A First Mission
What did that mean?
// New Mission: Matt 25 Sheep and Goats
What were these skills?
// New Skill: Prayer Lvl 1
// New Skill: Walk in Faith Lvl 1
What was going on? Did Ted just have a hallucination? He was awoken from his ruminations by the honking of horns behind him. The red light had turned green, and by everything, suburban commuter drivers were the most impatient people on planet Earth.
Ted continued his drive into work, slowly turning that experience over in his head. As he approached the parking garage where his company had allocated him a spot downtown, a smile spread across his face. There was Mister Gene.
Gene Roy, or Mister Gene as everyone from 1970 onward knew him, had grown up in Jim Crow Era Alabama. He had learned that great evil existed in the hearts of man, but also that there was good in all people. Some you just had to work real hard to find it. Mister Gene was always respectful, so long as there were no children or women being harmed. He was a fierce gentleman, and had an air of class around him, even though he had probably never had more than $450 to his name at any point in his life. His paychecks got spent as soon as they came in, on taking care of nieces and nephews, paying the bills for everybody on the neighborhood block that couldn't make it, just so that the kids didn't have to stoop to selling the "dope." He was highly prized in his community. As a security guard for RoweTown Financial, he had an impeccable service record. He was able to talk down any irate customer, settle any dispute between employees, and nothing went unnoticed in his garage on his shift.
"Mister Gene, how are you today?" Ted said as he rolled down the window and approached the guard shack for the garage.
"I'm blessed Missa Ted. Just doing fine today! G-d done gave me 'da breaf in my lungs and 'da beatin' in my heart. That wife of yours, Mrs. Shirls, she doing good? Me and my prayer group been prayin' for her health."
If anyone ever told Gene about a need, if he couldn't solve it right then and there, you could bet his prayer group would be reminded to pray for it every week when they met until Gene heard that the prayers had been answered.
"She's doing great, Mister Gene. Thanks so much for asking! You gonna be praying for my sanity today with these crazy people?" Ted joked with Mister Gene about their coworkers, but didn't really expect Gene's prayers to change any hearts or minds.
"Oh, Missa Ted, I pray for dem constantly. I know you gonna have a bless'd day t'day!"
" ** Prayer of the Saints received. Blessing at 85% ** "
" || System, what is the Prayer of the Saints, and what does 85% blessing mean? || "
" ** Prayer of the Saints is the notification anytime a devout person lifts supplications or requests to G-d for you. Blessing is the system's level of determining divine favor bestowed on you at any given time ** "
" || Does that mean that when I get to 0% blessing, G-d doesn't love me any more? || "
" ** Divine favor is a special level of provision placed upon people working for G-d's kingdom, but is not an indicator of the Love of G-d ** "
Ted drove up the levels of the parking garage on autopilot towards his reserved spot. He was thinking about just how much Gene's prayers must be worth, if the system called him a saint.
Just as Ted was about to whip into his space, a car was backing out. Neither driver saw the other, and this was bound to be a nasty wreck, because even though it was low speed, both drivers were unaware and unable to try to prevent damage.
CRUNCH...
Ted was dragged back into reality from his musings by the sound of the two cars crushing each others bumpers. Shirls was gonna kill him if she had to explain this to an insurance adjuster. As Ted and the other driver, a man named Stan from HR both got out of their cars, they were both apologetic. They looked down, expecting to see two mangled bumpers, and there wasn't a scratch on either car. Ted knew that the sounds they had made during the collision should have meant massive damage to the cheap plastic of the bumpers, and the impact he felt should have indicated at least frame to frame contact. His eyes didn't lie, though.
"Huh" said Stan, showing his thoughts were the same as Ted's, "there's not even a scratch. My wife would have flipped her lid if she had heard that I scratched the paint job on her new lease, the one day she lets me drive it to work. You ok, Ted?"
I guess I am, now that I know neither of us has to worry about physical harm from our wives, thought Ted. "Yeah, Stan. I'm good. You wanna file a claim with your insurance, or should we just chock this one up to a miracle that neither one of us has to confess our driving to our wives?"
"I'm good to head inside and forget about this if you are," was Stan's dismissal.
As Ted grabbed his bag and walked towards the elevator to take him into the building, and into the work day, he was wondering about how a morning like this was going to unfold into a full day.
"Sir, spare a few dollars for a vet out of work?"
Ted had not even noticed the homeless man with the sign sitting by the elevator. Usually, the security team was really good about making sure vagrants stayed out of the garage and didn't hassle the employees. ((WILL WORK FOR FOOD))((HOMELESS VETERAN)) A sign fit for hoodwinking someone out of just enough money to go buy some Mad Dog 20/20 at the convenience store down the road. Oh, well, thought Ted, I've got a couple bucks. As Ted opened his wallet, he pulled out a few ones and looked in the man's direction. The Vet had crystal clear eyes, very out of the norm for the drug-addled homeless around here.
He looked deeply at Ted, and as Ted handed the money to the man, Ted acted without thinking. "G-d bless, brother. Thanks for your service, and don't spend this on anything that will harm your body." Ted perfunctorily stated to the vagabond.
" ** First Mission completed. Served the least of these with no concern for remuneration. Serving Christ accomplished. ** "
// Mission Accomplished: Matt 25 Sheep and Goats
// Mission Reward: Exp +25
// ....Skill pts +2
// ....Shop credits +100
// New Mission: Mark 4 Sower
// New Mission: Mark 4 Mustard Seed
Hearing the two new missions, and how he had accomplished the last mission, a thought suddenly clicked in his head. He remembered back in Sunday school growing up how these labels were what was written in his Children's Bible above the stories that Jesus would tell. The Gospel of Matthew, in the 25th chapter, had a parable about how Jesus divided the righteous and the unrighteous based on how they treated the least of the people on Earth. The Sheep and the Goats. Now, he racked his brain for Mark chapter 4. Wasn't the Sower a reference to the parable of the sower that he memorized for a youth group event? He had even recited it from memory to impress some girls back in his teens...
" || Behold, a sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside... || " thought Ted trying to remember the passage.
Somebody said as they passed Ted, "Buddy, you just gonna stand there, or you gonna hop on the elevator with us?" Ted realized that he had been standing still staring fixed while thinking through all of this. He must've been staring into space for almost a minute. As he came back to his senses, he realized the vet was gone. Where had he gone? Probably to pick up that bottle of Mad Dog.
"No thanks," replied Ted, "I think I need to tell Mister Gene something."
"OK" was the only response he got as the elevator doors closed.
Ted was deep in thought. I guess I should go let Mister Gene know that the man got through security and was inside the garage panhandling. But where did he go so fast? Could he have packed up his sign and stuff and rushed out of sight in the time Ted was thinking on the system notifications, without Ted noticing at all? As Ted walked down the ramp to the guard shack, he couldn't reconcile the events of the morning.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Greggy_Deth
Greggy_Deth If some of the phrases don't come across well, that's because the Southern drawl in American English makes a lot of phrases sound strange. Y'all have met my favorite character now. Mister Gene rocks!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone