Paddling in the Wake of the Cross: A Fantastical Tale

By Sally Silvershoes

The pure and unadulterated message of the Cross is so powerful that, if we grasp it with both hands, we will find ourselves on a fantastical adventure towards fulfilment, both personally, and for those whose lives we touch - and even for those whose lives we never come near! Paddling in the wake of the Cross is a bumpy and unpredictable ride, and we often find ourselves in the company of unusual fellow pilgrims - weird and wonderful humans, as well as the ‘spotted and speckled’ members of the animal kingdom. It’s these unlikely comrades who often bolster our faith in extraordinary ways as we huddle together in our storm-tossed boats, encouraging each others’ souls and spirits to carry on paddling, praying and interceding. And, as our intimacy with our Lord grows, we find that our paddling becomes less frantic as we learn to rely more and more on the One who makes the “rough places smooth.” (Isaiah 45:2)

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664237650

Sally Silvershoes

In her book “Show Me Your Face, Lord”, Sally Silvershoes traced her quest to draw closer to God through wilderness experiences, prayer and His grace. Her continuing desire for greater intimacy with the Lord, and passion for the Gospel message of the Cross to be preached to all nations, has led her to serve on mission boards and undertake short-term mission trips to various locations. And putting into practice her M.A. in Christian Studies, she has discovered that the adventure of following God also happens in the places of quiet and solitude, where daily experiences - from stretching family circumstances, to teaching English to migrants, and from serving on prayer ministry teams to singing “Yes Jesus loves you” to shelter kittens – always bring her one small step deeper into the heart of God.

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Copyright © 2021 Sally Silvershoes.

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 author 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.

WestBow Press

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not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and

such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Sally Silvershoes

Scripture taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the World English Bible

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3764-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3765-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021912258

WestBow Press rev. date:  08/30/2021

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Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21 ASV)

Dedicated to all fellow pilgrims on our voyages of discovery and equipping

And especially

to

Anthony

Bruce and Melody

Kirsty and Darrin

And with heartfelt pats and tummy rubs

For those animals that accompany us

Soxy and Lulu

Charlie

Stewie and Gary

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1     Confusion

Chapter 2     A Vision

Chapter 3     Fair Winds and Following Seas

Chapter 4     The Briefing

Chapter 5     What We Found In Our Hearts

Chapter 6     Debriefing and The Animals’ Tales

Chapter 7     Leviathan, Yosa and ‘Q’

Chapter 8     The Commissioning

Chapter 9     Roger, Rainbows and Ichthys

Chapter 10   Voyage to Grayskull Island

Chapter 11   Confrontation and a Choice

Chapter 12   The Real Nature of Love

Chapter 13   Be’er Shachat

Chapter 14   The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Chapter 15   Governor Mephisto and Plutus

Chapter 16   Welcome to Plutus

Chapter 17   A Great Pilgrimage

Chapter 18   Encouragement from a Bygone Era

Chapter 19   Resurrection on Plutus

Chapter 20   Alala, Bacchus and Jezebel

Chapter 21   Jezebel and the Sirens

Chapter 22   The Final Confrontation

Chapter 23   And So, To Bed

About the Author

Preface

Way back in the 1930’s, prominent theologian H. Richard Niebuhr described the mainline Protestant view in the USA regarding the Kingdom of God:

A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.¹

The view hasn’t changed much in the last century or so, in fact it seems far more pervasive, to the point where, as Paul wrote:

⁶ I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different good news, ⁷ but there isn’t another good news. Only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Good News of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-7 WEB)

‘Confusion’ seems to be the operative word. In many areas the gospel has been strangely watered down or massaged to produce a message that seems to slant the glory away from Christ and on to humankind, becoming a prism through which to push our agendas befitting the self-obsessed age we now inhabit.

So, I have penned a few words to help me clarify my own responses to these strange new gospels being touted, and to explore some of the Gospel truths which I believe are being systematically suppressed or manipulated.

I have used a mixture of writing styles. Some subjective, taken from my own journals, some commentary. But I have also drawn inspiration from writers as varied as John Bunyan and Edward Lear, to produce a mixture of prose, poetry, symbols and imagery. Poetry and imagery speak far beyond pure reason; they speak to the senses and emotions and are therefore able to appeal to the reader’s own interior experiences which are often difficult to articulate.

I hope you will enjoy paddling with me for a few pages.

CHAPTER 1

Confusion

It was Sunday and the pastor preached a message loud and clear:

"Jesus died to set you free, so perk right up, and have no fear!

Your future’s sealed, you’re cleansed of sin

(Please put your money in the tin)

He doesn’t want you sick or poor

There’s wealth and health right at your door!

And if, perchance, in tongues you speak

You can be sure you’ve reached the peak!

But there’s work to do, don’t waste a day

‘Cos sainthood isn’t far away!

Just calm the storms and heal the sick

The spiritual gifts will make you tick

Declare anointing and prophesy

You’ll raise the dead, demons will fly!

‘Cos Jesus loves you, even though

He’s in the background, You’re on show!"

And on the other side of town, the young priest wore a worried frown

While holding up the Holy Host

And thinking, "Isn’t this just really toast?

The Bible’s de-mythologized

Does one believe He really died? And rose again to take our sin?

Please put your money in the tin

So we can feed the poor and teach that our potential we must reach!

Let’s not preach a cross that saves

And rescues us from wicked ways!

That story’s gory, lacks appeal

To hi-tech minds and how we feel!

The mantra we should emphasize?

Social Justice Changes Lives!

Be Fully Human, ‘sin’ and all

For Jesus loves you,

There was no ‘Fall!’

And mulling over these messages, I took myself off to a deserted beach to sit under a palm tree and do some thinking, while eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato toasted sandwich (bacon extra crispy) and drinking my takeaway Fair Trade, de-caf, sugarless, almond milk coffee. I should certainly have felt certain about being chock-full of spiritual gifts and anointed, as well as being socially just and well on the way to becoming a fully-fledged (if almost sugarless and sinless) saint/ human. Or if not certain, at least trying to be. But I didn’t, and I wasn’t. I felt glumly aware that somehow the messages suggested that I should feel almost God-like and that God-Himself was obsolete, having happily relinquished his authority to humans. If so, those preachers were right, the Cross really was just an event that:

a) made us healthy, wealthy and happy; or,

b) was an embarrassment that really couldn’t be adequately explained to socially and culturally ‘advanced’ audiences.

Adding to the confusion, it seemed that, in one camp, Holy Spirit’s main purpose was to turn us into bona fide Christians through the gift of tongues and the power to perform miracles, while God lurked humbly in the background. In the other camp, the Holy Spirit was passé, the Father had recently become the Mother/Parent, and Jesus was nothing more than a social activist.

And all for who’s glory? I kept asking myself about these newly polished versions of the gospel being preached. The disconcerting answer I kept getting was, Ours! Sadly, it seemed the Gospel had become all about ‘moi’, whether preached up-town or down-town.

My gloom became gloomier.

Until a text popped into my head. No doubt the Holy Spirit had noticed my whining and moaning and decided to give me a heads-up.

¹⁵ "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them (Matthew 7:15-20 WEB)

Hooray for Jesus and his blunt messages. No beating around the fruit-bush here!

Leaving aside the issue of false prophets, I zeroed in on the fact Jesus continually emphasized the ‘fruit of the spirit,’ making the point over and again that the fruit only comes through abiding in Him.² Which made me very relieved that I didn’t have to be God-like and grow it myself, because it is the Holy Spirit who takes care of the fruit growing. (1 John 4:13) And, of course, Paul famously wrote about ‘the fruit of the spirit’ in Galatians and was responsible for the more than 100 references in the New Testament to the outworkings, or evidence of the fruit. Not only Paul, but Isaiah in the Old Testament had also waxed lyrical about the fruit of the spirit. Overall, many more litres of biblical ink had flowed writing about the fruit of the spirit than about the spiritual gifts, so why were so many preachers majoring on minors and minoring on majors?

More to the point, why was I majoring on minors and minoring on majors? Why wasn’t I all over the quality of my fruit, like the proverbial rash?

My next confusion concerned the concept of social justice, which was always high on the agenda of both Old and New Testaments. But now, social justice was often presented as the ‘metanarrative’, the centrepiece of the Gospel. Not only that, but, apart from ‘Mission Week’ at the local church, I couldn’t recall any message that really targeted the area that most needed social justice activists working on its case: the persecuted church. Look no further than here for a breed of fearless church leaders, ones who take no prisoners, often being prisoners themselves (and sometimes martyrs) for their temerity in defying the ‘status quo,’ and integrity in preaching boldly the full Gospel message of the Cross.³ Which made me despair even more about messages that had neither boldness, nor the richness of biblical exposition, nor the centrality of the Cross, and in fact seemed positively embarrassed about Jesus’ lack of political correctness in commanding the ‘Great Commission’ to all nations. The silence on the persecuted church was deafening.

So! I said to God, "What should I do about this?

Join an evangelising ministry team? Become a frontier missionary? Start a prayer movement?

I expected a long wait before I heard back from Him, but His answer came rather more swiftly and pointedly than I had expected. Immediately, in fact.

Don’t give up your day job!

I wasn’t sure whether to be hurt or relieved. But previous experience of His one-line zingers, when He had really wanted to drive home the message, had been candidly (if somewhat insensitively) frank, and with no possible shades of meaning – pretty much like the Judean desert. Sand coloured, sand coloured, or sand coloured. So, the experience of failing a job interview with the Boss Himself soon led me into a bit of a slump, or as Bunyan so murkily described it, ‘the slough of despond’. But, as we know, He is actually a good and kind Boss, and it wasn’t long before I was sure I felt a pat on my shoulder and a whisper from the Holy Spirit.

Look at what the Word says! He quite clearly told me, as He had so often done before, and will probably have to for the rest of my life. So, I did, and immediately found:

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,

and don’t lean on your own understanding.

⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

⁷ Don’t be wise in your own eyes.

Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

⁸ It will be health to your body,

and nourishment to your bones.

(Proverbs 3:5-8 WEB)

Proverbs was dead right. My own understanding, and that of those around me, had only led me into ever-decreasing circles rather than ‘straight paths’. And trying to find my way through ever-decreasing circles through human ‘wisdom’ had only increased my blood pressure and dyspepsia. And so I asked the Lord to cut through the shambles:

Show me your ways, Yahweh.

Teach me your paths.

⁵ Guide me in your truth, and teach me,

For you are the God of my salvation,

I wait for you all day long.

(Psalm 25:4-5 WEB)

And so He did, but not in a way I had expected…

CHAPTER 2

A Vision

And a vision danced in my head of dancers dancing

inside a great locked ballroom,

where delight flowed and fanned from burnished torches

as Love swaddled the room

so enormous

so enormous

that we could scarcely breathe,

until a thin piping wail -

chilling with unspeakable horror

like the heart of the universe itself crushing in abominable sorrow -

curled under the great barred doors

and the King arose

and my heart turned ashen as

He read from His scroll:

² "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a wedding feast for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴ Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding feast!’ ⁵ But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; ⁶ and the rest grabbed his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. ⁷ When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed