There Is Only One

By Chris Johnston and Martin Ben

As Joseph sits alone on a rock at the top of a mountain in Virginia, he struggles with some of lifes most difficult questions. Who am I? Where did I come from? What lies ahead? Could life be so fickle? Would death really be so bad? During his darkest hour, Joseph asks for guidance. He blurts out, Lord, have mercy on me. Show me what I need to know. Protect me and guide me.

He feels in his heart that today is a new beginning as his prayer is answered. Joseph meets someone who shows him there is a way to live life and there is a reason for existence. A novel of religious fiction, There Is Only One follows Joseph through a near-death experience and a breakup with a girlfriend to the realization that life is never ending.

Based on real-life events, There Is Only One shares one mans journey of enlightenment, communicating the message that life is an everyday experience that requires high awareness to appreciate, and that if that appreciation is developed, joy can be gained from most things.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491755228

Chris Johnston

Chris Johnston has decades of product management experience in telematics, mobile computing and wireless communications including positions at Trimble Navigation, AT&T, Honeywell and a couple of Silicon Valley startups. He also spent a year in India setting up an Internet-of-things practice for a major Indian corporation. Mr. Johnston has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. Chris lives in Washington State with his wife and two kids. When not working, he enjoys open water swimming, cycling and flying (as a private pilot).

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Copyright © 2015 Chris Johnston and Martin Ben.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5523-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5522-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014921624

iUniverse rev. date: 01/12/2015

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

In and through every particle of Matter and force stands One ‘by whose command the wind blows, the fire burns, the clouds rain, and death stalks upon the Earth.’

Swami Vivekananda

This story is

based on real events

Chapter 1

I t was a beautiful, warm afternoon as I approached the top of the mountain. I made this hike several times a year and always had a good time. As I reached the top, I came upon the huge rock that had a large depression in the center, which created a perfect seat for a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. This seat was always the goal of my hikes. It was here that I liked to sit, enjoy the view, think, and smoke my pipe.

photo1.jpg

As I settled into my seat, reached for my pipe, and loaded it with my herb, the experiences of the past few weeks weighed on my mind. My thoughts turned to Frank, someone I was not especially close to but worked with on a regular basis. He was in charge of receiving at a resort where I delivered produce several days a week. I liked him; he always tried to be cheerful and sometimes funny. I hadn’t seen him for almost two weeks. Then, during one delivery, as I unloaded the produce from my truck to the dock, I asked one of his coworkers if Frank was on vacation. I was told that he was dead. He had come to work and didn’t feel well, so they’d sent him home, where he had a heart attack and died. His coworker then asked me how the tomatoes looked.

I was not only stunned that Frank was dead but also that no one had mentioned it to me. And when they did talk about it, they were so casual. Frank was ten years younger than me, and now he was gone.

As the herb started to work, I watched the hawks fly below me. Suddenly, I began to feel uncomfortable. Instead of the euphoria and calm my pipe usually gave me, I began to feel restless. I began to focus on the fact that the older I became, the more people I knew who were leaving. When my father died, I felt I still had my mother. When my mother died, in spite of five siblings, I really felt alone.

As my restlessness increased, the truth hit me: no one gets out of here alive. It didn’t matter if I was rich or beautiful or not. It didn’t matter if I was powerful or famous or not. Nothing mattered, really. The fix was in. We would all die sooner or later.

I thought of the cows in the field, eating their grass, nursing their young, living their lives with no concept that in a very short time they would be on someone’s plate. There seemed no purpose in their short life. What was their purpose? What was our purpose?

Frank’s disappearance, like the cow’s disappearance, caused few ripples on the pond of life. It dawned on me that in all the fullness and variety of life, there was an ongoing game being played, and no one was watching it or how