door. She heard the soft shuffling of feet, and Puah opened the door, holding a candle. “Puah, can you help me with a medical procedure?”

            “Kylie, I didn’t think you would ask me; after all, Stan assigned Hananiah to be the doctor, but he doesn’t seem very compassionate. So, come in and let me see if I can help you. What do you need help with?”

            Kylie walked into Puah’s home and sensed a comfortable, peaceful feeling. “Puah, you have practical knowledge of medical procedures, and you aren’t afraid of blood from what you said about helping give birth to children.”

            Puah looked curiously at Kylie’s belly.

            “No, I’m not having any baby, at least not until after Joshua and I are married. We’re promised, not intimate with each other. But Joshua gave me these pierced earrings. My ears aren’t pierced.”

            Puah laughed. “I’ve pierced babies’ ears. Yours should be nothing. We had a wonderful way of relieving pain and infection in my country. This honey prevents infection, and additionally, it tastes wonderful!

            “Puah, you’re too funny!”

            “Sit here, and I’ll burn a needle and put some honey on your ears.”

            Before Kylie knew it, Puah had pinched, stabbed, and inserted the needle painlessly. In a few minutes, Joshua’s pearls were in Kylie’s ears. Puah stared at the pearls and remarked about how magnificent and lustrous they were as they reflected the candlelight. Puah asked if Kylie wanted a cup of tea, and the two women sat talking. Puah said, “I never really saw my life as anything spectacular. I made choices as I thought were best. My life didn’t really matter to anyone except my family.”

            Kylie couldn’t believe what she heard. “Puah, I don’t believe that. Think of all the babies you saved from death. Then think about their families and those children’s babies.”

            Puah looked stunned. She had never really considered it that way. “Puah, one child’s life matters. A child you saved had children who eventually brought salvation to the world. Your choice to save one life may have saved the world.”

            Puah sat back, speechless. “I always thought of them as ‘my children,’ but I never thought of the future consequences of those lives. Are you sure that one of my ‘grandchildren’ may have brought salvation to the world?” Puah sat quietly in her chair and said, “I guess that means I positively impacted the world. The world always remembers the kings, pharaohs, and royalty. I feel far better now about that difficult choice.”

            Kylie looked into Puah’s eyes, “You are more important than you think. I know someone who owes his life to you; every person who can claim royalty owes that to your choice. Because of you, there was . . .” Kylie thought for a moment how to describe the truth, “Your choice to violate the law and to save babies’ lives gave birth to a country which was born twice. That country, a land of mostly desert through time, now sends out fruit and vegetables, doctors, lawyers, scientists, bankers, entertainers, inventors, priests, and religious people, and many valuable gifts to the world.”

            As Kylie got up to leave, she hugged Puah and left her abode, a home filled with new confidence.

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