return to Table of Contents
Part I: The Journey (the reality of God)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
Four friends make a spiritual journey to find the purpose of life in general, and the meaning of their life in particular.
Chapter 1
The Longing and the Pull
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else... Luke 12:31 NLT
There was the Heart. You couldn't see it. You just knew it was a heart, cloaked in blinding golden light. With each beat of the Heart, a wave of gold went throughout Beyond (although that is not what it was called then). Each person could sense the waves, and each was fully alive because they were fully yielded. The beating was constant and fed the people, and they had no fears. They did not need physical food or water. The beating went back out from the people to the Heart, and the people would commune with the Heart, not as a common oneness but as an individual one-on-oneness. Each person knew they were unique and valued by the Heart.
Then the enemy appeared. The people sensed a different pulsing coming not from a heart but from a deceiving evil. Instead of gold he pulsed pale yellow. People were drawn to the Pulsing, for he was easier to sense. They accepted his false life. Gradually they lost the ability to sense the Heart, and they hungered for physical food and physical water. The Age-when-men-get-hungry began. They lost the sense of purpose to their life. They drifted out of Beyond and formed the land of Back. They built towns, forged industry and business and commerce, and filled their lives with whatever meaning they could generate from within themselves and from the Pulsing.
But the Heart was not defeated. At great personal sacrifice and pain, the Heart beat at a different rate. The Pulsing could not match the new beating. This new Beat flowed into Back as the Pull, and those whose longing grew for more from life were pulled into Beyond. There were not many, but an ever-growing number despite the servants of the Pulsing, who were to prevent those in Back from letting their longing become too strong, and to distract and deceive those in Beyond -- to get them to go back…back to Back…back to a living death.
**********************
Glossary: (allegory explanation in brackets)
the PULL: attraction from the Source that pulls people from the Land of Back into the Land of Beyond [convicting power of the Holy Spirit]
the LONGING: yearning for more from life that comes from within each person [yearning God put into each of us to know Him, whether we realize it or not]
the land of BACK: where people spend their life if they don’t long badly enough for more from life [our life before we were saved]
the land of BEYOND: where people embark on a Journey to find the purpose of life [our life after we are saved]
the SENSING: ability within each person in Beyond to detect the Beat and the flows [our reborn spirit’s ability to communicate with God]
the BEAT: golden flowing from the Source throughout Beyond for direction and sustenance [life that God imparts to us through obeying Him]
the TRUTH FLOW: red stream of truth from the Source [the working of the Holy Spirit]
the HEALING FLOW: blue stream of healing from the Source [the working of the Holy Spirit]
the SOURCE: the one who knows the purpose of life [God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit]
the PULSING: false imitator of the Source [the Devil]
FIRST GREAT TRUTH: the Source is always with us [God is always with us]
SECOND GREAT TRUTH: the Source is stronger than the Pulsing [God is stronger than the Devil]
THIRD GREAT TRUTH: flow to the need (i.e., with the Source we can help others, even those far away from us physically) [we can pray for others]
MANFORMS and DARK FORMS: enemy servants of the Pulsing [demons]
CONSTRUCT: anything that stops one’s journey [things of this world that distract us from God]
STRONGHOLD: by-product of Constructs that gives the Pulsing the ability to torment people [things the Devil uses to attack us in our mind and emotions]
the JOURNEY: what each person is to embark on to find the purpose of their life [God’s call for us to continue growing in our knowledge of Him]
the LIGHTING: increased presence of the Source for those who want it [prayer, praise and worship]
the STRANGER: one member of the three-in-one Source [ Jesus]
**********************
“You want to quit your job and move someplace?” Isabella asked.
“No, you don’t understand,” Leif replied, frustrated.
He sighed. How to explain the Pull? He received the same reaction from his other two friends, Devan and Kamiko. The four of them were at their favorite coffee shop where they would meet and discuss jobs, girlfriends, boyfriends or the weather. This time was different. Leif tried again.
“I became aware of this pulling, this attraction; it was on the inside, not the outside. It was weak at first, more of a fleeting thing. But I’m sure of this: it happened when I longed for more from life.”
“What more is there?” Devan asked.
“Where did all this come from? Where did we come from? Why are we here?” Leif asked.
“I know but I’m not telling.”
“Ha-ha. Very funny, Devan,” Isabella said.
Leif turned to Isabella.
“Don’t you want more from life? Haven’t you ever wondered what life is about? We don’t know how we got here and we don’t know what happens to us when we die. There must be a reason. This can’t be an accident.”
Leif stopped talking and leaned back in his chair. He realized he had been speaking loudly enough to draw attention from surrounding tables.
“I don’t know, Leif,” Isabella said. “Maybe.”
She and Leif had gone on several dates, trying to decide if they wanted to take their relationship to the next level. She looked intently at him. Leif gets this way, she thought. Kamiko could, too. The two of them sometimes fantasized on and on while she rolled her eyes.
“The more you want it, the more you’re aware of it,” Leif continued, “the way you are when you’re in love. You’re drawn to that other person but can’t define why.”
Isabella choked on her drink.
“Love! Now I know you’re crazy. What do any of us know of love?”
She had married after graduating from high school. It hadn’t lasted. Too much, too soon, she realized.
Devan grabbed Kamiko’s hand.
“Will you marry me?” he kidded.
“Get out of here, you nutcase.” Kamiko jerked her hand away. She turned back to Leif. “I don’t know, but if there is more, I want to know.”
“Ah! Maybe you should marry Leif,” Devan joked.
Kamiko leaned over the table, trying to slug Devan on the arm.
“Well, give it some thought, okay?” Leif said.
He noticed the way Isabella had looked at him. He knew she wondered what was going on. Leif had fallen in love several times in his twenty-eight years of life, but Isabella was the first one in a long time who stirred those same emotions.
The four of them resumed their normal chit-chatting, but Leif no longer cared. The Pull was way more important, even more than Isabella.
next chapter