(Once upon a time, I was reading my Bible to try to forget about Hurricane Annabeth sweeping through town. I quickly glanced at the calendar on my bedroom wall. It was December 26, 8013. Only five more days until the hurricane was predicted to reach my city.  Christmas had stunk. I was feeling extremely discouraged, and then my room started glowing brightly! I wondered what was happening, until my Bible sucked me into its pages!

 

I was floating face-first, very briskly through a round, massive, brilliantly lit tunnel. I noticed the colors orange, blue, yellow and purple swirling around me. The short journey was dizzying. Finally, I landed with a thump in a field full of terrified-looking soldiers. I racked my brain to find an explanation, but I didn’t need to. I tilted my head slightly upward, and realized the soldiers were shaking in their boots because they were standing within ten yards of a nine-foot giant. The giant was giant. I sprinted as quickly as I could behind a huge, nearby tree with strange-looking fruit. The air underneath the tree smelled sweet, but it felt as competitive and angry as a disturbed beehive. Before I could think of a better comparison, I heard a collective gasp from the battlefield. I stole a quick glance, and observed a young boy standing at the feet of the heavily armed giant. “No!” I screamed. I didn’t want him to die for no reason, even though I didn't know him. He didn’t stand a chance against the ginormous, vicious person. He gripped a sling, which was in his dry, calloused hand, tightly. His face looked as competitive as a wrestler’s face would just before a tournament. The boy began to swing his sling. “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied,” he shouted. I suddenly remembered that this was David! That was weird, considering that I had been reading in Esther. Just then, the boy David let the rock in the sling fly, and it hit Goliath in the forehead, and the giant fell down with a huge thump. The Israelite army cheered, but the Philistines fled over the hills, leaving their camp behind, for all they were worth. David started walking to my tree for a bite of fruit. I hoped I wouldn’t scare the life out of him. He pulled a fig down (That’s what they were!) and gobbled it down hungrily in three bites. He noticed me and looked embarrassed. “Hi,” I squeaked. “That was pretty brave, you know," I said in a more regular voice. “The Lord helped me,” he said. He smiled, but before I could say anything back, I shot into the sky like a bullet.

 

I flew up for about ten seconds, then stopped in the sky. I couldn't see the ground anymore. I nearly threw up. This was worse than the tunnel. My head poked above the clouds for a moment, and some migrating birds stared at me and cocked their heads. Then, I started falling to my death. The wind whistled in my ears, and clouds became a blur. Unfortunately, I was dropping head first, and I didn’t know how to readjust, just plunging from the sky! I figured that this would have been an awesome meme, considering anyone could see me. “She’s actually falling down-to-earth!” But it’s a bit hard to be sensible, at five miles above a…Was that a kingdom? Mom should have given me a phone for my birthday. At least she didn’t give me a hamster, like I'd wanted so badly. No traumatized pets here. I fell onto a palace roof, rolled off, and actually hit the sack. 

 

“Um, are you okay?” A beautiful, finely dressed lady was looking at me inquisitively. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I was too dazed to remember my manners. “Would you enjoy some food?” the lady asked. “Sure,” I replied. She told me to follow her into the palace I had seen. I dragged myself off the haysack and walked toward the huge building. There were all sorts of ornate carvings and statues. I sat down at a low table with a soft scarlet cushion and forced myself to stay awake.  I ate some stuffed vegetables and stew, but when I was offered lamb, I refused. Didn’t they have animal cruelty laws in this strange land? My mind lurched forward. This was Persia! “Um, ma’am?” Too late, I realized that people didn’t call each other

 

“ma’am” at this place and time. “Yes?” The kind lady asked. “Are you the 

 

queen?” I managed. “Yes,” she said softly. I instantly scrambled out of my seat 

 

and curtseyed twenty million times. “You can sit back down,” she said. This

 

was Queen Esther! I mentally chided myself, then forgave myself. I had just

 

fallen from the sky. It was a miracle I didn’t have a concussion. I looked up,

 

and noticed that Esther was tidying up the dishes. I helped her, and then 

 

excused me to the courtyard. I realized that the queen was following me,

 

but she stopped at the king’s gate. I decided to take a peek. It wasn’t exactly

 

eavesdropping, after all. No one was talking. She walked in, and I decided 

 

not to follow. I didn’t want my head chopped off. I observed a skylight (above

 

the throne room), so I decided to head up on the roof. I spotted a wagon 

 

underneath a stack of barrels. I climbed up the stack, scurried across the 

 

roof, and peered in. I regarded Queen Esther talking to the king, and the king 

 

holding out his golden scepter to her. After a couple minutes, Esther began 

 

walking out, I hopped down the barrel pile and met her at the door. I asked

 

her how she did in there. I wanted a complete description of this event. She

 

told me most of it, and then said, “God gave me the courage.” The scene 

 

shifted again. I prayed desperately that it would be painless. The landscape

 

completely changed. The world started to spin, and then my eyes beheld a 

 

different empire. Not too horrible. What I didn’t know was that I was sitting

 

(on a hill). I began to roll down the hill. I wished that I had been wearing

 

long sleeves and pants. I receive severe grass itch. In English, it’s unpleasant.

 

I rolled into a rock and was stuck long enough to register that I was rolling

 

into a cave. The rock gently cruised away as if it meant to, and I fell into

 

the cave. Lions slept all around me, and a man was perched on a rock. He 

 

seemed peaceful. Immediately, for some reason, he woke up and me. 

 

“Hi,” he said. “Uh, are you Daniel?” I queried. “Yes. Are you a junior official

 

of the king?” he replied. “No,” I said. Just then, a man that must have been 

 

the king caught sight of us. “Daniel! You’re still alive!” The king exclaimed. 

 

“How did you survive?” “I couldn’t have done it without the Lord,” Daniel

 

said simply. (At the speed of light,) a huge eagle dove down at me, scooped

 

me up, and carried me away. In a couple of minutes, it dropped me on a 

 

the hill where a man was talking to a crowd of people. “Do not worry about

 

tomorrow, for tomorrow can worry about itself. Each day has enough

 

the trouble of its own.” Before I could realize what was happening, I 

 

was on my bed, with the TV on, my Bible open, and a breakfast

 

for me. I consumed the breakfast biscuit with grape jelly and started to 

 

watch the Weather Channel. “Hurricane Annabeth has taken a turn for the 

 

better,” the reporter stated. “It looks like it will be gone by the time it 

 

reaches Loreleiville.” I silently prayed and glanced at my Bible. The pages weren’t 

 

in Esther anymore. They were in Matthew. I read the passage. “Therefore I 

 

tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your 

 

body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than 

 

clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away 

 

in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more 

 

valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to 

 

your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the

 

 field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in 

 

all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the 

 

grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, 

 

will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 

 

‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the 

 

pagans chase after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that 

 

you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all 

 

these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about 

 

tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

 

The End