Behind the Cross: The Centurion’s Journey to Faith – Episode #3
The Threshold
Journal Entry – Marcus Aelius Vitalis
Date: Monday, October 19, 26 A.D. (Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Agrippa, 778 Ab urbe condita)
There comes a moment before every battle when the wind stops moving.
Soldiers call it “the hold.” It’s not silence exactly—it’s deeper than that. It’s the stillness of the gods watching. A suspension between two worlds: the one that was, and the one that will be—after everything changes.
Bethabara is holding its breath.
So am I.
This is my third week encamped near the Jordan river. Officially, I’m still gathering intelligence. Unofficially, I’ve forgotten what I’m supposed to be watching for. Rome sent me to monitor a madman crying in the wilderness.
But what I found is a wilderness crying back.
The river is no longer just water—it’s become a sanctuary. Pilgrims don’t come with offerings. They come with open hands, with broken hearts, with eyes wide as they search the horizon for the one John keeps proclaiming.
He preaches with even greater urgency now. It’s like watching a man who knows his time is almost up. Today, as he baptized a widow and her grown son, he stopped mid-sentence. He turned and faced the trees behind the crowd. He said nothing for a long moment.
Then he whispered, “He’s near.”