Forlot: Not What I Am - Book Twenty

Chapter Sixteen

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It was a blessing in disguise that Caleb was close to the one and only God at a young age. If not, he would have passed due to homelessness, and that was anything but a possibility.

If any of you readers ran into Caleb Night, chances are that you would be proud of the young fellow. His kindness was not limited to race or gender, and one could say that his heart was pure gold.

After discovering the Bible on accident, he read it from cover to cover. Word per word. He had been wandering in the Forlot bookstore - this was back before Cindy took over the shop - and laid eyes on the Lord's Word. Caleb had never seen or even heard of the strange word. Bible. He was curious, traded in something valuable of his for the book, and snuck it home.

If Caleb has to be honest with you, and he always is, he had no darn clue why he was keeping the Bible a secret from his mother. I mean, it was not like that she would deny her son access to the Bible. Sure, she was neither a Christian nor believed in God and Jesus, but she would not mind allowing Caleb to discover the truth. Right?

True, nontoxic Christians can relate to Caleb when he was taking in the Word. It only took him a couple of weeks to read it, and he was amazed. And thanks to the Holy Spirit, Caleb was able to believe and love Jesus and put His teachings into practice all at once.

Ever since this beautiful and emotional change, Caleb was never the same. Okay, he still did the things that needed to be done and that he wanted to do. Helped his mom around the house. Treated everyone with respect. Played video games. Read fiction books and only fictional. However, he no longer did these things for his benefit and because it was right.

The Lord is the definition of the right way. He is justice. He is love. He is kind. Without Him, there would be none of that.

Caleb had already known everything about the Bible and was close to Jesus by the age of six. In fact, he was so close to Jesus that he kept asking Him if He could come down from the heavens and play with him.

"Please, Jesus," he would ask night after night. "I have no friends, and You know that. You know everything that there is to know about me and those around me. Pardon my French, but I hate loneliness. So could you come down for at least a minute and play with me?"

The thing is that it was impossible for Jesus to ascend from the heavens - and possible. You see, it was not time, but the young boy knew as much as I, the writer, do that Jesus was more than happy to play with Caleb.

For those of you who do not believe or take God and His Son seriously, it would probably be bizarre seeing a six-year old boy playing with a guy that no living creature can see. A boy sliding down the slide with his imaginary friend.

The thing was that Caleb's friend was far from imaginary, as well as other imaginary friends.

Speaking of bizarre, it did not take long for Caleb's mom to call it out. She came home early from work one day and found her son in front of the television and alone. But he was never alone.

She examined the situation. Her son was on the floor with his legs crossed and a game controller in his hands. He was playing his favorite game, and a game controller was lying next to him...not being used.

She squinted at the screen. According to the game, there were two players. Player two was moving, but player one...not so much.

The mother laid her purse on the kitchen counter and went over to him. "Hi, honey."

Caleb glanced up at her and gasped. "Mommy!" He put his controller to the side and hugged her legs. "How are you, Mommy?"

"Good. Uh..." She slowly patted the top of his head. "...did you have a friend over?"

"Yes. He is still here."

"Oh. Well, is he or she in our bathroom?"

"No. He is in here. In the living room."

"Um..." The mom surveyed the room.

"It is okay, Mommy. You are not dumb. You cannot see Him. No one can. Not even me."

"Oh. Oh! I get it now. He is your imaginary friend."

Caleb's face twisted in confusion, and he tilted his head to the side. "He is not imaginary. No imaginary friend is."

"Er...um...what does He look like?"

"I do not know."

"What do you mean that you do not know?"

He shrugged. "I asked Him the same thing, and He said that He would not tell me because I would never understand it."

"What is His name?"

"Jesus."

"Jesus?"

"Yeah. Look Him up. He is a real person."

So his mom did. She went on the Internet and researched the name Jesus, and of course, the first things that popped up were Bible verses and the teachings of Jesus. She skimmed verses and words until she got an understanding as to what her son was talking about.

At first, she laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed. How absurd was the story of God's Son dying for us!

Two minutes later, the mother slowly stopped, and her laughs were replaced by heavy breathing. It was then that she realized that her only child believed in a cult. Or so she thought.

The mom returned to the living room and said, "Caleb, I forbid you from ever meeting up with Jesus again."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Mom, but you cannot do that."

"And why not?"

"God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are everywhere. No matter where you run, they will be there."
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