A Needed Visit

Jermaine Johnson and Edward Diner were high school friends. After finishing high school, they remained friends. Working regular jobs during the week, hanging out together every weekend. Spending most of their time going to clubs and parties; doing lots of drinking and smoking. Comfortable with the life they've chose. They were headed for self destruction but didn't know it!

One summer day of a weekend in 1996, the duo sat outside on the porch of Edwards house. To beat the heat, they took off their t-shirts; all they had left on were tank tops, short pance, and fresh white sneakers. As usuall, they drank, smoked, and made plans for later that evening, wiping sweat from their brows, with small towells. In the middle of one of their discussions, Edward got up, finishing off his beer, and went into the house, leaving Jermaine out on the porch alone. Jermaine pulled out his pager checking it. He was receiving a page.

Edward yelled out to him from inside the house. "Want another beer?"

"Yeah."

Jermaine wiped sweat from his face with his small towel and put his pager away. It was obvious it was someone he did'nt want to talk to. As he turned back around, there was a man standing at the end of the driveway. The man was very dark-skinned. His hair was like a sheep's coat. His eyes were covered with dark shades. He wore a rainbow-colored tank top, shorts, and socks. The man didn't say a word, did'nt move a muscle--just stared! Jermaine was somewhat on edge, because he did not recognize the man. So he spoke to him first. "Whats Up?"

The man said nothing; he just began walking toward Jermaine. Sandles covered his footed socks, which srcapped against rocks in the driveway. Jermaine stood to his feet as the man got closer, clinching a tighter grip on his nearly emptied bottle of beer. Jermaine noticed something, that he hadn't before: The man was carrying pamphlets in his right hand. This put Jermaine at ease somewhat. He said nothing to Jermaine, just handed him one of the pamphlets.

At the same time, Edward stepped out of the house with two bottles of beer.

"Oh Sh..!" Edward replied. The man said nothing to him either, but instead just handed him a pamphlet, then turned and walked down the driveway.

In confusion and misunderstanding, Jermaine and Edward looked at each other then opened the pamphlets. Briefly glimpsing the pamhlets, just to see what they were about, they looked up and stepped off the porch. They looked both ways down the street, but the man was nowhere to be seen!

"Where he go!" Edward asked.

Jermaine said nothing; he had been amazed and shocked at the same time!

In the days, weeks, and years that followed this encounter, neither ever spoke of what happened, either to one another or to anyone else. Frigtened of what people would say or think, they just kept it to themselves.

Who was it that visited Jermaine and Edward that day? Why did he come to visit them? Where did he come from? How did he disappear like that? Would they ever see him again? If so, when?

These are questions you'll have to answer yourself, because what can be said is limited. If you'd like to know what was in the pamphlet, there were these verses, combined: Psalms 139 1-6,13-14,23-24.

Dewayne Coleman

The Paradigm