It's a Mystery

The sky was getting darker by the minute as several children were walking home. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon and school had just been dismissed. Jacob, the youngest, at age seven, noticed that his sister Lou, age ten, was looking at the sky with a worried look. He said, “Are you afraid of the storm that is coming? Lou, why are you walking so fast?” She replied, “No Jacob, I just want to get home before the lightning and thunder starts,” as she stared up at the sky. So they both walked very fast and arrived home just before the lightning and thunder and heavy rains came that evening.

“Did God send the rain?” asked Jacob. “I don’t know but I think so,” replied Lou. “Where does the rain come from? I mean I know it comes out of the clouds but where do the clouds come from?” asked Jacob. “Let’s talk about that later after supper,” Lou said, trying to do her homework, finish her chores, and get ready for supper and prepare for bedtime.

Jacob was getting very sleepy and as he was drifting into sleep, he began to dream about what might be on the other side of the heavens. As he dreamed that night, an angel came and sat down by Jacob and told him that God did send the rain and in fact, God made the world and everything in it. “Even the paper in my schoolbooks?”-- asked Jacob? “Well, it’s a long story,” continued Angel Antonio. “So, let’s begin at the beginning as far as human beings know it. One of the best ways to know about God is to study His Word, the Holy Bible, or Scripture.” The first book of the Bible, in Genesis Chapter one, we read: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep…” “What is a formless void?” asked Jacob. The angel replied that since this story tells us about how God began His creation on our Planet Earth, He begins the story when He created the Light and Seas and Sky, the vegetables, the Night and everything. “God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and lesser light to rule the night. He also created the birds, cattle and all the animals. And then, guess what,” asked the angel. “What next?” asked Jacob. The angel said, “God created people! This began a genealogical cycle.” “What in the world does that big word mean? Does it have anything to do with a genie in a bottle?” asked Jacob. About that time Jacob’s alarm clock sounded and he had to get ready for school. Jacob remembered his dream and every word the angel had told him. This experience was so pleasant that Jacob looked forward to going to sleep each night, wondering what he would learn next.

During school recess, Sammy found Jacob on the playground and began asking him questions about his latest dream. Jacob said with a puzzled look, “Well, an angel named Antonio appeared in my dream last night and told me that he would help with some of my questions. The first thing I asked Angel Antonio was, ‘Why is the lightning so bright and the thunder so loud?’ Then Antonio told me that the answer involved a rather long complicated scientific explanation,” Jacob said. “I asked Angel Antonio to please just give me the short version.”

The angel sighed and said, “Yes, of course, but we need to begin at the beginning.” Jacob said, “I’m ready, so let’s get started.”

Antonio explained that God’s Word, Scripture, tells us about many things, and we just have to study about everything a little each day. Jacob said, “Okay, let’s get started at the beginning.” “OK--here we go,” said Antonio. “It is very important that we rely on God’s Word, so we’ll begin in the book of Genesis.”

About this time, Jacob was roused by barking of their dog, Susie. So that ended the first dream. Jacob went to school, but all day he could hardly wait to go to bed and see what the angel would tell him. Jacob’s friend Sammy asked about what the angel had told him; and Jacob said, “I’ll have to let you know tomorrow.” Susie was barking and interrupted just when things were getting started. But the anticipation was growing in Jacob’s thought processes each day, and he was enjoying learning about what God did in the beginning of the world with people and animals and fruits and everything. Antonio tried to explain in childlike terms about our thought processes and how they develop as we learn more and more about God and how our study of His Word in Scripture helps us grow into maturity in our Christian faith. Also, Antonio was pointing out to Jacob how we cannot understand all the ways of God because we humans have only the human apparatus with which to grasp the concepts of Christianity. Relying on our human understanding, Antonio pointed out to Jacob, we know things from our partial knowledge. As St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Jacob was thinking about how he studied math daily each year in school, and how the mathematical processes were usually based on what he had learned the year before. He was beginning to recognize that he was just beginning a lifetime journey of learning about God’s Truths and how important it is for human beings to become more aware of how all the teachings of Jesus help us live like God says we should. Little did Jacob know how all these teachings from Antonio would take him into adulthood with a very special significance in his professional life.