Driver, T. C. (30 page)

“Do you see those mountains sticking up above the clouds?” Joe calmly asked.
 

“Yea,
  
Captain Joe,”…. I answered

“One of them is flat on Top. Fly around it, study the top of it. Ok Cornelius, I ask you, can you land us on the top of it? Tell me either way Yes or no. If it can’t be done
  
if the terrain is to rough then let me know. Don’t do anything stupid but let us study the mountain. If it can be done then we want to land on top” we circled the rock peak looking for a suitable place to land our plane for some minutes.”
 
         
Then I answered, “Yes I think so captain. We are loaded very light. I slowed the plane to stall speed and let her down right on the center top in a large flat spot .The top of this rock was only eight hundred feet across and its edges were a little rough. The center top was as smooth as glass. This mountain top looked like the rock that is inside the
  
“dome of the Rock” in Jerusalem except much bigger. After landing we sat and said nothing. I was very much relieved that the landing was finished and tried not to think about our eventual take off. In our silence I studied the other mountain peaks around us. The other rock cliff peaks were similar to this one except this one looked like it had been cut off on top.
      

Joe got out packs and ropes while saying nothing, he just pointed his instructions. Two packs for each of us, and lots of rope. He then put one end of each rope with a hex shaped wedge nut on it into the rocks and pulled tight. Joe next studied a fancy jewel compass, then he took a few paces looked at the compass again. The third time Joe then jumped off the edge of the cliff.

“Oh no,” I cried out, my heart sank. Please Lord anything but this. I was trying to decide about jumping or not and praying when a still breeze first rocked the plane and then blew me off the rock cliff edge. I hit the side of the cliff twice as I repelled down. I then heard Joe shout,

“Push off the side hard Cornelius”….. I did!

The next bounce Joe grabbed me into a narrow opening in the cliff face were he was already standing. We pulled our ropes down a hall way. The floor sloped upward at first but then steadily downward. No steps no doors, no lights. Joe took off his gear and then all of his clothes.

“No time to be bashful now, Cornelius,” said Captain Coe, “Let us wash up and get dressed” The water was cool to wash up in but not mountain top ice cold!
  

“Put the robe on this way” Joe scolded me!

           
“Yea, Ok,” I answered back grudgingly.

Joe acted like he knew stuff. He was studying a flat clear rock, the same one that I had thought was a compass before. In truth, ole’ Joe acted surprised that we had made it thus far. Our robes were heavy across the shoulders with fancy thick stitching. They reminded me of an old couch with double cloth in spots, lighter material at the long bottom that was wrapped up. We were bare foot. Joe rewrapped his long robe once more as if to get it right.
   

“Gird yourself as of a man Cornelius, No like this then pull it tight. Wash your feet again in the shallow water and wait to dry”

As we walked the descending hallway the sound of rushing air slowly got louder and louder. The light was dim but not completely dark. A strong chimney effect from what I had guessed was a natural geothermal heat source deep in the mountain was causing an updraft through what looked like a solid gold tunnel. Air came rushing up through the floor and was sucked out again through the ceiling forming an air “doorway.” Two other hallways came together here at this “door” and dim sunlight came through very small gold holes in the high peak in the ceiling. The hole in the floor across this air doorway was eighteen inches deep and about five times that wide. It was covered with round bronze looking bars about two inches apart. Behind the bars the hole looked smooth and bright shiny like gold.
                                                      
                                                                        

“One Cubit across,” said Joe crawling on the floor. “Hold onto your dress, and we will step in on the count of three, Cornelius.” Stepping into darkness is very unnerving and a backwards air waterfall did not help much. We both stepped though the air door into a chamber that was completely dark.
 
“Get out your phone and open the bible Cornelius” barked Joe. “First Kings seven, verses 32, 33, 34 &35.” Joe started crawling on his elbows end to end across the floor while I read the verses. Joe was obsessed with measuring the room. I looked around in awe and wonder. The room by phone light was over forty feet wide and one hundred and sixty feet long and sixty or seventy feet high. It had a slight slope in the nearly flat floor. There were no stairs or steps just like the hallway. This room was solid gold in every direction. The air was fresh and smelled good the temperature was cool but comfortable. The acoustics were magnificent. I started singing “Oh magnify the Lord” and Joe soon joined in. We sounded like a full choir in three part harmony at least. We sang and praised God never growing weary or tired. Worship was so wonderful that we could not stop and we soon shut our eyes to our golden surroundings. The unbelievable sound of our voices praising God carried us away. We don’t know how long we sang. Joe figured later that we had sung for twelve hours. When we did stop singing we prayed in silence until we burst out muttering aloud in strange tongues; able to understand each other but not ourselves.
        

“Turn your phone light off Cornelius!” shouted Joe,

“I thought yours was on Joe”

“No” he said, “How come it’s so bright in here?”

In each corner of the room were four round gold spheres with another gold ball on top to make five. These gold balls were not noticed by us before, or they had just appeared. They did not quite touch the floor. Each sphere was about one cubit in diameter and each one would look translucent or partly clear exposing spokes as of a wheel inside of a wheel and then they would slowly turn solid gold again.

“Did you see that Joe? That’s where the light is coming from,” I said pointing.

“No, look up front, Cornelius, the high center wall.” We both stared wide eyed in amazement. We could see an opening in the front wall a doorway into another chamber.
 
Bright light was coming in from that other room. With the increased light our common reflection in every direction was frightening; we could see ourselves forever! A mist or steam was now in the room above us. This mist was going into the other room through this front doorway that was there one second and then a smooth solid gold wall the next. Opening and shutting in a slow heartbeat like rhythm. This mist which had formed during our worship was
  
slowly leaving us being sucked through this “sometimes”
  
opening in the wall. The stack of round gold spheres in each corner did the same; clear to solid back and forth and started sinking into the floor and dimming their light.

“Captain Joe,” I said out loud. “I’m not worthy to go into the front light chamber! I feel too ashamed”

“I was hoping you could Cornelius. I believe the presence of God is in there.”

“We dare not try, Joe, only this room is for us.” Joe then nodded in agreement. Now the air above us was clear again and a feeling of loneliness and fear settled into our being. The words of Mel back in Australia came flooding to my remembrance. “The Lord inhabits the praises of his people! “Thank you Mel” I spoke aloud. You do a wonderful job cleaning the church.
 
Yes, this tabernacle or church is very clean. I though about the temple mount; the stories
  
of hidden chambers in God’s Holy Mountain. Joe was still measuring the walls. Not me, I’m more of the sloppy fudge it type. Joe and I collapsed near the sunlight filled opening where our robes and gear were. We then held a prayer meeting and rested. We read part of first kings.
  

(30) And every base had four brazen wheel, and plates of brass; and the four corners there of had under setters; under the laver were under setters Molten, at the side of every addition

(31) and the mouth of it within the chamber and above was a cubit; but the mouth there of was round after the work of the base, a cubit and a half:
 
and also upon the mouth of it were their boarders, four square, not round! (32) And under the boarders were four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels were joined to the base; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit!

(33) And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves and their felloes, and their spokes were all molten.

(34) And there were four under setters to the four corners of one base: and the under setters were of the very base itself!

(35) And in the top of the base was there a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges there of and the borders there of were the same

The artist in the bible was trying to build something in the temple by description! I thought about how the spheres became translucent showing inside parts even spokes and wheels. How would I describe the tabernacle I just saw to build another?

“Let us not linger any longer now that our worship is done,” said Captain Coe!

Joe first, then myself, crawled up our ropes. The early morning sunrise was still just coming up on the horizon. We had no idea that it was now days later. Joe pulled to help me up over the edge of the ledge. The weather was now frightful a roaring whirlwind as if we were under attack surrounded us. We on this high flat top mountain were formally high above the clouds. Now we were at the center eye of the storm. We sat in the plane very weary of taking off. Praying and thanking God for letting us worship in one of his ancient tabernacles. This was a Holy place that had been dedicated to God. Joe told me a story about how the ancient local Indians believed that Thunderbirds helped God create the world in six days that lasted 1,000 days each. The Indians believed that they lived on top of a high mountain way above the clouds. I thought about the day of our Lord lasting for a reign of one thousand years but just then finished my flight checklist.
 

The B48 fired up on its first start up sequence, the powerful roar was a welcome sound to the howling wind on the mountaintop. Our planes wings slowly stretched out sideways to their full length; as they did the wind jolted and rocked or plane as it buffeted those wings. When the dash light turned green I “popped the clutch” in back home terms. We dropped like a rock off the edge of the cliff for we were too close for take off. After dropping a few hundred feet we roared upward, as we gained speed our long wings folded back up. Joe Coe laughed and hollered.
 

“The Indians called them Thunderbirds Cornelius. Do you see anything around here that looks like a Thunderbird ole’ Corney?”

“Just us wanna be Sons of God,” I answered. Our plane was climbing vertical now, inside the raging whirlwind around us.

“Stop, Cornelius, that’s an order!” Joe yelled I climbed right out of the cloud cover; as our plane peaked the top of this rollercoaster we flipped over backward for added dramatic effect. Then I was earthward bound with full after burners on.

“Sorry Joe, what did you say? The engine is so loud that I can’t hear!” Joe went quiet with a stern frown look on his face. Our dive was half over, all computers were turned off. This was my only chance. Suddenly without fanfare it happened, most engine noise just vanished. We were out running our own sound. Peace at last…. sweet peace at last.