Heroes of Paragon City
Paul Solomon aka "Jade Angel" is the leader of this group of Paragon City of heroes. This is his story:
Paul Solomon sat down exhausted after the 6-hour by-pass surgery. As one of the up and coming your cardiologists at a prominent mid-sized city hospital in the Southeastern United States… life was good. Most people envied the young doctor and would have traded places with him in a heartbeat. While satisfied in his help to society through his surgery skills, Paul was burdened with a higher calling. As he stirred his third cup of coffee in the frenzied cafeteria, he reminisced about the encounter that changed his life 20-years ago…
Having just celebrated his twelfth birthday, Paul rolled lazily to his side, unaware of the soft glow in his room as it began to intensify. It started out almost like a child’s night- light, and strengthened gradually as if not wanting to rouse him. Shadows searched for hiding places throughout the room as the glow transformed itself from a pale yellow hue to brilliant white.
Paul’s eyelids fluttered briefly and then flickered at the glare reflecting off his pale blue bedroom walls. Drowsily, he turned toward the light that he thought must have come from his parents opening the bedroom door to check on him. “What’s going on?” his voice cracked as he reached up to rub the crusty sleep from his eyes.
Neatly manicured streets wandered through the Solomons’ sleepy rolling neighborhood. If someone had been walking along in the wee morning hours of March 15, they would have noticed the brilliant white light peeking out from around Paul’s shade. Below his second-story window the normally darkened bed of pink, red, and white impatiens was lit up like in the noonday sun.
Paul was fully awake now and quite positive that the dazzling aura facing him was not the hall light from his parents entering the bedroom. Golden hues flowed out of the whiteness showering itself on everything in the room. It reminded Paul of sprinkles of pixie dust in some of his favorite childhood books. His eyes grew wide trying to capture the unbelievable event unfolding before him.
“Fear not, Paul,” a confident, yet kind, voice began. “I have come to do the bidding of one much greater than I and who you have found favor with.”
Rapid pulses in his chest griped Paul as he struggled to understand what was happening. Instinctively he grasped his navy blue bed sheets and pulled them up so that only his eyes were visible from his self-made cocoon.
Paul stared into the light trying to detect a form. The golden-white rays blazed outward in all directions. Squinting to reduce the brilliance before him, questions scrambled around in his mind. What had the voice meant by “finding favor” and who had sent him? As Paul struggled to work this out, the center of the whiteness began to take the shape of what appeared to be a man. Human in appearance, he looked powerful but there was a certain calm about his face. Paul recalled hearing about angels in his Sunday school class at church. Could this be one, he wondered?
“Paul, thou have found favor with the one who sent me. You will be given much and much will be required of you.”
Still shaking, Paul was fairly certain he was safe. “S-s-s…sir, are you an angel?”
“You have perceived correctly.”
“And…I’ve been chosen by someone…for something?” Paul asked.
“The one who knows you better than you know yourself,” the angel answered.
Paul knew he must be talking about God, but what could God possibly want with him?
“What am I supposed to do?”
“You will be a source of healing to those around you so that together you can take a stand against the devil’s schemes. For your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
“The devil? Forces of evil? I’m just a kid,” Paul said, “what could I possibly have to do with all of this? You’ve got to be making a mistake.”
“There are no mistakes with God. Thou have heard of David?”
“You mean the David from David and Goliath?” Paul asked, recalling the Bible story his parents had read to him as far back as he could remember.
The angel nodded. “He was also a boy chosen by God to accomplish great things. God chooses to show His power by using the powerless.”
Paul tried to comprehend the magnitude of what this mighty being was saying to him. Realizing he was still sitting in his bed, covers bunched around him, he pulled them aside and swung his feet out, never taking his eyes off the angel. Landing firmly on the carpet, Paul’s knees wobbly supported him, the bed acting as a wall between him and the angel.
“Who are you?” Paul asked, more confident now in this supernatural setting.
“I am Gabriel and have come to give you insight and understanding”
“Wow!” Paul couldn’t believe this was the same angel who had appeared to Joseph and Mary in the Christmas story he heard every December. The lines of excitement on his face drooped as he fidgeted, thinking about the angel’s words. “I don’t want to…seem… ungrateful,” Paul hesitated, “but… is there any way that you can…ask someone else?”
“Only you have been given this trial, Paul, yet you shall not be alone.”
“Who will help me?”
“As the young shepherd boy David spoke, ‘The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. For He commands his angels to guard you in all your ways.’” Gabriel’s twinkling gaze rose as he stretched his arms heavenward, “and I have a gift that will assist you along the way.”
Beckoning Paul from behind the bed, the angel glided effortlessly forward to greet him. Walking to within a foot of Gabriel, Paul bowed humbly, basking in the radiant glow that emanated all around him. Reaching out, the angel grasped Paul’s left hand firmly and slipped a silver ring, inset with a jade-green stone, onto his finger.
“What do I do with this? How do I use it?” Paul asked, the gift making “the trial” seem more real.
“It is not for me to reveal,” answered the angel calmly. “You shall find out in due time.”
“But what do I do now?”
“When justice is done it brings joy to the righteous, but terror to evil doers.”
“What does that mean? Where do I look?” Paul blurted, panicking as questions continued to pop into his head.
“The Spirit will lead you and the ring will open the way,” the angel replied as he began floating backwards, the light peeling away with him.
“Wait, wait! Don’t leave--I don’t know enough--where do I go now?”
“Remember,” Gabriel’s clear voice began to fade, “a wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.”
Paul collapsed in a heap on his bed. Body and mind drained from his supernatural encounter, he drifted into a welcome sleep.
As he fell asleep in his dream he was startled back to reality by one echoing clatter of a cafeteria worker knocking over a large stack of pans. He quickly checked his watch, noting that he’d have just enough time to complete his charts before heading off to heal others, in a different way… in Paragon.
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