Chapter Thirteen
Metamorphoses
Brian sat by himself under a giant pine tree. He had been thinking about
all he had learned. A few days earlier, he was sure the Bible was a book
full of fairy tales. Now...well...it had become clear to him that he had
been wrong. He was amazed at the incredible accuracy of the Bible, right
down to the littlest detail. The Bible was 100 percent accurate. He was
overwhelmed with everything he had learned and was unsure of his feelings.
On a branch nearby, something caught his eye. A caterpillar
had made a cocoon several months earlier and was just beginning to break
out of the cocoon. He watched as the creature slowly crawled out and unfolded
its wings for the first time.
"Brian," Jamie called softly. She had been standing there for
a few minutes watching Brian watch the butterfly.
He looked up, and smiled, to see his friend standing there. He put his finger
to his lips. "I don't want to startle it."
Jamie sat down in the grass nearby. "How are you?" she asked.
"Confused, overwhelmed," he replied. "I kind of feel like
my life is a tangled mess and nothing makes sense anymore," he sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I guess I have been going through life thinking I had my life
in control. What used to be important to me doesn't have meaning any more."
Jamie smiled. "Have you tried praying about it?"
"No, I wasn't sure what to say."
"Well, G-d already knows what you're thinking. There is no need to
beat around the bush with Him. Just talk to Him like you talk to me,"
she explained.
Brian sat thinking for a few minutes. Finally he said, "All right,
I'll pray."
Brian and Jamie bowed their heads. "Dear G-d, I'm not sure what to
think anymore. I need your help to make sense out of my life. Show me what
I should do now." Brian's voice cracked and his hands were sweaty and
shaking.
"You know Brian, I wasn't always a Believer in Yeshua."
"I've known you since we were little kids! You have been going to church
all your life! Your Mom and Dad are Believers! You're a good person! You
even give money to the church!" Brian couldn't believe Jamie had said
something so stupid.
"Going to church doesn't make you a Believer. My parents are Believers,
but it's not something you inherit like blonde hair and blue eyes. As far
as being a good person, I may not be a killer, a thief, or whatever, but
by G-d's standards I don't measure up. No one does! Yes, I do give money
to the church, but eternal life is not something you can buy. Eternal life
is a gift."
"A gift? Explain that!"
"You see, people are sinful. It all started back in the garden of Eden,
when Adam and Eve disobeyed G-d and ate the forbidden fruit. Until that
time, they had a personal relationship with G-d. Each evening G-d visited
with them in the garden. By their sin they destroyed their relationship
with G-d. You see, G-d is holy. He cannot be in the presence of sin. Their
relationship with G-d was forever broken."
"That's awful!" Brian was distressed.
"You're right," Jamie acknowledged, "but that's not all.
There is a penalty for sin."
"A penalty?" Brian groaned.
"Yes, the penalty for sin is death. Eternal separation from G-d. Eternity
spent burning in hell."
"That's terrible!" Brian wailed.
"The only way for our relationship to be restored with G-d is by our
living a perfect, sinless life," she continued.
"That's impossible! No one is perfect and sinless!"
"Not only that, the Bible tells us we are already born into sin. Because
of Adam and Eve's sin, we are born sinners and on the road to hell,"
Jamie paused.
"Can't something be done?" Brian was terribly upset.
"Yes Brian. G-d loves us so much, that He devised a plan to remove
our sins once and for all."
"A plan! What plan?" Brian was hanging on her every word.
