Man of God Read Online Free PDF

ruin had stopped the encroachment of trees and bushes, but the
walls that remained standing were overgrown with ivy, and tendrils
of other climbing plants. Shrubbery and a curtain of drooping vines
hid the entrance almost completely. Deep recesses in the walls
proved excellent places for sitting, and within their confines the
ground was soft, covered with leaves that had fallen months ago;
the whole place smelled sensuously of rich earth and wildflowers.
They had made it their own sanctum.
    Pushing aside the curtain of vines beneath
the arched lintel, they entered the center of the ruin, open to the
sky. Fragile rays of light threaded their way through the branches
of the nearby trees, and were absorbed into the hovering mist.
Paulus picked her up and swung her around with abandon, set her
down, and kissed her until her pulses throbbed like a drum.
    “You are a seal upon my heart,” he whispered,
“and a flame that no flood can quench.”
    “How seductively you speak the words of
Solomon,” she whispered back to him, and quoted, breathlessly, as
they sank to the ground, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for
me…”
    The sun rose higher, banishing the mist;
small animals made rustling sounds in the woods, and birds trilled
in the branches over their heads. Later, they settled opposite each
other in one of the niches in the wall, their legs intertwined.
    “How thankful I am to be home,” she said, her
eyes glowing and drinking in his familiar face. “To be safe, to be
with you.”
    “Not as thankful as I,” he answered, reaching
out to caress her ankle. He watched, amused, as she demurely
adjusted her skirt…as though he were only a suitor who might take
advantage.
    “Simon will be awake by now, and wondering
where we are.”
    “He won’t wonder for long. And he knows how
to cook.”
    “Really, Paulus,” she said. “Is that any way
to treat a guest?”
    “He would be much annoyed to hear you call
him a guest, Alysia.”
    “Yes, he would, wouldn’t he? I wish he could
find someone very special to marry.”
    “She’s already taken…Now, I’d like to hear
about Bethany and Jerusalem, and our friends.”
    She wriggled further back into her corner and
smiled at him. “Lazarus is well. His wife is such a fine person,
Paulus. She’s going to have a child.”
    He said nothing, but took her hand and held
it tightly.
    “And Martha is completely white-haired now,
but as busy as ever. She didn’t want Rachel to go, but of course I
wouldn’t think of leaving her.”
    “How are they—about Mary?”
    Alysia shook her head, tears filling her
eyes. Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, had taken her in
and cared for her when she was in trouble, and she had grown to
love them as if they were her own family. Mary, the much younger
sister, had been especially close to her.
    “They said it was a malady of the lungs. She
couldn’t survive the winter. Mary was so good…not meant for this
world. But they are reconciled.” Alysia was quiet for a moment, and
added, “It is well that they live some distance from Jerusalem.
There is much persecution there, worse than before we left. But we
knew that, because of Stephen.”
    She saw the fleeting look of pain cross his
face and put her hand up to his cheek. “I spoke with his family.
They said to send you their greetings, and good wishes.”
    Stephen had been like a brother to Paulus,
and she’d never seen him so deeply affected as when he’d learned of
his friend’s death a few years ago…except for that one other time,
and she wouldn’t think of that now.
    Paulus asked softly, “And the others?”
    “Peter and James are leading the believers in
Jerusalem. There are so many of them now! They and the other
disciples are being thrown into prison, yet God has always rescued
them…It makes one wonder, about Stephen—”
    “Stephen was too good for this world, too,”
Paulus said, a little roughly. “I only hope…”
    “No, he didn’t suffer