"Break Down These Walls" Revisited

I know that I posted this story about a year ago, but I was just going back over it, and I thought perhaps it would bless some of you. 

Break Down These Walls

 -CHAPTER ONE-

 Four walls. That’s all it takes. Four impenetrable walls. Thick as fog on a cold October’s morning. Haunting like the shadows under a full moon. Fiery red like a sword in the fire. You hate these walls. Four walls. A pity there are not more. Four comforting walls. Safe as an egg under the hen. Beautiful as the ocean, the instant before the sun slips away. Pure white, like a bride on her wedding day. You love these walls. 

-CHAPTER TWO-

 All your life they told you these walls would protect you. They told you these walls would comfort you. They told you these walls kept out the evil, and held in the good. Liars. They were liars. Every last one of them. Every smile they smiled was a smile of death. Every laugh they laughed was a laugh of Hell. Every kiss they kissed was the kiss of betrayal. 

-CHAPTER THREE-

 You knew. Someone you always knew. But you didn’t care. You felt safe, and as long as you felt safe, you were not going to change. So I took away your safety. I opened your eyes, ever so slightly. I let you see them for what they really were. Devils. Demons. Dragons from the deep. I let you see their lips turn to worms and their teeth turn to maggots. I let you see the vomit pouring from their mouths when they spoke, and the fire rising when the laughed. I let you see your four walls turn to thistles and knives and thorns all pointing inward. Pointed at you.

-CHAPTER FOUR-

 Where is your safety now? Where is your comfort? What has happened to the beauty? Where is the brilliant white? Have they gone forever? No. They never left. They were never there. Lies. A facade. One you so desperately wanted to believe was real. Gone.

-CHAPTER FIVE-

 I hear your prayers. I see your tears. I feel your pain. I smell the stench of death. I taste the bitterness on your tongue. Would you like to see me? Would you like me to make those sad eyes see joy? Would you like me to take away your pain? Would you like me to make you alive? Would you like me to fill your mouth with sweet things you cannot imagine?

-CHAPTER SIX-

 You are so foul. So black. So drenched in unmitigated evil that the sight of you cannot even enter my presence. And so, I have come down to you. I have drenched myself in your filth that I might look upon your hideous, beautiful face. 

 -CHAPTER SEVEN-

 I have a gift for you. It is rare, and so very fragile. Yet, if used fittingly, extremely contagious and unbreakable. I offer you the gift of hope. Take it. And with it knock down these walls in which you were born. Knock them down and I will cast them into the depths of nothingness, where they will remain forever. 

-CHAPTER EIGHT-

 I watch. I watch you as the symphonies of angels play a sweet, sweet anthem. Shivers run through all of me. Euphoria clothes me. Joy floods me. Love overtakes me. 

-CHAPTER NINE-

 I see you scream in righteous anger as you take the weapon of hope and charge toward the eastern wall. Your loved ones, the demons, pursue you, flapping their broken wings. Wretchedly seeking to overtake you. But hope is too holy for them. They cannot come close enough to bring you back. I see you raise your weapon to the skies, and I laugh as the devils cower in their hollows.

-CHAPTER TEN-

 You bring down your weapon, and a few bricks fall away. Again you strike, and more falls away. A infinitesimal ray of  light begins to steal through from the rising sun. The demons wail and gnash their teeth at the sight. Their eyes burn and they writhe as their skin is singed. But you keep on thrashing, blow after thunderous blow.

-CHAPTER ELEVEN-

 I am not fooled by the screams that you scream. I can see the tears falling from your fearful eyes. You are terrified of what lay outside these walls. You are like a child running away from the only home you have ever known. I do not ask you be be unafraid. I ask only that you hold on to that hope and never let go. The light is breaking through, and you cannot fathom the powers of the light. Now strike yet once more, and you shall see. Break down these walls that have kept you in darkness so very long. 

-CHAPTER TWELVE-

 Do you remember the day you found me? I gave you a weapon of hope, and with it you broke down that mighty wall of fear. Light flowed into your insentient eyes and made them alive. Do you remember the first time to saw me? You ran into my arms and wept, and I held you ever so tightly. And then, I wiped away your tears, and showed you wonders untold. 

Thoughts on the Twelve Disciples

We all know that Jesus came to earth for the worst of sinners. That's been drilled into some of your

heads since you were born. Jesus came for all around bad people. But something came up in my Writing of John class today that made my imagination start spinning.

Think on this for a moment. Jesus very specifically chose each of His 12 disciples. Something my professor pointed out that I wasn't aware of was that Jesus prayed an entire night before choosing his disciples (Luke 6:12). An entire night! I always have the image in my mind of Jesus walking down the street and randomly pointing to people.

"Hey you! Wanna come follow me? And how about you, Peter? Wanna come?" and so on. Now, initially people followed Jesus just because they wanted to. That's another thing I forget. Jesus, at least at the beginning, didn't just have 12 disciples. He had a ton of them. It isn't until think point in Luke that Jesus choosing twelve from the many to be His true disciples. Side note, eventually most the other followers left because following Jesus because he claimed to be the only way (John 6:66-67).

So Jesus picks 12 specific men to follow him. Now, I want to look at a couple different aspects of that.

First, I think it's interesting that Jesus chose 12. Not because of the specific number. Eleven or 13 would surprise me just as much. The thing that surprises me is how many he chose. Now maybe that was the normal number of disciples for a rabbi in those days, but I think it's safe to say that Jesus wasn't a "normal" man. So why did he choose 12?