“Then what is it?” His confused concern was overpowering. “Tell me, Zez. I cannot help unless you tell me.”
I desperately hoped that Errol would teach me how to filter these emotions that I was constantly picking up from people. The strong ones were the hardest to deal with and Selwyn’s worry about me was definitely strong. It didn’t help that I felt down to my soul that I didn’t deserve the consideration that he was showing me.
“I can’t get anything right,” I confessed. “I try and try to be perfect and I can’t. There is no way that I can please the Almighty and I want to so badly.” My frustration solidified in a lump at the back of my throat. I tried to swallow it and it wouldn’t budge.
“None of us can.”
I looked over at him in despair. He leaned against the half-finished wall of the tree house and watched me with solemn eyes.
“Then there is no hope?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that,” he immediately replied. Leaning forward, he rested his arms on his drawn up knee and studied my face. “I take it that Errol hasn’t told you about the Almighty’s son.”
I shook my head. “I have been reading the Almighty’s Revelation, but I haven’t read anything about His son yet. I am only halfway through.”
“Ah, that explains it. Errol probably expected you to ask.”
“Ask what?”
“Exactly what you are asking me now,” he said with a comforting smile. “In the latter part of the Revelation, the Almighy’s Son, Iazus, came to live among men. While among them, He lived a perfect life from start to finish. Then, when the time was right, He took on all our sin and died. A few days later, He rose again to life. With his death and resurrection, He paid the price for sin.”
“So, He died for all the things I have done?” I asked. It seemed too good to be true. “Isn’t there something that I have to do to earn it?”
Selwyn smiled and shook his head. “That is just it, you cannot earn it. It sounds as though you are having the same experience I had. I worked toward pleasing Him. I tried every day to be perfect, but I always fell short, losing my temper at Ilias was my most frequent sin. It doesn’t work to earn it. All you can do is accept it. It is a gift. By accepting, you are acknowledging that Iazus bought your life and it is now His.”
“What will He do with it?” Immediate images of the selling of lives to the goddess came to mind. The Mesitas and all those who served the goddess in the temple sold their lives to the goddess. Would the Almighty do the same, demand lifelong service in His temple, wherever that was?
“He will ask you to live your life for Him, according to the statutes in His Revelation. I have given my life to Him, so have Errol, Adreet, and the girls. I can offer you my personal opinion. I think it was the best thing that has ever happened to me. He gives us so much in return.”
“How do I accept, if I decide to do so?”
“Pray to the Almighty, acknowledge that you are a sinner and need His salvation, then ask for Him to deliver you from your sin.”
“That is all?” I had expected a ceremony like the ceremonies for the goddess’ worship.
“Yes, that is all.” He sat a moment watching my face. “I won’t pressure you. Think about it. But for right now, you need to come in. Your lips are blue and if you stay out much longer, you will get frostbite.”
I nodded reluctantly. I was feeling extremely cold and wondered if my limbs would move well enough to get down.
“If you can’t manage the ladder, you should try lifting yourself down,” Selwyn suggested.
I looked up at him in surprise. “You can do that?”
Without answering me, he began rising off the platform of the tree house. Then slowly, he cleared the wall and descended toward the ground. I clumsily moved to the edge so that I could watch him settle on the ground below.
“Do you want to try?”
Of course I wanted to try, but I couldn’t think how I could possibly do it.
“When you touch your amoveo, instead of reaching out and calling the floor to you, push it away, slightly. Wait until I get a hold on you first. It is a tricky thing to master.” An invisible cloud of his energy enfolded me, but didn’t hinder my movements. “Now try it.”
I struggled to my feet with the help of the side wall. Touching my amoveo, my being filled with an awareness of the energy around me. Then I reached out to detect the decking beneath my numb feet and pushed gently. I rose with a jerk that left my stomach behind before I felt Selwyn’s energy stop me. With a great deal of concentration, I managed to keep my hold on myself, keeping my body off the surface of the wood by a few inches.
“Good,” Selwyn sent.
I didn’t risk sending or responding in anyway. Every time I tried to send while moving something, I ended up dropping it. It was all I could do to keep myself in the air.
“Now push off from the wall toward the edge.”
I did so, gently. I darted forward and before I could prepare myself for it, my feet were dangling over nothing. I lost my concentration and suddenly I was falling. Letting out a squeak of fear, I scrambled within for my amoveo.
Instantly, Selwyn’s energy enclosed me and slowed my descent. I managed to touch my amoveo in time to sense the ground as my feet touched it.
“Well done.” I looked up to find Selwyn smiling down at me.
I frowned up at him. “I lost my concentration again.”
“But you went through the motions of pushing off from something twice. Most trainees have difficulty transitioning from calling to pushing. You did it well. The concentration
