The shadows held the room in stillness. The whole house was quiet
and dark. The man was sleeping beside his wife. In his sleep, he listened
to the sounds of the house, the murmuring refrigerator, the ticking clock, a
car passing by from far down the street. He quietly pulled back the covers
and sat up, bringing his feet around to touch the carpet. He sat there for a
moment, then turned to face the angel seated near the foot of the bed.
Their eyes met for a moment, then the man took in the whole appearance
of the angel. The man knew he was dreaming because he felt no surprise
at this apparition. All the man could think was, "Boy, my kids would love to
see this."
The man looked at the angel. He asked in his raised eyebrows and
the tilt of his head,
"Why are you here?"
The angels' voice came upon the man like an unexpected
recollection, a memory so sudden and immediate it was more clearly heard
than any normal listening could bring to him.
"You were chosen."
"Chosen for what?" he thought, his eyes narrowing.
"You've been chosen to make a decision."
"What do I need to decide?" the mans' eyes asked.
The angels' gaze faltered for a moment, looking away. The feathers
of his great wings rustled while he shifted his weight. Settling down again,
he looked steadily at the man and the words he spoke went straight to the
mans' chest,
"In the light of day tomorrow, I may return to you and I may strike
you upon your cheek. Your decision now is whether you agree to accept
this from me."
The man knew he should have been more shocked at these words,
but as this was a dream, he was merely concerned. He appraised the
angel, thinking,
"You're an angel of the Lord, why should you strike me?"
The sudden onrush of compassion from the angel was so powerful,
the man felt it physically, throughout his body, like the heat of the blazing
sun. The man lowered his eyes and bowed his head slightly.
The angel spoke gently,
"I should not strike you, and yet it may be, that tomorrow I shall strike
you, but I shall do so only if you now choose to accept it."
The man turned his eyes away from the angel and looked into the
darkened bedroom window. He saw there his own reflection, merely the
silhouette of a shadow.
The man squared his shoulders, turning to the angel, asking,
"What will happen to me if you strike me tomorrow?"
The angels' face was the mans' own face. The man looked closely as
if staring into a mirror. His eyes traced the line of the cut upon his face,
noting each of the stitches, wondering at the different shades of purple
in the bruising around his eyes.
The angels' face once again looked upon the man.
The mans' hand raised to his head as if by itself, feeling gingerly for the
wound he expected to touch, but it was not there.
The mans' raised eyebrows asked worriedly,
"Can you tell me more before I decide?"
They sat together for a while and talked quietly among themselves,
among the shadows.
Finally, the man nodded his head slowly in agreement. He looked up
at the angel and said,
"I accept. Tomorrow you may strike me."


The following day, while the man was driving to work, something
flashed before his eyes, only later did he remember it clearly.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in the back of an
ambulance. He was lying down. His body was stripped of its' clothes and
bleeding, and he was bound fast to a back brace. The paramedics were
surprised to find that his injuries were only in one spot, where his cheek
had been struck. This is not what the medics expected when they reported
to the scene of the head-on collision and waited for the car to be pried
apart bofore removing their patient.
In that first day and very often during the coming weeks, the man
listened to these words, "It's a miracle you survived such a crash, the car
was demolished."



Several weeks later, the man had a friend over for dinner. After
dinner, over coffee, the man told the story of the accident to his friend,
saying,
"Well, I know some people say 'if God doesn't get your attention with
a whisper, sometimes He'll use a two by four,' but I don't know if God does
things like that."
Beside the two of them, seated at the dinner table, the Lord Christ
listened carefully to the man speaking, watching him patiently and intently.
The Lord was always close by but He took a seat for Himself when the
mans' daughter said grace at dinner and blessed the table in His name.
After a time, the Lord returned His gaze to the other room, to the
earlier time. The Lord listened once again to the man speaking in the
shadows to the angel. The Lord once again cast His silhouette upon the
darkened bedroom window.


"Can you tell me more before I decide?"
The angel smiled, "I will tell you all that I know."
"Why would you strike me?"
The angel hung his head,
"You live in the world. The world has its' rules, the world has its' ruler.
The Lord has said, 'Behold, the ruler of this world comes for me, but he
has no power over me.' The rules of this world are unjust. Even when you
follow the rules, they are still bound to break, a dead branch bears no
weight. When these rules you follow break apart, people also get broken.
Even our Lord did not leave this world unscathed. And yet, what is broken
in His name shall be made whole again. It is in His name that I come to
you."
The man looked down at his feet,
"If I ask you to not strike me tomorrow, what will happen."
"I do not know what will happen. I only know what I will do. I will pass
you over. You will not be struck by my hand tomorrow."
The man looked up,
"That's the end of it? I won't be struck?"
"You will not be struck by my hand. Yet know this, there are other
hands out there and they do not strike in the name of the Lord. If you do
not accept this from me, then I will go on to the next one who is chosen for
me."
The angel glanced at the mans' wife sleeping beside him.
The man was terrified, he placed his hand on his wifes' shoulder and
his quickened breath demanded,
"Is she the next one on your list?"
"I do not follow a list. I am given a soul to call upon. This soul I call
upon is yours. In this world, any one of you may be next, but I tell you truly,
if you accept this from me I will not leave you."
"What will you do if I agree then?"
"If you accept this from me, you will not remember tomorrow that we
have spoken. You will not remember me. In the light of day you will not
know the hand of an angel from that of a demon. There is nothing good
about what I bring to you tomorrow. I bring to you what is evil in this world.
The same choice you face tonight will return again to face you tomorrow. If
you accept this from me, I will seek out no other soul. From the moment I
strike you, the whole of my life will be my prayer for you."
The man was chagrined,
"You'll strike me, then pray for my recovery?"
"I will strike you, then pray for your forgiveness."
Finally, the man was looking down, nodding his head slowly in
agreement. He looked up at the angel and said,
"I accept. Tomorrow you may strike me."

My cousin, survived a car crash in which the car was so crushed the rescue crew were astonished to find anyone alive. She had to be cut out. It took quite some time. She was relatively unscathed, but she did have a cut on her knee which left a small v shaped scar. She is convinced to this day that it is the mark of her gardian angel.

I must show her this piece of writing. I was totally absorbed by it. I am not religious, but I found some deep meaning in it.

Well done.

This is indeed an absorbing piece. The dialogue is powerful, the descriptions of the scene well done. A very nice piece!

~Much Love~
Megan

Hi Shawn,

I checked your link while in the office. I thought i would give a cursary glance for the moment and then read it later from home.

But when i came out of it, i realised i had finished the whole story
And a portion of it, i re-read just for the sake of it.

Amazing piece of creativity...

- ilimow

from the point of view of an existentialist, i like your story, because it proves that even the lord lives by a strict set of rules, does it not? the lord has determined the set of rules that humans are to live by, but who determined the set of rules that the lord is to live by? rules are based on logic. the lord created our logic. who created the lord's logic?