"What do you mean different. It's darker, sure, but it still looks the same. Trees are still trees, rocks are rocks, and so on." Tim said.

"That much is true, but it is your perception of them has changed. I remember part of a poem I heard a long time ago. It goes like this;

Cold hearted orb that rules the night.

Removes the colors from our sight.

Red is grey and yellow, white.

But we decide which is right, and which is an illusion.

I've always found that to be true. Like the shadows I was talking to Michelle about. I'm sure you remember getting the branches for your shelter. You might have noticed there was a good sized boulder over there. Can you show it to me now?"

Tim looked in the direction of the treeline. "Uh no, I can't. It's in the shadows, but I know it's there."

"Oh, I'm sure nobody has moved it, but because of the change in the amount of light, your perception of it has changed. If you were a ship, it would possibly sink you, even though you knew it was there. Here is a little thing I want everyone to do, to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. First, close or cover one of your eyes. Then we wait for five minutes. After that, I'm going to take you out of camp, one at a time, so you can see what I mean."

After several minutes of chatting, Bob stood and spoke.

"O.K. Tim. You are our doubting Thomas, so I guess I'll start with you. Everyone keep that eye covered, Tim and I will be back shortly and then it will be somebody else's turn. Come on, Tim. I'll help you, so you don't trip on anything on your blind side."

Together the men walked a short way from the camp. Once they had gotten far enough away from the light of the fire, Bob turned to Tim.

"The rock I spoke about is right over there." Bob pointed into the night. "Do you see it with your uncovered eye?"

"No. It's just like you said. It is all shadow."

"Alright, on the count of three, change eyes. Look with the covered eye, and cover the one you've been using. Ready? One, two, three."

Tim switched eyes.

"Can you see the rock now?"

Tim looked, and was surprised to find that he could indeed not only see the stone, but he saw it with much more detail than he expected.

"Now, switch back."

Tim did, and commented. "I am starting to see it with the other eye, but it's just the outline. I guess I'm getting adjusted to it."

"But do you see how your perceptions have changed without the light?"

"I do see. Thank you. I guess sometimes you have to see some things for yourself."

"Here's one more thing. You were talking about listening. Things even sound differently in the dark. Listen." Bob picked up a rock and threw it. Tim couldn't believe how much noise it made when it hit.

"Alright, it sounds louder. So why couldn't I hear you?"

"First of all, obviously it made the same amount of noise right now, as it would have in the day. However at night, there are fewer distractions, and you see less, so your sense of hearing tries to compensate for it. Which means you hear more. If you truly understand that, then you adapt the way you move in order to make less noise. Like when I crawled into camp to put my piece of paper down."

Bob had a variety of conversations as he brought each member of the group, with the exception of Alex, into the night. Michelle was next.

"Thank you for showing me this Bob. I'd never noticed it before."

"Let me show you something else. You remember how the poem spoke of how colors change without the light?"

She nodded without speaking.

"When we left camp, your shirt was a light grey. Mine was blue. Look at them now."

Michelle looked down and was startled to see that in the dark, her shirt was almost white. Glancing at Bobs' shirt it looked almost black.

"I guess the change in lighting does more than I knew." She paused for a moment and spoke again. "I get the feeling you don't miss much, do you?"

"I try not to miss anything."

It was Sam's turn next.

"That's kinda neat Mr. Bob." He was quiet for a moment and spoke again. "Mr. Bob. You wouldn't use something like this to hunt for deer, would you?"

"No Sam, you wouldn't."

"So why are you teaching us about all of this?"

"You remember when those gang members were breaking into your house?"

"Sure. I've never been that scared before."

"What if things had ended differently? What if you became their prisoner, and managed to escape? Wouldn't you like to have a better chance to disappear?"

"Oh, cool. I never thought of it that way."

Tom proved to be a little more thoughtful than others of the group.

"Mr. Bob, you've been teaching us an awful lot that can be used for more than hunting, and some things like this can't be used for hunting at all. Haven't you?"

"Yes I have Tom."

"You think we might have to use this stuff to protect ourselves, or escape from the people that are after us." It wasn't a question Bob noticed, and decided to speak to the young man straight from the shoulder.

"Sit down for a minute. This takes some explaining. Tom, do you believe we are in the end times?"

"I haven't seen the antichrist yet, but it sure seems like it to me. I mean storms, earthquakes, famine, wars, just about all of it is happening."

"Have you thought about what that really means for you and your family as Christians?"

"I guess it means that Satan wants to kill us all."

"That's right. But it also means that anyone that isn't a Christian either is, or will become your enemy. Did you ever hear anyone talk about different colored 'pick up' lists?"

"Sort of. Some of guys in my school talked about them. I never listened too much. It didn't seem like it would affect me. I mean Dad wasn't in the military. We didn't own any guns. What did we have to worry about? You know what I mean?"

"Yes I do. Most people reacted the same way. But now you can see that it did. If people had been allowed to have guns, those gang members wouldn't ever have gotten so far. But, I wonder if you see something else."

"What's that?"

"I'm sure that you have heard that these lists were different colors. Do you know that there are really only two lists that matter?"

"Which ones are those? Red and Green? Since they are the first ones killed."

"No. There only two lists that really matter. The first, is the one found in The Lambs' Book of Life, or second, everyone else. God knows who is on His list, and He is always looking for more people to join it. However, there are two things people have lost sight of. You see, if your name is found in 'The Lambs Book of Life' you ARE on a pick up list, because Satan wants you dead. The only question left is if he gets his hands on you, will they kill you when they see you, or kill you later? But make no mistake, Satan will kill us all if he can."

"It kind of sounds like we are done for."

"No, Tom. We are serving God. If He wants us to die, we will die, but what we will win, after this life, is worth it. If He wants us to live, it doesn't matter what list you are on, or what the enemy sends against you. You and The Lord will always outnumber any number of enemies."

"I never thought of it like that. Thanks Mr. Bob."

"My pleasure."


Early the next morning, Alex found his father fixing fresh fish for breakfast. First he checked the fire to make sure there was enough heat, and then he turned to his father.

"Looks like your mini trot-line worked."

On the day before when they had arrived at the camp site, Bob had taken a small spool of fishing line and slipped four hooks onto the end of it. Then he tied an anchor onto the end and pulled a couple of feet of line out, before he made a loop and tied the first hook in place. Doing the same, he soon had all four hooks tied in place. After that, he pulled out yet a little more line, cut it and tied it to a small tree near the waters edge. Then he attached a cork to the line between the anchor and the first hook. It didn't take long after that before he had caught insects to bait the hooks with. He threw the anchor into the water and waited to see if any fish would bite the hooked insects.

"Tell you the truth Son, I'm surprised we did as well as we have. I caught two, and you had four on your line. I didn't think a lake as small as the one we've camped next to would have that many fish."

"So everyone gets fresh fish for breakfast. Don't get me wrong Dad. I like everybody, but don't you get tired of carrying them like this?"

"Son, I carried you for a lot of years. But that is what a father is supposed to do. As for everyone else? Well we all have our calling. Mine has always been to help. I know, it isn't one of the more flashy gifts, like prophecy or tongues, but every man of God in scripture had those who helped him. I guess that puts me in good company, so who am I to complain?"


BW, Vietnam Vet

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If you missed the beginning of this exciting series, it started with Overthrown – Death of America. You can catch up on all of the previous installments here.