By Liaf
You may think I finally went off the deep end here. "What are you talking about, Liaf?" you may ask. "Is this some sort of a movie you saw?" No. This really happened to me as a kid. But I'll explain in a moment.
Right now I am going though some trials in life. As a matter of fact, we all are. Ever since September 11th, there seems to have been a dark cloud overshadowing this great nation of ours. I try to do my part by educating people regarding our origin, and I try to reassure everybody, but there still lingers a dark feeling that nothing is the same. Personally, I know of two friends who are dying of cancer, the economy is bad, it looks like wars and more terrorism will occur, and to top it off I may personally lose my job of 22 years. This is not supposed to happen, should it? Who says?
Back to the curtains. As a kid, I had a lot of fears and even a bigger over-active imagination. In my pre-schooler days, I had many science-fiction type visions and dreams of creatures in my bedroom at night. There was the red flashing robot that came at me. I screamed and my father quickly came to my side to reassure me. Sometimes I was allowed to sleep with my parents. What a comfort that was to a little boy afraid of terrifying things! Even when I slept with them, I would hear the door between our bedrooms squeak as it opened, and I knew the creatures were there, but I felt safe with my father! Nothing or nobody dared to even think of challenging my father, no matter how awful the creature was.
Then there was the terrifying "green boy". This green image or silhouette of a "country style boy with a big straw hat" would just stand there motionless and threatening as if he was watching me. My brother asked where he came from and I said he just came through the window (which he later confessed to me made him think of the possibility that this creature had an other-worldliness origin). I had many nightmares about this "green boy" but my father promptly come to my bed and kept me company. (Later on in life when I was 14 years old, I had a bad cold and a fever. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I saw the green face of a woman directly in front of me only to immediately disappear. I then realized that what I was probably seeing as a young child was the green shading of the eyes, perhaps from a fever. This same shading is natural 'sunglasses' when the light is bright and we often see these spots before our eyes when we come out from the sun).
Then there were the talking curtains. I had curtains with various shapes and designs imprinted upon them. What they were anymore I cannot remember. However, the folds of these designs created what appeared to be a misshapen and square head at the top left. I vaguely remember playing with a new plastic toy tool set that I got as a gift in the middle of the night. I must have woke up playing with them I enjoyed them so much! (I guess that's sleep-playing ;-) ). The dreaded words then came as a whisper from the curtains with the head, "A-WAH-WAY". The whisper of these three syllables almost dragged on, the creature was in no hurry to say them. I frantically jumped into my bed while screaming for father to come. I remember accidentally kicking one of the tools clear under the bed through to the other side in my haste to seek cover. In the morning, my father asked what happened to make me so afraid. I explained to him what happened and that I kicked a tool under the bed. During that bright, sunny morning, he reached down and retrieved the tool that I kicked under the bed. The tool served as a reminder that something dreadful really occurred during the night in spite of the beautiful, new morning.
Do you know what? Kids have it hard, too. I'm sure my father smiled upon me thinking my fears were so small in comparison to his (although nothing outwardly bothered him). I'm sure he had his silent laughs. Do you think God does the same with us even though our fears and trials seem BIGGER? And would any creature, no matter how dreadful ever think of challenging God? Let's go back to our big troubles that I opened this message with. I may lose my job. In a helpful manner, people offer all kinds of advice. There is the "mentor" counseling philosophy. There are "survival" courses in how to get your life back together and start a new one. Everybody and everything seems to have an answer to help one survive. Never mind the fact that God allowed us to be prosperous all these years and this problem is not my fault, thank you. Even in good times, we always made out better than the "helpers" and they are going to tell us how to do it? What's wrong? Don't I have a God I can call "Father" to call on? Sure I have. And you do, too. I am reading a book right now that explains the difference between the Hebrew name for God Creator (Elohiym) and the covenant-keeping national name for God (Jehovah or Yahweh). You see, I never gave it much thought because this is a site that teaches about the covenant-keeping God, our Father. I assumed (because I am saved) that people call on the same God. It was difficult for me to understand how people can call on God and yet be lost. The answer is simple. They call on ELOHIYM only. This is the great Creator and Benefactor God. They do not see their need of atonement. "Dish it out to me, God." they may say. On the other hand, some people call on the LORD (translated from Jehovah) because he is the personal, covenant-keeping God whom faith is placed in. These people see God as a God of Judgment and Justice, but yet a Merciful Loving God who provides a way of atonement from sin. This is what is meant by the Scripture in Genesis 4:26 "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD [JEHOVAH]." As I taught before, there was always a righteous line. And here we see them starting to call on the covenant-keeping God instead of just Creator God. For a side-note here, usually when the KJV has "God" in the text, it is reference to ELOHIYM but whenever "LORD" is there in the text, the translation is from Jehovah.
To hell (literally) with all those who do not want to place their faith in Jehovah God. I have a Great God and Loving Father who will see me and my family through it all. Mark my words! I don't need to know "how to survive." These same people are the ones who base their premises on a "faithless" belief system. Why would you or I want their help? Let's get real! By the way, I took comfort in the name of Jehovah or Yahweh. As a matter of fact, this name, called the Tetragrammaton by the Jews, is so holy that they do not pronounce it. It is written YHWH without the vowels because as many of you know, there are no vowels in the Hebrew per-se but "jots and tittles" written along side of the letters for vowel pronunciation. As I was studying the name of YHWH, all of a sudden the spooky curtains came back to my mind. Why was that? I was thinking maybe this event was not a figment of my imagination this time. You see, I always took interest in spiritual things even as a child--- subjects of angels and the afterlife for instance. Suddenly I realized after all these years what the head on the curtains (or maybe angel) was saying: "A-YAH-WEH". The first syllable could have just as easily been "HA!". Who would hear the "H" (or any other sound for that matter) in a whisper? This is the same Hebrew word for Lo! or Look! or Behold! BEHOLD! YAHWEH! These are times of dread, but.... BEHOLD! YAHWEH! Our Covenant-Keeping God!
I did not realize it then, but all through my life God watched over me. I can now see it in both small and large things--- guiding me through every path. I now claim I even "tried" to screw up my life but God would cut the plan short and save me. What about you? And although the curtains were a fright to me back then, I often wonder in these recent days when I discovered what was said if this event was just the start of the days of my life when God would watch over me. This was the angelic mandate to base my faith. So now, in these terrible times ahead, the dark night of fear will ultimately be overtaken with the dawning of a bright, new day--- just as the night of the talking curtains gave way to the pleasant morning. In the darkness, we have Jehovah just as I had my father with me back then as a child. In the morning, my dad was still there. Upon learning all this, I am now most grateful for the curtains that said, "A-WAH-WAY".