Joey Pate

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."

-John 15:18, NIV

Petey, fourteen, and Leon, nine, stood and gazed in awe at the horseshoe stump that surrounded the base of the Angel Live Oak. The chaotic branches of the tree had always seemingly emitted a sense of fantasy and wonder, but never in their wildest imaginations would they have believed what mysteries it held. Inside the horseshoe sat a single magnificent lavender flower with a gold cross and chain dangling amongst the flower''s petals. Staring at one another, the brothers had no idea that a gateway to other realms where unicorns and electric blue-eyed sand cats awaited them. Petey and Leon could sense a need, a spiritual whispering of encouragement to reach out and touch the chain; immediately, the boys become engulfed in a whirlwind transported to somewhere between paradise and persecution.