It's not easy to be out of place.

Far from the familiar cast away, out of the place you truly belong.

So what happens when your home is eaten?

When you're part of a people driven out long ago because of sin,

living outside the garden among those who do not know God.

How can you be close to Yahweh when you're far from his home?

This is a story about faith behind enemy lines, about artful resistance and nonviolent refusal,

creative, even diplomatic, defiance.

It's a story about what it looks like to serve God when those around you do not. And it's a story

about what might happen when you do. I'm Justin Gerhardt. Welcome to Holy Ghost Stories. The

The They've been walking for weeks.

A massive caravan snaking for miles.

Thousands upon thousands of citizens of Jerusalem driven from their

home by the conquering army of Babylonia. After months of siege, their defenses gave way and the

soldiers flooded into the city. Amidst a maelstrom of fire and blood and screams, Yahweh handed Jerusalem over to King

Nebuchadnezzar.

And as Yahweh knew he would, Nebuchadnezzar took captive, a host of Judeans, the cream

of the crop, mostly, the nobility, well-trained artisans, the upper class, and herded them, like cattle,

away from their home. Like Adam and Eve, driven eastward out of the garden, this new generation

of covenant breakers has been marching east, day after day, driven out of Zion. Unfaithfulness and its consequence, exile. This, sadly, has long been the story of the people of God. Long will it be. What's to become of the kingdom of Yahweh.

Amongst the weary parade of captives four boys, 15 years old or so, handsome, walk side by side.

Friends, obviously, judging by the way they whisper to one another, the way they wrestle like

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