The Last Prophet: Take the Long Way Home
The Works of Mark Edgemon from All-Creatures.org

Mark Edgemon has been writing for 30 years. He writes and publishes short stories, articles, poetry and scripts, as well as, produces audio comedy productions for over 700 radio stations nationwide.

Contact Mark through his website, Creator and the Catalyst.

The Last Prophet: Take the Long Way Home

The air about my home is electrified as the whirlwind barrels toward my tiny little cabin, nestled in an open field within the township where I have lived for over twenty years. This lakeside community has developed into a gated, ritzy type of neighborhood, all with the exception of my tattered, worn looking house, a miracle that it is still standing.

My name is John Acumen and for all the insight I have into human inner turmoil and spiritual warfare, I have chosen to stand on the sidelines throughout my entire life…until now! I was first called by God to be His prophet to this soon apocalyptic and dying world when I was 10 years old. I had an understanding of God that would rival the greats in history. It was an intuitive knowledge that I could only have received by God Himself, an intimate knowledge more of the mind and heart of God, than knowledge of the facts surrounding His existence.

Even so, I had put Him off all of my life, unwilling to accept His purpose and plan for me, for I wanted to see what I could do with the talent He had given me. Besides, I feared He would send me to Africa to prophesy to pigmies.

My life was put on hold that day, for everything I did or tried to do, never came to fruition. Every job, every creative endeavor just laid there, neither good nor bad, just laid there.

And now, I find myself fifty years of age with a dozen major health problems and no real wealth to speak of, waiting for the remainder of my life to end in the same dismal way it has been lived thus far.

As the sky becomes more increasingly ominous and darkness covers the noonday, I hear the sound of a train coming closer, knowing there are no trains where I live, indicating the fast approach of a tornado.

I’ve always heard that a scared prayer doesn’t count. Nevertheless, I bowed my head and asked all the same.

“God, it’s been awhile…” trying to figure out how to approach the subject after so long a silence. “How you doing? Okay, I’m scared; I’m really, really scared, not as much about dying, but more about dying with unfinished business. I’ve put you off for decades, but if you still want me as I am today, right now, I surrender everything to you.”

I should have accepted my calling when He first offered it to me. I had to do it my own way though and so I did, losing everything in the process, my health, what talent I had and a chance for a family. I’m lost in my own hands!

And suddenly, along with the roaring of the tornado outside I heard a voice echoing in my spirit, “Go and stand in front of your gate and face the wind.”

“What!” I said out loud. My heart was telling me to go but…

“Go and stand in front of your gate and…FACE THE WIND!” this time an audible voice spoke, shaking the contents of my home.

I opened the door and walked outside into the wind heading toward the gate to my fenced in yard. As I walked, my mind raced with images and essences of everything I had ever done wrong. I watched every selfish act being played out and every self-willed decision made. I was sickened by what I saw, grieved for ignoring my calling and my relationship with God for these many decades.

As I was teleported in my spirit through time, I saw myself accept the calling He had placed on my life when I was only ten years old. This spiritual redemption of my past only took minutes, the time it took me to reach my gate.

When I got there, I felt different, stronger somehow as I looked up and saw the largest tornado I have ever seen, now only twenty yards away. Although large objects were being moved by the wind, cars scooting across the road, downed trees everywhere, my feet were planted by God and I could not be moved.

“Speak to the wind!” His words heard clearly this time.

I was afraid to speak; realizing that any words I spoke now would seal my commitment to God’s purpose and this time, permanent.

As the tornado hastened, I raised my hands and said, “Stop!” Before I could say more the wind dissipated immediately before my eyes. Everything stopped. Neighbors came outside to find me standing with my arms raised. Embarrassed, I lowered my hands and started walking back to the cabin.

One of the neighbors who lived to the side of me said as I passed by, “We’re lucky to have a man of God near to protect us.”

I thought he might be making fun of me, until I looked straight into his eyes and noticed that he was crying. I had never seen that before.

When I walked back into my cabin, I realized that my true career, my vocation in life was to honor God through my obedience, no matter what He asked of me, no matter what He wanted me to do, it was the work I knew best and was good at. Otherwise, I was just a failure doing my own will my own way.

As I was settling out, I wondered what He would have me do next. Not knowing how they had gotten there, I happened upon two airline tickets to Africa and a book on African pigmies on my desk by the window! I guess your fears are not always as terrifying as you imagine them, especially when stacked up against the worst Hell one can imagine, the missed opportunity of one’s true destiny.

The End

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