The Answered Prayer

One day i was talking to a professor in philosophy. Somehow religion had come up, and this is what he had to say:
"You really think God loves us? Look around. millions of people suffer everyday. Children starve,   
families are torn, war wages on. If God exists, He could not be a loving God."

I walked home through the downtown streets as i always did. I noticed some things i didnt notice before;homeless old men sat down in the alleys. Children with swollen bellies looked at me in sadness or envy. A beggar sat on the opposite sidewalk wth a sign saying "Will work for food." I walked over there and put a dollar in his cup, it was all i had in my wallet; I knew that it wasnt enough to help him. He looked starving.

Something about what the professor said cut into my conscience. Could God really love us? I thought about all the devastation, poverty and hatred i saw on the news every single day.
I  went home, fell to my knees and prayed. I closed my eyes.
"God, why do you allow these things to happen? Why is there pain in this world that you made?..I dont mean to be disrespectful.." I added cautiously, "But... if you love us, why do you let these things happen?"
When i opened my eyes, I was  kneeling on the peak of a gigantic mountain, in the middle of a blizzard. Snow covered me, but i was not cold. It felt like I was standing next to a warm campfire. I saw a man standing next to me. any snowflakes that fell in radius of him melted into the air. His body shone like the sun. He had a brilliant smile that blinded me. He held out his  right hand and helped me up.
"Do you not know that I love you?" He asked.
My eyes bulged. "Jesus?!"
He smiled. He put his hand on my shoulder and gestured toward the clouds. Suddenly the skies bacame bluer than the sea.
"Look down. What do you see?"
I could see the entire world. Nations and mountains and valleys and fields, forests and deserts and seas, spanning miles and miles and miles. My eyes couldnt handle the incredible overload of information it was recieving. It was all so beautiful.
"My love for you is more vast than everything you see before you. Everything I have ever created, I created for my people. Are you beginning to understand
I looked at him unsure.
He smiled.

I blinked. Suddenly we were in a prison hallway.
"Why are we here?" I asked him confusedly.
"Follow me."
He led me down the hall and turned to a cell door. He walked through it like it didnt exist. I stared at the door stupidly. He grabbed me by the collar and pulled me through.
A man in orange sat on the concrete floor crying. He couldnt see us, or if he did, he didnt care.
"You ask me why evil exists?" Jesus asked me.
"Um... yeah."
He sighed. "Good cannot exist without evil. Could light be real without darkness?"
I thought about it. I shook my head.
"Exactly. Good cannot exist without the possibility of evil, joy cannot exist without the chance of sadness, and warmth cant be felt without the cold. Evil is just a lack of goodness-a lack of Me. I give everyone a chance to accept My love, to allow Good in. If the world accepted me, there wouldnt be so many of these awful things you said." He looked at the crying man. "That man is James Tinner. He is on Death Row. He sinned against his fellow man in a way that cannot be reversed. But I will give him one more chance. His lawyer will find a way to set him free, and he will find someone who will lead him to Me, if he accepts it. I love every man, even James Tinner, even after what hes done. Are you starting to understand?"
"I.. I think so."

He smiled.

Suddenly I was in a garden. Where did Jesus go? i looked around.  I saw a man kneeling on a rock. I came closer. He was crying-and sweating blood. It had occured to me that this man was Jesus. I didnt recognize Him at first.He wasnt the brilliantly shining force of infinite power i had spent the last few minutes with. He was just a man. An ordinary looking man. It had occured to me just how much He demoted Himself when He made himself look like a human.
And this... this must be the Garden of Gethsemane, right before He was taken.
"Please God, please. Take this burden from me." He pleaded to God. Why would He pray to himself? I wondered. All of His other prayers that I could remember were to teach His disciples... Could He really have spent even His last breaths as a free man to teach us? I knelt before Him in awe and reverence, watching carefully for a sign, a lesson, something. He brought me here for a reason. He did not look up at me, as if this vision was like a recording.
"Lord, if I must, I will do Your will."
He sighed sadly and walked off. I followed Him. He went a short distance to find a group of men sleeping.
"Could you not stay awake for an hour for me!?" He objected as He woke them up. He sighed.
"Keep on praying, so that you do not fall to temptation. The Spirit is willing, but your flesh is weak."
The disciples nodded, still confused about what was happening.
Jesus went back and prayed again. He went to the stone and knelt and cried for so long. Here, the God of the Universe, stooping so low, becoming so weak, so that He could be crucified for us, so that us tiny human beings could be forgiven. My eyes watered and i began to choke up. As He prayed to do His Fathers will, I sat facing Him and prayed the same. Even though His eyes never met mine, I knew He could see me. We prayed for the longest time, until He finally got up and I followed Him.

The men He had told to pray earlier were again asleep.
"Are you still sleeping!" Jesus exclaimed. "The time has come, and the Son of Man will be taken to sinners. Wake up! Come on, lets go! My traitor is coming!"
The men hurriedly stood up just in time for a man to come from the thickets. He walked to Jesus and kissed Him on the cheek.
"You betray me with a kiss?" Jesus sighed. "Do what you came for, friend.

Soldiers came from out of nowhere and grabbed Him. I wanted to stop them, but I knew I couldnt. One of Jesus' disciples charged with a sword and swung at a soldiers head. He barely dodged it, and his entire ear was sliced off, bleeding profusely. The man screamed in pain and let go of Jesus.
"Stop Peter!" Jesus cried out. "If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword." Peter looked at Him shocked. Jesus rose up, took his ear, and put it back in place perfectly, and the skin around his ear sowed itself back on. The man stared at Jesus in awe, as did I. The other soldiers grabbed him and arrested him.
"Dont you think I could call on my Father, and he could over 12 Legions of Angels to me as we speak? But then how could the scriptures that say it must happens like this be fulfilled?"
Then He turned to the guards. "Am i leading a rebellion, that you come armed with swords and clubs to take me? Everyday I preached openly in the temples, and you did not arrest Me. Scripture is being fulfilled."

And so I watched Him. I watched Him be dragged off by the men, beaten and bruised on His way there. I watched Him tolerate the Pharisees court, as they spat on Him and beat Him for speaking the Truth. I stood there with Him at the courthouse as people lied about Him before Pontius Pilate and cursed at Him, demanding His crucifixion.

I saw Him carry a heavy wooden cross as He was whipped. With each whip, flesh became seperated from bone. I saw Him pushed to the ground as they drove nails through each of His palms, and through His feet. Through tear-stained eyes, I watched Him as he died. I cried and cried and cried. I didnt even care when I blinked and I was back in my room. I kept on crying. Suddenly I felt myself standing, and a warm light came over me as I was suddenly embraced by a light. Jesus' voice was an immediate comfort to me.
"I came off of my High Throne-an altar in heaven, never-ceasingly praised by angels and man alike, in order that I could have a relationship with you, that I could stop the evil in this world without destroying My creations, who I loved. I gave up everything for you, and I would do it again. Are you starting to understand?"
"Yes! Yes I do!" I cried.
He smiled.
I smiled too.