The Shadow Messiah walks with the Hassidum on Shabbat ( personal story )

Another story from my personal life, if that at all still interests you.

I got divorced in December 2003, after a seventeen year marriage. From the moment my wife and I discussed it, to the time I left, was quite short. There were no arguments, and just a few tears along the way. The temperature that period was unseasonably warm, almost fall like.

I spent three days moving, and on that last day ( Dec. 6th ) as I loaded up the van I had rented for that final time - the snow suddenly began to fall quite heavily. It was like someone had just flicked the switch marked "Winter". That van had summer tires, and an Arizona license plate - and needless to say, that last drive with a full load was well...interesting... to say the least.

I love snow, and I took that as a sign that everything was going to turn out as it should - and as it actually did, I might add.

One of the first tasks at hand in settling down was to get vertical blinds for my windows. On a bitterly cold morning December Saturday morning, I decided to take a walk and go shopping for some. It was quite early, and the store was a long walk away - at least thirty minutes.

I could have easily taken a bus or taxi, but I needed the fresh air and the exercise. I dressed very warmly, and started walking in the frigid morning air. I found a good deal on a pair of blinds, the windows were double size and they were quite long. I slung them across my shoulders and wrapped my wrists around each end - and started the long walk home with them on this bright frozen winter morning.

It felt good to be alive, and I could feel myself starting to return to some sense of order in my life. The air was so cold that it almost hurt to breath it. I picked up my pace to get home as quickly as possible, and to get started in putting them up.

On my way, I had to pass through an area that has a large Orthodox Jewish population. As I walked the streets near a synagogue, the sidewalks started to fill with Hassidum on their way to temple. It was quite fascinating to see, and I took in all the details.

I stopped and waited for the traffic light to change, as I watched. And then I looked down, and realized something quite strange...

The bright winter sun low in the horizon was shining directly behind me, and before me on the street was this twenty foot shadow Jesus cast upon the snow. The blinds had become my Cross to bear, and the irony of where I was now standing was not lost on me. My stations of the Cross had accidentally taken me on a journey on Shabat,the holiest day of the week to the Orthodox Jew, to stand in front of a synagogue in some metaphysical Groundhog day type of moment.

My only regret was that I had not brought my camera. I wonder if the Hassidum realized why I suddenly started to laugh out loud. I really wanted to call out to them " Sorry, I'm not the Messiah, I'm just another lunatic moving into your neighborhood ! " as I started crossing the street.

I got home several minutes later, still smiling at the revelation that everything was going to be just fine, from that moment on.

My Resurrection had just begun.