McKenzie's Podcast

The sound of the tolling bell invaded McKenzie’s mind. It was seven a.m. on a sunny Sunday morning and the faithful were making their way to early mass. Historically, France is a predominantly Roman Catholic country with a past that is steeped in religiosity far removed from the character of Jesus Christ. Fear has bound and controlled the Catholic Christians who, for the most part, are blissfully unaware of any other viable alternatives. McKenzie came from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, another stronghold of religious control. He hated religion and that put him off Christianity although he still didn’t know that there was a difference between the two. Slowly, however, the revelation was beginning to dawn on him. McKenzie was about to embark on a massive learning curve. McKenzie collected his thoughts and focussed on the day ahead. He knew that it contained lurking dangers and he would need to have his wits about him. Emile, his long time friend, had set up the meeting with Youssef, a Moroccan refugee, who now earned a rather lucrative living by selling secrets to the highest bidder. He was not to be trusted….. Psalm 55:23…..But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Crisis to Blessings’: http://www.getthegist.net/

The smell of sulphur and the stench of filth made McKenzie want to retch. It overpowered him; dank, putrid decay, the reek of death. The tortured screaming was at fever-pitch way beyond the capabilities of anything human. Involuntarily, McKenzie let out a scream himself. It came from somewhere deep within him and inside that desperate cry was every ounce of McKenzie’s last hope of survival. Out of nowhere McKenzie suddenly felt his fall being cushioned by an invisible source. Instead of falling downwards into the jaws of the devouring black evil abyss he was travelling upwards at the speed of light towards a glorious, magnificent, iridescent kaleidoscope of brilliant colours. McKenzie was exhilarated, he was overwhelmed with euphoria. Elated and filled with tremendous joy, McKenzie lay back into the invisible arms and enjoyed the ride. All of a sudden, McKenzie was in the centre of an inexpressible light. Colours flashed all around him. He could almost touch and taste each colour, however, as he reached out to take hold of them they morphed into yet another holographic display of tremendous beauty. Peace began to soak him like mist on a mountainside; like a breath, a gentle breeze caressed him in love. McKenzie didn’t want it to stop. He thought that his heart would burst with such tremendous elation, a symphony of love, joy and peace. Still it came, wave after wave of enrapturing harmony. McKenzie felt at one with all that was happening. He blended into the light and the love until he was completely unaware of himself. He knew that he had been saved from utter, unending evil and he was now soaked and saturated in this expansive, great goodness. He didn’t want it to stop and somehow, deep inside, he knew it never would….. 1 John 1:5……This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Marvellous Light’: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie was spiralling backwards, falling into empty darkness. He felt helpless; unable to coordinate his movements; unable to think straight. What was happening to him? He had no idea. He reached out desperately trying to catch hold of something, anything to stop him falling. He caught hold of a horrible slimy thing that gave him the creeps but he couldn’t keep hold of it. As it slipped from his grasp, McKenzie saw the ugliest face of indescribable evil stare back at him. It had piercing dark eyes that gripped his soul. Panicking, McKenzie scanned the unyielding void. At that moment the screaming started; eerie, spine-chilling, blood-curdling screaming, first one demented, twisted voice then another and another. The cacophony was overwhelming; ear-splitting, unrelenting like slow sadistic torture to the point of death but death like a predator toyed with its prey. Spinning, spiralling deeper, McKenzie plummeted downwards into the gaping jaws of whatever awaited him in chasm below….. Matthew 10:28….Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Hell is a Real Place‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

It was the smell that first caught McKenzie’s attention. It transported him back to a time when he lived in Kisumu, Kenya. He was six years old. His family lived in the security of the military compound where his father had been unexpectedly stationed. McKenzie made friends quickly with some of the other white children but it was the Kenyan children that he liked the most. He had never known any black kids before. Blessing was a boy roughly the same age as McKenzie but that’s where the similarities stopped. Blessing had a younger sister called Precious. Together they came into the compound every day. While their mother cleaned around the compound her children would sit, well behaved, on the carefully tended lawn. When it came time to clean McKenzie’s family home, McKenzie would go out to play. Blessing loved football and so too did McKenzie. They didn’t speak each other’s language but football knew no language barriers. During the rough and tumble of close-contact hot and sweaty games, McKenzie noticed the smell of their sweat. As soon as the family sat next to him on the plane he smelled it. They must have been rushing to catch their flight; mother, her two children and, McKenzie presumed, a family friend. He breathed deep and enjoyed the memories that their smell evoked….. 2 Corinthians 2:16….To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘What Do You Smell?‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

To say Sanjid’s house was shabby was a gross misunderstatement. The ancient outer edifice was crumbling and so too were the walls inside. It was highly unlikely that the windows had ever been cleaned. The threadbare linen draped over them, although once vibrant with colour, was now sun-bleached to a monochromatic grey. It was held together by the cobwebs that generations of spiders had dexterously spun over gaping holes where countless flies were trapped in mass graves. McKenzie stooped under the low roof in the dusty room where the meeting was to be held. Sanjid motioned for him to sit down, so McKenzie sat cross-legged on the warped wooden floor. Sanjid had no desire to work in the brick factory that had employed his family since the day it was built. In an attempt to get out he had found himself a niche where he could work running errands for the local underworld. Unwittingly, he had found himself entangled with an Iranian-backed extremist group who, single-handedly wanted to rid Pakistan of every white infidel. McKenzie felt uncomfortable. Could he trust Sanjid? Could he trust Sanjid’s friends who had brought McKenzie to the meeting? Sanjid had information that was, potentially, worth a lot of money and that pay-off was his ticket to a better world far away from the political tensions and daily danger of living in Pakistan. He claimed to know of a secret arms dump that included a nuclear rocket silo. McKenzie knew that these guys were capable of committing any atrocity known to man (and a few that weren’t!), even if that meant firing a nuclear bomb into any predominantly white country. They had neither morals nor scruples regarding mass murder or even single murder for that matter. McKenzie felt distinctly vulnerable….. Joshua 1:9…..Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Be Strong and Courageous‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie’s Edge During his time of self-imposed isolation, McKenzie had exercised less and eaten more. He had gained a few extra pounds. Not so much that anyone would notice, anyone that is, except McKenzie. McKenzie felt that he had lost his edge. His mind was less sharp and his reactions were slow. He didn’t like it, his keen instincts were fuzzy. It surely wasn’t only as a result of being slightly overweight, although that would certainly contribute, no, there was something else. Isolation and a lack of interactive relationships would also be a factor. However, the one main cause for McKenzie being under par was directly related to McKenzie’s distinct lack of adventure! At heart, McKenzie was an adrenalin junkie and it had been far too long since his last fix. He was a man of action. Now, with his project sufficiently advanced, it was time for McKenzie to start joining the dots. His first port of call was Pakistan. It was time to find out what was really going on with their nuclear arsenal….. McKenzie’s first meeting in Lahore didn’t produce much although it was good to meet up with old friends. On his way to Multan, however, his driver detoured into Khanewal and things began to look up….. 1 John 3:18….Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. To find out more about this bible passage, follow this link to ‘Actions Speak Louder than Words’: http://www.getthegist.net

McKenzie Looks for a Connection McKenzie found himself at church. It was somewhere in middle England at the beginning of spring. With new life bursting out all around him, it seemed like an excellent time to make a God connection in the hope of getting things off to a good start after his winter of isolation. From the outside it didn’t look like a church building. It was a factory unit in an industrial estate. McKenzie liked that. One thing that repulsed McKenzie was overt religion. Non-religious Christianity was often difficult to find because religion soiled true Christianity like a bad stain. Furthermore, it was McKenzie’s sad experience that religion and Christianity were bed-fellows that were difficult to separate. McKenzie was made to feel welcome when he entered. Without much ado, he progressed into the main auditorium just as the band began to play and they were good. The presentation was good, the sound quality was good, the stage lighting was good and the projected visuals were also good. As the end of Genesis chapter one tells us; God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. However, as the meeting progressed, the well rehearsed format morphed into a praise and worship formula. It was all quite slick but it was also frustratingly familiar. It opened a door to the spirit of Religion who battled with the Spirit of God for control. The potential was there to make this a momentous, life-changing moment for everyone, but religious ritual, cleverly cloaked in charismatic exuberance, sucked at McKenzie’s energy. Instead of the tangible presence of God’s glory, religion descended like a thick fog. Many of McKenzie’s most amazing life-altering encounters with God had happened outside of the traditional church setting. Now, his attention span wavered and he began to be distracted. He looked around and saw that the congregation were, for the most part, sincere and responsive. The Pastor was sincere. He obviously loved God, the bible and his flock. Clearly, he was looking for ways to inspire his people with the fullness of his message, so that, they would have their own personal revelation of what God was saying to each of them individually. McKenzie felt the Pastor’s frustration and hoped that he would accomplish what he had set out to do. His job was not enviable, it was jolly hard work. He showed great endurance and perseverance. It seemed that the beloved would need to be wooed for a while longer….. McKenzie was reminded of Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse 4. The bible says….. Take me away with you - let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Connecting with Jesus’: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie comes out of Hibernation McKenzie caught his reflection in a shop window. He couldn’t believe what he saw. He looked like someone who had been isolated, hidden high on a mountain or deep in a jungle or lost in a desert. His eyes stared and darted everywhere trying to make sense of too much information. He looked like a crazy-man, cowered and scuffling, as he looked for shadows to hide in. His hair was long and so too was his beard. He was overweight and his clothes had seen better days. His reclusive lifestyle whilst productive had done nothing for his image. He was feeling fearful and overwhelmed among so many people in the city. McKenzie needed a makeover, bad. First-off, he went for a short haircut and a beard trim. He wasn’t ready to lose the beard altogether, he may need it to hide behind. He couldn’t stomach the small talk from the slightly camp barber. He felt detached and uninvolved with his life and lifestyle. McKenzie had been locked into his project all winter and he felt like a bear coming out of ‘hibernation’. In his mind, he had created a complex interweave of plots and intrigue and, in doing so, he had unwittingly distanced himself from the real world of ‘ordinary’ people. He was now struggling to re-connect….. Daniel 12:2….Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Eternity’: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie Finds Hope McKenzie scanned the parched desert landscape expecting to see nothing but, hoping that he would see something or someone, some kind of life, anything. As his trained eyes journeyed slowly through the bleak, arid, inhospitable terrain, he stopped to look again at a speck in the distance. It hovered in the shimmering heat. It may have been his imagination, it may have been a mirage, but it was worth checking out. McKenzie filled up his canteen with water from the drum in his pick-up and set off in the direction of that indistinguishable fragment of hope. As he got closer the speck grew larger and took on a distinct shape. When he finally reached it, McKenzie discovered with delight that he had stumbled upon a caravanserai; a roadside resting place where travellers could rest and recover from the day's journey. These caravanserai supported the, albeit sporadic, flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes throughout North Africa. Although currently deserted, McKenzie knew that, eventually, some desert nomads or, perhaps, a travelling trader, would stop by for refreshment. All he had to do was wait….. Job 11:18….You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘What are you Hoping for?‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie Gets Cooked The wind died away leaving McKenzie sitting in the merciless inferno of airless sunshine. He felt like a piece of meat tossed on a barbeque griddle as he began to cook in the unrelenting heat. He focussed his mind and tried to find a place inside his head where he could cope. He tried not to sweat but beads of perspiration began to form on his forehead and he felt trickles of sweat run down his rib cage. There was nowhere to hide. McKenzie’s car, like McKenzie himself, had overheated on the sand-covered single-track road that ran from Reganne to In Salah through the Algerian Sahara. Wisely, he had a five-gallon drum of water in the back of his borrowed pick-up. McKenzie had turned off the engine to allow it to cool down. As he waited his mind went back to Spain and to Maria. She knew nothing of his whereabouts and, therefore, no amount of torture would make her give him away. He hoped that she would not suffer long before she died. Vultures circled high overhead but McKenzie was determined that he was not going to become a carrion feast for them to gorge on. He popped the bonnet; there was a gentle hiss of steam as he opened the radiator cap. Bracing himself on the front bumper, he carefully began pouring water into the radiator. Immediately, it came straight through, soaking his feet. The radiator was blown. Stay calm, McKenzie told himself, there is a solution….. Isaiah 58:11….The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘The Lord Will Satisfy You‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie on the Run McKenzie grew increasingly more impatient as he waited for Maria to show. It was now well past their pre-arranged rendezvous time. Maybe their plot had been discovered. If so, it was inevitable that Don Pedro’s henchmen would extract all the details from her and they would now come for McKenzie. It would be safer for him to make his escape while he could but that would mean deserting Maria. As he pondered this dilemma, framed in the rear-view mirror, his is eye caught something shifting in the shadows. His instincts kicked-in and adrenalin exploded through his body. He threw himself out of the driver’s door and ducked behind a large commercial refuse bin that had been wheeled out from ‘La Gaviota’ just moments earlier for the nocturnal bin-men. A bullet ricocheted off the wall behind him. McKenzie, with lightning speed, gathered his thoughts. He positioned himself behind the large container and began to push it towards the assassins. There was a slight downward slope on the road that helped McKenzie’s barricade to gather momentum. The thick rubber bin easily absorbed the bullets that flew like hail in McKenzie’s direction. His shield came to an abrupt stop as it rammed into his assailants’ 4x4 Range Rover. McKenzie took off down an alleyway like a stealth bomber, silent and with great speed, into the darkness and into the unknown…. Psalm 124:6-8……Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Free as a Bird‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie’s Reality Check It started as a tiny speckle in the far, far distance, in the macro-space behind McKenzie’s eyes. Sitting in his recliner easy-chair soaking up the sunshine through the window of his bedroom, he almost purred like a pussy-cat. McKenzie inclined his head towards the wall and watched the shifting shadows and dancing lights that were refracted through the trees from the garden outside. A cloud momentarily passed in front of the sun bringing McKenzie back from day-dreaming to the stark reality of the matter in hand; why was Helga murdered and who did it? He had no option but to walk away the night she was killed. To get involved with a murder would have complicated everything. He had been waiting on Helga returning with a contact name; a name that would take him to the leader of the Unilateral Disarmament Movement in Russia. Whoever killed Helga didn’t want McKenzie to have that name. McKenzie knew that this was more, much more, than a group of Ban the Bomb ex-hippie protesters. He wondered if he was getting in too deep…..? The sun came back out and McKenzie allowed himself the luxury of letting his mind drift off to more pleasant places. He could hear his mother’s voice calling him from far away….. Matthew 24:6……You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. To find out more about this bible passage, go to ‘Do Not Be Alarmed‘: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie Meets His Past His mp4 player was out of juice, so McKenzie tuned into the noise that surrounded him. He zoned-into private conversations until he found something that interested him. He was back in Scotland, in Glasgow, in a massive shopping mall that had sprung-up from nowhere since his last visit. Malls are noisy places and they are fascinating. Nameless people, thousands of them, milled around in all directions. Every one of them had a unique story to tell….McKenzie knew that all they wanted was someone to listen. He pondered this as he sipped his Starbucks latte, casually eavesdropping into whatever conversation caught his attention in the ambience. “Hello son, is this seat taken?” McKenzie followed the voice to a smartly dressed old man with piercing blue eyes and a recently done neat haircut. He was holding a mug of tea standing in front of the empty seat at McKenzie’s table. “No, it’s yours”, smiled McKenzie politely. “Thank you. Busy place, isn’t it?” “Yes”, responded McKenzie. “My name’s Archie, what’s your name?” As he cordially stretched-out his hand towards McKenzie. “McKenzie’s my name”, said McKenzie as he warmly shook Archie’s hand. “McKenzie? That’s a great Scottish name, a name to be proud of. Where are you from McKenzie?” “Originally from up north, the Outer Hebrides.” “What part? I was stationed there during the war.” “A wee island called Scalpay, just off Harris.” “Scalpay!” Exclaimed Archie. “My first love came from Scalpay. You must know her, Moira McLeod?” McKenzie was taken aback, almost everyone on Scalpay was from the McLeod clan. “When was that?” Asked McKenzie respectfully. “Och, I was just a boy, seventeen years old. Moira was only sixteen.” McKenzie quickly did the math. This happened around seventy years ago, putting Archie in his eighties. He remembered that he had an aunty Moira, his dad’s sister. But surely, it couldn’t be her….? Matthew 1:1-17…… Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. To find out more about this bible passage, follow this link to ‘Genealogy’: http://www.getthegist.net

McKenzie waited anxiously for Maria to show. They had meticulously planned this meeting before she helped him to escape from ‘La Dama de la Noche’. Maria had decided to go to her father in Sao Paulo Brazil. Together with McKenzie, they had staged his escape and arranged a rendezvous in Marbella’s Old Town. McKenzie would drive them both, in his hired car, to Malaga Airport. They would catch a flight to London’s Heathrow and, from there, onto Sao Paulo. Don Pedro would be so preoccupied with finding McKenzie that they should be absorbed into the populace of Sao Paulo before he even noticed that Maria was missing. McKenzie had left some false trails that would, hopefully, lead Don Pedro into thinking that he had driven north to France. That was what McKenzie loudly told the man at the car hire office in Puerto Banus. McKenzie sat quietly outside La Gaviota bar drumming his fingers on the steering wheel of the hired black Merc and he waited…… They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.....Daniel 3:27 To find out more about this bible verse please go to ‘Unharmed and Untainted’: http://www.getthegist.net/

The air at such altitude, in the foothills of the Himalayas, was incredibly thin and dry making it impossible to sweat despite the scorching heat. McKenzie’s blood pressure was far too high causing his face to flush like a beetroot. His pulse was beating so hard that he thought his head would explode and his heart would burst. The journey to Khoplang, a tiny village in the district of Gorkha, took two days walking. Much of the dirt road had been washed away by the frequent torrential rains making it heavy-going under foot for McKenzie and his Sherpa guide. Wading through the river in full spate was not an option, even although it would have cut hours off the journey. When the driver of an old truck offered them a lift, McKenzie and his guide jumped at the chance despite the exorbitant price they had to pay for the privilege. McKenzie had an important meeting with, Chitra, the Chief Elder of the village. Chitra had some valuable information that may just expose the communist insurgent’s take-over of the former kingdom of Nepal. Their sweep had already started as they raped and pillaged their way towards Kathmandu. Was it possible to stop their wave of terror?.... Isaiah 52:7……How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” To find out more about this bible passage, follow this link to ‘Beautiful Feet’: http://www.getthegist.net

McKenzie is Amazed As quickly as she had entered, Maria left the room, having caused relatively little damage. McKenzie was confused and wondered what was going on. Was this part of a physiological ploy to intimidate him? Before McKenzie had a chance to work it all out, the cabin door swung open again and Maria stood, statuesque, framed in the doorway. She was dressed to kill in her bright red mini dress. Smoke rose from an extremely long cigarette delicately held in her perfectly manicured fingers. “You intrigue me” she purred, toying with his mind and emotions. “I have been instructed to kill you for my pleasure, but before I do, I want to know who you are.” McKenzie remained silent, giving nothing away. “There is a smell from you that reminds me of my father back in Brazil. Maybe you are my father?” She let her question hang in the air. “I hate him! He abandoned me when I was a child.” Maria’s lip was quivering. “He didn’t come to look for me when I was taken in the jungle.” McKenzie’s mind raced back to twenty-five years ago when he had been part of a search party looking for a lost child deep in the Amazonian Rain Forest. Could it be? “How come you have a Spanish name if you are from Brazil?” quizzed McKenzie at the risk of upsetting Maria still further. He hoped to lift a corner of the mystery that veiled Maria de las Flores’ life. “My captors took me to Colombia. Don Pedro wanted a daughter without the complications of a mother. He described exactly what he wanted and sent his men to find her. Unfortunately, his description matched me exactly and I became the daughter of the leader of Columbia’s most feared drugs cartel. He renamed me and became my father ….” For the first time McKenzie saw Maria as that frightened little girl, lost and alone. “You talk too much McKenzie!” Hollered Maria, as she threw back her raven-black hair from her angry face and stormed out of the cabin. She was annoyed at allowing herself to open-up to someone she barely knew. It was that smell; manly, even fatherly. She had not smelled it for twenty-five years….. Malachi 4:6……He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents To find out more about this bible passage, follow this link to ‘Get Ready’: http://www.getthegist.net

McKenzie and the Digital Age McKenzie was taken aback when the preacher walked up to the pulpit and said, “Please do not turn off your mobile phones. Leave them on and start texting and posting messages of what happens here to your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Attach photos and videos by all means.” Almost immediately, mobile phones being held aloft began flashing. Others were slowly moving as they panned the preacher and the congregation. “Be sure to invite the people you contact to come along to this meeting, if they can,” said the preacher. Before long, a stream of social network ‘friends’ began to stream into the meeting. Far from being distracting, the buzz was electrifying. The church was alive, the congregation was active and the preacher was animated. Something was going on everywhere. All over the world, people were talking about the meeting that McKenzie was attending. As social networkers began to respond about what was happening in their own congregations, their home groups, whatever they were doing. Laughter and excited conversations began to ripple around the church. Multimedia screens around the walls of the building began to relay images of the in-house meeting and of other meetings taking place at the same time all over the world. People, Christians and non-Christians, were uploading and broadcasting instantaneously. Churches online were showing what was being uploaded on their IP TVs and from a battery of multimedia projectors connected to laptops..... The revelation hit McKenzie like a slap on the head; this was church and he loved it. Revelation 1:7a……“Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him…” For more explanation about this bible verse please follow this link to ‘Every Eye Will See’: http://www.getthegist.net/

McKenzie is Spared Condensation stuck to the window like mist on a Scottish mountain. However, McKenzie was not in Scotland, The Land of his Fathers, he was in South East Asia, Myanmar to be precise, Mandalay City to be very precise. A drop of water left its trail and through the window blurred images of the city made indistinct shapes through the glass. McKenzie’s clothes stuck to him with sweat, he was only wearing a t-shirt and Bermudas but they were soaked through. He was alone for the moment but his head was still spinning from what had just happened. The tiny, plain room had been packed with around fifty people praying. Prayers like McKenzie had never heard; loud, fervent and passionate. Almost everyone had been weeping, their faces streaked with tears, crying out to God. Suddenly the bamboo door had burst open and at least twenty policemen with clubs had rushed in. It was carnage. The sickening thuds on beating flesh, breaking bones and frenzied screaming filled the room where the sound of prayer had previously. Blood was splattered across the walls and ceiling. The illegal church was effectively stopped and the Christians were dragged out traumatised and in shock into the waiting paddy wagons. McKenzie had pushed himself into a corner squatting. He waited for the blows but they never came. As abruptly as the militia came in, they left. McKenzie was bewildered. Had the enforcers been blinded? How could they have missed him!? Surely it was a miracle….. Acts 12:5-12…….Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me…. To learn more about this bible passage, follow this link to 'God Answers Prayers': http://www.getthegist.net/

Miguel radioed ahead informing the Coastguard and the Guardia Civil of his surprise catch. Before he reached the beautiful La Carihuela beach, he could see that is was packed with emergency service vehicles and, of course, the press. Miguel ordered his small crew to unload the fish while the net, with the horrific human remains still entangled, was removed on a temporary winch set up on the sand. It was deposited into a screened of no-go area. Camera flash guns popped and the TV cameras rolled capturing every detail of the latest scoop. The press scrum pushed microphones with their network logos attached into Miguel’s leathery face. He had seen many things during his sixty-eight years of life but this took the biscuit. He was deeply affected by his grim catch. They asked him all kinds of questions…. “Where exactly were you fishing?” “How long were you there?” “How old is your boat?” “What beer do you drink?” Miguel, as he was advised by the police, declined to comment on anything. The remains were officially photographed and catalogued then, with blue lights flashing and sirens wailing, they were rushed over to the mortuary where a detailed post mortem would take place. The media teams followed the ambulance in hot pursuit, each one looking for their own unique slant on this headline story. Miguel was released after hours of questioning and told to stay local. At home, clearly shaken and shocked by his ordeal, he turned on his TV and there he was, on prime time national news, overseeing the removal of the remains from his boat and all the time saying, “No comment….”. Don Pedro was in a furious rage as he sat, incredulous, in front of his huge plasma screen on board La Dama de la Noche. He had a few questions of his own to ask his buffoons and they better have good answers….. Matthew 26: 52……“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” To read more about this bible passage, follow this link: http://www.getthegist.net

By the time McKenzie heard the key unlock the cabin door, he had manoeuvred himself into a sitting position on the floor with his back against the wall. At least that way he would see what was coming. To his surprise, it was Maria who entered unaccompanied. McKenzie looked her up and down. As usual, she was impeccably dressed with not even a hair out of place. Her dark eyes locked onto McKenzie’s upturned face. He could detect no obvious signs of emotion other than absolute self confidence. She glided over to McKenzie and asked herself out loud, “What are we going to do with you?” McKenzie, still gagged and bound, looked into Maria’s face. She stooped, grabbed a corner of the duct tape that was over his mouth and gave it a good tug. McKenzie was now able to talk. “Thank you”, he said with a hint of cynicism while contorting his mouth and jaw. “You’re welcome”, Maria responded with obvious sarcasm. “I want to hear you when you scream”. McKenzie was defenceless. His wrists were tied behind his back and his ankles bound together. Maria carefully positioned her expensively clad foot on McKenzie’s groin and began pushing her pencil-thin stiletto into his crotch. Maria’s face broke into a crimson lip-gloss smile. “This will be such fun”, she chuckled with perverse pleasure….. As Miguel and his fishermen winched their nets back towards the boat they knew that their catch was big. Their nets were heavy but as they broke the surface they all stared horrified. There among the silvery sardines was a dead body, or at least what was left after the sharks had finished…. Luke 5:4…..When he had finished speaking, Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” To learn more about this bible passage, please go to: http://www.getthegist.net