If you like my fiction site, you may want to also check out my ministry blog. Thanks for visiting!

Written by Trevor H. Lund. Illustrated by Karen Lund

The Qwizwits was written after I did an illustrated sermon that I needed to explain the next week. I just couldn’t bring myself to explain a parable, so I wrote a story to illustrate what we witnessed the week before. We also recorded the previous week’s sermon and had it playing in the background as I read this story.  We had a table of sweet smelling, good looking food on the platform. Everyone was welcome to come, but no one was publicly invited.  I went over and helped myself during the sermon and had a few people agree to do the same. It was interesting to see what happened…That’s what was playing in the background as I read this story.

The Qwizwits were a charming, loveable and practical sort of folk. Some of course were more charming than lovable and others more lovable than practical, but all in all they were harmless and mainly kept to themselves unless absolutely necessary.

At least that is what was expected.

They were a busy people who were very good at staying on task. “It’s good to do what’s expected.” Qwizwit parents would tell their children. “When we do the familiar we know we do the good.”  Qwizwit teachers would instruct their pupils.

And good is what they usually did. They would do good to Qwizwits they knew and sometimes good to Qwizwits they didn’t know. Some Qwizwits would even do good to other Qwizwits who did bad to them.

It was in this group of Qwizwits that the problem would always arise.

The problem was that some of these Qwizwits – who did good to other Qwizwits who did bad to them – would go to the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom.

It wasn’t that they went to mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom and stayed there. They would almost always return. And when they returned from mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom they would bring good things.

Now these good things were not bad in themselves, they were good without a doubt. But Qwizwits who returned from the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom with good things, tended to talk about it with other Qwizwits. And almost always they would share the good things they brought back.

The Qwizwits with good things would talk and share with other Qwizwits with good things who had previous journeyed to the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom and they would almost certainly plan to journey together back to get more good things to share Qwizwits who hadn’t tasted and seen the good things from the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom.

It was all quite distracting.

Going to the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom was not something expected and its path lead away from the familiar.

So when the Qwizwits with good things would talk and share with the other Qwizwits who had never conceived of going to the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom they would advertently or inadvertently encourage these unsuspecting Qwizwits to leave the familiar.

Of course the more experienced Qwizwits would decry these Encouragers “It’s plain to see the veil, you say you can’t see on your way to place you say the good things are given. Every Qwizwit knows you can’t get past the veil. Don’t bother with the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom; the mountain itself is just a fable. If it exists why do only some Qwizwits say they can see its shadow?”

These Qwizwits were more experienced in the expected and the familiar. They tended to discredit anything that wasn’t.

Most of the Experienced Qwizwits wouldn’t listen to an Encourager say “The mountain is there, I’ve seen it; a way has been made through the veil, I’ve been there it is true!”

Still over the course of time, some Qwizwits would listen. Some Qwizwits would go, and when those Qwizwits did, they always came back as Encouragers.

Some Qwizwits they would encourage, even Qwizwits – who did good to other Qwizwits who did bad to them – had reasons not to go and receive the good things that they heard were available and seen other Qwizwits enjoy.

“I don’t need good things right now” some Qwizwits would say, trying to convince themselves against the obvious. But when they saw the good things the Encouragers would bring back their hearts would dream in secret.

Others Qwizwits would whisper, “Other Qwizwits are watching” fearing the most important thing in life was the approval of other Qwizwits.

“I’m pleased with the familiar” or “We’re not supposed to do this” cited still other Qwizwits who were well trained and well brought up in the ways of Qwizwitsdom.

“It looks like it’s for children” said some Qwizwits, astutely observing it was the young or uninitiated who boldly made frequent trips to receive good things.  A few less bold Qwizwits would softly make requests of these young and uninitiated on their frequent trips to “Bring me back some”.

It was for the Qwizwit children that some Qwizwit parents went. Some Qwizwit parents really wanted to go, to show their Qwizwit children that even though they were young, they could receive the good things that were available for every Qwizwit. Yet it was uncomfortable for a Qwizwit parent to leave the expected. They discovered having a little Qwizwit hand to hold actually made it easier for them to taste and see the limitless variety of good things available at the very heart where good things were given from the table amply supplied at the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom.

Other Qwizwit parents didn’t encourage their Qwizwit children. Even some Qwizwit parents –who did good to other Qwizwits who did bad to them – would surmise “It could lead to messiness. Better to stick to the expected, better to stay with the familiar than risk imposing impending messiness on another Qwizwit.”

The Qwizwit children needed no encouragement.

But they needed assistance.

Other Qwizwits were there – near the heart of the table amply supplied where good things were given.  These Qwizwits were experienced not only in the expected and familiar, but also in the journey and the only one path up the mountain.

These Qwizwits were, or were becoming Encouragers. They would direct Qwizwits young and old, past the former veil, yet visible to those who didn’t choose not to see it. They would journey with the Seeking Qwizwits up the only one path to the very heart where good things are given. And at the very heart where good things are given the Qwizwits who were, or who were becoming Encouragers would assist these Seeking Qwizwits to receive the good things from the table amply supplied.

All Qwizwits could accept the passkey which removed the veil that cloaked the line of sight of those Qwizwits- who didn’t choose not to see it – up the only one path to the very heart where good things are given from the table amply supplied. But not all Qwizwits heard they could accept. Some Qwizwits couldn’t accept they could accept. And some Qwizwits couldn’t accept that they needed to accept. These Qwizwits instead chose the expected and the familiar. They didn’t choose not to see the former veil.

All Qwizwits had only one path up the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom. All Qwizwits were invited to journey it but only Seeking Qwizwits would. And only those who heard and accepted that they had to accept and become Qwizwits – who did good to other Qwizwits who did bad to them – would ever seek to become a Seeking Qwizwit.

Seeking Qwizwits accepted they needed to accept the passkey which removed the veil that cloaked the line of sight of those who didn’t choose not to see the former veil that cloaked the only one path to the very heart where good things were given from the table amply supplied. They were the Qwizwits who found it necessary to ascend.

Seeking Qwizwits who found it necessary to ascend did so out of necessity, with clean hands and a pure heart. With this essential attitude they journeyed that now clear only one path up the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom in another’s authority and therefore Seeking Qwizwits journeyed with humble confidence.

Because of this, all Seeking Qwizwits were helped naturally by Qwizwits who were, or who were becoming Encouragers and naturally supernaturally by other means more challenging to elucidate into the very heart where good things are given from the table amply supplied.

In an attempt to elucidate the Naturally Supernatural, it should be understood that along the precipitous path almost insurmountable inclines required Seeking Qwizwits’ passionate intensity in cooperation with the naturally supernatural to crest the intricate ascent.

This mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom will only be ascended by Qwizwits with pure hands and pure hearts – Seeking Qwizwits who necessarily journey with necessity and with humble confidence in another’s authority.  The only one path which leads up the mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom to the very heart where good things were given from the table amply supplied will only be ascended by Seeking Qwizwits with passionate intensity in cooperation with the Naturally Supernatural.

The only one path up this mountain in the middle of all Qwizwitsdom which leads past the former veil – yet visible to those who didn’t choose not to see it – to the very heart where good things were given from the table amply supplied has been designated from above as the Path of Prayer.