christ

by

Healing Waters

by Miles Rost

Steven Latrell was an ordinary man. One of the most unassuming people you could have ever met. Middle aged, salt-and-pepper hair, had a couple of grown kids who loved him and a wife that cared deeply for him. He wasn’t much of a man of faith, but he called himself a believer.

His life changed with one voicemail left on his cell phone.

“Steve, this is Dr. Langston at Memorial Hospital. You need to come back to the hospital as soon as you can.”

Within a few days, Steve received the news that every man in the world dreads to hear.

“You have prostate cancer. Stage 4. The most we can say is that you should get your affairs in order and be ready for things.”

Steve didn’t know what he could do. He felt shock, especially since his father’s side of the family never had the occurrences of cancer. Most of them died of old age in the fields of North Dakota. He felt anger, that all the work he put into having a life and a great family was now about to be gone from his sight.

“Honey, I am going to take a walk. I will be back in a little while,” he called in, calmly. His wife gave a shoutback of acknowledgement, and he went off walking.

He walked  down his street until he couldn’t go straight anymore. He looked to the left and saw nothing but fields and fences. To his right, he saw trees and grasses. Following his heart, he went right and followed the road through the trees. He walked for a good while, getting lost in the news and thoughts that he was focused on.

After a while, he saw a path that looked like it was barely taken. He looked in his heart, and realizing that there really wasn’t anything to lose, he decided to take it. He walked down the path and through a thick grove of trees and thicket. After walking for a good while, he came upon a stump of a grand old tree. He was about to walk past it, when he noticed words carved into the top.

Where do we go when the world forsakes us, where the healing waters flow

Curious, he thought to himself, as he then started to walk again. He walked for a shorter distance, and came upon a beautiful river and a wider lake-like area. He smiled at seeing this beautiful, nearly untouched piece of paradise.

“Come out to find answers, have ya?”

Steve turned and looked in the direction of the words that came past his ears. He saw an older man sitting on a stump, looking into the water. He looked like he had been in that swamp his whole life, but yet had a calm about him that said, “Listen.”

Steve looked back at him and gave him a wry smile.

“When you find out that you just received your ticket off of Earth, it makes you want to go somewhere and think,” he said.

The old man looked at him, and shifted himself. His overalls shifted along with, showing a bit of the boniness of his upper body.

“What you got?”

“Stage 4 prostate cancer. They think I’ll survive 8 weeks at most.”

“How are you with God?”

Steve sighed at the question, one he was asked many times.

“Honestly, not good. I have never really been a churchgoer, and I believe that Christ saved me, but I also don’t feel like I want to go.”

“What is church to you?”

Steve sat and thought for a few moments.

“It’s a place to go and meet with other people. It’s a set location somewhere.”

The old man leaned forward and gave him an impish smile.

“Would you believe you’re in church now?”

Steve was taken aback by this. It didn’t make sense to him.

“What…do you mean?”

“Well, Christ said that when two or three are gathered together in worship of Him, he’d be there. Church can describe a building, or more importantly, it can describe the body of believers in Christ. There is a difference between a church building and The Church.”

Steve thought about that for a moment, processing it in his mind.

“I never really thought of it that way.”

“You believe Christ saved you, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“You should have nothing to worry about, then. Talk to our Father about the things that you’ve done, square them away, and you’re ready for action.”

“It isn’t that simple.”

“When you’re facing a doctor imposed deadline of 8 weeks, it can be.”

Steve sat down, his back leaning against a tree, the damp soil soaking into his khakis. The old man looked back at him and slowly stood up. He walked over to the water, and smiled.

“You have a choice, young man. You can take the time you have left to do great things for God’s service, or you can waste them. Someone asked me once “Where do we go when all our time’s been wasted?” I answered him by saying we go where God wants us to.”

Steve looked at him and started to listen a little bit more.

“Have you ever been baptized, young man?”

Steve blinked, and though for a few seconds.

“I don’t think I have. Never had a reason to do it.”

“Don’t you think you have a reason now?”

“But, aren’t ministers supposed to do that?”

“Sonny, In God’s kingdom and at some point, we’re all ministers.”

Steve nodded.

“Think you’re ready to give the rest of your time here on Earth to finishing your business with family and making a mark for God on the world?”

Steve thought about it, and smiled. He was ready. He waded into the water, where the old man was waiting. With a quick prayer, and a blessing that seemed to be divinely inspired, Steve Latrell was baptized.

They walked out of the semi-cool river, and Steve dried off as much as he could with a seemingly new towel the old man gave him. Steve looked at him, and smiled.

“Have you been waiting down here for me?”

“Nah. I’ve been down here for nearly 50 years. This is a place where people go to either face their mortality, get right with God, or take their own life. I’m here, simply, as a minister who helps people with their choices.”

Steve nodded.

“I guess it’s time to go back, and put everything in order.”

“Just remember something, young man: Let go, Let God, and do good. That’s your job, besides making disciples of the nations.”

Steve looked back, nodded, and proceeded to leave the beautiful lake area.

In the short time he had left, he spent enough time with his wife and kids to help them with their impending loss. And in the 6 weeks since that day, he spent almost the rest of his time volunteering with the local church’s youth groups.

He got ready for bed on week 7, and looked at his wife.

“There is a river running deep into my soul. Rushing like a vision over me, it flows…”

His wife looked at him, and blinked.

“I’m actually at peace. Christ’s been working in my life. I think I understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“Where do we go when the world forsakes us?  Where do we go when we’re getting to the very end of things? We go where the healing waters flow.”

She looked at him funny, and gave her husband a kiss.

“I love you, honey. And even if you are gone tomorrow, I know that we’ll see each other again. Maybe even where those healing waters are.”

Steve got into bed and turned off the light, and held his wife tight through the night.

That was the last thing that Steve Latrell, a lay minister of God, did in his time on Earth. At 5:45AM, he left the Earth and went to where the healing waters flow.

The old man that sat by the river looked up at the sky at that precise moment.

“Lord, you have another of your men now,” he said, calmly, “Thank you for bringing him back to you in such a quick way.”

by

Guardian Angel

(aka “I Will Wait For You: Chapter 2)

by Miles Rost

A long while ago, I had told the story of an incident where my “future wife spirit” had come to visit me and inform me that I was to wait for her. Naturally, I was skeptical, and after it was all over, I wasn’t able to get any sleep the rest of that night.

The next day, for the record, I was incredibly useless at work and was raked over the coals by my boss for being a “paperweight around the ankles of this firm”. One day, I vow I will leave that company and never look back.

To say the least, it got worse. I had the prescience of mind to go and visit my pastor, who deemed me as being either incredibly insane, a newly initiated member of a cult, or a new apostle. In that order. He wasn’t much of a help on this, lemme tell ya.

Fast forward to three months later. By this time, I nearly forgot about what happened. I went through my daily life, doing what I do, and just being sad about my situation. I came home from work as the sun was at the most perfect position in the sky. I walked out to my patio, opened a bottle of IPA, and looked out over the neighborhood and at the sun. It was probably the first time since that night when I actually had peace in my heart.

I went back inside and sat down on my bed, as I was in a studio apartment. I felt a bit sad, because while I was at peace with most things, I was back to the old habit of mine about seeing my life ticking away. I even kicked myself a little bit because I was thinking about an old girlfriend who I likely could have been in a long-term relationship with, had I not been a greedy little buggard.

In the midst of this darkening of my mood, and as the sun went down over the horizon, a gust of wind came in from the window. I looked up and I saw the misty form from before, this time being a little bit more corporeal. She sat next to me on my bed and smiled.

This time, I was able to recognize that it was a feminine smile, and that she was much more defined as feminine, though I was unable to see the rest of the defining features of her.

“Seems like you were starting to forget about me.”

I looked at her and sighed heavily.

“Well, I figured that you were a one-time dream that was the result of eating a spicy pizza.”

She giggled at my statement, which in my eyes was kind of cute.

“When it comes to God and things, that has a tendency of being the case. But, I’m here now.”

“So, my future wife spirit, why have you come today?”

She smirked as she stood, and turned towards me.

“I am here to spend a little time with you. The time will come soon when we meet, and you’ve had a lot of problems lately.”

I looked at her with a little disbelief, and decided that now would be the best time to really challenge her and see if she was exactly what she said she was.

“Okay, what would some of these problems be?”

“Well, you hate your job and want to get away from there, but you can’t because you need the money to pay the bills that got you the job in the first place.”

I pikued at this. Okay, first guess is a lucky one.

“Then, in the process of forgetting what happened before when I last visited, you became lonely and were thinking about an old girlfriend of yours.”

Okay, that froze me.

“That’s why it was decided for me to come over here and spend a little time with you while my person sleeps.”

This is the point where I suddenly felt sad about everything, and that she knew so much about what was going on. It was pathetic, that I seemed to be so hopeless in my life, that I needed a reminder about things from the spirit of my future wife. I even started to shed a couple of tears, which made her sit beside me on the floor by my bed. She brushed her finger against my face, and the cold appendage took away one of my tears.

“Don’t cry. I’m here, I’m strong. You don’t have to hide what you feel from me.”

“But how can I even trust you? I mean, you say all of these things, and I remember asking you about your service to Christ before. But, still, you’re just a spirit. How am I supposed to know if this is truly happening, or if I’m being tricked?”

She sat for a second, and said something that I never would have expected.

“I think that “go with your gut” would be good advice.”

Aaaand that’s where I became sold on the idea that this was, in fact, the spirit of my future wife.

That night, I pretty much told her everything. Everything I felt, everything that I was dealing with. And I talked about my regrets to her.

“Regrets only keep you where you used to be. I can see that there is joy deep down inside, someone who is so alive. That’s why I’m here tonight. I’m here to be your guardian in a way.”

“A guardian…wife spirit?”

She giggled at my suggestion, and she smiled. Before we knew it, the night had passed and there was dawn that was about to break. She looked up and gasped.

“Oh, this is not good. I’m going to be waking up soon, and I don’t want to leave.”

“What would happen if you did stay?”

“Simply put, I would disappear. Consciousness would wake my dreaming self, and until the next major time I’d dream, I would not be able to come here.”

The thought of her disappearing in front of me was not a good one for my psyche.

“It’s a cold morning, my guardian wife spirit. You should fly back to yourself. Don’t worry about me, I think I’ll be fine now.”

She smiled at me, and gave me a ghostly kiss on my forehead. It…felt cold, but yet warm at the same time.

“I will hopefully see you in the waking world very soon. Keep praying for me, that you’ll see me. And keep yourself ready. Christ’s gonna make things happen in pretty short order here.”

I was about to say something, but she suddenly wisped out of the room and through the window. As the first crack of sunlight started rising above the buildings, I was filled with a bit of sadness, and yet a little bit of hope.

“She’s actually out there,” I said to myself, as I proceeded to call my boss and leave a message saying that I was sick for the day. Yeah, after this event, there was no way I was going into work.

by

I Will Wait For You

by Miles Rost

It was just another night like any other. My 33 year old self went home after a hard day of work, picking up a half a pizza to gnaw on as my dinner and breakfast for the next day. I didn’t even get through one of the 4 slices before I just passed out. At that time, the sun was just going down on the horizon.

“…hey….you….”

For some reason, I kept hearing this voice while I slept.

“…hey…wake up…”

I really did think I was dreaming. Until I felt something like icy hot running up my foot from ankle to middle toe. That was when I sat up straight and looked around. My eyes adjusted to the dark a little bit, and I didn’t see anything. I looked down at my clock, that cried at me 2AM. I thought that it was annoying that I was woken up at 2AM for no reason. After putting down the clock, I looked back in front of me.

“Hi! You’re awake!”

I saw this ghostly apparition in front of my face. The first thing that went through my mind, in a split second, was that I was dreaming again. After blinking once, I realize that, in fact, I wasn’t.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

The apparition backed up a little bit and twisted it’s face into a bit of an annoyed look.

“Oh come on, it’s not like I was intentionally trying to scare you!”

I looked at this ghostly figure and realized that it’s voice was that of a young woman’s. I sat for almost a minute looking at it, and just tried to make sure that I wasn’t in fact dreaming. Firmly satisfied in the fact that I wasn’t dreaming, and that I was being visited by something of a spirit, I looked at it and had a queried look on my face.

“Are you here to kill me?”

The spirit giggled a slight bit, then sighed.

“No, I am not going to kill you. The reason I’m here is of a totally different matter.”

“What might that be?” I asked her, as I determined that the spirit was definitely female.

“Quite simply, you’ve been asking God for a wife for a long time. I’m here to tell you that God is listening to you.”

I pikued at this. Now, the question in my head was how the hell did she know THAT?. So I decided to probe a bit more.

“Okay, you say that you’re from God. Were you sent by Christ to visit?”

“You mean Jesus the Christ? Died on the cross? Yes, I was sent by Christ. However, I will say that I’m not an angel or anything like that.”

“Then…what are you?”

“I am actually the spirit of your future wife!”

I heard this, and my mind just went blank. I couldn’t think of anything to say. So I did the only thing natural. I laughed, and I laughed in a way that made it seem like I was going insane. After about a minute, and a bit of a sulking from my future wife ghost, I finally was able to get my laughter down.

“Okay, so let me get this straight: You are my future wife, but you’re in spirit form. You were sent by Christ to visit me and tell me that God is listening to me? About what?”

She just smiled at me in the way a female ghost, who really didn’t have much of a form besides that of a general feminine outline, could only do so.

“Your love life, lack therein, and your future with me!”

My eyes just glazed over again, before I cleared them up.

“I am going to humor this. So, you are my wife in the future. Does the person you’re inhabiting know this?”

“Innately, yes. But I don’t know who you are yet. I know you’re out there somewhere, on the western skyline. However, I don’t know your identity and won’t know.”

I looked at her and sighed.

“This just keeps getting stranger and stranger,” I told myself, before looking at her again.

“Alright, future wife spirit, I guess I have to ask this again so I can get a bit of understanding. Why are you here, in my room?”

She looked at me with what seemed to be a little bit of a baffled look, then smiled.

“I was sent to you by Christ to let you know that I will find you eventually, that you should be patient, and that you should wait on Christ’s timing. It will happen, you just need to be open to waiting.”

“Even if the world is going to hell in a handbasket?”

“Yep! I’ll find you somehow! But you won’t know who I am until such time as Christ gives you the signal.”

I just sat there for a few moments and shook my head.

“Future wife spirit, do you know just how kooky and strange this sounds? I mean, I know a thing or two about wasting away. And now, you’re telling me that even though I’ve been waiting so long, I have to wait a little longer?”

She drifted over to my side and patted my shoulder, which I barely felt.

“I have faith that you will wait for me. I know you will.”

I looked back at at this formless female spirit and blinked.

“Do I get a hint of what you look like so I know what to find?”

“Nope! That’s gonna be a surprise!” she chimed in, smiling with eyes like that of an anime character.

I sighed and just chuckled to myself.

“I’ve been stuck out in the frozen darkness, waiting for so long. I guess, what’s a few more years?”

She moved to the foot of my bed, and smiled at me. I realized that it was actually comforting to have her here, and that indeed that it could be an actual message.

“Gotta run. I’m gonna be waking up soon. But, remember, I’m out there. I will wait for you.”

I was about to say something, but I heard only her voice as she disappeared saying over and over, “I will wait for you.”

I sat up for a while and just realized that the impossible became possible. And while it was only yesterday, I feel as though I will be with her soon. Call it a gut feeling.

by

Stay The Night

by Miles Rost

“Mmmmfmfmflhmfm”

Teresa’s eyes slowly started to open as she turned over and mumbled. She saw her husband sitting up and the lamp turned on. Stifling a yawn, she sleepily looked at his back.

“Why are you up?”

Her husband turned around and smiled a weak, sad smile.

“They called me in. A patient is barely holding on.”

Teresa glowered at this, and lowered her eyes a bit. Lately this had been a common occurrence, and she did not want to wake up to an empty bed anymore. She was clearly unhappy, and Rahim Carlson, her husband of over 5 years, knew it.

“I really wish they’d quit calling you at night. I mean, why can’t they find another surgeon?”

“Honey, the next closest thoracic surgeon to us is down in Thousand Oaks. That’s nearly 2 hours away.”

Teresa slowly sat up and rubbed her green eyes. She smoothed her satin chemise as she looked up at him, wisps of blonde hair falling in front of her face.

“Maybe we should think of moving somewhere else. You’ve been doing this for more than two years now!”

Rahim looked at her, and gave a funny smile.

“I’ve thought of that too. Right now, though, we are here in Bakersfield for a purpose. They need a thoracic surgeon of great quality. The good news is that the prospect from USC Medical Center is looking at Bakersfield General for a move. If we can get him in, I can look for another surgeon’s job somewhere else. But that’s almost 6 months down the line.”

She sat, slumped in defeat as she knew there was nothing she could do.

“Rahim, I really do wish that you could stay the night. Let a little of that love show. Just for one week, I want to have you all to myself. I don’t want all that matters turning around, over and over again.”

As he was buttoning the top button, he looked at her. This woman, his wonderful wife, was in need and he felt like there was nothing he could do. He had his duty, and he had his wife. He studied her face, every part of her that was exposed to his vision, and sighed to himself. He looked in the mirror, and stood stony for a moment. Teresa knew this. It was his “prayer stand”, where he would ask the Lord for guidance. As she got out of bed and turned towards him, he turned back to her, a slight smile on his face.

“I just had a thought…give me a moment,” he said, as he grabbed the phone. He quickly dialed a 10 digit number and waited.

“Hey, Smitty. Sorry for waking you up so early. You doing okay?” He waited a moment, then launched right in. “Hey, you know how you said you wanted to take a shot at doing some surgery up here at Bakersfield, right? I just got called in, but I can’t make it to the hospital in time. It would take me about 4 hours to get there. You’re closer, would you like to take a run at it?”

He paused again, a flit of a smile running across his face.

“Great! Call up Nurse Chelsey Marks, and have her connect you with Brian Markinson. You remember him, right? He’s in charge of night shift, and should be able to accomodate you. I’ll call him in just a moment and get you cleared.” He waited a moment. “You got it! We’ll talk next week, okay? Uh huh! Bye.”

He then proceeded to call Dr. Markinson and inform him that he was unable to make it. He was, unfortunately, detained and wouldn’t be able to make it there on time. After a little shake-off, he closed the phone, and proceeded to take his shirt back off.

“What do you think, Teresa? You still want me to stay the night?”

Teresa looked at him, as she slowly walked over. She put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.

“I hate the fact that you actually lied to your bosses to get out of work tonight. But in this case, I will forgive you.”

Rahim looked at his God-given wife, and smiled.

“Sweetie, you’re worth it even if I would get fired.”