Faith

---

(Continued from 'Part Six of Sleeping Through.....Judgment Day')

In memory of Julian and Elaine.

********************************************

"We have to let that dry, for a few minutes." Angela got up
from her kneeling position, and dusted off her robe. It was no
longer perfect: the beautiful gown now had pooch-sneeze on it,
was sprinkled with the dust of an old moving carton, and was
now made sticky with bits of a spider's web. But, it was flawlessly
lovely in the sight of Father. Only when one of His Creations
give their heart to Jesus, was their beauty made known to the world.

"Gabe?" Now, it was Joach's turn to whisper. "Could you help
me find my purple gown? I know that it's around here, somewhere."

Gabriel, bending his head a bit low, could just make out what Joach
had said to him. He whispered back. "Jo! It's almost time! Where
did you last see it?"

"See WHAT?" Angela had turned her head away from the
drying shofar; naturally, her hearing WAS perfect.

"Uh." Gabe, Jo, and Michael all gave each other the same look.

"Jo, oh NO! Don't tell me! You mean we have to start searching
for your purple robe, too? Everybody is waiting for us! Well,
most of the angels are, at least." Angela unthinkingly reached up,
and touched the very tip of her Light. It felt tingly and warm,
as usual. She suddenly had an image of her cousin Jo standing
in his wrinkled night shirt, blowing into the cracked (and mended)
trumpet, readying the world for Battle. Everybody was surprised
when they saw her giggle.

"Well" Michael sighed. "We better start looking. Father told me
not to leave Jo, until we were all ready to get into line. The
way he looks right now, he's about ready for a nap."

"Can I, Angie?" Joach gave a jaw-cracking yawn. Even his halo
was tilting a little.

"Sure, Jo. Why don't you go out on the balcony, and try
to get Josh to pipe down. Me and Gabe, and Michael will look.
Now, are you SURE it's somewhere in this mess?"

Joach yawned, again. He nodded quietly. He was already
thinking about his sunny hammock; Father had given it to him a long time ago.

"Here's a biscuit for Josh. I just found it under one of your
seat cushions." Michael tossed him a half-eaten, bone-shaped cookie.

"Thanks, Michael. Are you sure it's okay with you guys?" Joach
stood, a little forlornly, next to his sliding glass door. It was hard
to see out of it, since it was so covered with paw and nose prints.

"Go ahead, Jo. We'll wake you up, soon." Angela was already
kneeling again, picking up pieces of various clothing. "When did you
try your robe on, last Saturday?"

Joach just bit his lower lip, and tip-toed out the paw-printed
door.
************************************************
"JO! GET IN HERE, PLEASE!" The shout startled Joach
awake, and he fell out of his hammock. Immediately, his fat basset
started howling.

"What, Angie?" Slowly, as not to let his dog inside, Joach
carefully slid open the smeared glass door, and stepped over the
metal bar.

"Just look at this thing!" Angela stood in the middle of her cousin's
cluttered apartment, holding up a bunched-up piece of purple satin. It
certainly didn't resemble anything that an angel would wear on the eve of
Call to Battle. "What are we going to do, guys? What's
this mustard stain, in the middle of it? What happened to the
box it was in? And, how did it get all these wrinkles? Where's
the gold braid that was with it? Why is it so big? You did try it
on, Jo, didn't you?" She shook the lank, wrinkled material, and plopped
herself down on Joach's soft cushions. A squeaking sound erupted from
the couch; Angela frowned, sat up for a minute, looked behind her,
and then picked up a squeaky dog bone toy.

"I.....I'm not sure, Angie. I really can't recall if I tried it on. You know how
busy I've been at work. Poor Humphrey has had to work double
shifts with me!" Joach ambled over to the couch, and took the purple material
out of his cousin's hands. He held it up to his chest; the mustard stain was in the
middle of the gown. The purple satin was so wrinkled, that it looked like a newborn
calf had been sucking on it.

"Humphrey? I don't believe it!" Michael was sitting on the floor, tossing a basketball
in the air. "How did he keep awake? How did he stand all those hours, with that bad ankle?"

"Oh, Father had a cot sent down to our post; that way, Humphrey could take some short
naps, here and there. He also had a big pizza delivered to us, about midnight. It was a
large pan, half pepperoni and half plain cheese." Joach got busy slipping his Trumpet
Day gown over his rounded head, night shirt and all. "Where's Gabe? Did he go back to
get ready, Angie?"

"Yes; he wanted to stay here until you were ready, but I told him to get his things
together. He's coming back over, with his gown and shofar; then you two can go
get in line, together. Remember, Jo, you're assigned to follow Gabe, so just do whatever
HE does, okay?"

Joach nodded sleepily, and obediently.

"Why is your robe so big? We had it specially ordered just for you, Jo."

"No, I think it's fine. After all, Father gave it to me. Maybe, He thought that
I would grow into it, or something." Joach searched in the pockets
of the gown for the thick, golden tie cord.

Angela nodded. They all knew that everything Father did, was for a very special reason.
It was sad when people were born with a particular nose, or beauty mark, and they
would spend precious time trying to get rid of it. Why didn't they use their gift of time
for doing things to glorify Him? She watched Joach pull the bunches of material around
his long night shirt. "You're going to wear it like that - on top of your pj's?"

"Sure." Joach tried tying the gold braid about his middle, but all the bunches of
material, and pajamas were too thick for it. "See? I'll stay snug and warm. Don't you
remember, Angie? The last time we had Special Choir Last Call practice? It was really
cold up there! Humphrey was wearing his best woolen cap and scarf!"

"I didn't think that Humphrey was assigned to Shofar Call? I better look on my master
list." Angela began digging around her deep pockets.

"Oh, no. He's not. Humphrey has sinus problems, and can't blow the shofar very well.
He came over to practice with me, one time; he spent more of the afternoon blowing his nose
than his horn."

"I thought he had carpel tunnel syndrome; you know, from holding his Flaming Sword for
hours at a time?" Michael lay against Joach's soft pillows; he could defintely use a nap.
There was something about his cousin's apartment that seemed to make everybody very
sleepy.

"Oh, sure! Plus, he's got that bad back, and tendonitus in his left
ankle. No way he could stand in Last Call line; it'd would be way too hard for Humphrey!"

"Oh, Jo! Humphrey has a bad back and ankle because of his pot belly." Angela rolled her
eyes at Michael, who had picked up one of Joach's Archie Comic books. "What's wrong
with your tie, Jo? It's all frayed and torn. What happened; it looks like it's about
to fall apart?"

"Oh, I was just playing around with Josh, with it. That's all. Oh, Michael, Humphrey's
not going to be in Trumpet Line. The last time we had practice, Father asked him to
help us with taping it on his recorder. After practice, we all went up to the lodge,
and roasted marshmellows. Father sent hot chocolate, and a bunch of buttered
popcorn. Remember, Angie? We played Bible Scrabble, and Benjamin won two times.
He had brought his cat with him, and it kept scattering all the Scrabble letters around.
We had to end up staying overnight, because of all the snow."

"Yeah. I wish that dopey cat hadn't been chasing around the room all night!"
Angela stood in front of Joach, trying to do something productive with the tattered
robe tie. "When we got up in the morning, the snow was almost to the top of the
cabin door! Father sent over pancakes for everybody."

"What kind?" Michael was getting hungry now, as well as sleepy.

"Apple sauce spice, and blueberry-almond. I had two stacks of the blueberry.
Josh spent the night with AuntiT, and ate hotdogs for breakfast. When we
got home after lunch, he urped right in front of the couch, there."

TO BE CONTINUED...........................

"






"

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE