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English Translation of Novel 2: Chapter 1 – The Bull’s Day Off (Part 2 of 2)

Here’s the second part of The Bull’s Day Off! While the last chapter featured the Black Bulls trying to fix the figure they broke via more traditional means, this chapter features them performing all sorts of weird rituals in the hopes that Vanessa’s magic tool will fix it. More Black Bulls also make an appearance. Finally, Yami has a nice, relaxing night out at the end of all this.

--- The Bull’s Day Off (Part 1) ---

“Fire Magic: Exploding Buckshot!”

Magna barked, throwing fireballs of magic with a sweeping overhand throw.

“Bring it ooooooooon!”

Balls of fire flew through the air with an unstable trajectory. Asta struck each and every one of them in a flash with his large, black sword, knocking some of them down, knocking some of them back toward Magna, and slicing others in half.

“Asta-kun! Me too, me too! Lightning Magic: Thunderclap Crumbling Orb!”

Immediately after he dealt with Magna’s fireballs, Luck threw a ball of lightning at Asta’s back. It was, without a doubt, the most unfavorable place Luck could aim for Asta, but with a warlike smile on his face,

“Nuuuuoooooohhhhh!!”

With one large motion, he twisted his body around, and with terrible posture and a full swing of his sword, he sliced the ball of lightning in two.

It was a practice battle so intense that one wrong move could lead to serious injuries. They went to a forest just a bit ahead of the hideout, where this fierce exchange of attacks has been going on for some time.

“……Okay, time’s up! You can stop!”

Vanessa, who was watching the three from a distance, yelled out to them. After doing so, the battle stopped in an instant and the three of them hurried toward Vanessa, with Luck being the only one of the three who looked disappointed that it was over.

“How was that, Vanessa!? Did we clear it!?”

“Wait for just a moment. We’ll get a response from it any moment now!”

Vanessa responded to Asta’s desperate pleas as she, too, stared so hard at the vase that her eyes were bloodshot. Every time they clear one of the tasks, a diamond mark should appear on the vase. As they all stood hoping to see that mark appear, Finral scratched his head incredulously,

“……I mean, could something as weird as this really be considered a ritual?”

……That’s right. Just as Vanessa said, all the rituals were rather unique. No. Rather than “unique”, “freaking weird” would be a better way to describe them. It was hard to imagine that these were rituals associated with a magic tool, and rather than a printed manual, these rituals were merely scribbled down on a scrap piece of parchment.

Aside from that, they had nothing else to depend on, so everyone was skeptical as they began the first ritual - “for a preset amount of time, have an all-out magic battle”. Incidentally, this ritual was meant to reproduce the “passion” that was poured into the figure when it was made, but……

“…...How do I put this? That doesn’t sound like a ritual for a magic tool at all, and I feel like there’s other ways to do this…...”

“Shut up, Finral. If you’re going to complain, go complain to Domina since she’s the one who made….. Oh!?”

As if in reaction to Finral’s and Vanessa’s conversation, the vase began to glow with a pale light.

“Alriiiiiiiight!! We cleared it one shot! …….. Wait, huh?”

Asta let out a shout of victory, but a diamond did not engrave the vase. Instead, letters rose to its surface. What they spelt out was……

[You, delinquent boy -> You never smiled, so do it over again.]

“Okay, that’s it! I’m going to shatter you to pieces!!”

“Wait, Magna-senpai!?”

Magna was about to kick the vase, but Asta jumped in and put Magna in a choke hold.

“Don’t stop me, Asta! I’d be fine if it didn’t like the way I was fighting, but the fact it didn’t like my face pisses me off!!”

“No, well, I don’t really get it either, but there must be some reason behind it……! W-what’s it talking about, Vanessa!?”

Asta couldn’t think up a good response, so he asked for help from Vanessa. After thinking for some time, she seemed to finally come up with something.

“……I’m sorry. There might be one more condition to the ritual.”

With an awkward expression on her face, she took out the piece of parchment once more.

“There’s more than just difficulty and pain in creating something. Therefore, you must smile as if you are having fun when you perform this ritual…… that’s what’s written.”

‘The next time I see Domina, I’m going to slap her,’ Noelle thought to herself. Just as Noelle determined to do so, next to her, Magna shouted,

“The hell kind of condition is that!? Also, if that’s what was written, you should’ve told us earlier!”

“I-I can’t help it! It was so ridiculous, I thought she must’ve just written that in there while she was drunk or something!”

‘She was probably drunk when she wrote the whole thing,’ Noelle thought.

“Besides, even if I said this from the start, would you really have been able to do it!?”

“Of course I would have!”

Magna pushed back the silver hairs he was so proud of, raised his brows, opened his sharp eyes as wide as they could go, and finally, his mouth warped into an ominous, crooked smile. The result was one of the most despicable looking smiling faces they had ever seen.

“How’s that for ya!? If I knew from the start, I would’ve cleared the ritual, no sweat!”

Magna said angrily as he continued to smile, but another message appeared on the vase.

[You, delinquent boy -> Your face is garbage]

“……Okay, I get it. I’m gonna smash you into little pieces!”

“Again, calm down!!”

Asta jumped at Magna, who was about to throw a fireball at the vase, to stop him once more. After that, they replaced Magna with Finral and cleared the ritual.

Then, for the second ritual, they returned to the dining room of the hideout, where the women did the next trial.

“Hey! This curry was specially made by me, so you better eat it up!”

“I-I made some special curry, too!”

This ritual was meant to recreate the “creative originality” used to make the figure - “Use your magic to make a creative dish, and the whole thing must be eaten (you must make enough to serve the number of people with you times five).”

Just as before, the ritual was weird, but it was much less difficult than the previous task. After all that combat training, they were starving. Luck went to stand guard at Yami’s room alone, but, thankfully, it was a task whose conditions could be satisfied even with one less person. If that’s all to this task, then this should go smoothly.

“……Hey, are you screwing with me, you drunkard woman? Why is the stew purple? The threads used to bind the meat are floating in here, too. It looks like maggots.”

“Y-you said this is curry, Noelle-chan? Ummm, all I see is mud-brown water…... when you added water, did you measure it?”

……Well, it would have gone smoothly if the women of the Black Bulls had any feminine abilities. All the cooking at the Black Bulls’ hideout is done through Charmy’s “Cotton Creation Magic: Sheep Cook” spell, so there was no helping that the other women of the Black Bulls couldn’t cook. It’s not like Magna and Finral could cook, either, so……

“Shut up, you virgin delinquent! I added some purple snake to the dish to subtly enhance the flavor! Plus, the threads are from some of my thread magic that ended up getting mixed in, so it’s safe! It’s not like eating this will kill you!”

Rather than subtly enhance the flavor, the addition of the snakes caused the dish to emit an odor of despair. Combined with the remnants of her thread magic, her dish could hardly be considered “food”.

“It’s curry. I’m royalty, and I’m telling you that it’s curry, so it’s curry.”

‘The word “royalty” is not such an omnipotent word that it can turn this into curry,’ ……is the thought that was drawn on Finral’s and Magna’s faces.

“You guys, if you’re not gonna eat it, can I have it!?”

“…….Huh?”

Asta pulled the food dishes (if you could call them that) that were in front of them toward himself with his own two hands. When they looked at him, they saw that he already had a countless number of dishes piled up in front of him.

“L-look! I told you it’s edible!”

Noelle said triumphantly as she watched him. She was a little bothered by the fact that whether it was “edible” or not was the measuring stick she was using to measure her skills as a cook, but that was beside the point.

“H-how is it Asta? W-what do you think of my cooking……?”

Noelle mumbled as she asked Asta. There wasn’t any special meaning behind her question. It’s just that she would feel more motivation if she got a few words from someone about her cooking, rather than having to continue making food without hearing anyone’s impression. That’s all…….

“Yeah! It’s totally edible!”

Asta had his usual energetic smile on his face as he answered Noelle, who fidgeted as he continued,

“After all, I was raised in a church! No matter what it is, it’s rude to eat something and act as if you don’t like it! That’s what Sister Lily taught me!”

“Don’t say that so bluntly!!”

Thanks to Asta’s efforts, they cleared the second ritual.

And so, after that, they all continued to clear one strange ritual after another. They cleared the third trial, designed to recreate the “copying” that is inherently associated with creating something – “Imitate the person next to you while using magic”.

“Wooo Hooo! Finral-kun~ You can fire off your magic as quick as you want, okaaaay~”

“Why are you talking like some kind of party animal!? I don’t act like that, Vanessa-san…… wait, umm… I ain’t that flashy! Don’t mess with me, ya hear!? Y-ya cheeky broad!”

“Finral-senpai! I don’t talk like that, either…… wait…… i-it’s not like I…… actually talk like that, okaaaaaay!?”

“……Um, hey, you bas……t-tard……. Hey…….”

Starting from the beginning……

· Vanessa was imitating Finral

· Finral was imitating Asta

· Asta was imitating Noelle

· And Noelle was imitating Magna

Noelle was so embarrassed that she looked like she was about to cry on two separate occasions, but they managed to clear the trial.

They cleared the fourth trial, designed to recreate the “asceticism” that is inherently associated with creating something – “Use magic to smash a large number of expensive bottles of wine.”

“Vanessa! I understand how you feel, but please hand your wine over to us! We don’t have time to buy any!”

“N-no way! If I don’t have this, then I……I won’t have anything to look forward to tomorrow, you know!?”

Despite Asta’s desperate pleas, Vanessa held her wine bottles as if they were her own children as she weeped. Seeing this caused the others to back away from her, but Magna stepped up and said with a grave tone in his voice,

“……When these rituals are over, you should go see a doctor, you drunken woman.”

After clearing their hideout of all the expensive wine (most of it belonging to Vanessa), they cleared the ritual.

They cleared the fifth trial, designed to recreate the “Expressiveness” that is inherently associated with creating something – “Use magic to perform a party trick and show it off.”

“……W-with this, it’s all over.”

Finral said haggardly after using his spatial magic “Secret technique: Stop hitting yourself!”

The group finished the last ritual at the same place they started, in the basin of the forest outside the hideout.

“……Yeah. But we also don’t have time for any do-overs.”

Just as Magna said, the sun was setting in the west, preparing for night to begin. There wasn’t much time left before they had to wake Yami up. They all stared at the vase as if in prayer.

“……Huh……?”

Mana gathered inside the vase, and…….

“……Ha ha, hey, look at this! This means we did it, right!? We’ve done it, right!?”

Finral shouted as he held the vase high in the air. The last diamond appeared on the vase, making five in total.

“All right! How about it, ya vase bastard!! We cleared them all!!”

‘And I bet my smile’s just fine right now!’

“We did it! Yay! A ha ha, that means we can kill each other again tomorrow!”

Magna cried manly tears as he celebrated in his own delinquent way. Luck patted his shoulder while he voiced his dangerous thoughts out loud. Meanwhile, Finral and Vanessa high-fived.

“……We did it.”

Noelle staggered to the ground. She felt anxious throughout all the rituals. Looking back at everything that happened, everyone here was complicit to some degree. However, the one who dented the doll first was none other than herself. Because of that, she felt a great amount of responsibility for everything that had happened. Nobody placed the blame on her, but that might be the very reason why she felt the most guilt out of everyone. Having been released of that burden, knowing now that the others won’t get caught up in her mess, her legs finally gave out.

“See? I told ya, Noelle!”

Asta held out his hand toward Noelle and smiled his usual smile.

“Nothing will happen unless you try, right?”

“……Stupid Asta. This situation is nothing like what you were talking about earlier.”

Noelle retorted, averting her gaze away from his face. She certainly thought that taking on any challenge without giving up was a virtue, but such an attitude also has its risks. There are times when doing things that way could cause you to lose even more than if you simply gave up.

…..However,

“Well, still…… you’re right.”

Noelle took Asta’s hand and squeezed it as she pulled herself up. There are also times when, after trying again and again without fear of failure, one can grasp victory. That was something she was certain of. Maybe she was just bad at giving up, but, even so, these were the results of their will. Their actions bore fruit. That’s why Noelle…….

“……This time, I’ll let you win this round.”

…….Was able to smile at Asta and say that.

‘……W-wait!? I was so caught up in everything that I…… held Asta’s hand!!’

“Still, I’m so relieved! All we have to do is put the figure in the vase now!”

Just as Noelle’s face flushed a pure red, Finral cheerfully approached them.

“So, where did you put the figure, Noelle-chan?”

They were afraid of it getting broken again, so they didn’t bring the figure with them, opting instead to have someone hide it in the hideout. That role was assigned to her, but……

“……In the common area, behind the counter.”

…….That’s right. So that Yami wouldn’t see it, she hid it behind one of the liquor bottles. However……

“However, I temporarily moved it on top of the counter when we were getting the wine for the ritual.”

That’s right. That was rough. So that the figure wouldn’t get broken by Vanessa, who was resisting against having her bottles destroyed, Noelle took the figure out and, for the moment, placed it at the edge of the counter.

“……A-and, after calming Vanessa down, I kept it out while we were preparing for the next ritual……”

Noelle began to sweat.

“……. And I…… forgot…… to hide it.”

“WHAT!?”

The sense of accomplishment that everyone was feeling was blown away in an instant, and the fear of death took over once again.

“Don’t screw with us! We got this far, and yet…… you forgot to do something as basic as that!?”

“T-there was no helping it! There was a lot going on. B-besides, you’re also in the wrong for not noticing!”

“AAAAAH, we’re screwed! Yami’s gonna come waltzing into the common area with some tea or something any moment now! We’re so screwed! We’re gonna be fish food!”

“I-t’s alright! I’ll just tell him I did it! Then…… me and Captain Yami will…… A ha, a HA HA HA!”

Magna was screaming while pulling at his hair, Noelle was screaming while she sobbed, Finral was screaming while he crawled on the ground, and Luck screamed with a smile on his face. The sense of unity they had earlier was now completely gone. All that remained was a picture of Hell.

“C-calm down! This isn’t the end for us yet!”

Vanessa managed to calm herself down just enough to say the words she needed to hear herself.

“……For now, let’s return to the hideout.”

“Ummmm…… yeah, we’re okay. There’s no sign of Captain Yami.”

“Okay…… then, let’s go.”

After Luck used his mana perception, Vanessa signaled to everyone else, who were hiding in the bushes, to begin moving forward toward the entrance of the hideout.

“A ha ha! I can’t say for sure, though. This is the Captain we’re talking about, so he could be hiding his mana and waiting for us at the front door!”

“…..Please don’t say something so ominous.”

Vanessa shot him down, but she couldn’t help but imagine Yami’s figure looming near the countertop, his expression so wrathful that he looked like a demon as black mana oozed from his body.

“…..I’m going to open the door.”

She shook her head to rid herself of the image and put her hand on the front door. After everyone nodded in affirmation, she slowly opened the door……

“…..He’s not there.”

At first, she only peeked half her face through the door, but then the second half soon followed as she confirmed that he wasn’t in the common area. It looked like they somehow managed to avoid the situation they feared most.

“Alright! Then, let’s hurry and put the figure in the vase……”

Asta took the initiative and started toward the figure, but then,

“Lah~ You’re all finally back! Let’s eat together right now! Let’s eat!”

“……You were eating the entire time we were on our mission, forehead.”

“Charmy Pappitson…… and Gauche-senpai.”

He couldn’t hear them when he was at the entrance, but Charmy Pappitson and Gauche Adlai were sitting on the couch in the common area, doing something.

“……W-welcome back. I guess your mission is over, huh?”

“Yeah, we finished and just got back a little while ago~ We were playing with this while we were waiting for you all to get back~!”

While she held her food with one hand, she used her other hand to point to the top of the table.

“Gauche made something really amazing!”

What stood on top of the table was……

“I’m not the amazing one. What’s amazing is Marie’s beauty…. My sister and Goddess of Salvation.”

“………….”

A perfectly crafted clay figure of Marie. Gauche picked it up as his nose bled.

“I’ll let you guys worship her, too. Now, ignorant sheeple, circle around and prostrate yourself before her revolutionary cuteness.”

“…… Let me ask you this, just in case.”

Vanessa’s voice was dreadfully low as she asked Gauche, who had a smug expression on his face.

“……Where did you get that clay?”

“Ah? This?”

Gauche pointed his finger toward the countertop.

“It was left over there. It looked like the first Wizard King, but it looked like it was broken, so I turned it into a figure of Marie. I’m sure the clay is much happier like-WOAH!?”

Before he could finish talking, Vanessa made a mad dash toward him and kneed him in the face.

“What are you doing, you drunk woman!? What would you have done if you got my nose blood on Marie!?”

“Shall I make it so that your nose bleeds for the rest of your life!? Do you…… understand what you’ve just done!? You Sis-Con!?”

As she explained earlier, more than half of the figure’s clay body was now altered, so the vase would no longer be able to repair it. In other words, this figure, which has been completely altered into a Marie figure, will now remain a Marie figure forever. Even if they put the figure in the vase, it will still be Marie…….

“What are we supposed to do now!? I want my wine back, dammit!”

“Please stop, Vanessa! You’re angry for a totally selfish reason right now!”

When Vanessa grabbed the collar of Gauche’s shirt, Asta rushed in stop her. As he watched this scene unfold, Finral fell down to his knees.

“…….Oh no, oh nooooo! We’re done for! This time, we’re seriously done for!”

Finral cried out as he pulled at his hair. Everyone else soon followed after him like a chain reaction, and, once again, chaos reigned. Their reactions were so extreme that one would think they were chosen to be sacrificed to the devil, even though all they did was break someone’s personal belongings.

“……Hey, I don’t get what’s going on with you all, but calm down. Look, when you look at Marie’s face, you’ll feel at ease. It’s alright. It may be addictive, but it’s safe.”

“Everyone’s just hangry! For now, you should eat this. Wanna try it?”

Just as Charmy and Gauche joined in the chaos, suddenly,

“……Hey, it’s already this late? I told you to wake me up.”

Everyone’s ears perked up as they heard the footsteps of destruction.

“Y-Yami-san……”

Finral said as if he just witnessed the end of the world. The cause of those footsteps, Yami, rubbed his eyes drowsily as he lumbered down the stairs. With no backup plans left, everyone found themselves unable to do anything other than quiver in fear.

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s Yami-san. Because you all didn’t wake Yami-san up, Yami-san was almost late. Yami-san had to get his ass in high-gear and…… hm?”

Before long, everyone found themselves face-to-face with Yami, who froze stiff for about two seconds when he saw the figure on the table.

“Huh? Don’t tell me that’s the figure of the first wizard king I-

“…….I’m sorry!!”

Faster than Yami could finish speaking, Noelle rushed up in front of him, and with great vigor, bowed her head.

“A lot of things happened, and it ended up like that, but…… the person who broke the figure first was me! T-this is all my fault!”

That’s right. She was the first one to cause direct damage to the figure. The others only got involved because of her. In fact, it only ended up so terribly damaged because they tried to fix it. She was the true culprit of this crime. If she puts herself at the center before everyone else, maybe he’ll only get angry at her. This is what she thought as she prepared to elaborate, but at that moment,

“We’re sorry!!!!”

“………Huh!?”

The apologies of her squad mates resounded through the common area.

“Even if Noelle wasn’t there, I’m the one who broke the wall! Actually Noelle protected the figure from the explosion I caused! If you’re gonna kill anyone, kill me!!”

“Actually, if I didn’t open a spatial hole in such a weird place, you wouldn’t have broken the wall…… b-but Yami-san! Please! Tomorrow! Please let me live just long enough to go to tomorrow’s mixer!! I beg of you! I beg of you!”

Together with Asta and Finral, the others swarmed around Yami.

“Yeah, but even if all that happened, I’m the one who really wrecked that figure. A ha ha! That’s why you should have a battle to the death with me, Captain!”

“No, to begin with, if I had only put that figure in Yami-san’s room right away! Gwooooh! I’m unworthy to be your righthand man!!

As Luck and Magna screamed, Vanessa, too, had an anguished expression on her face.

“If you’re going to bring that up, then I’m the one who asked him to show me the figure. That’s why this is all my fault…… but, I beg of you! Before you execute me, let me have a drink! I’m….. seriously at my limit!”

“I don’t really know what’s going on, but I’m the one who changed the figure into an entirely different person. That means this is my fault…… well, Marie’s cuteness is also criminal.”

“But, but! I also watched you without saying anything. So I’m at fault, too! ……. Ah, but, I wouldn’t like it if you take away my food as punishment……”

Finally, Gauche and Charmy jumped into the fray, and the situation spiraled out of control. It was probably impossible to tell who was in the wrong.

“…… Hey, Noelle! Don’t just apologize all on your own!”

“Ouch!”

Amidst the chaos, Asta whispered angrily at Noelle and gave her a light karate chop.

“We all messed up here, so we’ll all apologize together! Don’t go getting a head start on us!”

“T-that wasn’t what I was trying to do at all……”

Noelle was going to object, but as she thought about it…… even from the start, nobody tried to pin the blame on anyone. Everyone simply tried to repair the figure as if it were their problem, too.

“Don’t go carrying the burden all on your own. Give some of that burden to us!”

“………”

……Noelle realized it for the second time that day. Everyone here thought of the others’ problems as their own. For just one member of their squad, everyone moves with all their might. The Black Bulls was that sort of group. She was already accustomed to being a part of such a group, and yet……

“……I-I know that. Don’t sound so high and mighty when you say that.”

Noelle felt like crying again, but for a completely different reason from before. She was barely able to utter her retort before Asta smiled his usual big smile,

“Then good! Let’s all apologize to Captain Yami one more…… hm?”

Yami wordlessly moved toward the figure standing on the table, and, suddenly,

BAM!!

He smashed the figure into pieces with his large hand.

“WHAAAAAAAAAA-!?!?”

Everyone (especially Gauche) was shocked by the God of Destruction’s sudden strange behavior.

“…….Huh… what… is this……?”

“It’s… going back to…… normal?”

As Vanessa and Noelle said, the clay began to glow with a faint light as it gradually pieced itself together back into a person. A few moments later, it returned to its original form as the first Wizard King.

“………Umm, sorry. Yami-san, what just happened…….?”

After a prolonged silence, Finral fearfully asked Yami. Yami put a cigarette into his mouth as he responded,

“It’s a magic tool. It remembers the first thing it was crafted into. No matter how much or how many times its shape changes, if you smash it up completely like this, it will return to its original form.”

“……So, in other words?”

Yami struck a match and lit his cigarette. He let out a puff of smoke and spoke in the same casual way he always does,

“There’ll be no punishments. You never broke it in the first place.”

“…….!”

After hearing such an exchange between Finral and Yami, Noelle couldn’t help but let out a cheer of victory. The others, too, let out a huge - a truly huge - sigh of relief.

“……What a relief…… Ha ha, I’m so relieved! I’ll be alive tomorrow! I can talk to girls tomorrow! I can go to the mixer!”

Finral raised both his hands in the air and shouted. Meanwhile, Magna, with tears in his eyes,

“H-huh? What’s with me……? Once I realized I’ll be able to see the sunrise tomorrow, these tears just suddenly…..!”

“……Yeah, well, your attitudes from earlier were good. Now I understand very well what you guys think about me.”

Yami said while facing Finral and Magna before turning his gaze toward Noelle.

“Well, just like this figure, no matter how many times he’s crushed, that super zealous king of seriousness will return as good as new. At least, that’s the amazing message I wanted my present to have…... If it wasn’t a magic tool like that, there’s no way I would’ve brought it to a place as dangerous as this. I would’ve put it away myself.”

“……You have a point there.”

Noelle found herself unable to do anything but nod. After all, he was absolutely right.

“So we rushed to conclusions, huh? ……Come to think of it, that means my wine was destroyed for nothing, right!?”

“Ha ha, we’re safe, so that doesn’t matter, does it? Let’s all go buy some together later!”

Vanessa became enranged once she realized it, but Finral calmed her down with a wry smile. Incidentally, Noelle felt neither happy nor irritated, but she didn’t feel empty, either. Perhaps, just as Finral said, the feeling of relief stemming from the fact they were now safe overpowered all other emotions. That’s all she felt, plus something else……

‘Give some of that burden to us!’

If it weren’t for that simple idea, she never would have heard Asta’s words. She probably never would have held his hand either. That’s why, she thought, things were best the way they were now.

“Huh? What’s up, Noelle? Is there something on my face?”

“……Hm, huh? Wha-!?”

Having just realized that she was subconsciously staring at Asta’s face, she turned her face away from his in a panic.

“Ah, you have it all…… wrong. I was just spacing out a bit, so…… i-it really isn’t what you think! Stupid Asta!”

“Ow! That hurt! Why did you slap me!? Stop with the senseless violence!”

“……Seriously, what do you guys take me for, anyway? Even if that figure wasn’t repairable, I wouldn’t have been that mad at you.”

As he watched Asta and Noelle from the side, Yami sluggishly made his way toward the countertop table.

“I can make as many of these things as I need, but I can’t replace idiots like you, so I wouldn’t have made a big fuss over something as little as that.”

“Y……Yami-san……!”

‘I’m pretty sure there would have been a huge fuss, actually……’ Finral thought to himself, but he was so moved by the current atmosphere that he had to wipe tears from his face. This time, maybe they were the ones who made too big a fuss. He may have told the rest of the squad otherwise, but Yami wasn’t that violent nor irrational. He’s a tolerant Captain who is considerate of the feelings of his squad members.

“……I’m really sorry for not waking you up on time! Now, let’s go, Yami-san! I’ll take you anywhere you want!”

“……Hm?”

Just as Finral drew closer to Yami, Yami tilted his head.

“Hey, do you know what happened to the liquor I kept over there?”

“Ah, the liquor that was on the counter?”

Finral glanced sideways toward Vanessa, who was still depressed, and said with a wry smile,

“Well, during one of the rituals we did to restore the figure, we ended up smashing every single bottle. Ha ha, but we’ll buy more right away, so……”

“……One of those bottles was ‘Ryuuzen Cagula”, a rare, expensive wine that only gets shipped here once per year.”

“…………………Huh?”

In that instance, everyone felt it on their skin.

“For tonight’s drinking party, I carefully, carefully took out my Ryuuzen Cagula wine……. And placed it on the countertop.”

The warm atmosphere they had was blown away in an instant, replaced by an increasingly hellish chill.

“……Hmmm. I see. So, you guys smashed it to pieces, huh? My favorite wine…… hmmm”

The air around Yami became pitch black. Everyone knew what was coming.

“……Huh, wait……? Y-Yami-san…… huh? What about…… what you were saying earlier…….?”

In a last-ditch attempt to protect himself, Finral somehow managed to squeeze those words out of him as he shivered in fear.

“……What I was saying earlier?”

“Y-yeah. T-that you wouldn’t make a big deal out of us…… breaking any of your things……”

“Aaah, that.”

Yami’s loomed near the countertop, his expression so wrathful that he looked like a demon as black mana oozed from his body.

“Did I say that?”

In the end, they learned that the God of Destruction truly was that violent and irrational.

“……And that’s why I brought this cheap wine here. Sorry ‘bout that.”

Yami apologized as he filled the cup belonging to the man sitting before him. A square table separated them, and the man sat across from Yami as if he ready to interview him for a job.

“……I see. Well, that’s alright.”

That man was the current Wizard King, Julius Novachrono. He drank the wine that was poured for him and made a wry smile. After visiting Fuegoleon, Yami headed for the arbor in the courtyard of the Magic Knights headquarters. There, he met with Julius, where they began drinking together.

“So, what happened to those young ones at the Black Bulls after that?”

‘Don’t tell me you really drowned them in the beaches of Raque……’ Julius thought to himself as he asked. Yami sounded completely uninterested as he replied,

“Who knows? I told them all to run 80 laps around the hideout and do 40 sets of 70 pushups, sit-ups, squats, and bunny hops, so they’re probably all still doin’ that.”

Julius thought to himself that he should give everyone in the Black Bulls a bit of a raise, just for this month, at least. He’ll talk to the accounting department later. That can be listed on their salaries as “muscle care”.

“However…… As usual, your team gets along well. They’re good at working together.”

‘We broke one of our captain’s things’…… That fact by itself was enough for them to act as a monolithic force, and everyone tried their best to solve the problem. Moreover, it had nothing to do with their jobs as knights. This was all during their time off. All this just from getting harassed by Yami……. No, even though Yami’s influence in this case was certainly large, their cooperation was far too smooth. If they didn’t trust each other from the start, they wouldn’t have been able to work together so quickly.

“……I wish the other Magic Knight Squads were like yours.”

“Huh? You want them to copy my Spartan way of coaching of them?”

“No. Not that.”

If he let Yami coach the other squads, the Magic Knights Brigade would become the Muscle Brigade.

“I was talking about the mutual trust and ability to cooperate that your squad has. I want everyone to get along the way your squad does, but that hasn’t happened.”

Julius said sadly as he lightly shook the contents of his cup. The magic knight squads are awarded “stars” in proportion to their achievements and activities. By having them compete against each other to earn the most stars, the motivation of every knight has increased. However, on the other hand, it’s undeniable that this has helped foster a lack of cooperation between knights. Even though they are all comrades who are a part of the very same Order of Magic Knights, they have become so fixated on earning starts that some knights have started trying to outwit their own comrades. Even if they work together smoothly, their competitiveness has become a hindrance that causes them to negatively influence each other.

Of course, not everyone is like that, but each squad in the Magic Knights contained people like that, and that worried Julius.

“…… Moreover, we were just attacked by the Eye of the Midnight Sun. They just declared their firm intent to fight us, so we need to become more monolithic than ever, but…… we’re not really there yet.”

“Well, that’s just it. You can’t expect everyone to start gettin’ along well just because you told them to.”

“……Ha ha, you’re talking as if it’s not your problem.”

Julius laughed when he heard Yami speak in such an uninterested way.

“But, actually, I don’t think it’s a problem you need to worry about. When the time comes for us to fight, I think everyone will realize that they need to put their feelings aside and cooperate.”

“Well, you’re probably right……”

‘By the time everyone realizes it, it could be too late……,’ Julius thought, though he also felt that Yami was probably correct. Right now, it’s not a serious problem. It might be a good idea to observe the current state of affairs before he takes any concrete measures. If he were to do anything at this stage, it would be……

“……I might have other squads take a look at the way your squad does things, so that they can follow by example.”

Julius whispered.

“……Hm? Sorry, did you say something?”

Yami asked as he poured wine into his cup. Julius had a small smile on his face as he shook his head,

“No, it’s nothing……”

And took a sip of his wine. It certainly tasted cheap. That said, Julius wasn’t too picky about his liquor, and even if he were, he wouldn’t have complained.

“……Now then, it’s been awhile since we’ve had a drink together, so let’s stop talking about work.”

If he ignored their official positions at work, Julius thought of Yami like a little brother, or perhaps even as a son. No matter how bad the wine is, it tastes delicious if they drink it together.

“Let me hear about how things have been for you lately.”

And so, time passed deep into the night as they talked.

“……Hm? Hey Yami, now that I think about it…..”

Julius opened a second bottle of wine as they continued conversing with each other.

“……Well, with your ability to read someone’s Ki, you must have known they were trying to hide something from you, right?”

“Ah, yeah.”

Yami nodded at Julius’s question.

“I knew, but it seemed interesting, so I let them swim free for a while.”

“…………”

‘……Instead of just this month, maybe I should give his squad a raise for the rest of the year.’

--- The Bull’s Day Off: The End ---

I always thought Julius thought of Yami as his son, but I guess Julius isn’t even sure himself what he thinks of Yami. Well, it’s certain that he thinks of him as ‘family’, at least.

If Yami called them out at the beginning, they wouldn’t have broken the bottles, so, in the end, isn’t the fact he’s drinking cheap wine his own fault?

His reasoning behind why he’s giving that statue to Fuegoleon was really thoughtful of him though. His gift-giving sense is actually really good.

I wonder if they should have had the guys cook for the second trial instead….. Maybe they don’t cook, but they don’t seem like they would be that bad.

Considering the fact that every other Black Bull got to appear in this chapter, I feel bad for Grey and Gordan. No appearances for them in the second novel ;A;

#Black Clover #Yami Sukehiro #Asta #noelle silva #finral roulacase #magna swing #luck voltia #vanessa enoteca #charmy pappitson #gauche adlai #julius novachrono #translation #order of knights book

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easnuppa · 5 years

Text

The outlawˋs way

Chapter 5, part 1

Another month had gone and Christmas was just around the corner, Daryl was surprised at how fast they had gotten into the routines of playing house, they each had their chores they did during the day, Lissy made him the most tasty meals he had ever tasted of the animals he hunted down in the forest, at night they relaxed in front of the fire before they ended up in bed in hot passion, he had realized that this was the life he had always dreamed of, how he was gonna leave her as soon as the weather was getting warmer was beyond him, it was gonna rip both of them apart, he had tried to keep himself for caring for her, but it was useless, he had given up the fight, he felt like the luckiest bastard every night when she had fallen asleep on his chest, if only he was a free man, then he would drag this amazing woman to Blackstone church and marry her in an instant and never let her go, but he knew that it wasn’t in his cards to do so.

He had heard the rumours that his family was on the search for him, he had played with the thought of maybe tracking them down and give them the money and tell them he was gonna start a life on his own, but he knew that his pa, Will Dixon, would never accept that, Dixons stuck together, no matter what.

In two days, it was Christmas and he wanted to do something special for her, he was planning on going out hunting, maybe he got lucky and stumbled upon a buck, she would be so happy, getting deer meat for the Christmas dinner. He loved to see her eyes shining and a wide smile on her lips, he would do anything to watch that beautiful smile every day for the rest of his life. And with that thought he drifted off to sleep.

Jack walked into the jail house and was met by the marshal and sheriff Grimes, they both nodded to him as he sat down, the men had a serious look on their faces and Jack felt his stomach turn.

Sherriff Grimes turned to him.

"We have just gotten it confirmed that the man staying at Miss Lissybeth’s ranch is Daryl Dixon, we need to bring him in and then the marshal will bring him to the next county where he will stand trail and be hanged."

Jack felt like he had just been punched in the gut, ever since he and Grimes had gone out to the ranch and caught Lissy and her ranch hand in bed, he had known it was one of the Dixon boys. He had recognized him from one of the posters that was hanging all over their neighbour town.

And when Grimes told Lissy about the rumours the marshal had told him, it all clicked in his head. He had pretended like nothing, hoping that the Dixon boy would be on the run before Grimes could figure it out on his own. He stared down into the table.

"If we go out there to arrest him it will crush Lissybeth, Mary Agnes said she has never seen Lissybeth this happy."

Grimes sighed and the marshal pushed out his chest.

"We can’t think of a woman’s feelings when we have a killer and a rapist on our hands here, you don’t know what this guy is capable of, I was there, in Golden Creek, I saw kids being been hanged, I saw a woman tied up naked, they had burned down the entire town."

Jacks fiery anger flared up.

"It’s not just some damn woman, marshal, and the guy have been living on her ranch, alone with her and not even so much broken a hair on her pretty little head, I don’t doubt for a second that the rest of the Dixon gang is killers and rapists and what not, but not this guy, he has taken care of Lissy and protected her for over two months now".

The marshal grinned and Jack clenched his jaw.

"Yeah, I’ve heard about what kind of ranch she is running out there, and that makes it more obvious that it is Daryl Dixon we have on our hands, it’s well known that they only socialise with whores!"

Grimes started to say something, but Jacks anger had now turned into white hot rage, the woman was his friend, his fiancés best friend, and he knew that Lissy was nothing like what the ugly rumours where saying.

He stood up so quickly that the chair crashed to the floor behind him.

"Ya be careful about what ya say about her, ya hear. She is a respectable young lady, from a well-known and respectable family, the rumours are just that, rumours, it’s not true. You don’t know what Lissybeth has been through, she runs the best horse ranch in this county."

The sheriff tried to calm Jack down, but the marshal refused to be talked down to by a deputy.

"She is also hiding a wanted man! It is a crime on its own, she should be hanged right next to him!"

Now Grimes was on his feet, turned towards the marshal.

"Now calm down, from my knowledge miss Lissybeth has no idea that she has hired a Dixon to help her out on her ranch."

The marshal calmed down a bit.

"Well either way we need to go out there and arrest him before he escapes," the marshal hoisted his trousers up on his large belly, proud of himself that he would be the one bringing in one of the Dixon boys.

Jack lifted the chair back up.

"Can’t we at least wait until after Christmas?", but the marshal wouldn’t budge.

"The sooner we capture him, the sooner he will dangle, and justice will be served! We go out there now!"

The marshal marched out of the prison and Jack turned to his boss and friend.

"What are we gonna do? This will destroy her!"

Grimes sighed and shrugged.

"There’s really not much we can do, if it hadn’t been for all the gossip going around town, he would never have sniffed out that the Dixon boy was only an hour away, and he would have gone to the next town to search for him. And I’m afraid we will have a bigger problem on our hands when the marshal brings in Daryl. He will brag about it to everyone who bothers to listen, and the news will soon spread all the way over the mountain pass and that will bring the Dixon gang right into our lap."

Jack nodded.

“We need to get him out of town before he can brag about it to anyone,” Grimes nodded, and the two men followed after the marshal.

Lissy heard horses outside and lifted her rifle before she stepped out onto the porch, she had her rifle aimed at the man in front wearing all black.

"What brings you men out here so close to Christmas, and with a marshal?"

They all got down from their horses and tied them to the post next to her porch, the three men stepped up onto the porch.

"That’s close enough until you all explain your business here," she said, still aiming at the marshal.

Jack took a step closer to her and grabbed her rifle.

"Lissy, we don’t want any trouble, we need to speak with your ranch help, Daryl, is he here?"

Lissy knew what that meant, they had figured out who he was and they were here to arrest him, she was tempted to tell them that Daryl had left that morning, but she knew she couldn’t, they would soon figure out she was lying and then she would be brought in as well.

"He’s out hunting, he has been gone all morning, he will probably be back soon."

The marshal gave the other two men a wide grin.

"Did ya hear that boys, I guess we will just wait for the man inside then, I’m sure the pretty little miss will offer us something to drink while we are waiting."

The man pushed passed Lissy like he owned the place, and both Jack and Grimes sent her apologetic looks, Lissy was almost growling as she saw the marshal was sat in Daryls chair at the end of the table, his black Stetson lazily thrown onto the table.

Lissy grabbed three tin cups and placed them down in front of the three men, oh she was really gonna give Jack a piece of her mind the next time she caught him alone, or Grimes for that matter, it didn’t matter much to her.

She grabbed the hot kettle off the fire and filled the cups with coffee, she saw the marshal was wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Don’t you have anything stronger miss?"

Lissy had her jaws clenched so hard so she was damn sure everyone in the room could hear it.

"I don’t know what kind of place this is marshal, but I assure you, this is my house and not a damn saloon, you can drink what I offer, if that’s not good enough for you then I suggest you drag your ass back to town."

The marshal lifted his gaze, she could see the man was deeply offended, because his chin was literally jiggling.

"You watch your tongue miss! I know all about your ranch and what kind of business you run here!"

Lissy’s eyes where cold as ice as she took a step closer to the marshal, the hot kettle dangerously swinging in her hand, right then the door swung open and Daryl walked in.

He closed the door and his eyes went wide when he eyed the three men sitting around Lissy’s table.

He was about to turn and run out of the door, when he heard the familiar click from the pistol hammer being pulled back.

"Daryl Dixon you are under arrest for horse and cattle theft, bank robbery, rape and killing 25 men and woman!"

The marshal was now ignoring Lissy and was now moving around the table and grabbing Daryl in the arm, bending both his hand behind his back.

Lissy could only just stand back and watch as the marshal cuffed his hands together and pushed Daryl outside onto the porch so hard that he stumbled and fell down the stairs, the marshal dragged him up at his feet.

Grimes followed suit, Jack had gotten up from his chair and gave Lissy an apologetic look.

"I’m truly sorry Lissy, I really didn’t want this to happen."

Lissy followed the men outside and saw how the marshal was tying a rope to Daryls iron cuffs and then tied the other end of the rope to his saddle. Panic threatened to squeeze her heart into a million pieces.

"Wait, let me saddle his horse up," she shouted at the marshal, but the man only laughed a sickening laugh.

"That won’t me necessary miss, this scumbag dog can use his legs back to town!"

Lissy grabbed sheriff Grimes arm.

"You guys can’t be serious? The snow is too deep, you can’t drag him all the way into town!" Her voice had reached a panic-struck high pitch, her frantic wide eyes flickered between Jack and the sheriff.

The sheriff cleared his voice.

"It wouldn’t hurt to let the man get on his horse," he said as he walked up to the marshal, the marshal turned to sheriff.

"If he dies on the way into town, then we will be spared the hassle of a trail."

Lissy couldn’t believe what she heard, she tried to make it passed Jack and down to Daryl where he was standing only in his shirt shivering from the cold, his pistol belt was removed and the sheriff gave them to Jack, Jack grabbed the pistol belt and pushed it into Lissy’s stomach as he held her back, stopping her from running up to Daryl, he leaned in and whispered.

"You hold on to the man’s guns, he might need them later on."

Lissy looked confused up at Jack, but Jack let her go and walked over to his horse and got up just the same time as the sheriff. She kept staring at Daryl, hoping that he would look at her just one last time, but the marshal pushed his heals into his horses’ flanks and the horse started trotting, the rope yanked Daryl and he had to run to keep up. Hot tears ran down her cheeks and when they all disappeared out of her sight she walked into her house and collapsed at the floor.

Daryl was pushed harshly into a prison cell, he collapsed on the bunkbed, his body was shivering hard from the cold, his clothes was dripping wet from the snow he had been dragged through half the way into town, he had lost his Stetson hat and his hair was now hanging down wet and frozen to his face, he was shivering so hard he thought his teeth would break, he couldn’t feel his hands and feet no more.

He just sat on the bunkbed, with his arms around himself. The marshal was a real asshole, he could hear how happy he was about his deed.

"Now boys, what ya’ll say, we go over to the saloon and treat ourselves to some fine bourbon, the ride made me a bit chilly, that ranch whores coffee didn’t hit the spot, maybe if I pay her another visit before I drag this dog out of town she will be more willing to bring out the good stuff".

Daryls blood was boiling, he scowled over at the marshal from under his frozen bangs, he was gonna enjoy killing that son of a bitch for talking about his woman like that. Daryl cursed at himself, she was definitely not his woman now, now she knew who she had been bedding for the last month, she probably hated him.

He should have told her. He couldn’t shake how terrified she had looked as the marshal cuffed him and pushed him outside.

Daryl heard the door being shut and he thought he was left alone in the cell, but then he heard the cell door being opened and he glanced up through his bangs, the deputy was standing in front of him with a wool blanket, the man draped it around his shoulders and he clutched at it with his numb hands, the deputy leaned against the bars, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You didn’t hurt her, did you?"

Daryl looked up at him, not really sure what the man was asking, of course he had hurt her, he had kept his real identity from her, he had led her to believe that she had a future with him. It was almost like the man could read his mind; he shook his head slightly.

"I mean you didn’t force yourself on her?"

Daryl shook his head, he wanted to explain himself, tell the man that he cared to much about her, but he couldn’t speak, his teeth where still shattering, he tried to clench his jaws shut.

"Do you care about her?"

Daryl stared at the floor but nodded.

"Yeah, I thought so, she’s a dear friend of mine and my fiancé, if you were a free man, would you do right by her?"

Daryl looked up again with a scowl, but nodded, earning a grin from the deputy as he walked out of the cell and locked it again.

"Try to get some sleep, you should probably remove those wet clothes or else you will probably catch a nasty cold, might end your life before the marshal gets the chance to bring you to trail," the deputy continued, Daryl stared at him between the bars as the deputy went over and sat down in the chair.

It almost sounded like the man wanted him to catch a cold. The door flew open and a woman walked in, Daryl watched as she threw herself around the deputy’s neck and kissed him passionately on the lips, he recognized the woman as Lissy’s friend, the deputy pushed the woman slightly away.

"Not now Mary, we got company."

The woman turned and looked straight at him; he could see the recognition in her eyes.

"Oh, my goodness, isn’t that Lissy’s man?" The deputy nodded and hummed confirmatively.

"Yeah, the marshal just brought him in. Claiming that he got one of the Dixon boys, but I’ve seen the posters, and he doesn’t look like one of them at all."

The woman turned her back to him.

"Is Lissy alright?" She asked, worry latched to her light voice.

"Lissy was a bit shook up, but she’s strong, you know that, I have a feeling it won’t be long until she comes into town to give me and Grimes hell."

The woman, Mary, laughed.

"That sounds like Lissy, what is gonna happen to him?"

Mary looked back at Daryl.

"Well, if he doesn’t catch a nasty cold from being dragged through the deep snow all the way into town, then the marshal will bring him in for a trail and he will probably be sentenced to death by hanging."

Daryl heard the woman gasp.

"Why? What has he done?"

The deputy shrugged.

“The marshal claims he has killed 20 something men, stolen a couple of horses and rape."

The woman gasped again.

"But he has lived with Lissy for over two months now."

Daryl had overheard their conversation; he pushed the words over his cold stiff lips.

"It’s a lie... I’ll admit to the stealing of the horses, I have never killed a man that wasn’t threatening me or one of my family first, but the number isn’t nearly as high as 20, and only one woman, slit ˋer throat so my pa’s boys wouldn’t torture ˋer to death, it was faster that way, painless. I’ve never touched an unwilling woman."

Both the deputy and the woman turned towards him.

"And I’ve never hurt or forced myself onto your friend."

The deputy looked at his fiancé.

"Did you hear the man just confess into some horrible crimes?"

Daryl didn’t quite get the deputies strange behaviour, his fiancés answer confused him even more.

"oh my, he must be getting sick, maybe the fever is making him delirious, it sure works fast."

Daryls anger flared up, they were talking about him like he was retarded, he pushed himself up on his feet, and shuffled his way over against the bars, he had to clench his hands around the steel bars to keep himself standing.

"Are ya two deaf or something, I just told ya what I’ve done, so ya better run off to the marshal and make sure he gets his story straight."

The deputy moved up to the bars and stared Daryl dead in the eyes.

"I’m not gonna do shit, and you keep your mouth shut and get some sleep or I’ll come in there and cut out that tongue of yours, so you’ll be forced to keep your mouth shut."

The deputy tone was threatening, Daryl felt drained and shuffled back to the bunkbed and slumped down on it, he pulled the blanket around himself, it didn’t take long until he fell asleep from the exhaustion.

Lissy had spent almost two nights and three days in bed, crying and wrapping her arms around the pillow Daryl had used. The same empty and numb feeling she had suffered through when her family were slayed down had overtaken her body, she only forced herself out to take care of the horses and then returned to her bed.

The third day she had gotten out of bed, her mind was still numb, but her body functioned on her own, she had gotten dressed and saddled up her mare and she rode into Blackstone.

She left her horse at the rental stable and walked over to the jailhouse, she needed to see him one more time. Luckily the asshole of a marshal wasn’t there when she pushed the door open, only the sheriff and her friend Jack where there, sitting at the sheriff’s desk talking quietly, they both got quiet when she walked into the room, she met their eyes.

"I want to see him!" She demanded, she saw how Jack and Grimes exchanged looks before Grimes nodded, and Jack got up to his feet and unlocked the prison cell.

Lissy walked straight passed him and into the small cell, Daryl was laying on the hard bunkbed with a blanket pulled over him, she could see how his body was shivering and she sat down next to him on the bed, she grabbed his shoulder and shook it.

"Daryl?" She kept her voice low, but he didn’t react to her, she got up to her feet and leaned over to get a look at him, his hair was dripping wet from sweat, his face was pale but his cheeks where flaming red, she brushed the back of her hand over his forehead and gasped, she turned towards the two men who were now standing in the cell door.

"He is burning up! You need to fetch the doctor."

Jack moved into the cell.

"We know Lissy, he came down with a cold two days ago, the doctor has been here, but he won’t do shit, ‘cause the marshal has ordered him to stay away."

@of-storms-and-sadness , @twdeadfanfic

#daryl dixon fanfic #the walking dead daryl #daryl dixon #twd daryl #daryl fanfiction #daryldixon/oc #fluff/smut #Angst #Wild West Au

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

Photo

Understanding The Bible - A Practical Guide To Each Book In The Bible - Part 29

Written by: PETER KREEFT

SIX

________

The Gospel of the Holy Spirit: Acts

Christians in the first century were called “these men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). How did they do it? How can we do it again?

The Acts of the Apostles is like a mystery and adventure novel. The mystery is how twelve men who were mostly peasants and fishermen changed the world more than any other group has ever done. What was their secret? The adventure moves through life-and-death situations, black magic, real miracles, murder, shipwreck, trials, torture, stoning, prison, earthquake, encounters with angels, conspiracy, and conversion. It leaves you breathless, like an Indiana Jones movie.

Two of the three main characters are Saints Peter and Paul. Peter was the first pope, the “Rock” on which Christ promised to build His Church. Paul was like a whirlwind. He was the greatest missionary of all time. No person ever did more to Christianize the world than Paul. If we need more rocks and whirlwinds in the Church today, maybe we should go back to this book for our models.

But the main character in Acts is Jesus Christ. Acts is a continuation of Luke’s Gospel (read Lk 1:1-4; then Acts 1:1). Just as the Gospel is the story of Christ, Acts is the story of the Body of Christ, the Church.

This book brings us back to basics. It shows us what the Church most basically is: a conspiracy of love for a dying world, a spy mission into enemy-occupied territory ruled by the powers of evil, a prophet from God with the greatest news the world has ever heard, the most life-changing and most revolutionary institution that has ever existed on earth.

The Church is not just a human institution. It is not just an organization but an organism. Just as your body is not simply a bunch of cells, the Church is not simply a collection of human beings. Just as your soul is the life of your body, the Holy Spirit is the life of the Church.

Acts has been called “the Gospel of the Holy Spirit”. That’s why after Jesus’ ascension it begins with Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, the coming of the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit is the secret power that turned murderers into martyrs and sinners into saints. He planned and directed the whole plot of Acts. He empowered and inspired its human actors. The Holy Spirit is the real hero of the story. (Yes, “He”, not “it”. He’s a person, like the Father and the Son, not a “force”.)

The first part of Acts tells the story of the Church in the East, in Jerusalem and Antioch. The storyline centers on Peter, the Apostle to the Jews. The second part tells of the Church in the Roman West and centers on Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. Together these two great saints-martyrs-evangelists-missionaries are the joint “pillars of the Church”.

Luke, the author, was Paul’s companion on his missionary journeys around the Roman world. That’s why he often uses “we” (for example, see Acts 16, 20, and 27). The action begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome, the center of the ancient world, with Paul, a prisoner in the emperor’s household, making converts everywhere and waiting to be martyred.

How is this story of ancient times relevant to us and our world today? Our world is just as corrupt, just as hard and proud, just as violent, just as needy, as the world was then. This book gives us the pattern for turning it upside down again.

We have the same Church, the same power source (the Holy Spirit), the same good news, and the same last orders from our Lord, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). No force on earth can stop us except our own laziness and lack of faith.

We need to recapture the forward-looking optimism of the apostles in Acts. After Jesus left them and ascended to Heaven, you would think they would now look back to the past, the glorious time when He had been with them. But no, they looked to the future, for the future was to be even more glorious. Jesus Himself had told them that it would be better for them if He left and sent them the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:7).

How could this be better? Wouldn’t it be better if we had Jesus still physically, humanly present? No. When He was here, His disciples still misunderstood Him. Only when He sent the Spirit could they begin the tremendous tasks narrated in this book.

Why? Because God the Father is outside us, and God the Son beside us, but God the Holy Spirit is inside us. (This is only a view of the roles of the three Persons of the Godhead; of course, there are not three Gods—one outside us, one inside us, and one beside us.)

Being inside another is maximum intimacy. Intimacy is what love aims at, and God is love. The whole Bible is the love story between God and His people, His Church. Acts begins the third and last and most intimate stage of all.

The Church is the most powerful force on earth not only because she has the highest ideal above her, but above all because she has the greatest power within her. This book shows us what that power can accomplish.

The Holy Spirit, the Church’s Power Source

Acts begins with Jesus’ ascension. But this is not the end of the story. It is the beginning. With a sense of mounting excitement, the reader turns, like the apostles, from the departing Jesus to the coming Holy Spirit.

The physical presence of Jesus wasn’t enough. If the Holy Spirit hadn’t come, Christians could never have won the world. Here is shocking evidence for that, in the form of one of the stupidest questions ever asked. After teaching His apostles for forty days the meaning of His Kingdom (1:3), Jesus gets this question: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (1:6). In other words, “Your kingdom is a political kingdom, a this-worldly kingdom, isn’t it? Are we finished with all this spiritual stuff now and can we get down to the ‘bottom line’ of kicking out those awful Romans and liberating our nation? That’s what you came for, right?”

Not until the Spirit came did they understand. Not until the Spirit came did they have the spiritual power to win hearts and minds. Jesus knew that. That’s why He told them not to go out to all the world and preach the Gospel, not yet (1:4-5). That would have been like trying to pull a plow with a kitten, or light up a city with a flashlight. There was a power shortage.

The Spirit is as necessary as Jesus. The Spirit is like a plug, Jesus is like electricity in the wires, and the Father is like the dynamo that generates the electricity. You need to plug into the power. Having an ideal, a blueprint, without the power to live it produces only a sense of failure, frustration, and guilt. Only God the Holy Spirit can empower us to live the life that God the Son lived and God the Father commanded.

That is the secret of the Church. That is the reason for her staying power, her enduring through centuries of persecution, her saints and martyrs, her profundity of doctrine, her infallibility and consistency throughout two thousand years. Nothing but God working inside her, not just outside her or beside her, nothing less than God the Holy Spirit as the soul of the Church, could perform this miracle in history.

Thus, this book, which is a history of the early Church, begins with Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. Just as God breathed His Spirit into Adam and turned mere “dust of the earth” into a man (Gen 2:7), so He again breathed His Spirit into a band of confused, weak human beings and turned them into the one and only thing on this earth that the gates of Hell themselves will never prevail against, the one thing we can be certain will last until the end of time: the Church, Christ’s own new Body.

You see the change the Holy Spirit makes most strikingly in Peter. Read all the passages in the four Gospels that refer to Peter, and you will see how confused and weak he is. Then read all the passages in Acts, beginning with his Pentecost sermon, that mention Peter. You see a new man, a real Rock for the first time.

His impromptu sermon on Pentecost converted three thousand people (2:41). It was so effective that after it was over, his listeners asked not, “What should we think?” but, “What should we do?” (2:37). When the great orator Cicero made a speech before the Roman senate, all the senators said, “How well he speaks!” But they remained seated. When the great general Demosthenes addressed his Greek troops, they stood up, clashed their swords upon their shields, and shouted, “Let us march!” Peter is now like Demosthenes, not Cicero.

Peter’s answer to their question, “What shall we do?” summarizes the whole Bible, all three parts of God’s plan for our redemption. First, the Old Testament prophets, culminating in John the Baptist, focus on one thing: “Repent.” Turn away from sin and back to God. Second, the Gospels show us the way to be incorporated into Christ and receive His forgiveness: “And be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” But there is a third part too: “And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (2:38).

Then, as if he were looking over the heads of his immediate audience and down the centuries to us, he added, “For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him”(2:39, emphasis mine).

A poor European family was immigrating to America. They had saved for years to buy the tickets. The only food they had with them for the journey was bread and cheese. After a few days, the little boy said to his father, “I can’t stand this any more. Nothing but cheese sandwiches. Please give me some money for some real food.” The father gave him his last nickel and told him to buy something in the ship’s dining room. (This was 1900.) The boy came back in two hours, fat and happy. “I had soup and steak and ice cream and pie. It was great!” “What?” the father asked. “Did you buy all that with a nickel?” “Oh, no, Dad. The food’s free. It comes with the ticket.”

The Church today is surviving on cheese sandwiches. The Holy Spirit is steak and pie. He’s part of the package deal, part of God’s plan for us. He comes with the ticket. The great things the Church accomplished in Acts can be done in our day, if we only had the power. That power is available for the asking. Read and pray Luke 11:5-13.

Peter, the First Pope, and Stephen, the first Martyr

Acts tells the dramatic story of the early Church—a Church that was very poor in material wealth and power, but very rich in spiritual wealth (full of saints and martyrs) and power (miracles).

At other times in the Church’s history, especially the Renaissance, it was just the reverse. The Church had amassed great worldly wealth but had gotten weak and corrupt. That contrast is the point of the story of a Renaissance pope who was proudly showing a saintly friend all the riches of his treasury. “See?” he said, “Peter can no longer say, ‘I have no silver or gold.’ ” “No,” replied the friend, “but neither can he say, ‘In the name of Jesus, rise and walk!’ ”

The pope and his friend were referring to the story in Acts 3. Peter and John, newly filled with the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, go into the temple and see a man who had been lame from birth. The man was begging for money, but instead of material wealth he found spiritual wealth in Peter, who said to him, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”—and the man rose and walked.

The Renaissance pope said, “Peter can no longer say, ‘I have no silver or gold’ ” because the chain of popes stretches back to Peter, whom Christ appointed when He said, “On this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16:18).

But the name Peter does not seem to fit him in the Gospels. It means “rock”, but Peter is hardly “Rocky” before Pentecost. He is more like “Sandy”. Peter is weak and vacillating, misunderstanding Christ, making mistakes (like fighting with his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane), and cowardly (denying Christ three times during His trial). Naming him “Rocky” is a joke, like naming a skinny man “Fats”.

Yet in Acts Peter fulfills Jesus’ prophecy about his name. He becomes a real rock. He leads the infant Church through persecutions, uncertainties, and hard times (let’s not romanticize the early Church!), just as all his successors have done. (Only later were they called popes.)

Acts centers first on Peter. Then, beginning with chapter 9, it focuses on Paul. In both parts, we see the Church growing in the face of problems that would have destroyed any merely human institution.

Peter’s boldness in Acts contrasts strikingly with his former cowardice. He dares to say straight out to the people who called for Jesus’ crucifixion—and who might well have called for Peter’s too—“[You] killed the Author of life” (3:15). But he adds, “I know that you acted in ignorance” (3:17). When commanded by the authorities to stop preaching the Gospel, he answered, “We must obey God rather than men” (5:29), and “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (4:20). His message is clear and uncompromising: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (4:12).

Everyone wondered at Peter and the other apostles, just as they had wondered at Jesus: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (4:13). Everyone who met Jesus wondered at Him: His friends (whose wonder turned to worship), His enemies (whose wonder turned to bitter hatred), and those who just didn’t know what to think. The wonder of Jesus now rubs off onto the apostles.

In chapters 6 and 7, we find the story of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Wherever Christianity is strong, there have always been martyrs; wherever there have been Christian martyrs, Christianity has been strong. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”, said Tertullian, a prominent thinker of the early Church.

It’s not that Christianity teaches that you should seek out martyrdom, but that whenever the world sees great Christians, it fears and hates them, as the decayed tooth hates and fears the dentist, or the cancer fears the surgeon.

Jesus promised, many times, in the Gospels, that His followers would be hated, persecuted, and martyred, just as He was (see Jn 15:18-20; 16:33; 16:2; 17:14; Lk 6:22; Mt 10:22; 24:9).

In those parts of the world in which the Church has been persecuted in this century, she has become stronger: China, Russia, Poland, former East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. But wherever being a Catholic is easy, the Church becomes weaker: France, Holland, England, former West Germany, America, Canada, and even Italy.

After fifty years of China welcoming Christian missionaries (1905—1956), there were only two million converts. But after thirty years of persecution under Mao Tse Tung, there were an estimated twenty-five million Christians in China by 1986.

The martyr Stephen does not mince words or beg for mercy. He sounds like an Old Testament prophet (see 7:51-53). Yet as he dies under the stoning of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, he prays, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (7:60), just as Jesus prayed on the Cross, “Father, forgive them” (Lk 23:34). This combination of toughness and love runs throughout the Bible, for it is what God Himself is like: neither wimpy nor nasty. The apostles are like Jesus now, for they are filled with His Spirit. This is the power that fueled the Church like a rocket ship through history.

The Conversion of Paul (Acts 9)

What happened in Acts 9 is crucial for the history of the Church and the world that it was about to convert and change. It is the conversion of Paul, the greatest Christian missionary of all time, the one who more than any other single individual after Christ was responsible for converting half the world. Most of the rest of Acts is about him, and most of the rest of the New Testament after Acts is written by him (13 or 14 epistles). This chapter tells how Saul became Paul.

God changed his name and his life. As we saw with Peter, only God can change your name, for the ancient Jews did not think of a name as a mere label given by parents, but as signifying your real, true identity, which only God can give you.

Like Abram (Abraham), Jacob (Israel), Simon (Peter), and Saul (Paul), we all are destined to have a new name if we are on the road to Heaven (see Rev 2:17). This is a name we do not yet know; only God knows it. Do you think the change that happened to Saul on earth in Acts is great? You are destined for an even greater change in Heaven.

Let’s look at Saul before his conversion first, since the rest of Acts centers on Paul after his conversion.

The first thing we learn about him is that he was present at the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr (chap. 7). He watched the coats of the men who threw the stones. And he consented to his death (8:1).

The next thing we hear is that he “was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (8:3). The “dragging” was literal. The fact that he also put women in prison was especially cruel and unusual.

We would call this man a “religious fanatic” and “bigot” and probably dismiss him as hopelessly wicked. But that just shows how different our thinking is from God’s. God picks out this man to become an apostle, a missionary, and a saint.

Why? Because God always surprises us. Throughout the Bible, He never does the expected. He often chooses what seems foolish in the eyes of the world to shame the worldly wise (see 1 Cor 1 on this, especially v. 27). We constantly forget that God’s work does not fit human expectations.

Also, no one, however hate-filled and bigoted, is hopeless. If God can convert and save a murderer, do you think your sins are too much for him to handle?

A religious fanatic at least has passion. He’s moving in the wrong direction, but at least he’s moving. It’s easier to move a car to the right if it’s already moving to the left than if it’s not moving at all.

God never made a saint out of a wimp. He wants lovers because He is love. He does not want wrongly directed love, but he does want love, not laid-back, “cool”, blase, detached, uncaring laziness.

At the beginning of chapter 9, we find Saul “still breathing threats and murder against the disciples”. But on his way to Damascus to search for Christians to throw into prison, he is literally knocked off his high horse: “Suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting’ ” (9:3-5).

Saul must have been absolutely and totally dumbfounded. He had thought he was serving God and doing God’s will by persecuting Christians. He had thought Christians were the worst blasphemers in the world, because they worshipped a human being who claimed to be God. Now God—the God Saul served with misdirected passion—speaks to him and says he is persecuting Him!

When Saul humbly asked, “Who are you, Lord?” that may well have been the first time in his life he admitted a mistake. (Fanatics are not usually humble.) And what a mistake! He didn’t even know who God was—the God he worshipped and served, the God in whose name he was persecuting Christians. Saul suddenly gets an open mind. And into that opening steps Christ.

Notice the amazing fact that Jesus said to Saul that Saul was persecuting Him, even though Jesus was now ascended and in Heaven. For Saul was persecuting the Church. What a dramatic way to learn the identity of Christ and His Church!

When Paul later wrote in Ephesians 5 that Christ is the “Head” and the Church is His “Body”, he meant this just as truly as the thing between your ears is your head and the thing it is perched on top of is your body.

Jesus had said to His disciples, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it not to me” (Mt 25:45). “Truly, I say to you” is a formula for “I really mean this, don’t water this down, it’s no exaggeration.” So when we snub or exploit or abort our fellow human being, we snub or exploit or abort Jesus Christ.

Paul’s conversion did not take him out of the war he had been fighting, but it put him on the other side and changed the weapons from physical to spiritual ones and from hatred to love. Christ chose Paul to suffer for Him rather than inflict suffering (9:16). Shortly after he is converted, those who had commissioned him to kill Christians (9:2) try to kill him (9:23).

To be converted is to become more like Christ. Christ did not fight, but He did not avoid a fight either. He went right into the center of the fight—where good and evil cross—and suffered on that Cross. Now Paul is ready to follow Him. Are we?

If you were brought to trial on the charge of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

How Big Is Christianity? Acts 10—15

We take for granted today that Christianity is universal, for everyone. Acts 10-15 shows how this was not so obvious at first to the early Christians. Most of them were Jews. Judaism had always been a special divine revelation, for Jews only. We do not realize what a great shock it was to recognize that now, for the first time in history, the knowledge of the true God was to spread throughout the whole world.

Orthodox Jews, who believe in a real Messiah to come, do not prosyletize or send out missionaries to make converts, because their Old Testament prophets said that the knowledge of God was to “cover the earth as the waters cover the sea” only when the Messiah comes. And they do not believe that the Messiah has come yet (Jews who are not Orthodox do not usually believe in a literal Messiah, and they do not prosyletize either, but for other reasons.)

God had to teach this surprising new truth of Christianity’s worldwide destiny to the two “pillars of the Church”, Peter and Paul, in dramatic ways. He knocked Paul off his horse and shone a great light from Heaven on him to show him that Christianity was not a heretical sect but the truth for everyone (chap. 9). The fact that God would now reveal Himself to everyone, Gentiles as well as Jews, through Christ, was so shocking to Paul that he called it a great “mystery” in Ephesians 1:9-10 and 3:3-6.

God had to shatter Peter’s narrowness too. He did this by sending him a strange vision (chap. 10) of a great sheet let down from Heaven with both kosher and non-kosher animals in it, commanding him to eat them all, contrary to Jewish dietary laws. The age of the law was over; Christ had begun the age of grace.

Even though it was not easy for Peter to change his lifelong habits, he was open to God’s leading (10:28-29, 34-35; 11:17) because he had been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Peter now follows where his Master leads. Ever since this first pope, the Spirit has led the popes, and through them the Church, where He wants them to go.

Catholics believe in a single, visible Church. From the beginning, the single, visible Church has had authority over all Christians. This is evident in Acts 15 with the question of whether Gentile converts had to be circumcised and made Jews before they could be baptized and made Christians (see 15:5-6, 22-30). Peter clearly assumed a leading role and was the main speaker at this first Church council. Their decision is expressed in words claiming divine, not just human authority: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (v. 28). From the beginning, there was one Church for the whole world.

Also from the beginning there were divisions and disputes within the Church. Paul and Barnabas were good men (see 11:24; 15:37-40), yet they had an angry argument and separated. Internal divisions are much harder for the Church to endure than external persecutions. Yet she endures both, for even the gates of Hell will never prevail against the Church Jesus built on the rock (Mt 16:18).

In chapter 12 King Herod kills James and imprisons Peter. But God has other plans for Peter, and no human force can confine God’s plans. An angel frees Peter from prison, just as Psalm 91:11 and Revelation 3:7-8 promise.

This same wicked King Herod is struck dead when he blasphemously accepts the title of “a god” (Acts 12:21-23), just as Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead in chapter 5 when they lied to God. The armies of the supernatural world, both good and evil, are encountered in these extraordinary incidents, breaking through into our world. Another example of this is Elymas the Sorcerer (13:8-11), whose spiritual blindness breaks out in physical blindness. These are not fanciful myths but real miracles, told in a matter-of-fact, eyewitness style.

Acts is the history of a spiritual warfare between supernatural good and evil, Christ and Antichrist, powers from Heaven and Hell. The spiritual war becomes physical when Christians are persecuted. For instance, Paul is stoned almost to death (14:19) and later imprisoned (chap. 16).

Does the Gospel produce such reactions today? Indeed it does—at least wherever the true Gospel is preached, instead of some mild, popular, watered-down part of it.

Almost no one hates or persecutes you if you preach those parts of the Gospel that are popular today, such as peace, justice, compassion, and social action. But you are often hated and rejected today if you dare to say such unpopular things as these:

■ that Jesus is not just one among many equal religious figures, but the only true God;

■ that sin, judgment, and Hell are real;

■ that sexual sins, like other sins, are really sins and need to be repented of and turned away from;

■ that Christianity is not a moral fable but a supernatural, miraculous fact; or

■ that there is objective truth and objective values, that people can be wrong, that “true for me” isn’t enough.

The methods of persecution have changed. They don’t stone believers today. They ostracize them socially and censor them in the media. The media (especially the movies) nearly always portray Christians as bigoted, rigid, harsh, intolerant, narrow-minded, and stupid. These are some of the stones thrown today: word-stones. But they cannot kill the truth, just as they couldn’t kill Paul. Media censorship can’t imprison the truth, just as Peter (chap. 12) and Paul and Silas (chap. 16) could not be imprisoned. When God opens doors, no one can close them.

God opened Gentile doors only after He gave the Jews the first opportunity. Wherever Paul went, he preached the Gospel first to the Jews (see Rom 1:16). Acts 13 tells how he did this at Antioch, showing how Jesus fulfilled the Jewish prophets, Jewish Scriptures, and Jewish history. A Jew who accepts Jesus as the Messiah today, just as in the first century, does not become a Gentile but a completed Jew.

But Paul’s hearers reacted with envy and tried to kill him. In the first century, Jews in authority sometimes tried to kill Christians. Once Christians became part of the power structure, they often tried to kill Jews. No one has a monopoly on evil.

It was ironic that most first-century Jews rejected Christ while many Gentiles accepted Him, for God had entrusted His most complete revelation to the Jews. They should have known God better than anyone else and recognized Christ, for “like Father, like Son” (see Jn 8:19; 5:39).

Acts 17: How Christianity Went West

Acts 17 tells us why we in the Western world know about Christ today, as much of the Orient does not. It tells the dramatic story of why Christianity went to Europe rather than Asia—an event that changed the next two thousand years of world history.

It also tells the story of the first meeting of Christianity and Greek philosophy. These were the two strongest and most long-lasting spiritual forces in the ancient world. They are the two forces that have influenced the Western world more than any other. And they are the two forces from the ancient world that met and married and made the next great era of history, the Middle Ages.

The Holy Spirit was directing history by directing the apostles. In Acts 13:2, Luke writes, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which I have called them.” (Notice how real and personal the Holy Spirit is. He is not just a force but a real Divine Person, who speaks and commands specifically and concretely. If the apostles had not been open and obedient to Him, God’s plan for human history would not have been fulfilled. God uses human instruments; we the Church are His hands and feet.)

In Acts 16:6, Luke writes that they had “been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia”. (“Asia” here means what was called “Asia Minor”, that is, modern Turkey.) If the apostles had insisted on their own plans instead of following the Holy Spirit, they would have gone East with the Gospel instead of West. If they had done that, Europe would probably have remained pagan, Asia rather than Europe and America would have become the Christian continent, and we would probably not be Christians today.

This didn’t happen, because Paul obeyed a dream God sent him, the “Macedonian vision”: “A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia [northern Greece] was standing beseeching him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (16:9-10).

So Paul worked his way down through northern Greece to Athens, the capital city and the home of Greek culture and philosophy. Here now for the first time, the two great forces of Christianity and Greek philosophy meet.

Athens was full of idols, and this “provoked” Paul (chap. 16). The whole ancient world, except for the Jews and the Christians, worshipped false gods (1dols) and many gods (polytheism). Yet even here, Paul is able to make a positive point of contact.

The reason this could happen and the reason the Gospel took root there was that some of the Athenians were genuinely seeking the truth. They were honest, open-minded, and “devout” people (see 17:11-12, 17).

So when the philosophers (17:18) asked Paul to preach to them (17:20), Paul began by praising them for being “very religious” (17:22). Though their theology was wrong and idolatrous, their hearts were honest and seeking the truth about God.

In contrast, when Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, Greece’s second city after Athens, he severely criticized them for their pride and arrogance, even though their theology was much more correct than the theology of the Athenian pagans.

Like Jesus, Paul gave his different audiences what each really needed. Humble and ignorant truth-seekers like the Athenians need encouragement and knowledge. Proud know-it-alls like the Corinthians need a dose of humility and even insult (see 1 Cor 1:18-3:23).

In fact, what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:18 is almost exactly what the wisest, best, and most famous Greek philosopher Socrates had taught four hundred years earlier: true wisdom consists in recognizing that we are not wise. Some of the philosophers Paul preached to in Athens had learned that Socratic spirit of humility and were thirsting for truth. Now finally their thirst was about to be quenched.

Socrates had been a stonecutter. He may have actually cut the very words Paul referred to in Acts 17:23 on the altar: “To an unknown god”, for he believed in one single God whom he did not claim to name or define, unlike most other Greeks, who believed in many gods, like Zeus and Athena.

Here now is the point of contact, like two wires crossing. Paul says something astonishing in 17:23: “The God you worship in ignorance, I now declare to you.” Paul says that these Socratic, God-seeking Greek pagans were already worshipping the true God just by seeking Him, even though they did not know Him.

Incidentally, this is a very strong reason for believing that pagans can be saved. As Christ promised, all who seek, find (Mt 7:8).

First Paul approves the Athenians’ initial step: admitting they did not know God and seeking Him. Then he takes them to the second step: he tells how God made Himself known to the Jews as the one supreme, perfect Creator and Father. Finally, he tells them about God incarnate, Christ the Son. It is a natural three-stage teaching that can be used as effectively with modern post-Christian pagans as it was used with ancient pre-Christian pagans by Paul.

It works because what was said by Pascal, the great seventeenth-century Christian philosopher, is true: “There are only three kinds of people: those who have sought God and found Him and now serve Him; those who neither seek Him nor find Him; and those who are busy seeking Him but have not yet found Him. The first are reasonable and happy, the second are unreasonable and unhappy, the third are reasonable but unhappy.” The Athenians were in the third class. They were reasonable and wise because they were seeking, but not yet happy because they had not yet found.

Everyone in the third class eventually gets into the first, unless Christ’s promise is a lie. But no one from the second class gets into the first. Only those who seek God, want God, and love God, find Him. We are saved by our love, not our knowledge; by our hearts being open to God. The pagan Western world was seeking God. That’s why it found God and was converted. The modern world can be reconverted too. All it has to do is seek, as honestly and humbly as the ancient Greeks, and the story of Acts can come alive again today.

#understanding the bible

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johnboothus · 4 years

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AleSmith Brewing Companys Vicky and Peter Zien Pay It Forward Through Philanthropy Personnel and Pints

AleSmith Brewing Company, founded in 1995, isn’t one to follow trends. Its operating strategy is basically this: do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. So far, after 25 years, it seems to be working very well.

Where nearby breweries like Pure Project and Kilowatt Brewing slowly and strategically open satellite tasting rooms across San Diego, Vicky and Peter Zien, the duo at AleSmith’s helm, waited until long after they’d outgrown their exceptionally diminutive tasting room before opening a mind-bogglingly huge new facility down the street in 2015. The location is smack in the middle of Miramar, a neighborhood known locally as “Beeramar,” thanks to its abundance of top-tier craft breweries.

Instead of churning out trend-driven releases to satiate the FOMO crowd, the Ziens doubled down on seminal brews like its Speedway Stout, whose numerous variants regularly garner acclaim. Rather than kick back and collect accolades, AleSmith has shared its success — by donating time, energy, and finances — to causes they believe in, both in the local community and the world at large. Homebrew clubs like QUAFF and BJCP study groups often utilize AleSmith’s large production space pro bono for judging beer competitions, and hosting educational classes. Numerous charitable beer releases help fund organizations — for example, proceeds from AleSmith’s 2015 Christmas Noël (or “No-L”) Belgian Strong Ale went to lupus research.

Since 2015, the Ziens have actively supported the Lost Boys and Girls of South Sudan, a non-profit group aimed at improving the lives of Sudanese refugees now living in San Diego after fleeing violence in their home country. By hosting walk-a-thon fundraisers, selling books in the brewery store, creating a Speedway varietal using Ethiopian coffee beans, and hiring a number of refugees at the brewery, Vicky and Peter have committed to philanthropy as a cornerstone of the brewery.

In 2019, AleSmith launched Anvil of Hope, a program that helps provide housing assistance to San Diegans facing homelessness, meals for families experiencing food insecurity, and educational scholarships for at-risk youth, many of whom are on the brink of aging out of the foster care system. As president of the program, Vicky spends much of her days focusing on how AleSmith can continue to make a difference in the lives of people inside and outside of the community.

The following interview with Vicky has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity, but maintains the essence of both Ziens’ dedication to making the world a better place, one beer and one action at a time.

1. What‌ ‌do‌ ‌you‌ ‌value‌ ‌most‌ ‌in‌ ‌your‌ ‌current‌ ‌role?‌

The‌ ‌ability‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌make‌ ‌a‌ ‌difference.‌ ‌I‌ ‌wear‌ ‌many‌ ‌different‌ ‌hats‌ ‌ranging‌ ‌from‌ ‌owner,‌ ‌culture‌ ‌and‌ ‌community‌ advocate,‌ ‌and‌ ‌president‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌non-profit,‌ ‌so‌ ‌you‌ ‌can‌ ‌imagine‌ ‌how‌ ‌busy‌ ‌my‌ ‌days‌ ‌are.‌ ‌I’m‌ ‌honored‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌such‌ ‌a‌ diversified‌ ‌and‌ ‌remarkable‌ ‌group‌ ‌of‌ ‌men‌ ‌and‌ ‌women‌ ‌that‌ ‌make‌ ‌AleSmith‌ ‌the‌ ‌company‌ ‌that‌ ‌it‌ ‌is.‌

2. How‌ ‌have‌ ‌you‌ ‌personally‌ ‌been‌ ‌affected‌ ‌by‌ ‌Covid-19‌ ‌and/or‌ ‌the‌ ‌recent‌ ‌social‌ ‌justice‌ ‌movements‌ ‌like‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Lives‌ ‌Matter? ‌ ‌ We‌ ‌feel‌ ‌tremendous‌ ‌sadness‌ ‌for‌ ‌both‌ ‌those‌ ‌who‌ ‌have‌ ‌lost‌ ‌their‌ ‌lives‌ ‌to‌ ‌Covid‌ ‌and‌ ‌to‌ ‌social‌ ‌injustice‌ ‌which‌ ‌also‌ ‌makes‌ ‌us‌ ‌very‌ ‌angry.‌ ‌We‌ ‌were‌ ‌proud‌ ‌to‌ ‌participate‌ ‌in‌ ‌both‌ ‌local‌ ‌and‌ ‌national‌ ‌Black‌ ‌is‌ ‌Beautiful‌ ‌collaborative beer‌ ‌campaigns‌ ‌to‌ ‌raise‌ ‌awareness‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌issue‌ ‌as‌ ‌well‌ ‌as‌ ‌raise‌ ‌funds‌ ‌for‌ ‌several‌ ‌organizations‌ ‌such‌ ‌as‌ ‌NAACP.‌ ‌It‌’s‌ ‌nice‌ ‌to‌ ‌see‌ ‌more‌ ‌people‌ ‌and‌ ‌more‌ ‌businesses‌ ‌take‌ ‌a‌ ‌stand‌ ‌against‌ ‌social‌ ‌injustice; ‌however‌, ‌it‌ ‌will‌ ‌be‌ ‌nicer‌ ‌when‌ ‌that‌ ‌phrase‌ ‌is‌ ‌truly‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌history.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

3. What‌ ‌are‌ ‌some‌ ‌tangible‌ ‌steps‌ ‌you‌ ‌as‌ ‌individuals‌, ‌or‌ ‌as‌ ‌a‌ ‌company‌, ‌are‌ ‌taking‌ ‌to‌ ‌address‌ ‌racial‌ ‌equity‌ ‌and‌ ‌justice‌ ‌in‌ ‌craft‌ ‌beer?‌ ‌

‌Great‌ ‌question.‌ ‌We‌ ‌should‌ ‌all‌ ‌do‌ ‌something‌ ‌proactive.‌ ‌I‌ ‌am‌ ‌Hispanic‌, ‌and‌ ‌Peter‌ ‌is‌ ‌Jewish‌, ‌so‌ ‌we‌ ‌both‌ ‌grew‌ ‌up‌ hearing‌ ‌racial‌ ‌slurs‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌always‌ ‌been‌ ‌sensitive‌ ‌to‌ ‌these‌ ‌issues.‌ Embracing‌ ‌diversity ‌is‌ ‌one‌ ‌of‌ ‌our‌ ‌long-time‌ company‌ ‌values‌ ‌which‌ ‌you‌ ‌will‌ ‌find‌ ‌on‌ ‌our‌ ‌website‌: “We‌ ‌value‌ ‌and‌ ‌respect‌ ‌diversity‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌different‌ ‌backgrounds,‌ ‌experiences,‌ ‌and‌ ‌ideas‌ ‌that‌ ‌diversity‌ ‌brings‌ ‌to‌ ‌us.”‌ ‌You‌ ‌see‌ ‌it‌ ‌in‌ ‌our‌ ‌hiring‌ ‌practices‌ ‌and‌ ‌onboarding‌ ‌process‌ ‌as‌ ‌well‌ ‌as‌ ‌our‌ ‌daily‌ ‌lives.‌ ‌My‌ ‌new‌ ‌favorite‌ ‌AleSmith‌ ‌shirt‌ ‌is‌ ‌our‌ ‌“Peace,‌ ‌Love,‌ ‌Equality,‌ ‌and‌ ‌Beer”‌ ‌t-shirt, which is currently being redesigned to allow other breweries to participate to continue the love across the nation. We‌ ‌plan‌ ‌to‌ ‌donate‌ ‌proceeds‌ ‌to‌ Paving Great Futures, which recently won California’s Charity of the Year.

4. How, when, and why did you and Peter get involved with the Lost Boys and Girls?

We‌ ‌were‌ ‌making‌ ‌the‌ ‌transition‌ ‌to‌ ‌our‌ ‌new‌ ‌building‌ ‌in‌ ‌2014‌ ‌as‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌our‌ ‌expansion‌ ‌plan‌ ‌and‌ ‌had‌ ‌begun‌ ‌hiring‌ ‌for‌ ‌our‌ ‌increased‌ ‌production/packaging‌ ‌needs.‌ ‌I‌ ‌read‌ ‌an‌ ‌article‌ ‌in‌ ‌my‌ ‌church‌ ‌newsletter‌ for‌ ‌employers‌ ‌to‌ ‌consider‌ ‌hiring‌ ‌members‌ ‌of‌ ‌The‌ ‌Lost‌ ‌Boys‌ ‌of‌ ‌Sudan‌ ‌refugee‌ ‌group‌ ‌for‌ ‌general‌ ‌labor‌ ‌needs.‌ ‌I‌ ‌felt‌ ‌like‌ ‌my‌ ‌prayers‌ ‌were‌ ‌answered.‌ ‌I‌ ‌interviewed‌ ‌our‌ ‌first‌ ‌Lost‌ ‌Boy,‌ ‌Alephonsion‌ ‌Deng,‌ ‌and‌ ‌he‌ quickly ‌brought‌ ‌a‌ ‌deeper‌ ‌sense‌ ‌of‌ ‌gratitude‌ ‌to‌ ‌our‌ ‌entire‌ ‌team.‌ ‌Since‌ ‌then,‌ ‌we’ve‌ ‌hired‌ ‌10‌ ‌Lost‌ ‌Boys‌ ‌of‌ ‌Sudan‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌conducted‌ ‌numerous‌ ‌fundraising‌ ‌events‌ ‌on‌ ‌their‌ ‌behalf.‌ ‌

5. What‌ ‌made‌ ‌you‌ ‌decide‌ ‌to‌ ‌focus‌ ‌on‌ ‌supporting‌ ‌the‌ ‌Lost‌ ‌Boys‌ and Girls ‌of‌ ‌Sudan?‌ ‌ ‌Peter‌ ‌and‌ ‌I‌ ‌read‌ ‌the‌ ‌book ‌“They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky,” which was co-written‌ ‌by‌ ‌Deng, ‌and‌ ‌were‌ ‌in‌ ‌awe‌ ‌of‌ ‌their‌ 1,000‌ ‌mile‌ ‌journey‌ ‌to‌ ‌refugee‌ ‌camps‌ ‌with‌ ‌a‌ ‌relentless‌ ‌determination‌ ‌to‌ ‌survive.‌ ‌Civil‌ ‌war‌ ‌and‌ ‌frequent‌ ‌bombing‌ ‌of‌ ‌their‌ villages‌ ‌forced‌ ‌them‌ ‌on‌ ‌this‌ ‌trek‌ ‌where‌ ‌many‌ ‌were‌ ‌killed‌ ‌along‌ ‌the‌ ‌way‌ ‌by‌ ‌militia,‌ ‌wild‌ ‌animals‌, ‌and‌ ‌lack‌ ‌of‌ ‌food‌ ‌and‌ water.‌ Many‌ ‌ate‌ ‌mud‌ ‌and‌ ‌some‌ ‌drank‌ ‌their‌ ‌own‌ ‌urine‌ ‌just‌ ‌to‌ ‌survive.‌ ‌We‌ ‌have‌ ‌met‌ ‌and‌ ‌hired‌ ‌several‌ ‌members‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Lost‌ ‌Boys‌ ‌since‌ ‌then‌, ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌common‌ ‌theme‌ ‌expressed‌ ‌of‌ ‌unending‌ ‌gratitude.‌ ‌Their‌ ‌foundation‌ ‌raises‌ ‌money‌ ‌to‌ ‌ provide‌ ‌education,‌ ‌meals,‌ ‌and‌ ‌clothing‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌children‌ ‌of‌ ‌South‌ ‌Sudan.‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ 6. What‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌program’s‌ ‌mission,‌ ‌and‌ ‌how‌ ‌are‌ ‌you‌ ‌working‌ ‌towards‌ ‌it?‌ ‌ Peter‌ ‌and‌ ‌I‌ ‌have‌ ‌been‌ ‌planning‌ Anvil of Hope ‌since‌ ‌we‌ ‌got‌ ‌married.‌ ‌I‌ ‌shared‌ ‌my‌ ‌childhood‌ ‌memories‌ ‌of‌ ‌poverty‌ ‌and‌ ‌wanting‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌low-‌‌income‌ ‌families‌, ‌and‌ ‌Peter‌ ‌wanted‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌foster‌ ‌children.‌ ‌We‌ ‌knew‌ ‌we‌ ‌wanted‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌AleSmith‌ ‌as‌ ‌our‌ ‌vehicle‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌others‌, ‌and‌ ‌our‌ ‌dreams‌ ‌became‌ ‌a‌ ‌reality‌ ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌formation‌ ‌of‌ ‌Anvil‌ ‌of‌ ‌Hope.‌ ‌

7. How‌ ‌has‌ ‌Anvil of Hope ‌evolved‌ ‌since‌ ‌its‌ ‌inception?‌ ‌

We‌ ‌officially‌ ‌started‌ ‌the‌ ‌process‌ ‌in‌ ‌October‌ ‌2019‌ ‌and‌ ‌received‌ ‌our‌ ‌501c3‌ ‌designation‌ ‌at‌ ‌the‌ ‌end‌ ‌of‌ ‌March‌ ‌2020‌‌, but launching‌ ‌during‌ ‌the‌ ‌heat‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌pandemic‌ ‌didn’t‌ ‌seem‌ ‌right.‌ ‌Although‌ ‌I‌ ‌felt‌ ‌like‌ ‌I‌ ‌was‌ ‌prepared‌ ‌and‌ ‌had‌ ‌done‌ ‌my‌ ‌research‌ ‌before‌ ‌Covid,‌ ‌I‌ ‌took‌ ‌advantage‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌extra‌ ‌down‌ ‌time‌ ‌and‌ ‌intensified‌ ‌my‌ ‌networking‌ ‌virtually.‌ I‌ ‌have‌ ‌learned‌ ‌so‌ ‌much‌ ‌from‌ ‌others‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌non-profit‌ ‌industry‌, and ‌I‌ ‌realize‌ ‌now‌ ‌I‌ ‌was‌ ‌not‌ ‌as‌ ‌prepared‌ ‌as‌ ‌I‌ ‌had‌ ‌originally‌ ‌thought.‌ ‌ ‌

8. Why‌ ‌do‌ ‌you‌ ‌think‌ ‌these‌ ‌types‌ ‌of‌ ‌initiatives‌ ‌are‌ ‌so‌ ‌crucial‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌beer‌ ‌industry?‌ ‌ Our‌ ‌country‌ ‌has‌ ‌historically‌ ‌struggled‌ ‌with‌ ‌alcohol‌, ‌and‌ ‌it‌’s‌ ‌important‌ ‌to‌ ‌demonstrate‌ ‌that‌ ‌a‌ ‌brewery‌ ‌can‌ ‌help‌ communities‌ ‌at‌ ‌large.‌ ‌It‌ ‌would‌ ‌be‌ ‌such‌ ‌a‌ ‌different‌ ‌world‌ ‌if‌ ‌everyone‌ ‌did‌ ‌their‌ ‌part‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌others.‌ Some‌ ‌may‌ ‌not‌ ‌be‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌position‌ ‌to‌ ‌do‌ ‌so, and we‌ ‌feel‌ ‌blessed‌ ‌that‌ ‌we‌ ‌are‌ ‌able‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌others‌ ‌while‌ ‌doing‌ ‌what‌ ‌we‌ ‌love.‌ ‌We‌ ‌do‌ ‌know‌ ‌several‌ ‌other‌ ‌breweries‌ ‌who‌ ‌have‌ ‌done‌ ‌charity‌ ‌work‌, ‌and‌ ‌it’s‌ ‌nice‌ ‌to‌ ‌see‌ ‌that‌ ‌those‌ ‌of‌ ‌us‌ ‌who‌ ‌rely‌ ‌on‌ ‌community‌ ‌support are‌ able‌ ‌to‌ ‌pay‌ ‌it‌ ‌forward.‌ ‌

9. What‌ ‌other‌ ‌philanthropic and charitable‌ ‌initiatives‌ ‌are‌ ‌you‌ ‌currently‌ ‌working‌ ‌on?‌

We‌ ‌have‌ ‌always‌ ‌had‌ ‌it‌ ‌in‌ ‌our‌ ‌hearts‌ ‌to‌ ‌want‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌others,‌ ‌so‌ ‌we‌ ‌have‌ ‌offered‌ ‌up‌ ‌free‌ ‌space‌ ‌at‌ ‌AleSmith‌ ‌for‌ ‌non-profits‌ ‌and‌ ‌shared‌ ‌a‌ ‌portion‌ ‌of‌ ‌proceeds‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌their‌ ‌causes.‌ We‌ ‌have‌ ‌personally‌ ‌held‌ ‌various‌ ‌fundraisers‌ ‌for‌ ‌causes‌ ‌that‌ ‌we‌ ‌are‌ ‌close‌ ‌to‌, ‌including‌ ‌working‌ ‌closely‌ ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌Tony‌ ‌and‌ ‌Alicia‌ ‌Gwynn‌ ‌Foundation‌ ‌to‌ ‌help‌ ‌them‌ ‌raise‌ ‌funds‌ ‌for‌ ‌at‌-‌risk‌ ‌youth.‌ ‌We‌ ‌recently‌ ‌brewed‌ ‌a‌ ‌beer,‌ ‌AleSmith‌ ‌for‌ ‌Hope,‌ ‌and‌ ‌donated‌ ‌proceeds‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌San Diego ‌Food‌ ‌Bank, which‌ ‌provided‌ ‌over‌ ‌52,000‌ ‌meals‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌community.‌ ‌ ‌

10. What’s‌ ‌next‌ ‌for‌ ‌the‌ ‌Ziens‌ ‌and‌ ‌AleSmith?‌ ‌(Answered by Peter)

My‌ ‌wife‌ ‌and‌ ‌I‌ ‌will‌ ‌never‌ ‌stop‌ ‌dreaming‌ ‌about‌ ‌“what’s‌ ‌next”‌ ‌for‌ ‌us‌ ‌and‌ ‌AleSmith.‌ ‌It‌ ‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌important‌ ‌desire‌ ‌to ‌help‌ ‌our‌ ‌employees‌ ‌reach‌ ‌their‌ ‌personal‌ ‌goals‌ ‌and‌ ‌create‌ ‌endless‌ ‌opportunities‌ ‌at‌ ‌AleSmith.‌ We‌ ‌very‌ ‌much‌ ‌want‌ ‌to‌ ‌make‌ ‌a‌ ‌difference‌ ‌in‌ ‌this‌ ‌world‌ ‌and‌ ‌will‌ ‌continue‌ ‌to‌ ‌grow‌ ‌our‌ ‌non-profit‌ ‌Anvil‌ ‌of‌ ‌Hope.‌ ‌Although‌ ‌smack‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌middle‌ ‌of‌ ‌a‌ ‌very‌ ‌challenging‌ ‌time,‌ ‌we‌ ‌will‌ ‌continue‌ ‌to‌ ‌push‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌better‌ ‌world‌ ‌and‌ ‌will‌ ‌do‌ ‌our‌ ‌part‌ ‌to‌ ‌make‌ ‌AleSmith‌ ‌and‌ ‌Anvil‌ ‌of‌ ‌Hope‌ ‌positive‌ ‌forces‌ ‌in‌ ‌this‌ ‌desire.‌

The article AleSmith‌ ‌Brewing‌ Company’s Vicky‌ ‌and‌ ‌Peter‌ ‌Zien‌ ‘Pay It Forward’ Through Philanthropy, Personnel, and Pints appeared first on VinePair.

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source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/alesmith-brewing-companys-vicky-and-peter-zien-pay-it-forward-through-philanthropy-personnel-and-pints

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shawnkopelakis · 8 years

Text

Thankful for These Past 8 Years

It was over eight years ago, early November in 2008. My family was in Florida on vacation. Our kids were two years old and eight months old and this was the first trip with both of them to see the rest of the family back home. My boys were the stars of the trip and took up all the attention with grandparents, aunts and uncles, leaving me time for something else. I spent a portion of two days knocking on doors in Brevard County canvassing for a presidential hopeful I believed could bring us hope and change. Now eight years later, I’m so proud and honored to have been a part of Barack Obama’s journey.

I’ve always been a political junkie. I was born three months after Richard Nixon’s resignation. My first memory of politics was election night in 1980 when the family TV showcased the unveiling of the Reagan Revolution with Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter. Little did I know, at almost six years old, just how those ultra-conservative policies being ushered in would shape my beliefs and passions for life in fighting against them.

I was in fifth grade during the next presidential election and I remember that we followed it very closely in my favorite elementary school teacher Mrs. Neuenschwander’s class. I was a supporter of Walter Mondale, but much like the rest of the country, most everyone else supported Reagan. My freshman year of high school in 1988 saw Michael Dukakis (a fellow Greek, yes!) take his turn dashing my political hopes and dreams.

By the time 1992 rolled around, I was old enough to know more about the whole election process. This was the first time I was really aware of the primary system and thanks again to two great high school teachers, Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Liebman, I felt very confident in my knowledge of the issues and the candidates. In the primary, I was a huge supporter of Jerry Brown. This was my first taste of a grassroots campaigner, someone who seemed to be way outside the establishment, fighting for the poor and the under-served. Once again, I picked the losing horse as Brown eventually fell by the wayside to Bill Clinton (amazing that some 18 years later, I’d cast a vote for Brown as Governor of California!). I arrived at the University of Florida that fall and regrouped to support Clinton. It would be my first taste of victory on the Presidential stage but it was somewhat bittersweet. My November 11th birthday meant that I was eight days shy of being eligible to vote in the ‘92 election.

It wasn’t until 1996 when I was nearly 22 years old, a veteran of watching four previous elections, that I was finally able to vote. I remember the church polling place off Williston Road where I punched the ballot and the joy at displaying the “I Voted” sticker on my shirt. The Clinton years from 1993-2001 were as influential as any time in my life. They included my college years, my graduation, the formation of lifelong friendships that are like a brotherhood and my big move to California. They cemented my core beliefs in what our government and country should be, a place of hope and opportunity for all citizens, not just the rich or the white or the male.

I moved to California in March of 2000 amid the campaign between George W. Bush and Al Gore. I registered to vote in my new state despite knowing that my vote was now essentially meaningless on the national scale and then watched in horror (and some humor) at the embarrassment that was the Florida vote and recount. My one vote back in my home state would not have made the difference but I still felt ashamed and guilty nonetheless. After Bush’s disastrous eight years in office, I knew that I had to do more next time around.

Which leads me back to why I wanted to write something today in the first place. Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was the most electric and exhilarating campaign perhaps in American history. The young people, the diversity, the embrace of ALL was intoxicating. I had to be a part of it and I knew that Florida might once again be the crucial state. The polls, which I now obsessively tracked every day, were close, especially in Florida. So as we planned when to take our boys on their first trip to see most of our family, I thought about the election and whether or not I could help. We booked the trip to spend Halloween through election day in the Sunshine State, cast our own ballots early (mostly so we could make sure to vote against the hateful Prop 8 since we knew Obama would easily win CA) and then I reached out to the campaign to offer my services. I spent portions of two days walking the streets in mostly-white, mostly-conservative Melbourne. The campaign had a comprehensive list of undecided and independent voters so I wasn’t necessarily approaching any hostile doors. And yet, as I walked by one house, an older white man asked me what I was doing. I said I was talking to people about the election and Barack Obama. He replied to me that he was voting for George Wallace (the infamous Alabama segregationist and racist). I didn’t flinch and kept knocking on doors knowing that some people just weren’t going to even consider a black President.

On the night of November 4, 2008, my wife Holly, her mother Lori and I were glued to the television as the election results were coming in. When Florida was called for Obama, I burst into tears knowing he had won the election. I was so proud of my country and my fellow citizens. It seemed like we had accomplished something so many had never thought possible and that now, we could potentially and truly change the world.

Alas, these past eight years haven’t gone exactly to plan. The obstruction against Obama began almost immediately, a lot of it fueled by racist undertones. He hasn’t been able to accomplish everything he wanted and a lot of what we hoped for. And there are certainly aspects of his presidency like the increase of the surveillance state that I do not agree with.

But despite the least productive Congress in history, one hellbent on only denying Obama any “victory”, the President was able to enact great, historic measures. He ended the Great Recession and saved our economy from the brink of disaster. Employment is way down with the longest streak of net job creation in our nation’s history. Obamacare, as Americans are finally starting to realize now that it is being threatened, is a positive first step toward ensuring all Americans have affordable access to healthcare. It was a landmark accomplishment 40 years in the making, a plan that was originally proposed by conservative Republicans only for them to turn against it once Obama endorsed it. Other accomplishments include criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing our prison state and ending the racial bias in arrests and sentences. Obama’s actions on green energy and climate change, marriage equality and LGBT rights, nuclear non-proliferation and the deal with Iran are all transcendent acts that have made us a better, stronger nation. Oh and did you forget he oversaw the killing of Osama Bin Laden?

Regardless of all those acts, the thing that made Obama so special to so many was his grace, his humility, his empathy and his compassion. I’ll never forget his tearful speech after Newtown. In the face of constant attacks, some to his face (”You lie”) and many behind his back (racist jokes and cartoons about him and his family shared via email and social media by disgusting, pathetic people), Obama never flinched. He was so eloquent in every speech, so charming and funny in every public appearance, so cool and hip in every interaction on talk shows and online skits with celebrities, musicians and athletes. He was a President who valued intellectual curiosity and never felt threatened by others, to the point of putting known adversaries like Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates in his cabinet.

When I think of President Obama, I’m going to think of all of these things and more. He was the coolest dude on the planet and also one of the nerdiest, something I’ve tried to balance throughout my entire life. When he said earlier this week that “it has been the honor of my life to serve you”, my heart surged. I thought to myself “No Mr. President, it has been the honor of our lives to have you serve us”.

On this last day of your historic and successful presidency, thank you Mr. President for everything.

#ThanksObama

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