Just A Beginning
Douglas Grubbs

Jaroh stood with his right hand clasped to his broad sword. His left, a small round
hagane shield.  His wits told him to run from the battle that was sure to ensue, but then
his heart told him that if he didn�t do anything, no one would.  He had bet his soul on the
powers of his God, there was no one on earth that could save him now.  He stood, for
what seemed like and eternity, starring into the starry night, and then it came.  A black
mist, as thick as his mother�s lamb soup.  It surrounded him, controlling every one of his
senses.  He heard the sounds of uncounted tormented souls, all crying our for vengeance.
Jaroh suddenly heard, from a distance, a still, small voice whispered to him.
�Jaroh, put your weapons aside.  Vengeance is the Lord�s.  You are impure, you
canot defeat that which will come.�  
Jarroh knew what he had to do.  He had to trust the voice, but trusting was
something he was never good at.  His grip loosened on his sword and sheild, but he was
afraid to let his ony protection drop to the ground.  The voiced echoed to him again,
repeating its message.
Jaroh felt a calm come about him as he listened to the voice.  How he could hear
it through the din of the mist, he wasn�t sure.  Jaroh heard the truth in the voice and he
knew who it was.  It was God, his personal protector.  No longer reluctant, he dropped his
sword and shield and kneeled in the presence of the Lord.  
He began to pray, "Almighty father, whose love I can feel even from heaven,
blessed is your name.  May your will be done in my life, so that I can show the world
who you are.  Forgive my indiscretions, and my short comings, as I try to live up to your
name. Please, protect me today, as you have before, and do not let me stray into the path
of nrighteousness.  You are the almighty, the alpha and the omega, hallowed be thy
name.  Amen.�
There was a tremor, a violent shaking and finally a white light ran through the
fog, splitting it down the middle.  It ran straight to Jaroh, into his very soul.  He could
feel the spirit of a Supernatural Being consuming him from the inside out.  He looked
down and saw that his clothes had a faint glow about them, and they were now all wholly
white.  He stood, now a new creature of virtue and purity.  Jaroh no longer had control
over his body, he was possessed by the Christ.  He felt the blaze of the Almighty well up
inside of his clay flesh.  His rapier and shield returned to his hands and were instantly
consumed by an inferno that could not be extinguished.  He let himself go, all of his sin,
inner thoughts, inhibitions, all of them flew from him as the spirit engulfed him.  They
united with the black spirit as it took the form of every sin he had ever committed.
Just then a great serpent, an ancient snake, came from the smoke.  It lunged at
him, but his arm moved to parry the snake�s bite.  His palms blocked it, at once
becoming pierced.  The snake fell back.  It stood there, looking at him.  It calculated its
next move; it knew what had happened to Jaroh, he knew that he had been reborn as a
child of God.
The great serpent knew that it could not stand up to the God of the universe.  It
reasoned with itself, determining that since this was just a human, that he still had a flaw,
that he had sin.  It reared back in preparation for another blow.  Jaroh saw this one
coming though.  He ran, full gate at the snake.  He leapt but the snake knocked him down
and struck, peiring a fang through his side.  He was instantly seperated from Christ, but
he could feel him writhe in pain, and, at length, the Son of God died.  He lay there, for
what seemed like a few days, the snake watching over him, making sure that he couldn�t
move, waiting for a slip up, for the correct time to devour him.  Days passed, as he lay
there, unable to move.  From the corner of his eye he saw the body of Jesus stir, and then
arise.    Yaweh spoke in a language Jaroh had never heard before, and the snake was
instantaneously bound and defeated, and then destroyed.  Jaroh looked at the man who
had done this.  He held his hands up for Jaroh to see, and the Jaroh knew, it was the
Christ, and  knew that the battle was finished.  He once again kneeled before God and
surrendered his soul to him.
�You have done well, my servant, but your battle is just beginning.  Go to your
world and tell them of me.  A warning though, you will fight many more �serpents�, some
more powerful than this one.  But keep the faith and remember that I am with you
always, even until the end of the age.�  God spoke to Jaroh.  The man in white walked
and them melded with Jaroh, making him complete.  
His body fell limp and he fell asleep.  When he awoke he was back in his home,
in the plains.  His sword and shield were still with him, but were not aflame.  He took
them up and put them on his back, leaving all of his other possessions behind.  Now, his
mission was clear, knowing that he had the almighty within him, fear was cast by the
wayside as he walked the lands, to spread the Gospel of the Lord.