The little boy ran along the beach, happily skipping away with a stick in one hand and an empty pail in the other. Cheerfully he was jumping around, yelping at the cold that tickled everytime the gentle waves washed away at his feet.

Suddenly he saw an old man sitting atop a huge boulder. His thick gray beard almost appeared to muffle him, and his bald head glistened in the light of the evening sun. His skinny frame easily showed through his thin white t-shirt and pale beige khaki’s folded right up to the knees.

The boy quietly approached him, careful not to disrupt the old man’s concentration. The boulder was huge, from where the boy was standing, he had to look up pretty high to where the old man was peacefully seated, legs crossed, fingers interleaved.

‘I wonder if he’s sleeping’ thought the boy.

Just a few inches below the old man’s crossed legs were letters carved into the boulder, facing the sea. It read ‘GOD’. ‘This must be his name’ thought the boy again. He looked up to old man again, this time, attempting to study his face. He squinted his eyes a little bit to capture even the slightest detail.

“Yes, my boy?” said the old man.

Surprised that the quiet figure suddenly spoke, the boy got startled and fell on his butt-cheeks, where the waves instantly greeted them with its cool wetness. ‘Oh, so he wasn’t sleeping after all.’ thought the boy.

“I like watching the sunset like this. The sun isn’t so harsh at this time of the day, and everything just looks that much more beautiful.” said the old man.

The boy, still sitting, turned around to face the sea. Indeed, the sky was red and orange and yellow, and further up it was also purple and blue and violet. The sea sparkled as if gold dust was sprinkled all over it. Captivated by the sight, the boy nodded in agreement. He turned back to the old man and asked “Are you, um,..”

He paused for a brief moment and looked at the carved letters on the boulder.

“What is it, boy?” asked the old man.

“Are you God?”

The old man was surprised.

“Are you God?” said the boy again. The old man looked at the boy, and tilted his head to the side in interest to the question.

“I saw these letters on the rock. Is that your name?” continued the boy.

The old man let out a slight chuckle. “Well,…frankly speaking, the answer is, no,…” answered the old man. The boy was about to nod when the old man said “..but sometimes, I think that yes, I am God.” The boy was puzzled. His young mind couldn’t understand what the old man was trying to say.

“Tell me boy, what do you know about God?” asked the old man.

“Uh…what is God?” he replied.

“Well, God is someone who takes care of you.”

“Like Mommy and Daddy? Are they God?”

“Hmm, they can be. But God does more than just take care of you, you see.”

“What else does he do?”

“Do you know who makes your breakfast every morning?”

“Mommy does!” the boy answered happily.

“Well, do you know who makes cars?”

“Daddy said his friends made his car!” he answered in even greater excitement.

“Now, do you know who made birds?”

“Hmmm…” the boy thought out loud.

“What about the sun? Or the clouds? Or the sea? Do you know who made them?”

“I don’t know.”

“God did.”

The boy was amazed. He placed one hand on the huge boulder, feeling it’s smooth texture. His forefinger then traced along a crack that formed across it. His eyes then fixed themselves onto the carved letters again.

“Then, God made this rock, too?” he asked “Since his name is there?”

“He made this rock, alright. But I’m not too sure about how his name got there.” answered the old man.

The boy thought about it for a while. He knelt down and with his stick, he began writing in the sand. One letter after another. The old man looked down, and stroked his bushy beard in interest.

G

O

D

“Say,” said the boy “since you know so much about God, have you spoken to him?”. The old man let out another small chuckle. He looked up to the sea again. The sun was almost touching the horizon.

“God, huh? I talk to him sometimes. But I don’t really hear him talk lately.”

“How come?”

“Well, for one thing, I’m old and my ears don’t hear so well.”

“You heard my voice,”

“Yeah. That, and maybe because God doesn’t talk to a lot of people lately.”

“Why is that?”

“Well,…probably because a lot of people don’t talk to God anymore.”

The boy looked at the carved letters on the boulder. And then down to the letters he wrote in the sand. A strong wave came in, and washed the letters in the sand away.

“It must be sad to be God.” said the boy

“Why is that, boy?”

“I don’t know. If Daddy and Mommy, and my friends don’t talk to me anymore, I think I’d be sad. God must be like that, too.”

The old man closed his eyes for a moment and nodded slowly. “Yes, I suppose it is rather sad.” The boy then looked up at the old man with strong, inquisitive eyes. Bright, curious eyes that sparkled in the twilight stared unblinkingly at the old man.

“Where does God live?” he asked. “How do I find Him?”

The old man opened his eyes. It was as though he was waiting for that question.

“God is everywhere. Yet, he is nowhere all at the same time.”

The boy blinked at the old man in complete befuddlement. His young mind couldn’t understand what the old man’s contradicting words meant. He found this new knowledge to be very strange. Mommy taught him that if were to speak with someone, he must approach that person and then talk politely to them. This concept about talking to God without actually meeting was completely alien to him.

“Well…if God is nowhere, how am I supposed to talk to him?” asked the boy.

The old man replied simply “Oh, He hears you. He hears and listens to you all the time.”

“Then, even if I talk to God, how am I supposed to know if he talks back?” the boy asked further “How do I know that it’s God talking to me?”

The old man rubbed his chin for a while. He then put his left hand his chest, and looked at the boy.

“Put your hand like this.”

“Okay.”

“Now close your eyes.”

And so he did. All of a sudden, the boy began hearing things. Lots of things. Things he never thought he could actually hear. The sound of the palm leaves bristling in the ocean breeze. The sound of the waves gently breaking away at the fine-grained sand on the beach. The sound of birds singing faintly as they fly away. For the first time, he heard so many things he never really paid attention to.

“How did that feel?” asked the old man.

“It was nice. I never felt like that before.”

“That’s the feeling you get with you get in touch with God.”

The boy was astounded. He never thought that simply being connected to God make him feel so wonderful. Such an amazing feeling, it was his very first time. The boy then thought, if being in touch with God is such a pleasant thing, why do so many people not do it, and leave God all alone?

“Boy, tell me something.”

“Huh?”

“Do you pick up your rubbish and properly put them in the bin?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you look left and right before crossing the road?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you talk nicely to people?”

“Yeah.”

“Very good. You see, whenever you do something good, it’s usually because there’s a whisper in your heart.”

“A whisper?”

“Yeah. It whispers you to be clean, to take care of yourself, and to be nice to people.”

“It whispers in my heart?”

The old man nods. “That whisper is actually God talking to you.”

This time, the boy was completely blown away. His feet gave away and he collapsed onto his knees. He suddenly realised that all this while, God has been talking to him, but he never talked back. He, too, has left God feeling all alone all this while. In a plea of guilt, he looked up to the old man.

“Do you think God will forgive me if I spoke to him? I left him feeling lonely for so long.”

“Oh, I think God will be just fine. You see, forgiveness is something you give yourself.”

“Really?”

The boy looked at his hands, and placed them on his chest. He began to hear the beautiful sounds again. All the pleasant feelings now wash over him as though happiness was a pail of water that was just poured over his head. He opened his eyes again, and looked up. He wanted to thank the old man.

But he was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was the huge boulder, facing the sea, and the sun, now quietly resting behind the horizon after a long journey across the sky.