The warming rays of the morning sun were still hours away from the barren
eastern horizon when Josh was awakened by the soft sounds of quiet sobbing.
 
It took him three yawns and two-and-a-half stretches before he could focus
on the source of the sound.  Even after all of that, he almost missed seeing
the figure of his Master as Jesus huddled close to the dying embers of the
campfire, lost in some private misery.
 
"His heart is breaking," the small and sometimes bad ferret thought as he
climbed up Jesus' desert stained robe, settled into His lap and gazed into
the grief stricken face of his life long Friend and Master.
 
"If only I could do something to cheer Him up - to ease His pain," Josh
prayed as he gazed into the tortured face of the Man Who was much more than
a man.  "If only..."
 
As if in answer to his prayer, Josh watched as a tear trickled down Jesus'
cheek, fought its way through the tangle of His beard, and splashed with a
tiny noise into the dusty sand not far from the ferret's left hind foot -
which, in his haste, he had left dangling dangerously close to the last,
small flame of the dying fire.  Had the tear not fallen where it did, Josh
would have been badly burned by the lingering flame.
 
Without really knowing why, Josh stretched out to the full length of his
sinuous body and caught the next tear on the tip of his tongue.  He recoiled
at the pain, the despair of its taste.  Then he noticed the sweetness of it
as it rolled into his mouth, caught in his throat, filled his soul.
 
Visions of other times and other places flooded into his mind.  The baptism
of that single tear brought a simple peace to his soul.
 
"You are the One," Josh said as he gazed with newfound understanding into
the face of the weeping Jesus.
 
"Yes, little one," Jesus replied as a final tear rolled down His cheek.  "I
am Who you need Me to be.  Others will see me with different eyes - will
call Me by many different names; but I will always be what they need Me to
be.  Neither what men call Me, nor how they pray to our Father will matter
much - as long as they find what you and I have found here tonight.
 
"Now we must face a temporay sorrow - a time of testing and of pain.  Stay
with me."
 
Josh was puzzled, troubled for a moment.  He couldn't forget the pain of his
Friend's tears.  Then he understood.
 
To be continued...
 
Joy to the World!
 
PS: The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Joy!
 
Paw Paw
[Posted in FML issue 1859]