Matthew

     I sat at my table this morning again, waiting for the crowds to form into distinct lines.  Men and women from all over the provinces will come shortly and lay almost all that they had into the trunks lined up on my table and behind be.  Soldiers stand at my right and at my left at the request of Caesar and the Temple Guards stand at my sides to make sure all goes into the correct places for their temple.   Three times today I will do this all while looking at my countrymen while they harshly return their looks at me.  By now they disdain me know my name and have summed up their judgement of me in their minds.  If they only knew how I really felt about this, then perhaps I could bear it.
     Today was and especially hot day, the palm and olive trees I am accustomed to their shade have shed their leaves in a wind that came on suddenly without warning.  My table, my records blew to the ground and I went for them quickly before they could get away from me.  If I lost these, then I would have no proof of the days register or of the people I had already taken census of. I did not want riot or calamity from this as I knew what my people were capable of. Tax was the way this empire grew, on the backs of those they conquered. By Roman decree I was chosen because I just happend to be in the right place at the right time and it had nothing to do with my standing.
     Something stirred within me as I bent over to retrieve the papers blown to the ground.  A hand reached out under mine and retrieved the very papers I was about to grab.  As I rose I looked into a man's face who had gently placed the records onto the table and place a rock on top of them.  He stood their quietly and then said.....Levi.....follow me.   With those words said I was anchored in place unable to move, unable to think, but with the strangest compunction to toss everything and go with him.   I didn't know why it was just as if suddenly everything made sense in a way I could not entirely fathom.  But I went anyway.
     All eyes were on me as I left under the watchful stares of both the Temple guards and the Roman soldiers who stood away as the man who called me made his way through the crowd.  We walked until sunset, he talked with me and those that were with him welcomed me into their little band.  His words were magnetic, what he said captivating my soul and refreshing me in a way I had not known before. I had forgotten all about the fears of my day and of my countrymen and what they thought of me.   This man I knew was different and so began my journey.  I invited him to my house that night and all of others I could think of that stood in line that day and I gave a great dinner to all of them in honor of the one I now follow.  This was just the beginning of something.....I just knew it!               Levi