RESCUE (or, "I knew you'd return...")

Jerry: [to Melanie, 1977, worried about gas heater in hall outside her bedroom door]  “… don’t worry; I will get you out, if there is a fire …”

 

Newt: [to Ripley after they return to the ship] I knew you'd come. -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/quotes

 

Hawkeye: [to Cora Munro] No! You stay alive! If they don't kill you, they'll take you north up to the Huron lands. Submit, do you hear? You're strong! You survive! You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you! No matter how long it takes, no matter how far. I will find you!   -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104691/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_trv_4

 

Jesus:  [Jesus to his troubled followers] 1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14) --  http://biblehub.com/niv/john/14.htm

 

Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like ...

... knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." ... //biblehub.com/genesis/3-22.htm - 19k

 

Revelation 2:7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit ...

... the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. ... //biblehub.com/revelation/2-7.htm - 19k

 

DEATH IS COMING

DEATH IS COMING

                Jeff and Josh decided that they would visit their triplet brother, since he had to work on their birthday.  They rode down the long road to his bridge operator house, and went in to drink coffee with John, and enjoy some time together.  They laughed as they retold and relived, in their minds, childhood exploits.  The three brothers had been little fire-brands.  They still loved to laugh and lived life fully.

                Through his window, Jeff saw smoke blowing, with embers sparkling in the wind, from across the bridge that crossed the river chasm in the distance.  They ran outside to see hundreds of people scrambling on to the RR tracks from everywhere, running toward them, trying desperately to escape the forest fire blazing behind them.  Some were already at the bridge, screaming to John to let down the bridge. 

                Jeff and Josh watched as John repeatedly pushed the button that let down the bridge.  But, the switch was not working.  Josh, an electrician quickly located the cause of the malfunction – rats had chewed apart the power cord, outside, leading to the bridge trestle motor.  With a ladder, Josh could almost pull together the two separated cable ends.

                Then, Jeff’s face got ashen and asked if they could hear in the distance the whistle of a long, black train, barreling toward the RR bridge control light.  They looked at each other, and whispered, in unison, “death is coming.”  John knew that if he let down the bridge, the red light up the track would go off.  Josh knew he did not have time to splice the cable.  Jeff took off running up the track, hoping to stop the train before it got past the point of no-return.  He yelled wildly and waved his hands.

                Josh looked sternly at John, through the window of the control room, and mouthed the words, “you have to do it” as he barehanded grabbed the two cable ends, completing the circuit.  John, with tears filling his eyes, pushed the button to lower the bridge.  Josh lit up the sky! 

                The bridge creaked downward, and the people, with bewildered looks, ran across to safety.  Some collapsed, in exhaustion, with their little ones in their arms.  With smoke filled lungs, many of the people ran up the tracks to warn the train they heard approaching in the distance.  Many jumped to safety.  Others just laughed and raised their drinks in a toast to the joke, as the train sped on around the curve.

                But, it was no joke.  And, many began to ask who lit the fire?  Others wanted to know why John put down the bridge and let the train barrel ahead!  But, John just stared at the top of the ladder.

SMOKE VALLEY

THROUGH THE VALLEY OF SMOKE

         “Hold my hand!” she screamed, desperately, to her grandchildren, as they trudged through the smoke together.  Together, they were moving as quickly as possible, trudging through the muck.  Behind them they could hear the howling in the darkness.

          “I’m scared, Mama Mel” was repeatedly whimpered from her little ones.  She tried to comfort them, telling them that I was just ahead, through the smoke, looking for a way out.

          “Melanie!  Can you hear me?!  Over here.  Over here…”  If I had lost her in the smoke and the swamp, I would have lost it.  But she slowly came into view, she and the kids, holding hands, like a safety chain.

          “Who started all these fires?  Why?”  she asked with fear choking her as badly as the smoke.

          I told her that they were trying to drive us out with the fires so the hounds could corner us.  “We need to keep moving and stay ahead of them,”  I nervously reinforced.

          Then, I noticed that Zeke was missing.  With tears pooling in her eyes, Melanie sobbed, “Zeke left, with his three, and took off down the hill.  He said he was not sure we were going the right way; and, maybe the hounds were rescue dogs…”

          “What are we going to do, Jerry?!”  She wanted to go back into the smoke and find Zeke.  But, I told her we had to keep going forward.  I sighed, thinking, “perhaps others will meet him and turn them around?”

          We came to a path that led up the mountain and out of the smoke.  The fresh air was incredibly refreshing.  And, we could see ahead of us the tree lined shore of a sparkling blue lake.  We had made it out of the fires and escaped the hounds.  They would not follow us here.  Ahead were friends coming to help us.  I smiled, “He got us through!”  Then, I turned and yelled, “Zeke!  Zeke! …”  Melanie took my hand and we knelt in prayer.

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ And when they had brought them forth, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.” Gen.19

COLLECT CALL

COLLECT CALL

(“I am your friend…” was the line I used on him.  And, he was naïve enough to believe it!  And that is how our relationship began, some time ago.)

“I have so much to offer you – connections, opportunities, protection, advancement…”

“Yes, you have taken me many new places and we have seen a lot together.  But, I always seem to have a mental hangover the next day?!”

“You will get used to it;  before long the morning-after blues will fade away and you won’t even notice the difference…”

“Yeah, but does that mean I’m getting tough, or getting numb?!”

“Oh, come on!  I have a great new idea.  Want to try something different?”

“It is all beginning to smell and look the same.  And I seem to be getting tired of all this.”

“Let’s go to this new place …”

“No.  My head hurts and my feet are cold.  And my boots are sticky with this stuff.  What is it?”

“Just get up and follow me out of here; walk faster…”

“No.  It’s only getting worse.  It’s ankle-deep now.  We need to turn around.  And, what’s that awful smell?”

“Just a little farther and it will get better.  Let me help you.”

“No.  I’m going back.  I think I will call a friend…”

“Agh!  Give me that phone.  What’s wrong with you?  We’ve been together for so long…”

“Too long.  I’m outa here.”

“Not so fast.  Do you really think they want you back?  Look at yourself.  You and I are just alike.  We belong together.”

“Maybe you’re right.  I tried it the other way.  You guys seem to be getting so much farther and laughing too?!”

“Yeah.  You turned you back on them to run with us!  No regrets, surely?”

“Well, it has been fun, but…”

“That’s right!  We’ve had some great times – moving – shaking…”

“But, it still seems like we are speeding down a dead-end street?  Where are we going, anyway?”

“Just look around!  We are all going this way.”

“No.  I’m going back.”

“You mean backwards?!  Get your head on straight.”

“That’s exactly it.  This way is so crooked and dark.  I seem to be mired up to my knees.”

“It’s too late to turn back.  And, it’s too far back, anyway.”

“No.  Give me back my phone.  I’m calling for a ride home.”

“I lost your phone; and, I don’t have mine with me.”

“You are a liar.  Give me my phone.  Never mind; there’s a pay-phone!  Operator, collect call to my brother…”

“Hang up.  What are you doing?  Do I have to drag you?”

“Hello.  Will you accept a collect call from your brother?”

“Absolutely!  Where are you?  I’m on the way.”

(That is how he left me.  But, I am not done, yet?!)