The gates shimmered like they’d been carved from sunrise itself. Charlie stood before them, his shoulders, always squared against the world, felt light. He rubbed at them, puzzled. They didn’t feel the same. They didn’t feel right.
A voice, deep like thunder and wrapped in kindness, spoke from the gate. “You never realized how much weight I set upon them.”
Charlie took a step forward, and the brilliance before him parted. The Lord stood revealed.
He rubbed his shoulder again and felt a wetness. Still confused, he held up a bloodied palm.
The Lord said, “It was time for me to lift the burden.”
Charlie shook his head. His voice sharpened. “Not a burden. A fight. And I was willing to carry it longer. Why end it here?”
Silence settled heavy between them until Charlie forced words into the stillness.
“I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” — John 9:4
He lifted his eyes. “Lord, I still have daylight left. My task isn’t finished.”
The Lord answered, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” — Revelation 21:6
“My child, the beginning and ending of your work rests with Me, not with you.”
Charlie’s throat tightened as he pressed his point again.
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” — Proverbs 22:6
His voice coarsened as he leaned on the words. “My children still need their father to guide them.”
The Lord rebutted,
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father… Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” — Matthew 10:29–31
“Do you see?” the Lord said. “I care for your children even more than you do. They are safe with Me.”
Charlie’s shoulders slumped. His lips parted as if to argue again, but no words came. The fight was still in him, but so was the dawning knowledge that this was not a debate he could win.
The Lord’s voice deepened, final. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.” — Isaiah 55:11
“Your voice has become theirs. My Word has taken root, and it will prosper beyond you.”
Then, the Lord parted the heavens, and the earth lay revealed beneath them.
Charlie looked down. His children, safe—because he had chosen well, a wife and mother who would not falter. Crowds stood in vigil, repeating words he once spoke, but now they were their own. The message was spreading faster than he had ever dreamed, stronger than his single voice could have carried.
His chest heaved once, and then he bowed his head. “Then I will rest.”
He stepped through the gates. The strange feeling in his shoulders was gone. They no longer felt too light. They were now ready, with wings, for the labor of eternity.