The Quest for Christmas

Chapter 8

The palace was magnificent. It appeared to be at least twice the size of the Taj Mahal and, according to Gabriel, it was twice as grand. My favorite room was the library. At the center of the palace, directly under the stunning dome, was an immense library. Books were on shelves from the floor to the ceiling, at least a hundred feet up. Gabriel said that there were at least a thousand books on each floor. It looked like there were at least 25 floors!

I asked Gabriel, "Will I ever visit this place again?"

"There is only One who knows that information."

"What do you think?"

"I think that you will not hesitate to visit my- this place again if you have the opportunity."

I caught Gabriel's error, "You own this place?"

"I did give you a highly detailed tour."

"Wow!"

"That's why I was in a bad mood when you first met me. I had been away from here for six weeks on an assignment and wanted to get back. Then you came along."

"Well then, I understand. I would have been cranky too."

"Exactly."

"I guess this is bye, Gabriel. Hope we meet again."

"Adios, amigo."

"You're Spanish too?"

"Do I sound like I'm French?"

"No, you just have an English accent."

"I guess I've hung around Michael too long, but I am from Spain."

"Well then, adios, Gabriel."

"See you if we meet again."

With that I read the number on the ticket, "Two-Two-Zero-Four." Nothing happened at first, and then I blacked out again.

"I am really going to have to get used to passing out," I thought as I recovered from the shock of passing out for the third time in that one night.

Back in my tent, I found myself in my sleeping bag holding the old leather Bible open. Sure enough, it was turned to Luke chapter 1. Closing the Bible, I noticed something odd on its cover. The letters P.C.A. were engraved onto a small metal plate in the bottom right corner of the book. I knew those letters and what they stood for too well. They were my initials, Phillip Christian Alsterade.

After squirming out of my sleeping bag, I checked my watch. It read 8:03 am, confirming my 8 o'clock arrival. Thankfully I was wearing my Youth Retreat 2017 t-shirt and my favorite pair of green cargo pants again. The toga had been out of style for a long, long time. I unzipped the tent, put my Nike Free Run sneakers on, and walked toward the picnic tables with the Bible in my hand.

"Good morning, Phillip," Mr. Augustus called while waving from the far left table, "Did you sleep well?"

"Sleep? Oh, yeah, about that," I fumbled for the right words, "That Bible you gave me, um, it malfunctioned."

"Are you sure it was not a user error?" Mr. Augustus replied jokingly.

"No, I did not mean to travel back in time. I'm pretty sure of that."

Mr. Augustus's smile disappeared, "Did you say 'Travel back in time'?"

"Yes, I did," then, I told him the whole story from meeting Mary on the street, to getting orders from Gabriel, to the birth in Bethlehem, to The Palace of the Sun. The only part I skipped was the nightmarish flashback I had witnessed.

"That's quite an adventure, Phillip; you should talk to me next week and tell me everything that happened."

"But that was everything."

"Well, still come by my office and we will discuss the meaning of this."

"Yes, sir. Oh and why does this Bible have my initials on it?"

"I customized it for you as a surprise. This was my first study Bible that I received when I was about your age. I had it engraved with your initials, and gave it to you."

"Well, then," I looked at the Bible, "You must have been my age a long time ago." We both shared a laugh at that. Just then, the rest of the group returned to camp.

"Phillip," Isaac called, "I saved you a biscuit in case you wanted it. You snored through breakfast call, but Mr. Augustus told me to let you sleep."

I remembered the meal I had recently devoured. "No thanks, I'll be fine until lunch. Thanks for offering, though." With no further questions, Isaac consumed the biscuit in a matter of seconds.

"Isaac, Phillip, we should start breaking camp." Geneva suggested.

"Dude, y'all are totally not moving this morning." Hal called from his backpack that was loaded and ready to go, "Get, like, going before I go all 'Drill Sergeant Hal' mode." We laughed at the idea of Hal impersonating a Drill Sergeant.

Breaking camp consists of three parts. First, you take down the tents. When we arrived we set up classic a-frame tents that we slept in. Now, we each disassembled our individual tents, rolled them up, and placed them in their separate bags.

Next, we collected our gear from under the "gear tarp," a large tarp that we all set our gear under so that if it rained our bags would stay dry. After everyone had collected the gear, we untied the tarp from the trees we had connected it to so that it would be off the ground. Once it was untied we coiled the rope and folded the tarp.

Finally we loaded personal gear, tarps, and tents onto the back of the church bus. After checking the area for trash and holding a quick "Sunday servicette" we pulled off and began the ride home.

The rest of the break, I worked on writing, editing, and polishing my re-telling of the Christmas Story. Surprisingly, the best part of the day that I gave my re-telling was not the re-telling itself, but what happened after my presentation.

"That was a fine job Mr. Alsterade," Mrs. Lalerste congratulated me, "Would you like to join our Junior Leader program?"

"Is that where I receive the opportunity to assist in the younger children's classes?"

"Yes, you will be the assistant teacher in one of the 1st-3rd grade Bible Studies."

This was awesome. I had wanted to have this opportunity ever since I was in first grade. I still remember my Junior Leader. He was Bobby Aieng, an 11th grader who had lived in China most of his life. His stories about the culture there wowed us.

"Thanks, Mrs. Lalerste, I'd love to become a Junior Leader!"

Smiling she replied, "Well then, we'll get you signed up for the 1st grade boys next week. I'll send your dad more information such as what time they start, what room they are in, and matters of that nature."

That night my parents were thrilled to hear the news that I had become a Junior Leader."

"You're becoming a fine Christian young man, definitely worthy of being called a pastor's child," my father exulted.

Traveling back in time to Bethlehem was the best thing that happened to me in years. In the upcoming months I would definitely try it again. After all, Gabriel had written down "trip number one" as if there would be more trips through time. I still have no idea what it was, but that blast to the past, the quest for the true Christmas story, changed my life, the formerly ordinary life of Phillip Alsterade forever.