Ask Me ..... How i know there's a God up in the heavens!

Chapter 23 - The Battle Belongs to the Lord

I sat in the dead stillness of my upstairs... monastery cell, occasionally peering through the curtains into the bleak night; all the while watching and waiting. What was going on? I wondered. Bits and pieces of songs flashed through my mind, but none ever stayed very long.

"Ask me if I think there's a God up in the heavens, where did He go in the middle of...their shame? Ask me if I think there's a God up in the heavens; I see no mercy, no one down here's naming names."

"Hear the one who holds his peace and seldom has His say... and Lord mend the bleeding heart grown cold, the heart grown cold from yesterday. From the hurts of yesterday, rebuild the one torn down from all the blows of life and sin, Lord heal the broken one who lives within."

"Well I picked up all these pieces and I built a strong deception and I locked myself inside of it for my own protection. And I sit alone inside myself and curse my company; for this thing that is kept me alive for so long is now killing me."

"Dressed now and seated; clean in spirit and healthy of mind; man of the tombs, he begs to follow but must stay behind. He'll return to his family with stories to tell; of mercy and madness, of heaven and hell. Man of the tombs, soon he will cry out loud..." Little did I understand what that would mean to me personally years later; for that'd almost literally be my experience.

I paced several laps wondering what hour was thus? Oh how I'd wished I'd had my handy daddy trusty 20th Century watch to check. I snickered to myself. What was going on? Was Passover - over? Were they all in the garden now? Could I see any of it? The questions flickered through my mind like the grainy images from Cecil DiMille's 1927 King of King's silent film. Silence yes; the silence is deafening! I growled as I grabbed my headscarf and hurried down the hall to the stairs at the back of the house. From there I climbed up to the roof.

I surveyed a round or two before my eyes finally focused on the back of the temple complex. I caught some people milling about and I observed a moment; wrapping my scarf around me in an attempt to ward off the chilly air. Who were these people? I scrutinized their every move. Did I know any of them from the pages of my Bible? I searched diligently for some clues; but most of what I saw (besides roof tops) was a few empty courtyards and some segments of the street.

My eyes wandered the path below the house, through the side yard into the back slave quarters; when I realized where we were. It wasn't but a stone's throw from the wall to the city gate, in which the Mount of Olives was almost literally right across the street. As my eyes came to rest on a few people starting to gather in one of the small courts inside the temple complex; a strange and frightening urge came upon me. I wonder if I can beat them to the garden?

After a few minutes of deliberating, trying to talk myself out of this; my crazy and dangerous scheme got the best of me, as I hurried back down the stairs into the house. The plan started to formulate while I passed several rooms on the way back to my own. I paused in the hall at small pile of linens which had been left outside someone's door; before I swiped them up and carried them away. I was back in my room before I knew it; my idea quickly unfolding into a plan of action.

It was just one of those times when you don't really think about what you're doing; because if you did, you'd scare yourself out of doing it. I thought for a moment as I pulled off my top layers of clothing and began wrapping strips around my body. If I was going to make this work, I had to do it well; but not so well as to impinge my breathing. I knew, as I scurried back into the hall for the foot gear I had neglected earlier.

With the armor and leather strapped belt and place, I threw the long red cloak around my shoulders and descended down the stairs into the darkness. On my way out the side door, I grabbed my last accessory as it sat waiting on its stand for its rightful owner. I paused a moment to straighten myself, while I pulled the helmet over my hastily braided hair and secured it firmly to my head. I was now in the army again! I determined, as I took one last breath and stepped into the court yard.