The Portal

The Portal


Flanked by the forces of evil, I tremble. No sound betrays its approach. Eyes forget their purpose, freezing on a point of nothing. Fear envelopes as death's odor escapes pores already spent. It approaches, wanting more than death. Bent on unmaking, it would tear at the very joint of soul and spirit. The realm of the mind is its obsession, the incessant grinding of the mill of regret. On the threshold of eternity the memory of mere physical pain is like an old song, sung with friends. Loneliness, once self-made myth, is now defined in utter helplessness. Evil approaches, consuming. Destruction its meat, agony slakes its thirst. Its footsteps are the ripping of hopes and the crushing of dreams. Hopes and dreams disintegrate at its approach. I am its progress, my defeat, its summit. It advances on the staircase of my soul, climbing the remnant of synapse, a deformed spider on the web of thought. Terror grips and a scream escapes. His name, my only hope as a broken and empty vessel is exposed to eternal destiny. Before me a dim and narrow road, the hint of a door and hope is illumined. Clarity and truth fill spiritual eyes. The form is familiar. I behold the man, His robes gleaming like a beacon, an arch carved from a single great pearl. The sun is shining through Him. No! The sun is in Him. He is light and my fear is banished. Reborn from the darkness into His light, I hear Him speak my name, thrilling at the sound.
He says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. My sheep know my voice. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.”
I stutter, “... I was dead... in evil’s grip! I screamed...”
He soothes, “you called my name, and you are mine, enter and behold things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man. All this God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Mt 13, Jn 10, Rom 10, 1 Cor 2