Joseph Trance

Faith

      “I’ve found faith, Tom.”
I looked up from my I-Pad, and the News 2 U app, and put down my coffee cup.  I looked up at Peter as he hovered over me.

“Well, halleluiah and praise the Lord,” I said.  I picked up the cup again and took another sip.

He looked at me and smirked, “No, you don’t understand, I found…FAITH.”    He slid next to me on the diner bench seat, and huddled close and whispered, “the substance.”  I looked at his flushed face, the light in his eyes and I pushed the paper aside.  I drained the coffee cup.  I closed my eyes and felt the wave in me rise as his words echoed in my ears, “the substance..the substance…sub…stance…”
I felt my body tremor and let the warmth rise through it.   My skin prickled and I felt goose bumps form on my legs and arms. I opened my eyes and looked into his.  He nodded his head “yes,”   a tear started to form.

     “Mmmm.”   I said.   Then…”Tell me.”

He took a napkin and wiped his tear.  “It’s in His word, Tom.  All of it.   I just didn’t understand.”
He stared at the table and his eyes glazed over, and then he started to laugh.  It started as a chuckle, a humor burp…but then grew into this loud guffaw that shook his entire body.  People from other tables stared at us and I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder. 

“O.k., Pete.  Ok..ok…take it easy.”   I said as I looked around at the other customers.  I pressed my hand onto his shoulder.   His laughter subsided and he smiled at me.   I nodded at the other customers and they returned to their eating and conversations. 

     There was a peace in his eyes, a calmness that I’d seen only a few times before.   It wasn’t his usual way.    Pete was a scientist, an excitable one at that.   He was a messy haired, white- lab coat wearing, big eye-glasses Poindexter type.  Picture a mad scientist with his hair all out of whack, glasses askew on his face.  That was Pete.  We had gone to Bible College together, but he dropped out after a year. 
 “I need more than..this…”  He waved at the bible  in my hands  and shook his head.  “I need more…reality.”
 
He became a physicist and dedicated himself to researching Unified Field Theory.  He was determined to prove that there was a connection between everything.; “All matter, time and Space are connected, “ he had said.   The Universe is alive with connections at the smallest levels;  particles, atoms, electrons. sub-atomic particles, time, space, energy, matter, feelings and even our thoughts.   They’re all connected, and I’m going to prove it.”    His latest  research had him finding worm holes and  using them as time travel portals.  The last time I had seen Pete this calm was when He told me about a team of scientists removing the brain of Jesus… as He was dying on the cross.   But that’s a whole other story.
 
 
 Now here he was now, telling me he had “found faith…the substance.”    I thought about it, about what the Bible said about it, “The evidence of things unseen.”  Another tremor wave began to rise in me, but I took a deep breath and suppressed it.  I needed to be fully listening to what Peter had to say, without losing myself in emotions.
I stared at him and waited. 

“Ok, Tom.  So you know how in Hebrews it says, “Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.”

“Yes…”  I answered.

“Well if you really take those words apart, there is…just..so…much to it.”  He spread his hands wide as he said the words.   His face started to flush.  And his breathing quickened as he continued,

“That scripture is so loaded, so filled with levels of TRUTH.  And you know me, I had to figgure it out.    I took it apart until I got an understanding.  You’ve got a time component;  The “now” activates the process.  It’s not a yesterday, it’s not a tomorrow…it’s a now.  It’s immediate.  It’s, an energy, Tom.  Energy being activated and applied through thought, ..in the NOW.   And the substance…it’s a position.”   He stared at me intently.

“ Really more like... positions.”  He added thoughtfully.

“ A what?”   I asked, as I breathed down another tremor.

“A position…it’s a POSITION, Tom.  It’s an “under”  standing."

“I don’t get it,” I said, confused.   For a minute, reality ‘shifted’  and the air around me shimmered.

He said slowly, “ Listen. Think about the words .  Take them..apart.    Substance of things hoped for.  Sub-stance or an  Under-Standing of things…things..hoped for.”
I felt like a child  and Pete was an adult trying to explain some great mystery to me.   I was embarassed, frustrated and getting annoyed.    But then  I felt the air waver around us, and for a minute I got a glimpse of…

“What do you hope for, Tom?  What do you have the …faith for?”  His question cut through the air like a razor blade. 

“What do I…hope for?”  I asked.  “Lots of things…”

“Such as..?” 

I thought about it.  “ Abundance.”  I said.

“Do you believe…do you have the faith for it?”  He asked.

I hesitated  and then ,  “Yes…”

“Based on what?”  He shot back.

“On God's  Words,” I said, “Based on the Bible.”

“Which ones?”   He asked.

“What?’  

“Which words do you base your faith on for an increase in  abundance?”


“On  His… promises.”

“Which promises?”   This was getting tired.

“Pete…what…?”  I shook my head exasperated.

“Just go with me on this…please.”    Pete never said, “Please.”

“Malachi 3:10,” I said.

“Ah…the only scripture where God says to ‘Prove me now.’   He nodded.
“And what else?”  His eyes had a glaze over them.

“What else what…?”  I asked.

“What does that scripture say to ‘do?’  He asked.

I felt a door begin to open..somewhere.

“Sow…”  I said slowly.  The air shimmered again and I felt a slight vibration.

“Have you?”  He asked.

“Yes.”  I answered and closed my eyes.

“Faith-fully?”  He asked.

“Yes, ...  tithe every month right into the storehouse without fail.”  I shook my head.
“ I gave that  homeless  guy out front five bucks before I came in.”   

Pete nodded.  “So you have positioned your mind, your thoughts, your heart and your hard earned money.   You have moved all of those ‘ things’  in …faith.  You  have  given energy to them and placed all of those things in position.”

"What position is that?"   I asked, keeping my eyes closed.

"The one that 'stands-under' the faith for abundance.   Without works faith is dead.  It's not enough just to beleive, faith must be activated, and you've done that by bringing all those things into position."

I opened my eyes.   I looked at him.   His eyes were glowing with an inner light.  He looked away from me and looked around the crowded diner. 
 
"Let there be LIGHT,"  He whispered.  He turned and looked at me.

"How does Faith come, Tom?"

I answered automatically, "By hearing the Word of God."

“Then,  declare it,”  He said.  “Breathe Life into it.  Declare it, right …NOW.”   He ordered without looking at me.

I closed my eyes and felt my body shiver with anticipation.
“I declare abundance, based on the Promises of the Word of God.  Malachi 3:10.”

I opened my eyes and looked at Pete.  Tears were streaming down his face.

He smiled and said, “You’re not in Kansas anymore.”

  “So..now what?” I asked.

“Evidence.  We wai…”  He didn’t get a chance to finish.

My I-Pad buzzed.   I picked it up and scanned the screen.   “E-mail message,”  I said.

I read it and felt my body become one big goose bump.  Pete started intently at me.

“It’s my..bank.   They just confirmed the $5000.00. .I… just deposited.”

“Mmm…one hundred times what you sowed to that man.”  Pete said.  “Prove me now.”

“But Is this real?  Did this really just happen?”  I asked.

Pete pointed to my I-Pad.  “Look at the evidence,”  He said.

I looked again at the e-mail.  There it was.  “$5000.” 

Pete said,  “Jesus had the faith to walk on water.   He turned water into wine, calmed a storm, healed the sick and raised people from the dead.   What are YOU going to do Tom?"

I looked around at the diner; smelled the food, listened to the buzzed conversations of the people.  The air shimmered as a wave of possibilities filled my mind.
   

 



Here is another Science Fiction/Christian Based story. The Two main characters, Tom and Pete first appeared in "HIs Brain." I'm thinking of writing other Christian/Sci-fi stories using them as main characters.

This story is based on Biblical Scriptures found in the Bible in Book of Hebrews. If you enjoy this story or any of my others, please leave a comment, it would be greatly apprecaited. Thank you.
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All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Joseph Trance.
Published on e-Stories.org on 12/02/2012.

 
 

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