“ God has chosen Joshua to bring forth his new kingdom on Earth.”
Now, one way or another, Joshua is going to show the world who he really is.
I was born mostly dead, my body purple, not a single breath or thump of my heart to be
heard. Everyone figured I was already walking into Heaven, spying the Pearly Gates with closed
eyes yet to see the mortal world. I guess that’s where all this Messiah stuff started. Mother was
the only one who believed I wasn’t fully gone. She begged the Committee not to put me in the
ground, but they’d made their decision.
Mother nearly tore off their skin trying to keep them from putting me in that tiny casket.
Once they had restrained her, they started hammering nails. Father fell to his knees, looked to the
darkening sky, and begged God to spare me. My parents had been trying to have a child for
almost seven years. The Committee had told Mother she’d never conceive. I was a gift from
Heaven, and God decided to take that gift back.
So Father offered a deal. He promised God I’d be a vessel for His will. I’d be His servant.
And that’s when my cry ripped through the night.
Mother tore off the top of the casket and pulled me from the earth just as the sun sank.
At least, that’s the way Father recounts it.
Just like all his other stories, it’s a mix of fact and fancy and no one will ever know how
much of each. They’re simply tales to build my legend. He says belief is the only thing that
matters, that we must do everything to preserve it, because without faith, there’s no reason to
live.
