WILLIAM JACKSON WAS deep in prayer for his grandfather. His grandfather had lung cancer and the Oncologists had only given him one year to live. His grandfather had been his whole life. He never missed one of Will’s high school football games and made it to every college game that he possibly could. In the middle of his prayer, a voice came to him. He felt foolish asking, but did so anyway, “Who…who are you?”
The voice replied, “I’m God and I haven’t done this in over a billion years.”
Will asked, “Done what?” He was thirty-five, six feet three inches tall, with light brown hair and hazel eyes, well built and handsome. He looked as if he had a natural tan.
“I haven’t answered a prayer in over a billion years. I decided to do it again, nostalgia, a walk down memory lane; so to speak.”
“You don’t answer prayers?” He felt disappointed, hearing that his prayers had been in vain.
“It’s not so much that I don’t answer prayers, it’s more like I can’t.”
Will asked, “Why not, if you’re God?”
“Good question. There are somewhere near four hundred billion stars in your galaxy. There are roughly two trillion galaxies in your universe. In the multiverse there are some twenty trillion universes. I once calculated that I get about ninety-five billion prayers per second. As you can easily see, I can’t possibly answer prayers.”
“How…how did you decide to answer mine?” He felt foolish talking to a voice, but the voice said he was God.
“Pure random. I picked a universe in the multiverse, then a galaxy in your universe, then a planet in your galaxy and then your prayer.”
“And you can actually answer prayers?”
“Very much so. In fact, your grandfather, who you love, is healed. If I were you, I’d take him to the Oncologists tomorrow morning. They’ll want to run numerous tests, but the end result will be that he’s cancer free. Doctors don’t like to use the term miracle, but they’ll say he has experienced an unexplained remission. He’s getting ready to call you now.”
The phone rang and startled Will. “Hello.”
His grandfather said, “Will, I…I feel like I did ten years ago. I can take deep breaths and no pain. I don’t understand it.”
“Papa, it sounds like my prayers have been answered. I’ll pick you up at nine and we’ll go see your doctor.”
“I don’t think he’ll see us without an appointment, Will.”
“Trust me, Papa, he’ll see us. Just be ready at nine and I’ll pick you up.”
“Alright, if you think that’s best.”
“Get a good night’s sleep Papa because you’re going to get good news tomorrow.” His grandfather lived alone because his wife left him when she discovered he had lung cancer. The irony was that she smoked, he did not. She told her friends that she did not want to take care of a sick old man.
Will turned off his phone and said to the voice, “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
“What if I asked for something that was just for me?”
The voice said, “You want to marry Alicia Escobar.”
“You truly are God. I’ve never seen a woman that affects me like she does.”
“You realize she’s married and in movies on top of that.”
“I know, but I can’t help myself.”
God said, “Alright, as long as I’m doing this, I’ll do it right. I just deposited fifty million dollars into your savings account. After the doctors finish with your grandfather, take him to his bank and deposit money for him and open a savings account at that branch. I’ll deposit another fifty million in your new savings account. The money came from overseas investments. The bank managers will drop to their knees and kiss your robe.”
“If I ask for two cars…”
“On the coffee table are registrations for a Porsche 911 Carrera and a Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce. I also put the registration for a 164 foot Mondomarine yacht. The cars are in your stalls at the Matson Tower and the yacht is berthed in San Pedro. As long as I’m doing this, I might as well set everything up for you.”
“The…the Matson Tower is the most expensive condominium in Los Angeles.”
“You’re the proud owner of the penthouse, the tallest penthouse in the city. That should impress her. You might want to donate your furniture to some reputable charity because I put another million dollars into furnishing your penthouse.”
“How will I meet her?”
God said, “You’re going to a fundraiser for Sierra Vista Children’s Hospital on Wednesday night. Her agent wants her there for the exposure. Your ticket is on the coffee table. Paparazzi will be there as well as people from the movie magazines. You’ll meet her at the bar, even though she doesn’t drink. By the way, I just made you a full partner at your law firm.”
“Even after all you’ve done for me, I have some stupid questions.”
“Ask away.”
Atheist always ask, ‘Who created you’?”
“That’s an easy one. I’m God, no one created me. If someone did, they’d be God.”
“Another question that many people ask, is there an afterlife?”
“I think that got started because every intelligent being on every planet wants to live again, but there’s no afterlife; not in the sense you’re asking. Although the atoms in your body will be recycled into various life forms, in that sense, no one really dies.”
“Are people, me included, supposed to worship you?”
“Goodness no. Think how shallow I’d be if I needed two hundred trillion beings to worship me.”
“And you created all this, the multiverse?”
God said, “That and much more, but some of the universes are self-perpetuating. Even after all the stars wink out there’s still energy, gravity waves, the Higgs field, dark energy and often they come together for another Big Bang.”
“Then eternity is real?”
“It’s eternal.”
