The young woman found herself standing alone in a wide and captivating countryside here where she had never been before. She knew not how she had gotten here. She knew not from where she had come. She could not remember her past. Her present was here with her now mysteriously. And her future she felt was surely to be most happy. This girl knew only here and now. “Heidi Hampshire,” she said. That must be her name. “I am Heidi,” she did say to herself. The wind picked up and blew upon her, and she felt the wind upon her legs. What she had on was quite novel to her in her new life here. It looked to be a blue and white cheerleader’s uniform. Her cheerleader uniform had blue sneakers with white shoelaces and blue knee socks with white stripes along the top, a box-pleated cheerleader skirt with blue pleats and with white contrasting pleats, and a long-sleeved cheerleader sweater with partitions and geometric sections of blue and white and with cuffs and with the chenille emblem that read, “Bridle.” “Bridle?” she asked. “Am I the girl Bridle in this world?” She knew that her name was Heidi before. She could not remember being a cheerleader before, though. But she liked what she saw on herself. Surely a young man would want her to become his girlfriend with her in this.
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She felt good dressed all of a sudden as a high school cheerleader, and it felt quite comfortable to have on. Heidi, as this cheerleader in this strange new world, felt complete as a woman in this. The world had to see her in this; she wanted to show everybody her new outfit with herself in it. She paused to think of her before. There was one thing in her old life that had made her incomplete. That was loneliness of some sort. She remembered now how she had used to pray to God for a handsome boyfriend to come into her life. She had never had a date with a boyfriend all of her high school years. Maybe she could find a young man friend out here and become his own cheerleader. She remembered also now of how her most rich blessing in life had given her daily spiritual and emotional comfort—yes, Heidi Hampshire was a born-again believer whose real needs were met by a real God. She found satisfaction in going to church and in reading her Holy Bible and in telling others about God and in singing hymns and Christmas carols about Jesus and especially in praying to her Heavenly Father every night. She may have been lonesome in her romance life, but her real life was abundant with joy and rejoicing in worship in the Lord for hours every day. For this she thanked God without fail all of her days since she had become this Christian. Remembering all about God in her old world here in this new world, Heidi prayed now, “Father, would you bless me with a handsome boyfriend here in this place?” Just then she heard the creaking as of wood and chain up above. She looked up and saw a most rustic sign. It read, about ten feet above her head, “The Road of Answers to Prayer.” This sign and its signposts were of wood and chains. Two tree trunk vertical posts standing very tall were connected by a tree trunk lintel post across the top, this horizontal the width of this thus signified road. And, hanging below the high horizontal beam and connected by two little thick chains of three links each and swinging about in the wind was this sign, made of light-colored wood with its six words engraved upon it for five feet across. The road that she stood upon now on this side of the sign was a four-lane concrete road; this road on this side of the sign was not the Road of Answers to Prayer. The road up ahead just on the other side of the sign was a two-lane blacktop road exactly like a county
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trunk; this county highway beyond was the Road of Answers to Prayer. Looking back upon the road on this side of the sign, Heidi saw off in the distance houses and cars and people. Turning and looking upon the road on the other side of the sign, Heidi saw no houses, no cars, no people. The isolation of this magical road called out to her with God’s Spirit. Just then she heard the fluttering of great wings coming from above this beckoning world. She looked and thought to see an actual griffin, the kind of animal one reads about usually only in science fantasy novels. She saw this majestic hybrid descend, look her in the eye, and fly right through this gate before her, and light upon the ground between her and the gate. Here she was, not even in that fascinating world beyond yet, and already God was doing and making wondrous things for his daughter. “Are you a griffin?” asked Miss Hampshire.
“I am, young lady,” he said. “My name is Sage, and I do stand in God’s Presence.”
“I am Heidi, O Sage,” she introduced herself. “Heidi Hampshire.”
“Your name shall be no more ‘Heidi,’” the griffin said unto her. “Your name will become ‘Bridle.’”
“You mean if I were to come out onto this Road of Answers to Prayer, Sage?” she asked.
“I mean when you come out onto this Road of Answers to Prayer, O Bridle,” the griffin told her.
“What world is that out there?” she asked.
“It is the Edges of the World, Bridle,” said Sage. “And beyond that is the Ends of the World.”
“The Edges of the World and the Ends of the World, Sage?” asked Bridle.
“The former, where God works; the latter, where God answers prayer,” said Sage. “Beyond that is the demesne of Heaven where no man can go until God calls him home. Heaven is only for the Christians. No man who is not a Christian can go There.”
“And the two outer parts of Earth—that which awaits me when I walk down the Road of Answers to Prayer—are those only for believers as well, Sage?” asked Bridle.
“God answers the prayers only of the believers, my daughter of God,” said Sage. “Were you
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not a believer, you would not be standing here today in front of the gate, ready for God to speak to you.”
“But how did I get here?” she asked.
Instead of answering her question, Sage quoted Scripture, “I am Sage. ‘Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.’ Psalm 103:20.”
“Where am I going?” she then asked.
And instead Sage declared himself, saying this time, “I am Sage. ‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?’ Hebrews 1:14.”
“Are you an angel?” she asked.
And this griffin said, “’Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire.’ Psalm 104:4.” And the griffin of eagle and of lion became a griffin of fire and of smoke before her very eyes; then he became the griffin of eagle and of lion once again. Bridle submitted to the will of God and dared not ask this mighty angel any more questions to dally here. “It is time to begin your walk down the Road of Answers to Prayer, Bridle,” said Sage.
“I shall keep God and you waiting no longer,” said Bridle. And the girl Bridle walked through the gate, past the sign, and onto this mystical county trunk blacktop road. And griffin and cheerleader walked onward in the peaceful silence of the Holy Ghost, the griffin leading the way and the cheerleader in blue and white following.
After a while, Bridle spoke and said, “I am so glad that Jesus saved me,”
“Saved you,” said Sage. “That is why Jesus came—to save the lost.”
“Aren’t you glad, too, Sage?” asked the Christian cheerleader Bridle.
“I am glad for being an angel of God. I would not want to be anything else for God,” he said.
“But we angels do not understand salvation as you born-again believers understand salvation.”
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“Really?” asked the Christian cheerleader.
“God did not die for angels. We good angels never have to go to Hell, and the evil angels will have to go to Hell. God died for mankind. And mankind can go to Heaven or to Hell based on what they decided to do about the Son of God. Your kind, O Bridle, are created in God’s image. We angels are but spiritual servants who can take on physical forms,” summarized the great griffin good angel.
“’…; which things the angels desire to look into,’ I Peter 1:12,” recited Bridle. “I always did wonder what that ending of the verse could mean. Now I know.”
“Salvation—we angels look into it; you people receive it,” summed up the sagacious Sage.
“Do you want to hear how I found salvation?” asked Bridle.
“I may not understand, but I am eager to hear you tell me,” said Sage the angel griffin.
“Even here, so far away from my old world, I can now remember all about that day—the day of my salvation.” And she gave the testimony of her salvation to her new angel friend as they walked down this Road of Answers to Prayer: “All it took was three verses from the Bible and a man with a deep nasal voice preaching to me, and I suddenly saw my need for Christ. It all happened when I went on a walk to Burger King to buy myself a Bacon King burger and a Hershey’s Sundae Pie and an unsweetened iced tea for lunch all by myself. When I got there, I saw a real hunk of a guy sitting outside of Burger King on a picnic table in the sun eating his lunch. He looked at me, and the first thing he said to me was, ‘Jesus saves!’
I had not seen that one coming. I was never one of those Jesus people, and I never saw my need to become one of them. This man was a most outspoken one of them. I was kind of offended at his using the Lord’s name in glory as he did. Lots of the unsaved do not like to glorify Jesus’s name. I did not like this fellow now anymore. But he did not quit with me. The next thing he said was ‘Praise Jesus!’ Now I started to dislike this bold Christian.
Trying to make him to stop praising Christ, I sought to change the subject, and I asked him,
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‘Sir, what are you having for lunch?’
And he said, ‘Thank the Lord for my lunch!’ And I turned my back on this born-again Christian speaking all of these thanksgivings to God. I wanted to walk away from this Scripture person. But then he called out to me, ‘Miss, for lunch I am having a Bacon King Burger and a Hershey’s Sundae Pie and a large cup of unsweetened iced tea.’
I turned back to him, and I told him, ‘That is exactly what I had come here to have for lunch.’
And he said, ‘I know, young lady.’
His voice was so deep, so nasal, so gravelly, that it resonated with a type of godly tone. I instantly stopped hating him for his Christ. ‘How can you tell?’ I asked him.
And he said, ‘God told me, miss.’
And he became this handsome guy to me all over again, only now with a mysterious wisdom about me that drew me to him much and that drew me to his Christ some. Now Jesus Christ was not so much of a stumbling stone and rock of offense to me. If his God were anything like him, if he were anything like his God, I might need to get to know this God better for myself. I then asked him, ‘What else did God tell you about me?’
‘He told me that you need Christ Jesus as personal Saviour,’ he told me.
‘I do not have Him for personal Saviour yet,’ I said. ‘Does a teenage girl like myself need Him to be her Saviour?’
‘Young miss, all men and women and boys and girls need Christ to be their personal Saviour,’ he told me.
‘How come?’ I asked him.
And he said, ‘To save them from their sins. O girl.’
‘Am I a sinner?’ I asked him.
Then came that first of the three Bible verses that he had come from God to tell me. This
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man of God told me, ‘O teenage girl, it is written, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” Proverbs 20:9.’
I thought for only a moment before I said, ‘I cannot say that. I have not made my heart clean. I am not pure from my sin.’
And he said right away to me, ‘You are a sinner who needs the Saviour.’
And I said then, ‘I believe you, sir. I can see now that I am a sinner who needs God to save her from her sins.’
‘Amen, girl! Flesh and blood has not shown that to you. The Holy Spirit has told you that in your heart this day,’ said this man of the Bible.
‘But what does a girl like me need to know about this Saviour in order to get saved?’ I then asked him.
And he said then his second Bible verse of the three of that day to me, ‘It is written, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” I Corinthians 15:3-4.’
I said, ‘This sounds like good news for someone like me.’
‘Girl, it is the good news of the Gospel,’ he told me right then.
‘I believe it,’ I said.
‘But do you believe the Gospel in your heart?’ he asked me.
‘I believe now that this Christ went through all that and did all that because He loves me,’ I said.
‘Amen, young woman. You are not far this moment from so great salvation,’ he then told me.
‘What do I need to do right now to get all of this so great salvation for myself?’ I then asked him.
And he went and recited the third Scripture verse that he needed to tell me for my seeking soul
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right then, ‘Young lady, it is written, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2;21.’
Instantly I came to know that Heaven and getting to Heaven was a free gift. All that I had to do to get saved from my sins was to go and ask God to save me from my sins. I had to pray now to become a born-again believer. I was not exactly sure of the words that I had to say to accept this free present of eternal life, so I asked this gentleman at this picnic table to help me to pray the right words from my willing and humble and ready heart. This man led me in this prayer, having me to confess to God that I was a sinner. He had me to tell God that I was sorry for my sin. He had me to ask God to forgive me from my sin. He had me to petition God to help me to repent. He had me to confess the first part of the Gospel, that the Lord Jesus died for my sins on the cross of Calvary. He had me also to confess the second part of the Gospel, that this same Lord Jesus arose from the grave on the third day and that He was a living God today. And he had me to supplicate this God to become my own personal Saviour, to save me from Hell, and to save me for Heaven. And then he had me finish my prayer with the words, ‘In Jesus’s name. Amen.’”
Then she said to this griffin who walked before her now on this Road of Answers to Prayer, “That is how I became a Christian, Sage. It is a happy and a true tale. I never once regretted having become a believer. And it was the best decision I ever made.”
“What happened right after you finished your salvation prayer, O woman of God?” asked the griffin angel.
“Oh yeah, Sage,” said Bridle. “All of a sudden this fellow at the picnic table went up to Heaven in a sudden ascent. All of a sudden he was not there. And just like that he was gone. I never saw him again. But I thank God that he had come for just that moment to win me to Christ.”
“It is written, O woman of the Lord,” said Sage as they walked together, “’Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares,’ Hebrews 13:2.”
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“Do you think that that fellow was an angel, Sage?” Bridle asked.
“Am I an angel?” asked Sage.
“Yes, Sage. I can tell that you are an angel,” said Bridle.
“Then that fellow at Burger King was also an angel, O Christian lady,” said Sage.
Looking up to Heaven, the cheerleader in blue and white said, “Thank You, Father, for my two angels—that guy angel back then and this griffin angel here now.”
“Do look on ahead, milady,” said Sage the griffin.
Bridle looked on ahead. Lo, a yellow caution road sign that read in black letters, “Trial #1.”
“Trial #1, good lady,” said Sage. “The test for the crown of glory.”
“The crown of glory, O Sage?” she asked about this sudden change of circumstances here on this county trunk road.
“The crown for those pastors who are faithful to God’s calling,” defined this griffin angel.
“What’s happening here on the Road of Answers to Prayer?” she cried out.
“God is preparing you for His answer to your prayer, O lady of Christ,” said Sage.
“Am I to become a pastor?” she queried.
“Not you, O lass,” he said.
She now stood in front of this sobering yellow diamond sign that now brought first challenges for her on this county trunk Road of Answers to Prayer.
“What should I do?” she asked. And she answered her own question, “I must pass this sign on foot and prevail in my Lord in this first trial.”
“It is begun,” said the griffin angel. “Remember, my good disciple, the words of Proverbs 3:5-6.”
Bridle recited this well-known verse for herself now right here: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct
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thy paths.”
“I shall be awaiting you when you pass through, O Bridle,” said Sage.
“You are leaving me, Sage?” she called forth to her mentor.
“Let God be your Guide,” said Sage, ascending up into the air a little way.
“When will you come back for me, Sage?” she called to her tutor.
“As soon as you prevail or succumb in Trial #1,” he said. “I must now fly above this short span of road upon which you must pass alone with God. I shall come back to the ground to be with you once again when you come out upon the road where you will be after the trial.” Then the wise griffin ascended up into the air very high up, and she could see him no more. Bridle understood that there are some things that God must do alone and not with the ministry of one of His angels. This Trial #1 that she must experience was one such instance. With a word of prayer, brave Bridle then proceeded down this Road of Answers to Prayer beyond this yellow sign.
Behold, suddenly Heidi Hampshire was at her Baptist church. She was suddenly with Pastor and his wife Emmy. The clock read “seven o’clock.” And Heidi understood this to be Wednesday Night Bible Study and Prayer Meeting. No one else was here but the three of them. And the midweek service was about to start. “Pastor, Emmy, where is everybody?” asked Heidi.
“We don’t know, Heidi,” said Emmy. “It doesn’t look like they’re coming.”
Pastor said, “We must be much in prayer.” Then he said, “It is time to start the service.”
And the three sat down in an auditorium that could seat one hundred people. Miss Hampshire, jealous for God and for Pastor and his wife, felt indignation upon the members of this church who had not come out for the prayer meeting service tonight.
Faithful, Heidi called forth, “Pastor, they should be here, and they are not.”
“I know, Heidi. You are right. It is a sin to not be at church when the doors are open. Pray that the Lord get a hold of their lives,” said Pastor. “God will deal with them in His time.”
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Emmy said, “Pastor, I am disappointed.”
“I am disappointed, but not discouraged,” said Pastor.
Heidi said, “But you made our church a good church when you became our pastor. You teach and preach the King James Bible. You have us go out knocking on doors. You take a stand for godly music. You pray for all of us every day. And yet the more you love, the less you are loved, Pastor.”
Pastor said, “Heidi, the bottom line is this: They do not have a burden for the souls of this city.” He stood up, took off his glasses, and began to wipe them with a little cloth. He then shared a confidance with Heidi: “It’s not the ones that never come out to church that hurt Pastor. It is the members of the church, the regulars, those who hold positions in the church, who don’t come out to church that hurt Pastor.”
“They’re telling Pastor that they don’t care to hear what he has to say tonight,” said Emmy.
“Nor do they care to hear what God has to say to them through Pastor’s sermon,” said Heidi.
“God will reward you for your faithfulness, Heidi,” said Pastor. “You’re here because you want to be here.”
“I remember what you once said to me that one day, Pastor,” said Heidi. “You told me that faithfulness is hard to find in churches these days. You said that people leave a church at the drop of a hat. And I found out from you that most likely they do not have a good Bible reason to leave a church.
If they do not like what one pastor preaches, instead of getting right with God, they leave and go to another church to hear a pastor tell them what they want to hear. ‘Itching ears,’ you called them.”
“Thirty years ago was different from how it is now,” said Pastor. “Thirty years ago in my ministry people went to church, and they stayed in that church.”
“Pastor, you will surely get the crown of glory the way you preach to please God,” said Heidi.
“You preach the Word just as mightily to two as you do to one hundred.”
“The crown of glory, Pastor, ‘that fadeth not away,’” said Emmy.
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“All of these empty chairs,” said Pastor, discouragement in his tone this time. “Look at all of these empty chairs.. If I were the pastor that God wanted me to be, these chairs would all be filled up.
I know that God can keep this church going. But sin within the flock can destroy the church. I am responsible for this church. It is my fault that I let it come to this. I am accountable to my flock as their shepherd. And I let them slip away from God. And I am a bad pastor.”
“No, Pastor, you are a great pastor,” said Heidi. “Remember how you told me about the ones who do not show up, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.’ It is the flock—not the shepherd—who does sin against God this night in not coming out.”
“Thank you for trying, Heidi,” said the greatly vexed pastor. “Maybe I should have gone to the mission field that the field director wanted me to serve and not to this one here where I thought that God called me to serve,”
“Pastor, this does not sound like you talking,” said Heidi Hampshire.
“Perhaps God had never called me into the ministry as Baptist church planter after all,” said Pastor, on the throes of giving up on himself after thirty years of faithful preaching.
“Proffery!” cried out Emmy.
“That is not the truth of the Lord,” said Heidi.
“I have never earned the crown of glory to give back to Jesus,” said Pastor.
“That is a lie from the Devil!” said Heidi.
“Mr. Coins, I will not let you quit serving God for the rest of our lives together,” declared Emmy. “I married a pastor, and he will always be a pastor until the day comes when God has a new ministry for him.”
Pastor went on to say, “What I am thinking and feeling is a lie from the Devil?”
“It is written, O Pastor, about the Devil,” recited Miss Hampshire, “’…,He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
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a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.’ John 8:44.”
The Word of God mightily quoted right into his soul and spirit, Pastor suddenly came back around to his old self. “All of those thoughts I have are straight from Hell. They are all lies from Satan the father of lies. And not one of these doubts I have are any truth at all. The wily Devil wants me to give up and quit. That would make him happy. But that would make God unhappy. “’God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;…’ Romans 3:4.”
“About your crown of glory, Pastor?” asked Heidi, seeking assurance of his declarations right now.
“Let me just say that the pastor that my wife married will continue on as a Baptist minister without another fall like this today for the rest of our married lives together,” promised Pastor.
“That’s more like it, Pastor Proffery Coins,” said Emmy.
“Let us begin Wednesday Night Bible Study and Prayer Meeting now,” said Pastor. And the midweek service began.
Just then Heidi Hampshire found herself back on that road that she had been walking down.
She was now once again the cheerleader Bridle in blue and white. And there descended familiar Sage, swooping down from above and lighting before her and looking her in the eye. “Well done, O daughter of God,” the angel griffin praised her. “By the Word of God you have enabled your good minister to not quit the ministry and to not lose his crown of glory.”
Bridle looked back from where she had come. One hundred feet back was the back of that sign that had read “Trial #1.” “I passed God’s test, didn’t I, Sage?” she asked.
“You most surely did, O daughter,” he said.
“All of that happened in a walk for a hundred feet down this Road of Answers to Prayer?” she asked.
“Verily, milady,” said the angel Sage. “I flew up in the skies above your little vision. And I
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came back down when your vision left you.”
“God was with me in my temptations,” she said about this first trial’s vision.
“He was,” said Sage. “Look now ahead and behold the progress of the Road of Answers to Prayers.”
Bridle turned now to see what this angel meant. Lo, just up ahead a little way, the Road of Answers to Prayer abruptly turned more rural. Up ahead it quickly turned into a one-lane countryside road of old broken concrete. It beckoned the cheerleader with its rustic charm. And she said, “Oh, I want to keep going down this road there, O Sage!”
“Let us resume walking together,” said the griffin. “Follow me.”
And cheerleader of God and angel of God continued this odyssey, walking now down an old one-lane concrete road. And after a while, Bridle saw another yellow diamond caution sign with black letters. She was sure of what this sign said, and when she drew close to it, her ideas were confirmed. Stopping in front of this sign, the cheerleader Christian read “Trial #2.”
“Trial #2,” said Sage. “The test for the crown of life.”
“The crown of life,” she said. “Is that a hard crown to win?”
“It is for those who are faithful in life’s trials,” he told her. “God promises this crown to those who love him.”
“It is not meant for me to win for myself in Trial #2. Is it?” she asked.
“Indeed it is meant for you to help a fellow believer to keep from losing it, my good cheerleader,” said the wise griffin.
“How can a girl like myself know what to say to this friend at a time like that?” she asked.
And Sage went on to say, “The things that are impossible with women are possible with God. For with God all things are possible.”
“Oh, Okay,” said the cheerleader Bridle. “Here goes, Lord. Help me to pass Trial #2 if You
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would.” Sage ascended back up into the skies. Bridle walked past the sign. And, lo, here she was in Holly’s den. Holly was her dear sister-in-the-Lord, and in this den Holly did type stories and novels that glorified Jesus. Over there in the corner was her filing cabinet. Over there in the other corner were
her writing supplies. Over there in another corner was her electronic typewriter. And over there in another corner was Holly, sitting on an easy chair. “Heidi, thanks for coming over,” said Holly. They hugged in Christian love.
“You sounded desperate on the phone when you called me,” said Heidi. “What can I do to help?”
“Well, it is kind of hard to go and say,” said Holly. “But I think that I might backslide if I keep writing.”
“You could backslide because you are writing stories for God?” asked Heidi. “But how can that be?”
“You know how much I like to write,” she said.
“Yeah! Yeah! It is your favorite thing to do with Jesus,” said Heidi. “People read your stories and they get saved.”
“Well, Heidi,” confessed Holly, “I might have to quit my typing.”
“How come?” asked Heidi. “You do not write sinful stories.”
“That’s true. I do not write sinful stories. But I am beginning to be tempted to sin as I write my stories, though,” said Holly.
“What kinds of temptations come to you when you write for God?”?” asked Heidi.
“Temptations of borderline anger,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“What gets you kind of angry at the typewriter, Holly?” asked Miss Hampshire.
“Mistakes,” said Holly.
“Mistakes?” asked Heidi.
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“Typographical errors that I have to stop and make right,” said Holly.
“I knew you had a problem with that in your old typing in your old life, Holly,” said Heidi. “But I never knew you to be that same angry girl at the typewriter now that you got saved some time ago.”
“Before my salvation, my temper at the typewriter was as a ‘roaring lion’; since my salvation, my temptation has been a ‘sleeping lion,’” said her sister-in-Christ in her writing room.
“Holly, you’ve got to tell me what happened today,” said Heidi.
“I proved unfaithful in my trials, and I got mad at God,” said Holly. “I think that I must have forfeited my crown of life I had waiting for me Up in Heaven because of that.”
“What was the typo that made you go and murmur at God?” asked Miss Hampshire.
“I failed to capitalize the letter ‘L’ in the word ‘Lord,’” confessed her sister-in-the-Lord. “I dared to go and blame God for letting me make that mistake. I tell you, I said two bad “B” words out loud for my first time since I had become a Christian. And I said to God right after, ‘I’m really really sorry!’ But it was too late. The sin had already been done. God heard my two swear words in murmuring. I lost my crown. And I see it getting worse with my murmurings if I don’t shape up in Christ in a hurry. What would happen to me if God took away my writing? Maybe I’m supposed to quit writing on my own. Nobody can read my penmanship; so I cannot hand write my stories to get the word of God out. I depend on the electronic typewrite to serve God with my stories and novels.”
“God forgave you. And I forgive you,” said Heidi Hampshire.
“If I give up my typing for the cause of God, I need never worry about yelling at God again, Heidi,” said her sister-in-Christ. “And I will do that if it means getting my crown of life back in glory of God.”
“Holly, I think that I see your problem in a simpler way than you see it,” said Miss Hampshire.
“No mutterer or complainer or murmurer gets the crown of life,” said Holly. “One needs to be
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just like Job to be good enough to win that crown.”
“All that you did was to blame God for your typographical error,” said Heidi, “a censure that was maybe a little heavy on the maledictions, without doubt.” Then Heidi said, “But Holly it does not necessarily have to happen again. All you need to do is to learn to not blame God for life’s trials.”
“Oh, but I know what is in me, and it is not good,” said Holly.
“Does not God’s Word have great overcoming power?” asked Heidi.
“The Word of God has great power indeed,” said Holly. “Many have come to salvation through the King James Bible verses that I have put in my writings.
“Could not the King James Bible help you conquer your temptations as a believer as it had your hard heart of an unbeliever at that moment you chose Christ and gotten saved?” asked Heidi.
“Yeah. I think you’re right,” said Holly. “The Word of God converted me to Christianity. The Word of God can also keep me living for Christ today.”
“I am thinking now about Bildad’s words in Job 8:3,” said Heidi. “I really think that this verse can help you overcome your temptations against God in fiery trials each time every time for now on.”
“What does that verse say?” asked Holly.
Heidi recited this verse: “Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice?”
Holly repeated this verse for herself, “Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice?”
“You know what this verse says,” said Heidi.
“It means that God cannot make mistakes. He does not make me type errors on my typewriter.
And He is not a mean God doing mean things to me in my trials at my typing,” said Holly now in great spiritual discernment.
“That’s what God wants to hear, girl,” said Heidi Hampshire.
“How do you know all this?” asked Holly. “You knew all along that God is always right.”
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“I know that you were wrong and that God is right, because I am an impartial third party. Being neither you nor the Lord, I had a clearer understanding in this fight you had with God than you did. Promise me never to argue with the Good Lord again.”
“My Lord makes right judgment. My Lord makes right justice,” said Holly in humbleness before God and counselor.
“Congratulations, good sister-in-the-Lord,” said Heidi. “I do believe that you have your crown of life ‘back on your head.’”
Holly put her hands to the top of her head in symbolism of the crown still waiting for her in Heaven. “Amen! Amen!” said Holly. “Thank you for helping me in my darkest hour, good Heidi.”
And she went on to say, “Next time a typo comes along, I will remember that it is my own fault. And then I will not sin in rebellion again.”
“Amen! Amen!” said Heidi.
And the two church friends hugged in the Lord once again.
Just then Heidi found herself outside again, standing upon a most rural narrow concrete road, a griffin lighting on the road before her, and this griffin saying to her, “Well done, young woman. You have passed Trial #2, and God is pleased.” Then he said, “Your church friend Holly will have the crown of life when she gets to Heaven, because of you and God.”
She was back on the Road of Answers to Prayer with the angel Sage. She looked back and saw the back of that sign about a hundred feet away. She looked ahead and saw more of that broken-up and potholed concrete road that was so pastoral and serene.
“Well, that was an adventure. God gave me another victory. Praise God for His wisdom. God is good,” said Bridle, looking around and enjoying being back in this paradise with the griffin angel.
They resumed their journey down this Road of Answers to Prayer, the angel Sage leading the way. After a while, the griffin said, “Daughter of God, look up ahead and see what becomes of this
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beatific road.”
Bridle looked ahead and she did see this road now becoming a one-lane gravel road. She spoke and said, “It is a good thing that God dressed this cheerleader here with you with durable cheerleader sneakers, O Sage. Sneakers are good on gravel stones.”
“Our Maker thinks of everything,” said Sage.
And they proceeded and stepped out onto the narrow road of gravel and did trek onward, the cheerleader following the angel.
And sure enough, after a while, the two travelers came upon the next sign, this one reading, “Trial #3.” The girl paused to gaze upon it and to pray in silence that the will of God be accomplished through her in this third trial.
And Sage said to her when she was done praying, “Trial #3, faithful Bridle, The test for the crown of rejoicing.” Bridle knew that in this test, she must help someone she knew to earn the crown of rejoicing for their time to come in Heaven.
“O Sage, what is the crown of rejoicing all about?” she asked her guide.
“That is the soul-winners’ crown, my young lady,” he said to her.
“Then I must teach a good friend how to lead a soul to Christ.” she surmised.
“Daughters-and-sons-in-the-faith are soul-winners’ glory and joy,” said Sage from the Bible.
“I am ready now,” said Bridle.
“Proceed, good woman, and the Word of God will be with you,” promised the angelic griffin.
“You will be waiting for me on this road when I come back?” she asked.
“I shall be flying above in the heavens, and I shall await you on the other side,” he assured her.
With no further delay, the cheerleader Christian walked past this sign that signified Trial #3. and she found herself suddenly with her new friend Kimberley at their favorite park by the river. “Kimberley!” sang out Heidi.
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“Miss Hampshire!” sang out Kimberley.
Heidi, in her ministry at the Baptist church, was the Sunday School teacher for the preteen class.
This Kimberley, twelve years old, was her best student. Every Saturday Kimberley and Heidi got together at this park by the river for fellowship in the Lord. Today was Saturday. And here beside them now was their favorite picnic table where they always enjoyed their fellowship. And they sat down at it across from each other. Both girls had their King James Bibles with them on this picnic table. Both girls had a prayer list written out for a prayer meeting between them at this picnic table.
And both girls had a personal pan pizza and a big cup of pop here at this picnic table that they had picked up at Pizza Hut.
At once Kimberley began this fellowship, asking Heidi, “How can I become a soul-winner like you, Miss Hampshire?”
“You have to have a burden for lost souls, O Kimberley,” said Heidi.
“I don’t think that I quite have that yet, Miss Hampshire,” said Kimberley. “But I do want to get Regalroyal saved, though.
“Who’s this Regalroyal, Kimberley?” asked Heidi.
“He’s this real cute boy in sixth grade who sits next to me at the public school,” confided pupil to Sunday School teacher.
“What I found out is that the best way to find a burden for lost souls is to go out and tell lost souls about Jesus. Once a person starts knocking on doors, then he finds a burden for souls out there.” said Heidi in her wisdom.
“I may be kind of not so sure about telling everyone I meet about Jesus, Miss Hampshire,” said Kimberley. “But this cute Regalroyal, I just need to tell him about Jesus.”
“Maybe you could invite him to come to Sunday School with you,” said Heidi.
“He won’t come to any church, Miss Hampshire,” said Kimberley.
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“The Bible does not command the lost to go to church,” said Heidi, “but the Bible does command the church to go to the lost,”
“Do you mean that God does not necessarily say to the lost that they are to go to the saved, but God does necessarily say to the saved that they are to go to the lost?” asked Kimberley.
“Uh huh,” said Heidi, nodding. “Would you like me to go and talk to this young fellow?”
“No, It’s got to be me, Miss Hampshire,” said Kimberley. “And I think that I know how to go and do it and win his soul. You taught all of us preteens just exactly how to do that as our Sunday School teacher.”
“Go for it and do it, O Kimberley,” said Miss Hampshire in good exhortation.
“Regalroyal can become my first soul won for Christ, Miss Hampshire!” said her disciple. “Didn’t you tell us kids that there is a crown up in Heaven for those who lead a person to Christ?”
“Yes, O Kimberley,” said Heidi. “It is called ‘the crown of rejoicing.’”
“I want to earn that crown with cute Regalroyal,” said Kimberley. Just then Kimberley’s face lit up as she was looking across the park not far away. “It’s him, Miss Hampshire! He’s here at this park!
What should I do?” exclaimed the aspiring soul-winner. Heidi turned and saw a young lad about her students’ age at a picnic table with a magazine and a pencil. “He’s doing his word search puzzles again,” said Kimberley. “I cannot bother him when he’s doing his word search puzzles.”
“Kimberley,” said her mentor Heidi, “what’s more important—his puzzles or his soul?”
“He might not like me if I told him that he needed Jesus to get to Heaven, Miss Hampshire,” said Kimberley, suddenly losing her resolve. Then the disciple went on to confess all her reasons for not witnessing to him, which were also all of her reasons for never having witnessed to anyone else in her young Christian life: “Miss Hampshire, what if I hurt his feelings? And I what if he starts thinking of me as a weirdo? And what if he gives me a strange look? And what if he gets mad at me? And what if he starts talking bad about me behind my back? And what if he starts picking on me? And
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what if he becomes my bully? He would never become my boyfriend if I tell him what you say I have to tell him, Miss Hampshire,”
In earnestness, Heidi said, “There is no nice way to tell a friend that he is going to Hell,”
“Do you know of any verse in our Bibles that can help me to maybe go and try to say something to him before he gets away?” asked Kimberley, not sure whether dating this boy were more important to her than winning the soul of this boy.
“I have just the verse, Kimberley,” said Heidi, ready with the Word in season and out of season.
And she turned in her Bible to I Thessalonians 2:4, and she read out loud to her Sunday School pupil this most efficacious witnessing verse: “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”
The Word of God spoke to Kimberley most powerfully, and she interpreted this verse with great personal spiritual understanding, saying, “I must tell Regalroyal about the Saviour not in the way that would please Regalroyal, but in the way that would please the Saviour.”
“Yes! Will you do it?” asked Heidi Hampshire.
Without pausing to answer, the girl with a crush on the boy, at once grabbed her Bible, marched right up to him, sat down in front of him, and began to share the saving Gospel to this lost boy. It took only a few minutes, and then the girl and the boy bowed their heads in prayer. And when these two raised their heads again, Heidi knew that Regalroyal had just become born again. In great joy, Kimberley ran back to Heidi and said, “Miss Hampshire! Miss Hampshire! I did it! I got him to become a Christian! He’s saved! He’s saved!”
“Congratulations, Kimberley, you just led your boyfriend to salvation. Well done, girl!” praised Heidi.
“Oh yes,” said her disciple. “I forgot that part. I forget to ask him if he wanted to go out with me.”
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“Oo, Kim,’ go and ask him,” said Miss Hampshire.
“I think that I will, Miss Hampshire,” said Kimberley. And she ran back to join Regalroyal.
Kimberley cocked her head to the side where she stood before him, and asked him, and he nodded his head in ready assent and smiled at her. And boy and girl stayed there at that picnic table not far from where Heidi Hampshire was. She had just helped her best student to earn her own crown of rejoicing.
And it was time to leave Kimberley alone with Regalroyal there for now.
Just then Bridle found herself back upon the gravel stones of the Road of Answers to Prayer with her griffin angel lighting down before her where she stood. She had walked down this road one hundred feet during this vision also.
“I have successfully passed God’s Trial #3 for me,” declared Bridle. “The test for the crown of rejoicing.”
“Good work for and in the Lord, O good woman of God,” praised Sage.
They resumed walking, the angel griffin again leading the way. Then, after a while, her guide said, “Look ahead and behold the Road of Answers to Prayer getting more isolated and more beautiful.”
She looked ahead. Lo, this road up there was suddenly a most basic two-rutted road. She and he came right up to it, and she saw tall green field grass between two bare ruts of toad and tall green field grass to the left of the left rut and tall green field grass to the right of the right tut. “It does not get more country than this when it comes to countryside roads, O Sage,” she said, in great admiration of what she was seeing. And he stepped out first, and she stepped out second.
Sage said a statement most sagacious, saying, “This Road of Answers to Prayer is decreasing, but God’s Holy Spirit here is increasing, O girl Bridle.”
Also wise herself, Bridle said, “It seems to me, Sage, that the farther we go out on this road the closer we get to God at the end.”
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“My fine lady, God is beyond the beyond,” said Sage. “What is at the end of this road is of God. Beyond that which is of God is answer to prayer. Beyond answer to prayer is God Himself.”
“You speak riddles, O Sage,” said Bridle. “But they are pleasant riddles, nonetheless. I have great anticipation.”
“It is good to have anticipation in the deeds wrought by the Lord,” said Sage.
“I think that I see a sign up ahead,” said Bridle. “The field grass covers it up.”
“You know what it says,” said the griffin.
“Trial #4, no doubt,” said the girl Bridle.
“Do go look,” said Sage.
And they came up to this sign, and Bridle pushed aside a clump of tall field grass in front of it, and she did read indeed, “Trial #4.”
“The test for the incorruptible crown, O daughter of the Lord,” said the angel Sage. “As the Bible says about such a crown and the Christian lifestyle for which a believer earns it, ‘So run, that ye may obtain.’”
“Run and obtain?” asked Bridle.
“Run the race that is set before you in your walk with Christ, that you might obtain this incorruptible crown.” explained Sage.
“Is the incorruptible crown then given to those believers who live for God?” asked Bridle.
“Yes, it is earned by those who let Christ control their lives and their bodies, Bridle,” said Sage.
“What am I waiting for? Someone that I know and care about needs this crown,” said Bridle.
“Go now and enter God’s vision of Trial #4,” said Sage.
And at once Bridle ran past the sign and right into God’s fourth vision for her to pass successfully. Behold, she and her best friend Allison were in the lake under a hot summer sun, both of them in their one-piece swimsuits. Though her best friend, Allison was neither mighty in the Scriptures
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nor mighty in prayer, Heidi’s funnest times were with Allison in the lakes and in the ponds and in the rivers and in the creeks and in the channels. And Allison felt the same way about such times in these waters with Heidi.
And Allison spoke and said, “Lakes are the closest things to Heaven that are in God’s good Earth, Heidi,”
“Lakes are beautiful creations of our Maker, Allison,” agreed Heidi.
“Do you think that when we get to Heaven, that we can jump in lakes like this Up There?” asked Allison.
“There’s got to be, Allie,” said Heidi.
“In here I feel like I have not any problems in the world. I have no cares and doubts and feeling bad in this lake with you and God,” said Allison. “I am free in the Lord in peace and love and joy.”
“I feel the same way, Allison,” said Heidi.
“Isn’t that what Heaven is all about? Peace and joy and love?” asked Allison.
“Peace and joy and love and mostly Christ Himself, Allie,” said Heidi.
“Christ Himself—the Prince of Peace,” said Allison.
Then Allison looked upward toward Heaven, Where Christ sits on His throne, and she betrayed a sigh. “What’s wrong, Allison?” asked Heidi.
“I think that I have sin in my life,” said her best friend. “Suddenly I do not feel so full of Jesus now in this lake, Heidi.”
“Could you tell your best friend?” asked Heidi. “Maybe I can help you in the Lord, if I could.”
“The Holy Spirit has gotten me thinking lately that I love lakes and all too much,” said Allison.
“Is it wrong to love God’s creation, Allie?” asked Heidi.
“No, God’s creation glorifies Him as Creator,” said Heidi. “But He has me thinking that I skip out on other things that I need to glorify Him with.”
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“I bet that you’re talking about skipping out on the kinds of worship that I never skip out on,” said Heidi. “Am I right?”
“Yes. I think so,” said Allison. This best friend went on to tell Heidi what Heidi already knew about her: “You know how I love to go to our Baptist church down the road with you, and how sometimes I skip out on church. You know how I love to share prayer meeting with you, and how sometimes I go a whole day, and I have not prayed any to God. You know how I love to read my King James Bible, and how I spend a day here and a day there without opening the Good Book. And you know how I promised Pastor’s wife to go out with her and the ladies of the church and call upon people, and how I did that only one time.”
“I do know,” said the more spiritual best friend to the less spiritual best friend.
“I am not faithful to God in worship like those four worships I just mentioned. I am faithful only in my worship of loving lakes and other waters out in the country,” confessed Allison. “That makes me a carnal believer. I have never grown up from being a babe in Christ. It is like I have been living the life of a new convert all my walk with Christ because of things like this lake. I need to become a mature Christian woman. I want to be more like you. I want to love church and prayer and Bible reading and soul-winning more than I love splashing around in the water. But I do not know what to do about that. Where can I start? What must I do? What do I need to learn?”
“Allie, it sounds to me that you wish to earn the incorruptible crown,” said Miss Hampshire in this lake.
“What’s that?” she asked. “What’s this about a crown all of a sudden?”
“We, as born again believers, all have to stand before Jesus someday in the Bema Judgment Seat. There Christ will judge us for our good deeds done in this life. There Christ will give us rewards for the things that we did for him in love. There our good works will pass through Christ’s refining fires. If our works do not get burned up in this judgment, He will give us rewards in Heaven. But if
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our works do get burned up in this judgment, we will suffer loss. The works that bring reward the Bible calls ‘gold, silver, precious stones,’ in symbolism. The works that bring loss the Bible calls
‘wood, hay, stubble,’ in symbolism. There God will judge how we used our time and our money and our talents that He did give us. And the basis will be, in a succinct query, ‘Was is done in love for God?’ And this incorruptible crown that I did mention, Allison, is for the believer that lived his life as best as he could for God down here. He was faithful in serving God with his time and his money and his talents. He was faithful to God with his body. He was faithful in doing his good works out of love for God. Such a servant gets this incorruptible crown to wear and then give back to Jesus Up in Heaven,” preached wise Miss Hampshire.
“I want now to become such a faithful steward and win this exciting crown that you are telling me about, O Heidi,” said Allison.
“I think that all you need to learn how to do that is to memorize one Bible verse that I know of right now that can probably help you, Allie,’” said Heidi.
“One Bible verse can do that for me?” asked Allison.
“I am sure of it, Allison,” said Heidi.
“Will it make my love for bodies of waters less than my love for means of worship?” asked
Allison.
“Hear me tell it to you, and find out for yourself,” said Heidi.
“Do tell me this Bible verse that can win me my own incorruptible crown, O Heidi,” said Allison.
“’Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.’ I Corinthians 4:2,” recited Heidi from memory.
“Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful,” repeated Allison, her face beaming now in a great lesson now fully learned in her heart and never to leave her heart for eternity.
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“Well, All,’ what do you think?” asked Heidi. “Did God’s Word speak to your heart?”
“I think so, Heidi,” she said. “I feel like doing something now I never did before.”
“And what’s this new thing you never did before?” asked Heidi.
“I feel like leaving this lake before I had planned on leaving this lake,” said Allison. And at once she began to wade out of this lake and onto the shore. “I want to read my Bible here in the sand for a while. I want to pray to God for a while. I want to get ready for church this evening.”
God’s will was done through his daughter Heidi once again.
All of a sudden the lake and Allison were gone and the two-rutted road and the griffin were back. She was back in the real world of the Road of Answers to Prayer. And Sage said, “Most admirably done, young woman. You have passed Trial #4. the test for the incorruptible crown.”
“I am glad,” said Heidi in rejoicing. “To God belongs wisdom.”
“Let us continue our journey,” the griffin said to the cheerleader. And the two resumed their trek, Sage again leading the way. After a while of much walking, Sage said, “Christian girl, look ahead and tell me what you see the Road of Answers to Prayer now become here so near to its end.”
She looked ahead, and she saw this most isolated road in the world now become a simple footpath with room enough only for single file travelers. “Why there this road becomes only a dirt path, O Sage,” she exclaimed.
“What kind of road is more peacefully country-like than a narrow footpath, my lady?” he called out.
“I keep liking more and more each change that this Road of Answers to Prayer turns into, good and kind Sage.” said Bridle.
And cheerleader and angel came up to this little path and continued their travels, the girl following the angel. After a while they came upon the next sign. This one of course, read, “Trial #5.”
“Trial #5, the last of the trials on this road,” said Bridle, with good Bible wisdom.
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“Trial #5, the test for the crown of righteousness.” declared the griffin Sage, “‘unto all them also that love His appearing.’”
“The crown for all those who desire the rapture of the believers with all of their heart,” summed up Bridle. “That’s my crown. I will have it for myself and for Jesus in Heaven. I want to be with Him right now.”
“Go now and help another Christian to earn that crown, too, O good maiden,” said Sage.
“I shall do my best in the Lord,” promised the cheerleader Bridle. And she at once ran past the sign that said, “Trial #5.”
And she found herself with another cheerleader dressed exactly as she was. Her chenille emblem read “Sophie.” And Heidi knew Sophie. She was the head varsity basketball cheerleader who always got her squad together in a circle before each game and had a word of prayer with them, asking God to let them win the big game. Heidi and Sophie were in their high school gymnasium, but this gymnasium had only these two cheerleaders in it with no other cheerleaders and no basketball players and no fans. Sophie took one look at her in her blue and white cheerleader uniform, and she said, “Heidi, when did you become one of us?”
“You mean ‘one of you cheerleaders?’” asked Heidi.
“Yeah,” said Sophie. “You look like a natural in that,”
“To tell you the truth, Sophie, I cannot tell for sure why I have this on,” said Heidi.
“Well you look good in it,” said Sophie. “Dressed like that you are likely to find yourself a boyfriend.”
“You look good in your cheerleader uniform, too, Sophie,” said Heidi. “You’ve already got a boyfriend…or two.”
“More,” she confessed.
“Yes,” said Heidi. And both cheerleaders laughed together in accord.
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Sophie looked around this empty gymnasium and said, “What a game we had tonight. Wouldn’t you say, Heidi?”
“Did we win?” asked Heidi, not having come here till just a moment ago.
“We scored a hundred points,” said Sophie. “We were unstoppable. What a way to win the state championship, O Heidi! I am so happy right now.” She then picked up her pom poms and did a little cheer in front of Heidi, “Give me a ‘w.’ Give me an ‘i.’ Give me an ‘n.’ What do they spell? Win! Win win win!”
“Wow, a hundred points,” said Heidi, wishing that she had been here.
Then Sophie said, “Should we have a word of prayer?”
“To thank God for the victory?” asked Heidi.
Sophie paused to think to answer, and she said, “Other things in my life, O Heidi.”
And the two cheerleaders in blue and white sat down side by side in the bleachers to pray to God. Sophie prayed not without fervent and effectual words that she learn to love the Lord’s coming appearing. And when she was done, Heidi in like also went on to pray for Sophie, that she love the Lord’s coming appearing. Indeed this loving of the rapture was the foundation for earning that crown of righteousness. Then the Christian cheerleaders finished their spontaneous prayer meeting.
Sophie said, “Thanks for praying for me, Heidi.”
“You desire the crown of righteousness, Sophie,” said Heidi. “You want to learn how to want to be in Heaven.”
“Yes, girl,” agreed the head cheerleader. “It is like I want to want to be with the Lord, and not like I want to be with the Lord. And it is like I wish to wish to be with the Lord and not like I wish to be with the Lord.”
“What’s keeping you from wanting the rapture, O Sophie?” asked Heidi Hampshire.
“The mystery of what it is like,” said Sophie. She went on to say, “What is Heaven like? I
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know that Heaven is Heavenly. I know that I am going There. And I know that It is a better Place. But, Heidi, I cannot imagine at all anything about what Heaven is in my time down here, so I do not know enough about It to wish to be There. If I knew just one thing about Heaven that I can see in my heart, then maybe I can earn that crown you told me about.”
“You’re so used to down here that you are not ready for Up There, woman,” said learned Heidi in encouragement.
“Yeah!” said Sophie. “And the worst part is, sometimes I am ready for the rapture, sometimes I am not ready for the rapture. I vacillate. What I always end up saying to God, Heidi, is this: ‘Wait, Lord. Don’t come and take me home quite yet. Give me just a little while longer here on Earth. I’ll be in Heaven soon enough anyway. After all, down here is only for a little moment, and Up There will be forever. A few more days won’t hurt.’”
“I think that I have just the answer,” said Heidi Hampshire.
“Oo, do tell me what God has to say to me,” said Sophie.
“It is a Bible verse that helped me over the years to keep loving the imminent rapture for myself,” said Heidi.
“Which one?” asked Sophie.
“Philippians 1:23, which says this: ‘For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better,’” recited Miss Hampshire.
“And to be with Christ; which is far better,” repeated Sophie in a most wondrous personal enlightenment.
“Do you know what God means by this verse, O Sophie?” asked Heidi.
“Oh, I do, Heidi. I surely do,” said Sophie. “It says that it is far better in Heaven than it is on Earth. And it says so because There we are with Christ literally. And Heaven with Christ before our eyes is far better than Earth with Christ looking down upon us from Heaven. Praise the Lord, I think
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that now my heart is right with the Lord’s appearing!”
“Just think with me now, O Sophie, and imagine being hugged by our compassionate Saviour in Glory in both of his loving arms with yourself in your cheerleader uniform that you have on now,” dared to say Miss Hampshire in brave and exciting new thoughts about the rapture that drove her to love the rapture herself even all the more.
“Just as I am,” said Sophie. And she reached her hands to her head and pretended to feel the literal crown upon her head yet in this world.
“What do you think?” asked Heidi. “Is it there ‘on your head?’”
“I have the crown of righteousness ‘on my head’ now, and it well never fall off again, I tell you, until the day I take it off and give it back to Jesus in Glory,” said Sophie. “And now I am even more happy than I was when I did that cheer. Thank you for that great Bible verse, Heidi!”
“Do go and thank God,” said Miss Hampshire.
Looking Upward toward the throne of God, Sophie said, “Lord Jesus, I’ll give it all up down here for You and run away to Heaven with You forever and ever!” promised Sophie now loving the rapture most of all.
“Now that is the kind of thanks that God will hear, O girl!” praised Heidi cheerleader and Christ.
Just then Heidi became Bridle again, herself now back outside in the countryside with her benevolent griffin friend once again. “Well done, my daughter,” said Sage. You have persevered in Trial #5, the test for the crown of righteousness, and with God you have duly prevailed.”
“What a happy road this Road of Answers to Prayer is,” said Bridle.
“Behold the road up ahead,” said Sage the griffin. “Look ahead and see the end of this single pathway portion of this road.”
The girl Bridle looked ahead to the end of this narrow trail, and, behold, glory of glories!
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There, where this Road of Answers to Prayer did end as a road was a celestial display befitting Heaven Itself. In the tall field grass beyond were five wooden tables three feet high with tabletops measuring one foot by one foot. Upon each of these five tables were five crowns, dazzling and radiant and effulgent in gold and in silver and in precious stones. These must surely be the five crowns of Scripture!
“Approach them and gaze upon them and do not touch them,” said Sage. “And behold God’s great handiwork thereupon in most holy worship of the God of crowns.”
Bridle the cheerleader did just exactly that, and no words could come to her lips in this most Godly place of crowns. And Sage spoke to her, ‘Behold the crown of glory, which you helped to give to your pastor. Behold the crown of life, which you helped to give to Holly. Behold the crown of rejoicing, which you helped to give to Kimberley. Behold the incorruptible crown, which you helped to give to Allison. Behold the crown of righteousness, which you helped to give to Sophie. It is written, ‘And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ Matthew 25:40.”
Words now came to Bridle’s tongue, and she said, “Truly I have walked with God today and have worked with the Lord. To God be the glory. The Lord is good.”
The sagacious griffin then said, “My daughter of God, you have forgotten your prayer request of your lonely Christian walk.”
“I was so busy serving my Jesus on the road that I had forgotten,” said Bridle.
“This Road of Answers to Prayer has now come to its end,” said Sage the griffin. “Look on beyond the five crowns and see the answer to your prayer that God has answered your prayers with, good and faithful Bridle.”
She now looked in this beautiful countryside Paradise where no road lay on beyond these five crowns. Lo, a handsome young gentleman of God sitting in a little clearing. This must surely be the
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cute boyfriend-in-the-Lord for which she was praying to come into her life. He was dressed in a boy’s high school cheerleader uniform also in blue and white. She drew closer to get a better view of him.
He did not see her, but she saw him. A chenille emblem on his boy’s cheerleader sweater read, “Flanders.” He then stood up and walked around this little clearing, his head looking down, and his voice praying out loud to God in a whisper that she could not hear the words. He looked to be a short little fellow—about her height, herself tall for a girl. And he was a skinny boy; Bridle liked thin men. He had brown hair, just as she did. His hair also had bangs, just as hers had. And it was short, while hers was long. And he had glasses whose lenses were round. He also had a brown mustache that went down the sides of his mouth. And he had a billy goat goatee that was also brown. She liked men to have facial hair. And the most handsome aspect of this boyfriend-to-be was his most obvious overbite. She had never thought about it much before, but she really liked boys to have buck teeth. She thought it time now to go over and introduce herself to him.
“Wait and see more, my lady,” spoke Sage behind her. And she obeyed the angel. Then she saw this boy cheerleader raise his right hand, and, lo, a real Bald Eagle descended and lighted upon his wrist and stayed there, held above this young man’s head. The Bald Eagle spoke a bird call that Bridle could not understand.
But this man answered the bald eagle and did say, “Yes, you are right.” Then this male cheerleader said to the great bird about his aquiline glory, “What our Creator has wrought in you.” And the American Bald Eagle called back in his eagle word. And this man said, “Amen, O great eagle. Well said!” Then this man took a piece of bread from a bread bag he had at his side, gave it to the great bald eagle, and the great bald eagle did eat it. Then this man said, “I will be here next time for you.”
And with obedience to this man of God, the bald eagle did fly off for now, until the next time this man was ready for him.
Surely now would be a good time to come up and introduce herself to this cute boy cheerleader.
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She took a step forward. But her angel interposed himself between her and her prospective boyfriend.
And Sage shook his griffin head in the negative. And she stopped in her approach. And she waited and watched more as this man of nature communed with more animals of God’s creations.
Next a large gray timber wolf came up to this cheerleader son of God. The timber wolf nestled against Flanders’s chest where the man sat, and the man petted this wild wolf adoringly upon his lupine head. This wolf then sat down before the man of nature and began to bay at the sun of day. “I know,” said Flanders. “You want a belly rub right now. Lie down on your side, and I will give it to you.” And the timber wolf lay down on his side, and Flanders began to rub his belly up and down. And the timber wolf groaned in great contentment. Then Flanders was done. The timber wolf gave forth a whine. “A little more?” asked Flanders. And the gray wolf gave forth earnestness in his face. And this time the wolf rolled over upon his back, and the man of nature gave him a bigger and better belly rub. Then the wolf gave forth a canine type bark. And Flanders said, “I know. It’s time for you to go back to your mate. You miss her and want to be with her right now again. And with your cubs as well.” And just like that the wolf leaped back to his feet and ran back home to his den to be with his own wolf family.
Still did not Flanders see Bridle and Sage. Now Bridle had to come up and talk to this most fascinating boy so wise. She took another step toward this man, then stopped to look at Sage to make sure it was okay with this angel wiser than herself. The griffin Sage shook his head a definite “No!”
And Bridle resented this Sage for her first time. But she obeyed this angel sent by God. And she advanced no closer to this boyfriend that God had already promised her. God’s will for her right now despite all of her woman’s excitement for this man was to wait a little longer.
Next she saw a family of white-tailed deer come up to this great man of animals. There was a buck with big antlers and a big doe and three little fawns. The three does licked this man’s proffered hands in great delights and animal love. The doe called forth to him, and he said, “Yes. Your fawns are beautiful indeed.” And the big buck with the rack lowered his rack in mock threat and called forth a
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deer call of his own. Understanding this deer’s utterance, the man asked him, “Shall we play our fun game again, big boy?” And the buck lunged toward Flanders with his antlers in a great fun game. Flanders grabbed these antlers in his arms, and he pushed. And the buck pushed back against him with his rack. And for a while, deer and man had a standoff. But then gradually the man began to prevail, his body pushing the deer’s body backwards. And then the man began to win, the buck pushed now almost down to his haunches. Then Flanders pinned the deer on his bottom. The buck called forth a deer call, and Flanders said, “Yep! I won again.” And deer and man separated. And the game was done. Then the doe came up to the buck and called to him. And Flanders said, “Yes. There are apple trees in the next field.” And the deer family left their friend for now to go and feast on the apples. And the five deer scampered off.
Surely no angel of God would keep Bridle now from running up to this wonderful man and saying to him, “Hi, I’m a cheerleader, too.” But before she took another step toward this exciting and handsome man who could talk to the animals, she first looked at Sage to see if if were all right with God were she to do such now. Again the griffin said, “No,” to her with his expression. And Bridle was not happy with God and with angel. She had helped five dear friends earn five dear crowns, and she saw for herself what these five Biblical crowns looked like. But right now the crowns that the five friends now had because of her did not seem as important to her as going after her first boyfriend in her life, indeed this one quite God-given here at the end of this Road of Answers to Prayer. Why did she have to wait any longer? She had been waiting all of her life for a handsome boyfriend to come to her.
And here he was, a wondrous man cheerleader like herself. And the griffin kept telling her, “Not yet!”
Then she saw a full-grown male lion with a full mane coming up to the man of creation. In fear and yet in trust, Bridle watched this fearsome predator proffer his mane for Flanders to pet. And Flanders stroked this mane in awe. And Flanders tugged on this mane in game. And Flanders wrapped his arms around this lion’s leonine mane and head and hugged them in both arms long and hard. The
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lion purred like a big cat, and Flanders said, “I love you, too, O great lion of this Place.” And Flanders then took away his arms from this lion’s neck. The lion then proffered his right lion paw, and Flanders leaned his head down and kissed it. The lion then gave forth a little groan of petition, and Flanders said, “The left paw then, too, old boy.” And the lion proffered his left lion paw, and the man of nature gladly kissed that, too.
Then the male cheerleader animal tamer looked up to Heaven and prayed to his Maker, “Lord, I pray You once again, to send me a girl cheerleader to be my girlfriend-in-Christ to share this world here with her as You wish.”
This prayer by this handsome man in this world beyond the Road of Answers to Prayer totally overcame all of Bridle’s restraints. And at once she ran toward this man, saying, “I am the one!”
Suddenly the great lion, the king of the beasts, gave a mighty ferocious roar that reverberated frighteningly in the skies above and about. And he leaped up and ran toward the girl Bridle in the hunt.
Flanders called forth, “O my lion, what did you say?” And the lion was quickly coming upon her.
Just then Sage swooped down upon the great predator beast just before her. And griffin and lion fought fiercely. And the griffin was hurt. And the lion was killed. And a great creation of God lay dead there upon the ground here in this paradise.
“My God, my God,” prayed Bridle, “what did I just do?”
In distress Flanders said, “Young lady, you frightened an animal in this paradise.”
“I’m really, really sorry,” said Bridle.
Sage told her, “Foolish woman, your turn to go and see Flanders was next. All you had to do was to wait until the lion was done and did leave. Then you could have introduced yourself to Flanders in the Lord’s timing.”
Flanders said, “I’m sorry for the lion attack, young lady. None of my animals have ever seen a woman before. I was the only human with them in this world all the time I have lived here. The lion
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heard and saw you, and he panicked, and he attacked.”
“I am sorry for having sullied paradise,” said Bridle. “Please forgive me, if you can, Flanders,”
Reading her chenille emblem, Flanders said, “I forgive you, Bridle.”
Turning to Sage, Bridle asked, “Can you ever forgive me, O dear friend and guide?”
And the griffin said, “I forgive you, and God forgives you, O most human Bridle.”
“Will my five friends still get to keep their crowns?” asked Bridle in humble sincerity.
“They still have their five crowns waiting for them in Heaven,” promised Sage.
“The Lord Jesus is great,” she said. “I am so glad.”
“And Bridle,” said the griffin angel.
“Yes, O Sage?” asked Bridle.
“You still get to keep your boyfriend-in-the-Lord here,” said Sage the merciful and gracious will of the Lord.
“After I had gone and done everything all wrong in the end after having done everything all right all the way down the road,” said Bridle. “God is love.”
“The time has come for me to leave, Bridle,” said Sage. “The time has come for you to start your new life with Flanders.”
“Do you have to go, dear Sage” cried out Bridle.
“I have to go, dear Heidi,’ said the angel.
“You called me, ‘Heidi,’” said the cheerleader woman.
“With Flanders Nickels, your name shall again be ‘Heidi Hampshire,’” said Sage.
And without another word between griffin and Christian cheerleader, Sage lifted up into the skies and returned to God’s throne in Heaven to be healed of his wounds in battle and to do the next job that the Good Lord had him to do for Him.
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And the two cheerleaders were alone in this paradise of countryside beyond the end of that Road of Answers to Prayer.
Heidi Hampshire said, “It is written, Flanders Nickels, ‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.’ Isaiah 65:25.”
And Flanders Nickels said, “It is written, Heidi Hampshire, ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’ Isaiah 11:6-9.”
“Do you think that your animals will ever get used to your new girlfriend, Flanders?” she asked.
They never saw a girl before. And they never had to share their man before with a girl.”
“They all quickly came to love me when God put me here, Heidi,” said Flanders. “And they will all quickly come to love you now that God put you here, too.”
“I helped kill a lion,” she confessed her sin.
“But you give a lonely man companionship,” said Flanders about his new cheerleader girlfriend.
Just then two animals came out of the woods and into this clearing. One was a wolf. The other was a lamb. They looked upon this strange woman cheerleader here in this paradise, and they wondered in curiosity. Then they began to walk side-by-side toward Heidi. And they were not startled or afraid or uncertain. And they came right up to where the two people were. The four stood there, looking at each other. And Flanders said, “It is okay. She is my girlfriend. She’s a Christian, too.”
And at once the wolf and the lamb buried their heads in Heidi Hampshire’s eager hands. And all four
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rejoiced in joy of the Lord. And Heidi petted the wolf and the lamb. And all was good and Godly from that time on for Miss Heidi Hampshire here beyond the end of that Road of Answers to Prayer.
