Solutions: The Dilemma for Men - James Gerard (read out loud books .txt) 📗

the leaders were mere men given the trust of those they governed, the masses too fell to the lie.  All were deceived in the same manner as the rulers.  The lie led all to seek after men to save them from the plague that was spreading death all over the Earth.  Most everyone took their eyes off the Lord and stopped praying for help in defeating the fear that the lie had brought about.  If not for the testimony of a handful of survivors the lie just might have wiped away the Truth from the memories of all children.

 

Louis’ dad was not the only one who chose to spread the Good Word amongst those that had been held captive by the liar’s act of exalting men to the position of Gods, there were many more whose memories were restored by the hearing of the Truth.  There were many who made a commitment to bring about the love of the Father back into the hearts of the children.  And many of the children of the sons of these men too sought after the God they loved and desired.  Through joyful hearts they wished to spread the love of God all about and let it be known that He was the only guiding force that not only could defeat the great deceiver, but had done so before the foundations of the world were laid.

 

Louis was fervent in his faith and the Faith of his Lord God, but he witnessed the liar’s influence over more and more men as time progressed from what had been a beginning to an old beginning created anew.  Everyone learned they were free from the oppression of the concocted gods, but like the plague that had lay hidden in the body and struck with unrelenting violence, so too did the liar.

 

Men began to worry and fret, to cry and complain over trivial matters.  His brothers and sisters were beset with doubt.  As a result, Louis could see his fellow workers taking their eyes off the Lord and looked to men as an end to the means.  And certain men heard the cries, separated themselves and emerged as caring voices, and took it upon themselves to fill the desires of their fellow men.  And the liar, once again, ensnared many with traps and led their minds into captivity.  Louis fought hard to prevent the thoughts from pervading the minds, but soon he realized the Lord was once again made no affect.

 

“Are you ready,” Hector announced stepping into the locomotive.

 

“I suppose.”

 

Hector took his position behind the controls of the engine and in seconds the train lurched forward with a mighty thrust and crawled out of the train yard.

 

Louis stared intently ahead.  The doom had lifted in anticipation with the onset of the journey.  His heart beat faster with excitement to that which he would see for the first time.  Fidgeting about the chair increased as the train began its path alongside the shore of the lake.  Rapidly the train's crawling speed became a walk, the walk a trot, then the trot a sprint.  The locomotive thundered down the track.  The mountains would soon increase in stature from bumpy silhouettes on the horizon to clear and crisp variations of light and dark monstrosities.

 

“Hector, do all of you still rely on our Lord?”

 

“Well, it depends on what you mean by ‘rely.’”

 

“Well, I told you about all the complaining from the workers about the food.  It’s like they just stopped thinking about God.”

 

“If that is what you mean by ‘rely,’ then God is still thought of by some of us at the compound, but most are just caught up in what we have to do every day probably like the worker’s from your village.”

 

“I wonder why that is Hector?”

 

“Look at yourself Louis.  Aren’t you the one that took off from the village?  I ask you: where is your faith?”

 

Louis knew the answer in an instant.  He too did not rely on his Lord the other morning as he went about the solution to the grumbling by his own thoughts and actions.  He remembered his dad telling him to persevere.  His dad spoke of having  to understand that our Lord does not always make it easy in one’s life.  With  trials and tribulations He goes by his time schedule, purpose, will, and puts one on a path that leads exactly to a place where He wants them to be.

 

“Yeah, I sort of blew it too didn’t I?”

 

"Just not you Louis; me too.  I used to be on the Council here.”

 

“You were on the Council?

 

“I sure was.”

 

“Wow.  If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing driving a train?”

 

“Well, just like you I wanted to get away from the nonsense.  Other than that, I suppose I just wanted to go around in circles in my own way.”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“This train goes from point A to point B, then back to point A.  It pretty much is a straight line yet it always ends up back in the same place no matter how far it travels.  It moves forward but always comes back.”

 

“I never thought about it that way.”

 

“It doesn’t matter Louis.  All it really does is keep me away from everybody.  The Council doesn’t want me to talk about the Lord.  They say it starts to mess up the way they want us to live.”

 

“That’s a sad way to live you know.”

 

“I’m just like you then.”

 

“You are?”

 

“Sure.  I basically ran away to get away from all the things you ran away from.  But don’t get me wrong.  There’s only so much we can take before it gets to us.”

 

“Now I feel sort of sad.”

 

“Why’s that?”

 

“I’m a hypocrite.  I ran instead of persevering like my dad said I needed to do.”

 

“That may be true, but you’re a far better person than me.”

 

“Please don’t say that.  My dad told me never to think of myself as anybody special when I talk about our Lord.  He says it’s like I’d be trying to steal his Glory.”

 

“It has occurred to me since a lot of people don’t want to see his Glory in person; He uses us so they can see it.  Do you understand?”

 

“A little.  But my dad told me about self-right….”

 

“Righteousness.  Yeah, I know about that.  You’re dad is right in a way, but as long as you talk about his Glory then you are showing him the love He desires from us.”

 

“I suppose.”

 

“So the question is what are you going to do when we reach Los Angeles?”

 

Louis pondered the question carefully.  The excitement for him lay in seeing the city.  It was not aboutstopping where the train stopped and then coming back right away.  Louis saw a look in Hector’s face that silently acknowledged the perplexing question.

 

“Are you hungry?”

 

“I’m starved.”

 

“In the back there is a whole bunch of food and water.  Help yourself.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Out of intense hunger Louis gorged himself with such food as he had never seen nor tasted.  It was so unlike the food Cookie prepared.  The meat had no resemblance to scrapple in taste or texture but was filled with such an intense flavor.  Everything tasted and sipped exploded with flavors that pleased the palate.

 

As he continued to devour the food and drink, Louis looked out the front window and saw that the mountains were growing taller and more distinct in shapes and tones.

 

“How much longer before we reach the mountains? Asked Louis.

 

“We got a ways to go just yet.”

 

Feeling bloated, a fatigue fell upon Louis.  His eyes began to droop.

 

“Go ahead and get some sleep,” said Hector.

 

Louis smiled and waved.  Although the floor was made of steel, it was warm to the touch.  He spread himself out and went to sleep.

Mountain Barriers

 Louis slowly responded to an alarm ringing loudly in the locomotive.  He looked up and spotted Hector fast asleep in his chair.  The alarm kept shrieking its high tone alert, but Hector did not budge.  Afraid he might have died somewhere along the vast stretch of rail, Louis jumped to his side and shook him.  Slowly, Hector responded still half asleep and protested the rude awakening with mumblings that spoke of annoyance.

 

“Hector,” Louis whispered, “it’s time to wake up.”

 

Hector finally responded.  He lifted himself up straight in the seat then rubbed his eyes.

 

“The train is about to go up the mountain,” Hector calmly responded.

 

“Do you normally sleep through the alarm?”

 

“Louis, I’ve been doing this for so long that I’m surprised I even hear it at all anymore.”

 

“We have no choice back in the Village,” said Louis.  “Someone always comes around when the alarm goes off to make sure there’s no sleeping in.”

 

“You never get to sleep in?”

 

“No.  Every day we get up at the same time.  Then they give us fifteen minutes to get dressed and report for breakfast.”

 

Hector turned his attention to the digital displays set just under the window.  He adjusted a few levers and the locomotive’s engine sped up the speed of the train. 

 

Louis looked out to see the path of the rails climbing up the mountain.  To the sides of the tracks were nothing but rocks jutting out from dried grass and shrubs.  The track gently began to bend around to the left.  The locomotive strained to pull the load.  He watched intensely as Hector made more adjustments in the levers and wheels then flipped a few of the switches.  The locomotive responded with a surge of power.

 

“Is everything okay Hector?”

 

“It sure is.  This old beast just needs the right amount of pampering to get going.”

 

Louis pointed up towards some high peaks off into the distance.  “Are they the top of the mountains?”

 

“Yes sir.  They look quite different when you start to get a close up view don’t they?”

 

“I always thought they were like, well like bumps you just go over real quick and come back down the other side.”

 

“They’re sort of like that.  But you always saw them from a distance.  You never saw just how tall and wide they are.”

 

“How long will it take to get to the top?”

 

“It just depends on how many boxcars are being pulled along.   Besides that, just to let you know now, the tracks are laid out to slowly climb.  We’ll be travelling more from side to side than moving straight up.  But eventually we’ll get up and over.

 

“Why can’t you go just straight up?”

 

“Can’t do it.  This old beast doesn’t have enough power to do that let alone hauling all the boxcars in the back.”

 

Louis did not understand what was being said, but figured Hector knew what he was talking about and just sat back and enjoyed the thrill of the ride.  For hours Louis was fascinated by the view that lay below as the train went higher and higher up on the mountainside.  The lake, appearing and disappearing now and then from sight, could be seen far off into the distance.  The train yard and all its buildings could be seen but were nothing more than silhouettes clumped together without individual form.  He could even spot the Village smack in the center of neatly arranged fields of growing vegetation and the pastures where the cattle fed, but the Village too was seen as a hazy collective of buildings as smoke drifted high and spread out from above the rendering and food processing plants.  His eyes were transfixed on the vast stretch of land that seemingly went on endlessly as the train reached