Ya know, I remember back eighty....  oh, maybe a hun’rd year ago, here in the vast Kansas Forest, we had a fella,---
     Oh, by the way, let me introduce myself ‘fore I start atelling y'all this  ---  My name is Bascom Farmsworthy Wiillobight IV.  Howdy!
     Anyways, this fella’s name wuz Jallepy Smogheigen.  He said he went out into the swampy part of this here vast Kansas Forest of ours, out here in western Kansas, and he saw two personages. - - - Uhhhhh,  no?  No, ... uh, ...  maybe it wuz three.  Anyways, he tried ta start hisself up a church and we stood fer it fer, oh, ... two or three weeks at the most ~ ~ and then we run ‘im off!  He went on down into the panhandle of Oklahoma.  We haven’t heard of him since.  ‘Course, it bein’ a hun’rd year ago, he might be de’d by now.  He wuz somewhere ‘round forty or sumpin’ when he first had his ‘vision’.
     But ya always gotta be careful ‘bout somebody comin’ up and sayin’ they’s awantin’ ta start a church, or they’d seen God, or sumpin’.  ‘Specially when they see’d two er three of ‘em!  Now we all know that there’s only one, and we know His name is Jesus.  And we know He’s a giant, too.  ‘Least that’s what we call Him back here and all.  Well, God should be a giant ~~ bigger ‘an anyone else.  ‘Course He isn’t bigger than y'all.  That is, in physical height.  ‘Course spiritually He’s like a mountain!
     Now I know, you big tall people --- especially those ol’ Missouri folk --- would say that out here, our vast Kaansas Forest was just a little dirt pile with sagebrush ~ but not to us.  It’s a pretty good sized mountain, with tall trees ~  a ... a forest!  ... ... Okay, so we’re a little bit short!  ... ... ...  Everythin’ ‘bout us is short ... now, we’ll admit that.  ...  Everythin’ but our names!
     Now, we Kansas Forest Mites ~ Mites is what we call ourselves.  ~  (Mite is short fer mighty.)  --- Well, actually, I’m jest a funnin’ with ya.  We’re jest Mites.  ~  Like I said, we shorten everything ‘cept our names.   -----   Anyways, we’ve always been mighty leery of people sayin’ they’ve seen visions out there in the swamp ~ or anywhere else fer thet matter -----  in the mountain or in the valley.
     Now I know all you tall people are good about readin’ the Bible.  But I’d like ta bring yer mind to sumpin’ Jesus said.  He said, if anybody says they’ seen Me in the valley or in the mountain, believe them not.  I believe He used the words ‘false prophets’ in talkin’ ‘bout that.  I reckon you tall people just plumb fergot ‘bout Jesus’ false prophet warnin’ when ya succumbed to the ideas of thet fella from New York.  Well, tell ya the truth, right off from the bat, we folks from Kansas know thet if it comes outta New York, ya gotta take it with a grain of salt.  So when we heard the stories ‘bout what you big people were believin’ in, we were shocked!  We woulda been runnin’ the other way.  And we sure wouldn’t’ve been joinin’ thet New Yorker’s church!!
     Down here most of us go to The Swamp Riverlog Baptist Church.  Now, we weren’t dumb enough ta fall fer somebody thet said they went out in the woods an’ started seein’ spirits.  Not that I’m ridiculing y'all.......
     Now this ol’ boy here, this Jallepy Smogheigen, he tried ta tell us that he found some writin’s on some ancient pieces of tree bark.  ‘Course we said, “So?”  Nothin’ unusual ‘bout that.  We Mites write on anything we can get our hands on!  But he tried a few shenanigans.  All it ended up bein’ is he didn’t wanna work fer a livin’ and he wanted ta git a lot of people ta give him some money....  He got four or five people thet wuz jest as lazy as he wuz, and they’s joined up with his church.  But we run ‘em all out ta Oklahoma ~ to the panhandle.
     Ya gotta be careful when somebody comes along and just starts yappin’ at ya ~  tellin’ ya they’s seein’ things.
     A long time ago, ...  a giant came down from heaven.  He walked out into the world.  He had salvation in His hands, ... and love in His eyes, ... and forgiveness in His heart.  His name was Jesus.
     If any of you tall people wanna know where God is, just look in Jesus’ eyes, and there He is.  Ya don’t need somebody else tellin’ ya thet they’ seen Him.  Now, you can see Him in all of creation.  You can see Jesus in every good deed that ya do, and in every good deed that yer about ta do.  Every time you give a naked man a coat and a pair of shoes, you see Jesus.  Every time you see someone hungry and you fix them a meal, well, you’re  ...  you’re a talkin’ to Jesus.  Ya don’t need ancient writings.  Ya don’t need gospel doctrines or dogma or anything else.  Just open the eyes of your heart. ~  You’ll see Jesus and you’ll know who God is.... There’ll be a hallelujah in your soul and a song on your lips!
     All of us have the Bible.  Yeah, we little Mites do too.  That’s all ya need.  Ya know, the more good deeds you do, the closer ya get to Jesus.  And the closer ya get to Jesus, the easier it is to keep all of His commandments.  No, I’m not saying you’d be perfect.  I don’t expect anybody ta be perfect.  ‘Least not in this life ~  but once ya get to heaven.....
     Of course, ya have to understand, heaven’s not just up there.  It’s not somewhere else ~  it’s right here on the Earth!  Heaven’s when ya help somebody else build their barn after it’s burned down.  You rinse some mud out of their clothes after they’ve been in a flood.  Or maybe some giant stepped on their house and ya help ‘em build a new one.  You feed them when they’re hungry.  You sing to them when they’re sad.  Now that’s a little part of heaven right here on Earth!
     So you all quit worryin’ ‘bout the different churches.  Remember what Jesus said ~ ~ the Kingdom of God is within you.  That’s where ya need ta look.  And in embracing yer fellow man ~ you’ll find Jesus there. Wherever there’s a good deed; wherever there’s a helping hand after a disaster; wherever there’s a hungry belly bein’ feed; wherever a mournful person’s bein’ comforted ~ ~  that’s where Jesus is.  That’s where He’s always been!
     So, you read your Bible.  You say yer prayers, and then I want ya ta smile, ‘cause Jesus is near ya.  That’s all ya hafta do to find God ~  ~ even simply just praying for a stranger who’s far away.
     So don’t worry about churches, organizations, or anything else.  Ya got the Bible.  You develop yer love for Jesus by loving yer fellowman and lovin’ the creation that He brought into bein’.  You don’t destroy the land, and ya don’t destroy the people or their lives.  You build everything up. When ya do that, you’ll see Jesus!
     You know, a lot of us Mites here wish we were big and tall ~ like some of you all.  And some of us seem ta think thet once we get to heaven, maybe we’ll grow big and tall.  I don’t know about that.  What do you giants out there think?  ‘You think us Mites can be tall in Heaven?
     Well, I’m gonna let ya go fer now.
        ~ ~ This is Bascom Farmsworthy Willobight IV.  I’ll be prayin’ fer ya whenever ya need it ~ and even when ya don’t!

          ~ ~ Simon West
               © 21 November, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Eight

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