| Gabriel on the Moon |
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| Written by Roger Born | |
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Once, a very long long, time ago there was nothing anywhere in all of existence, except God. He was all there was. He was complete, so there did not need to be anything else. But God had a thought, and he wanted to create Angels, so he first made a place big enough to contain them, which he called Heaven. And so he created them. He made all of them, all at once. They were all very surprised and delighted to be created, all fully grown and so strong and healthy. Naturally they all wanted to thank God for creating them, so they formed a long line to pay their respects and give him their thanks. It WAS a long line, stretching off into eternity. This business went on for a very long time, since God and Angels are very patient, but a few of them were wondering aloud if there wouldn't be a better way to say thanks. God heard them, so he said, "Why don't you create some music?" They didn't know what that was, so they asked God about it, and he explained it to them. Soon they were writing music to sing, and inventing words to make into lyrics. This was great! They all were very happy and God was pleased with their effort to honor him. So they began! It was wonderful to hear, with all the Angels singing in all their parts and harmony. It was very inventive and beautiful, -except - off in the distance, way over yonder, there was an awful sound! Everyone stopped to listen, and soon there was a big empty circle around one Angel, who was sort of sheepishly bowing his head. (He hadn't thought he was THAT bad. . .) God said, "Gabriel! Izzat you?" Gabe acknowledged that is was indeed him that had made that extraordinary sound, since it really couldn't be called music. God said, "Gabriel! You can't carry a tune!" He was the only Angel created that somehow could not sing. So sad! Then God said, "Why don't you play an instrument to accompany the music?" All the Angels were asking what an instrument was, so God explained it to them. Soon they all were happy again, inventing and building stringed instruments, woodwind instruments, and horns. There were violins, guitars, harps, pianos, and every kind of stringed instrument. There were clarinets, bassoons, flutes, and every kind of reed instruments. There were trumpets, French horns, saxophones, kazoos, and every kind of horn you could imagine. Then the Angels all gathered around the throne of God and began to make music to go with the singing in their praise to God. It so was beautiful, - except, way over yonder, far off that-a-way, there was an awful, and LOUD sound. Everyone stopped to listen, and soon there was a big empty circle around one Angel. (Yep. It was Gabriel.) God said, "Gabriel! You can't play that horn?" Gabriel was sort of shy and he sheepishly admitted that he might need to practice. God said that was OK. "Gabe, stand over here by my throne and let these others sing and play their music. I will make you a place to practice. Is that alright?" Gabriel agreed, and took his horn, and carried it under his arm as he walked in a very dignified way to the place God had said to go. God later told him privately that he had a big project coming up and that he had the perfect place in mind for him to practice. Gabriel was happy, - and patient too, so he waited and listened to the music of Heaven, taking it all in. One day, God said, "I am going to create the heavens and the earth." All the Angels rejoiced at this, but not one of them knew what "heavens and the earth" might be. So they all gathered around God and watched as he began to speak things into existence! First he set a space for this all to exist, which was a place quite apart from Heaven. Then they watched in wonder as he created the sun, moon and stars, and then the earth itself, with all of its life in the air, in the seas, and on the land. Last of all they watched as he created Man in his image! God saw that it was all very good, and so did all the Angels. Then God rested. After he was through resting, he called Gabriel over, and showed him the place where he could practice all he wanted without bothering anyone. It was the beautiful and perfect satellite of the earth! There was no air on the moon, but that was all right. Gabriel was continually surrounded by the airy realm of Heaven, wherever he might go, so that was not a problem for him. The terrible heat and cold of the moon lacking an atmosphere was also no problem, since Angels are impervious to such things, being creatures of Heaven. So Gabriel, in full view of Heaven, and with the lovely earth high in the sky above, sat down on a mountain, with his feet in a dry sea, and began to practice. He could always hear the music in Heaven, (having Angel ears so that they can hear everything), so he tried to play along with that great music he was hearing. Soon he was caught up in his practice, so much so that as he sat there, he put the trumpet pointing down to the ground and blew hard. "Poooom!" "Oh no!" Gabriel thought. "I put a hole in God's perfect new moon!" He got up and wandered off to another place to sit and practice. But soon there was another crater at his feet. His horn was especially powerful, even though it was only a small silver one. (And you all thought it was rocks that made them craters!) Life, and time went on. Gabriel practiced all the time on the moon, but sometimes he just sat and watched the people on the earth. (Angels have angel-eyes, so they can see everything everywhere.) He saw man in Eden, and he saw God bring Eve to the man. Then he saw them tempted by the serpent, and he saw them fall. After that, Gabriel increasingly shied away from watching Man, for the whole race was becoming ugly, violent, and wicked. Soon Gabriel sought the back side of the Moon to practice and play, since he could not stand to watch Man any more. One day, God came to see Gabriel. (He was very polite not to mention all the holes in the new Moon's surface.) He said, "Gabriel! I want you to play for me, just for a short time, right here from the Moon. This is the note I want you to play, at just this pitch. I want you to play it when I tell you to, and play it for forty days straight.. Can you do that?" Gabriel said he could. It was easy, really. For Angels also live in God's time, where a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. Gabriel had only been on the Moon for a day or so, you see, even though a thousand years had passed on the earth. Gabriel also knew why God had asked him to play such a peculiar request. It was because of Man. God was very sad that he created Man, so he was going to wipe out all life on the earth. (We know God was very kind, because in all of this, he had gotten eight people in a family to build a boat, which would carry all the land animals and insects, and the birds to safely.) The day came when God told Gabriel to play. Gabe picked up his horn, aimed it at the earth and blew! He continued to blow very hard just the one note that God wanted him to. Soon, down on the earth, all the waters that were above the atmosphere began to fall. It was raining for the very first time on the earth. People were afraid, but they would not give up their evil devices. Gabriel blew some more, and the fountains of the earth itself began to break up, sending great floods upon the surface of the planet. Gabe blew and blew for forty days, and then he quit and sat down. He was very sad that God had asked him to do that, since all he could see now on surface of the earth was water. There had only been one continent, and it did not have very many mountains, but it was all gone, and with it, Man was gone too. So Gabriel went back to his practicing. Some day he knew that he would be not just good, but that he would be the very best trumpet player in all of the universe! He just felt it to be true, so he played and played. Life, and time passed. Gabe saw Man and life on the dry earth again, and he was pleased with God for giving them another chance. So he watched Man again as his history unfolded. Once in a while God would stop by and ask him to play another note, just a note? Gabe was asked once to play with his trumpet pointed at the Sun, and just for twelve hours. This he did, although he was not sure what it was for. Turns out that Joshua needed an extra twelve hours of light to finish a battle, so Gabriel blowing at the Sun caused Time and Space to sort of stop for a while. Another time God asked him to blow his horn when the children of Israel did, and thus he helped knock down the walls of a city. Gabriel, in all those times in between, kept right on practicing. He was getting pretty good. He could play as well or better than all those other Angels around the throne of God. This wasn't pride or conceit on his part, because it was just true. One day, God announced that he was going down to the Earth himself, and become a Man! Gabriel, along with the rest of Creation was not sure what this meant, but they had long ago quit being surprised by anything God could do, because he could do ANYTHING, after all! So God told Gabriel to put his horn away for a while and go visit an old man, and a young woman down on earth. God told him just what to say the old man Zachariah, the girl Mary and to her fiancé Joseph, which he gladly did, acting very official and all. Then Gabriel watched with great joy as God became flesh, living among Man, and showing his glory to all. He watched Jesus walk on the water and stop the storm. He watched him feed the hungry, and heal the sick and lame. He saw Jesus preach the simple Good News that they were loved by God, and that he was always with them. He saw Jesus heal the deaf and the blind, and even raise the dead! It was wonderful, watching God walk among his Creation, but not all of the people were accepting of Jesus. At the end of Jesus' ministry, some powerful man were planning to kill him! How awful! Here was the Creator, the Maker of all things, in danger from his own created beings! Gabriel saw them take Jesus late one night, and they continually beat him, spit on him and abuse him with their speech. Gabe now knew that Jesus was going to die! Gabriel felt something inside himself. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was ANGER! In all his existence, he had never felt rage and hatred, but now it was rising in him, removing all his reserve and politeness. He stood and looked up at the earth, for by now they had crucified Jesus and were watching him hang there between heaven and earth. Gabriel picked up his horn and began to blow, angrily, at the earth! Suddenly it was raining hard there, just as hard as it did when Gabe had made the Flood! Angrily, he stopped, lest he flood the whole world again, but it continued to rain. He blew again, and the Sun became black, and a great darkness covered the whole earth, as its Creator hung dying on that cross! Gabriel's rage knew no limits, and he blew again. This time there was a great earthquake in the city of Jerusalem, and in all the area round about. Gabriel had blown his trumpet so hard and so loud that the curtain covering the Holy Place in the Temple was torn from top to bottom! He continued to blow! He didn't care anymore! As he blew, some of the dead got up from their graves and began to walk around in the city, talking about the death of Jesus, the Son of God! With that, Gabe left off blowing his horn. He was tearful for having given in to his anger. He was also sorry for what he had done to the earth in his anger. What would God say to all of that? So he sat down again on that old mountain, putting his big feet in the plain down below, and just watched and waited. Jesus was dead now, and the cross was empty. They had taken him and buried him in a borrowed tomb. It was Thursday night on the earth. Friday morning came and went. Friday evening was over. Saturday also came and went without any incident. Was God dead? Would Jesus never come out of that grave? He was God, after all. Could it be that Death was more powerful than God? Gabriel, along with all of the Universe, just sat and waited, watching to see what would become of it all. Sunday morning Jesus came out of that tomb, never to die again! Gabriel, again unable to contain himself and the joy of that event, blew his trumpet long and loud, for all of Creation to hear! There was another earthquake down there again, caused by yours truly, our friend Gabriel. The years still roll on. Gabriel has been up there on the Moon now for the last twenty centuries. Of course in Angel time, that is just a few weeks. He's no longer practicing. He is PLAYING! He has gotten GOOD! Ol Gabe now has quite a following. Through the ages, when men cannot sleep, they sometimes go out under the stars at night, say around 2AM. Some of them, in their hearts of hearts can hear him playing. A few of them actually caught some of that great, jazzy, majestic music of his, and they wrote it down for themselves. You know who some of these great musicians are: Isaac Watts, Wolfgang A. Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, Louis Armstrong, Charley Parker, Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams, John Lennon, Snoopy Dog . . . and all the others who, with their hearts, listen to the fine, fine horn blowing of that dude up on the Moon! Yeah, it has been a long time for us, and in a way, it has been a long wait for Gabriel. He still hasn't been called yet. God has not asked him to return to the throne to take his place among the hosts of Heaven, to join in or to lead the great Hallelujah chorus. Ol' Gabe is patient, as all Angels are. But he knows there is yet one more request to be made of him. He knows down deep in his being that God is yet going to ask him to pick up his trumpet and blow, one more time! When God calls his name, Gabriel is going to do the command performance of his career! He is going to pick it up and BLOW like he has never blown before! The heavens and the earth are going to shake, rattle, and roll with the sound of his trumpet, for it will be the last Trump! The sun will become black as night, and the moon will be as red as blood. The elements are going to melt with fervent heat and great noise, as God rolls Creation up as a scroll! One other thing will occur then, as he blows his horn. Everyone in the graves and in the sea will rise up to meet their Creator! - - After all of that is over, and after Judgment Day is passed - - After God creates a new Heavens and Earth for Man to live on with all the rest of his Creation - - Lets you and me go into that great City of God, and there we can go for a stroll. It won't be hard to find that little corner place where Gabriel and his Seven Cool Cats are playing. You and me can go into that little place and listen to Gabe blow his horn. We won't fear that his blowing will be too loud, for the New Earth is built of much stronger and more lasting stuff than that old, shadowy world we lived on. You just know that his music won't cause any troubles in THAT place! After he is through playing, you know what I want to do? I want to go up to Gabriel, and say, "Hey Gabe! Can I hold your horn for a while?" ------------------- The moral? Well, if there is one, it is that God created each of us with wonderful and unique gifts and abilities, which we can use to do good to others, and to praise him with. Gabriel, like some of us, just needed some time to practice at it, so that he could get to be world-class! Therefore, don't you neglect the gift that is in you, for with some time, and some polish, you will get to be a world-class act yourself, just as God created you to be! (The real moral? Yeah, there is one. God loves you and his love for you is unconditional and without repentance. He wants very much to have a real relationship with you in every way that he has it with Gabriel. Once you can look at him that way, you will find unconditional love, acceptance, forgiveness and repentance with him.) Be well, -- and behave! |
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