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The Dream

Late one night when the stars were shining their brightest in a deep medieval sky, a child lay sleeping in his attic bed, and dreamed a most incredible dream. Stirring in his sleep several times, he smiled, then laughed and sighed until the morning came with her gentle probing and softly opened his eyes.
   Then the covers flew as the child leaped from his bed. Drawing on his clothes as quickly as he could, he ran down the narrow attic staircase, then raced through the breakfast smells and the sound of his mother’s voice calling after him as he bolted out the door.
   He ran along the streets, skipping over mud holes and dodging chickens and people until he came at last to the harbor where he could see the masts of the great ships towering above the crowd on the shore. Without hesitating, he plunged into a sea of legs and pinafores, and continued weaving and diving, bumping and shoving, leaping and lunging and all the while shouting at the top of his lungs, “Columbus! Wait! I’ve got to tell you something!”
   Several men were speaking together as the child propelled himself through the crowd.
   “I don’t believe we’ll ever see that madman again,” one of the men was saying. “The queen is a fool to let him go off like that. This expedition of his must be costing the realm a small fortune.”
   “It’s beyond a fortune,” one man in a long, black robe replied. “That money should have been given to the church where it would do some good. It grieves me no end to think of the funds that will soon be slipping off the edge of the world into some black abyss. Everyone knows the world is flat. I don’t know where Columbus ever got the notion it was round.”
   “The devil probably whispered to him in his sleep.”
   “I most heartily agree.”
   The conversation was suddenly interrupted as the child flew in between the men, bellowing the name of that controversial explorer.
   “Columbus, wait!”
   The child soon found himself running in mid-air, for the man in the long, black robe had swooped down just in time to capture the squirming youth. Holding his prey firmly between two massive hands, the man in black scowled his disapproval.
   “What’s the matter, boy? Where are your manners?”
   “I’ve got to speak to Columbus!” the child heaved breathlessly.
   “That’s impossible,” the man in black growled. “He’s just about to leave, and besides, he’s surrounded by the queen’s army. And whatever makes you think he’d stop what he’s doing to speak to a common little boy?”
   “But you don’t understand!” the boy cried. “I’ve got to tell him something really important!”
   The other men were laughing. “What could be so important, boy, that the queen’s army would make way for you?” one of them said.
   Frustration began to bring tears into the child’s eyes. “I’ve got to tell him that everything’s gonna be all right. He’s not gonna fall off the edge of the world like everybody thinks. I know He showed me!”
   “Who showed you?” the man in the black robe asked narrowly.
   The child stopped squirming and looked solemnly into the man’s eyes, suddenly realizing that if anyone could understand, surely this man would.
   “Jesus told me,” the boy stated simply.
   The men stopped laughing, and the man in the black robe stared at the child coldly.
   “I’m going to put you down,” the man said, “and then you are going to tell me exactly what you mean.”
   The child was lowered to the ground and as a precaution the man’s forefinger and thumb remained firmly anchored to the boy’s ear.
   “Now tell me what you are talking about.”
   The child winced and his ear began to throb as he looked up at the man and spoke as quickly as he could. “Last night I had a dream. I hardly ever dream at all, so I know that this was special. It was like I was sailing way, way up a thousand miles in the sky, and when I looked down I could see the world, and it was round and shining like a beautiful blue ball. And Jesus was standing beside it in the air, holding it in one hand and He was smiling at me. It was almost as if He was about to throw it to me and I could catch it from where I was, and He wanted me to, like He really wanted to play with me. But then I woke up and I knew I had to tell Columbus not to worry. He wasn’t gonna fall off. He’d just go around and around and around if he wanted to and...”
   “A child’s delusion,” one of the men interrupted.
   “Ridiculous,” someone else answered.
   The child looked hopefully at the man in the black robe and waited for his judgment.
   “I quite agree,” he spoke flatly. And the child melted with disappointment.
   There was a sudden shout from the crowd as the great masts began to move slowly out into the harbor.
   “You might as well let the boy go now, he won’t do any harm. The madman is leaving,” one of the men said.
   “No!” the boy cried, wrenching himself free. He turned and ran as fast as he could back through the crowd toward the water. Soon he was standing at the very foot of the sea watching the ships disappear over the edge of that huge, blue ball.
   Late that evening, as was his custom, the man in the black robe entered his study and sat at his desk. In the candle glow, he opened the Book that chronicled the very words of God. Page after page was turned in the soft light and occasionally notes were made with a few scratches of a silky quill pen. Then suddenly, the pen was laid down and his eyes moved closer to the page. He had to read the verse several times before he would allow himself to believe what it really said.
   Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth... (Isaiah 40:21, 22.).
   “Circle of the earth? Circle of the earth,” the man repeated. “How could we have been so wrong?”
    And he thought of the child who had known so surely.Why would the Lord reveal it to a child and not to him? He sifted through his emotions, wincing at the embarrassment, recoiling at the humiliation of being so wrong in the presence of a mere child. And he thought, and he thought again as he repeated the Scripture over and over in his mind. Then a smile suddenly crossed his lips and he knew the answer.
   “Of course,” he said to himself. “If indeed the Lord has spoken to the boy, He spoke to the mind of a child. And the child would see what a child would see! A toy! A ball! We could not have been so wrong!”
   The man in the black robe closed the Book, satisfied at last. Smiling, he leaned forward and blew the candle out.
   Sunday morning, amid the sound of bells and solemn singing, the man in the black robe stepped before a congregation of earnest hearts and spoke above them loudly so everyone would be sure to hear.
   “I have had a revelation from God,” he announced. “Through the confirmation of the Lord’s word, I have discovered that the world is indeed round.”
   He held in one hand an object to illustrate his revelation. It glowed and shimmered in the laughing light of a multitude of unseen angelic eyes.
   “The world is round as you can see,” he continued dramatically. “Round, just like this dinner plate.”

"Wherefore," the Lord said, "Forasmuch as this people draw near to Me with their mouth; and their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."
Isaiah 29:13, 14

copyright 1998 by H.D. Shively

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