"...A Safe Haven for Ghosts and Dust now..." Open
Sept 28, 2017 20:25:30 GMT -5
Sarah "Snow Flower" Lyell-Haru likes this
Post by Fr. Barry Stephenson on Sept 28, 2017 20:25:30 GMT -5
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.... - Ecclesiastes 9:11, King James Version
"Rest, my son; one of the medics will be with you shortly, okay?" Pastor Stephenson whispered to one of the injured Scouts that had been pulled out of the burning Main Castle of what had formerly been the stronghold of San Simeon. Kneeling down next to the man, the Mormon elder prayed with him and with other injured men and women, moving from each one over the course of the day, only stepping aside when medics came to work on the injured some more.
Looking around, he took stock of the seemingly calamitous situation the Scouts were still in; although it'd been three days and they had made good distance from the ruins of the stronghold that'd been their home for - depending on who you referenced - anywhere from 1-3 years, it had been a place of solace in a crazy world.....but like the Jerusalem of ancient times, he mused, nothing lasts forever, pausing as he stood to remember a line of scripture from the LDS Standard Works, opening his leather-bound satchel he kept over one shoulder and looked through it, pulling out one of the four books - the Book of Mromon, to be specific - and quickly flipped through the pages as he searched through the first few pages for the scripture or scriptures in question....ahh, there we go, Pastor Stephenson thought, silently reading the parts in question...
8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. 9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day. 10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. 11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. 12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. 13 And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon. (1 Nephi 1:8-12)
Closing his eyes as he thought of the scriptures in question, Pastor Stephenson felt a mix of solace and concern - solace in that it wasn't the first time a place of refuge and hope had been destroyed, concern in that the more he thought about it, the more he felt as though they needed to get out of the area quickly but as he stood there, the more he began to think that maybe, just maybe, they had a destination in mind....quickly, he scrolled through 1 Nephi until Pastor Stephenson came to a few verses towards the end.... 23 And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the promised land. 24 And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance. (1 Nephi 18:23-24)
As he thought about these two bits of Scripture, Pastor Stephenson mused upon them and thought, what Promised Land? Where? Can we get there from here? I must think about these things but first, he thought, watching as he saw Mercy - a little banged up-looking but still alive and kicking, to borrow their boss's words, I need to continue checking on everyone, returning his scriptures to their leather case and waving to Mercy before he too continued checking on everyone to see how they were doing in this time of calamity and concern...
"Rest, my son; one of the medics will be with you shortly, okay?" Pastor Stephenson whispered to one of the injured Scouts that had been pulled out of the burning Main Castle of what had formerly been the stronghold of San Simeon. Kneeling down next to the man, the Mormon elder prayed with him and with other injured men and women, moving from each one over the course of the day, only stepping aside when medics came to work on the injured some more.
Looking around, he took stock of the seemingly calamitous situation the Scouts were still in; although it'd been three days and they had made good distance from the ruins of the stronghold that'd been their home for - depending on who you referenced - anywhere from 1-3 years, it had been a place of solace in a crazy world.....but like the Jerusalem of ancient times, he mused, nothing lasts forever, pausing as he stood to remember a line of scripture from the LDS Standard Works, opening his leather-bound satchel he kept over one shoulder and looked through it, pulling out one of the four books - the Book of Mromon, to be specific - and quickly flipped through the pages as he searched through the first few pages for the scripture or scriptures in question....ahh, there we go, Pastor Stephenson thought, silently reading the parts in question...
8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God. 9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day. 10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. 11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. 12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord. 13 And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon. (1 Nephi 1:8-12)
Closing his eyes as he thought of the scriptures in question, Pastor Stephenson felt a mix of solace and concern - solace in that it wasn't the first time a place of refuge and hope had been destroyed, concern in that the more he thought about it, the more he felt as though they needed to get out of the area quickly but as he stood there, the more he began to think that maybe, just maybe, they had a destination in mind....quickly, he scrolled through 1 Nephi until Pastor Stephenson came to a few verses towards the end.... 23 And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the promised land. 24 And it came to pass that we did begin to till the earth, and we began to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our seeds into the earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to pass that they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance. (1 Nephi 18:23-24)
As he thought about these two bits of Scripture, Pastor Stephenson mused upon them and thought, what Promised Land? Where? Can we get there from here? I must think about these things but first, he thought, watching as he saw Mercy - a little banged up-looking but still alive and kicking, to borrow their boss's words, I need to continue checking on everyone, returning his scriptures to their leather case and waving to Mercy before he too continued checking on everyone to see how they were doing in this time of calamity and concern...