Coffee Stains: Traveler
Author: David PorterThe traveler struggled wearily upwards, fatigue pulling at him heavily. Tiredness clutched his soul as well as his legs. Finally he stopped at a mountain highpoint in the forest at a vantage point that took in the valley.
He sank wearily down, laying his heavy pack to one side and resting his back against the rough bark of one of the tall pines that guarded the narrow path. The scene should have taken his breath as the late-evening sun painted the valley blue/green/gold. ‘Should have’ but didn’t. He was beyond being healed by beautiful scenery. Life had closed in around him as he had been smashed by one problem after another. His brain ached and his eyelids sank as the sun drooped beyond the last trees.
He awoke to darkness. Well, kind of darkness, but not exactly. The moon and stars seemed to be smiling and laughing above and the night seemed more like a black velvet backdrop for millions of beautiful diamonds. He felt aware–aware as if his powers of perception had increased a hundredfold. Way down in the valley it seemed a Celtic piper began faintly playing a tune that caused tears to spring to his eyes.
Slowly the song drifted up the mountain. When it finally wound its way to him only one word rode the back of the haunting melody ‘faaaiiiiitthfuuuul’ it whispered. ‘Faithfuuuuuullll.’
Fascination paralyzed him as the music drifted round and round him, finally descending into the valley. Then it headed back, stronger and faster. ‘Faaaiiittthfuuuuul!’ it crooned and shouted. Images began to flash in his head–like the time his child had been deathly sick but God healed him. ‘Faithful’ the song asserted. ‘Faithful!’ He saw the time when he didn’t have money to pay the rent and God helped him. ‘Faithful, faithful, faithful!’ the song chirped.
Was it a word he was hearing? Was the music speaking? He saw the time that life hurt him so badly he could hardly breathe. He had asked God for help and things didn’t go the way he had prayed. He thought the Lord had abandoned him, but held on in faith and He came through.
Traveler bore heavy scars from that fray but somehow those scars were precious to him. ‘Faithfuuuuuuul!’ The melody trailed off down the valley again. Soon it charged back roaring like a hurricane symphony.
This time other words added themselves to the one-word masterpiece. ‘Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,’ the lyrics gained in crescendo. ‘All thy commandments are faithful’ the wind answered.
‘Because of God, who has faithfully kept his word, The Holy of Israel, who has chosen you.’ (the Message) it seemed lighting flashed before his eyes. ‘Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it’ the music reprised. The wild music shot into the sky above his head and re-descended in a hail of powerful words, ‘faithful high priest, he is faithful that promised, faithful Creator, faithful and just to forgive us our sins, faithful witness”.
Suddenly there was a powerful silence, a silence as awesome as the music itself. It was as if all nature built toward the finale. The song burst forth again with a climax that gave Traveler goosebumps,
‘And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.’
And just as suddenly the song drifted away and the man’s weighted eyelids won him over again. He awoke as the sun was reappearing, lightly nudging the mist which slept among the valley trees. ‘Whew! I’m not going to eat anymore anchovy pizzas before I go to sleep,’ Traveler muttered rubbing the night from his eyes. But then he remembered the song. What a dream! What a dream’ But somehow he felt different. The heaviness in his soul had disappeared during the night.
The situation he faced was the same but he had changed. He shouldered his pack, and set out briskly towards the summit, munching on a piece of dry trail bread. ‘God is faithful,’ he sang. ‘Where did that song come from?’ he asked himself. ‘Faithful? Yes. He’s faithful.’
Think about it, thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.’ Augustine
Prayer team:
- Pray that God would give the French a hunger for Himself. Pray that they see the need of a Savior.
- Pray that God would touch people and move in the Bordeaux region of France, in the southwest part of the country.
- Pray that the value of the dollar would increase against the euro. The fall in the dollar’s value has been devastating to the budgets of those working in France and Western Europe.