FALSE SUMMITS

Chapter 1 - Prologue Let us, then, look at those who are so sure that they shall ascend into the hill of the Lord. … Be thou warned; if thou hast nothing but thine own strength; thou wilt lie down to die of despair before thou hast reached one-tenth of the way, and the summit thou shalt never see. Be not so bold; and look thou to a superior arm. Charles Spurgeon, excerpt from sermon titled “Climbing the Mountain,” June 16, 1861 ***** A pale-yellow moonbeam angles down toward Julie’s window. Finding a narrow gap where the curtains loosely meet, it slips inward, landing silently on Julie’s forehead. She moves slightly but does not wake up. Instead, a quiet, prolonged moan rises from her throat, punctuated by the incessant ticking of an old clock on a nearby mantle. She is dreaming—again—and it’s the same dream: She’s on a boat, rocking gently over the waves. The sea behind her is pitch black, but a bright light adorns the horizon ahead. The figure of a man hovers above the water, arms outstretched, and then she hears the voice. It is gentle but commanding. “Julie, Julie, Come to me. Cone to me and find…” When she finally awakens, the faint memory of her recurrent dream quickly evaporates. She lets out a sigh and dresses slowly, ready, but uneager, to begin another day of sameness in the flat land.   Chapter 2 - Breakthrough Jill Whitten smiled broadly as she greeted a steady stream of journeyers coming aboard. She and her husband, Sam, had been leading many of these missions to the flat land for a few years now. At first, they hardly saw any fruit, but lately the number of converts was growing. Still, there were far more unfilled seats on the boat, and she hoped that many others would join them before they left tomorrow. Her smile briefly faded as she thought about the one person she wished would join them more than anyone else. “What’s the matter?” Sarah asked. “Oh, it’s nothing.” “It’s Julie, isn’t it?” “Yes,” sighed Jill. Once again, her former best friend, Julie, would not be joining Jill. In fact, this time, Julie had not even spoken to her. “I wish she would just listen to me,” Jill began. “I know she’s hurt and she holds me responsible, but I didn’t do anything for her to feel so much hatred toward me. I simply made a different choice than she did—that’s all.” “Just look at how effectively you’ve been used by Ari in this mission, Jill,” Sarah offered encouragingly. “I know. I know. But why can’t I reach Julie? She’s probably the main reason I started all of this.” Sarah wanted to say what she was thinking: “You’re sure using the “I” word a lot,” but she wisely bit her lip and kept her thoughts to herself. Instead, she brightly said, “Don’t give up. And let’s rejoice for these who have been rescued.” Jill nodded her head and flipped a mental switch, this time smiling genuinely as she began helping load up some of the bags. Sam arrived just a few minutes later. He was excited at the progress they were seeing, but he said to Jill and Sarah, “I feel like we’re so close to a breakthrough. Ari is at work – I can feel it. I’m happy for these who’ve joined us already on this trip, but I can’t help but think that we’re on the verge of something much bigger.” “Let’s pray,” Sarah suggested, and the three of them knelt on the dock. Even with eyes closed, they could sense that many of the journeyers who had come to their boat had knelt in a circle around them, joining in agreement as they fervently prayed for breakthrough. * * * * Julie stepped out of her tiny apartment into the strangely greenish daylight that marked another day in sub-paradise. She had slept late, well past the time when all the restaurants quit serving breakfast. Her stomach couldn’t handle a greasy meal, so she picked up some fruit and tried to imagine its once-juicy succulence before it had made the long crossing in the cargo hold of some foul-smelling ship. Since nothing seemed to grow in the flat land, “fresh” wasn’t on the menu. What to do today? After a few moments’ contemplation, she spotted a bus. She’d ridden it many times, taking in the drab, colorless sights as it ambled in a big circle around the central portion of the flat land. Her initial thought was, “Not today.” But as she approached the bus, something began to stir inside—a sort of anticipation, an emotion that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She boarded and took a seat, curious about her sudden excitement. She looked around at her fellow passengers, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But at the next stop, a pair of unkempt guys hopped on and plopped down on the bench opposite hers. Her lips curled slightly at their sloppy attire and the faintly stale odor that accompanied them. Just as she was about to move to another seat, something happened that froze her in place. One of the guys said, “Man, I had that dream last night, the one you told me about.” The second guy excitedly replied, “Were you in a boat?” “Yeah. It was just like you said. I was in this boat and the horizon was way bright.” “Did you see the man? Did you hear his voice?” “Yes, yes! He said my name, and then he said, ‘Come…’” “Hey, Julie!” someone said loudly, drowning out the nearby conversation. Julie looked in the direction of the new voice, and it was Misty. Julie desperately wanted to hear more of what the guys were saying, so she subtly held up a finger, but Misty didn’t read the cue, or maybe she just ignored it, and kept chattering. “What’s up, girlfriend?” Misty asked cheerily, now blocking the view across the aisle. As usual, Misty was wearing the highest of high heels, even at this hour of the day. The bus jerked as it began to slow, but Misty skillfully shifted her weight and kept her balance. Julie leaned over to try to hear the guys talking about their dreams, but Misty reached up and tugged on the line to request a stop. The bus slowed and Misty grabbed Julie’s arm and said, “Hey, I found a new shop I want you to see” as she hopped off, dragging Julie with her. ****** The two guys on the bus continued their conversation, and several others joined in describing the same dream. When they finally got off, they saw clusters of other people describing a very similar experience. “Does anyone know what this could mean?” someone asked. “Well, I think I know who we can ask,” another responded. “I met the team that has been coming here talking about the steep land. They have a boat down at the dock. I have a feeling that they might know something.”