The majestic mountain seemed to touch the sky.  Its top was never seen, as there was never absent some sort of cloud circling the peak. 

There were four streams which flowed out of the mountain.  The common people who lived in the region never gave much thought to it, though one family was very meticulous about facts and history.  The facts had to be passed down, of course, as the frontiersmen who initially came to the mountain were no longer alive.  But, the great grandfather of Lester Adams had written it down ...as his dad had told him, and his dad's dad. And there were maps, the oldest of maps showing only one community, the first settlement in the area.  Yet, it was clear that the region had been thoroughly explored, as the four streams were also mapped out.

The old map simply labeled the streams: West Stream, North Stream, East Stream, and South Stream. Rather simplistic, but those names held to this present day.  The only settlement on the old map was simply named West.

There were other maps, the second oldest having a small settlement named South ...on South Stream, of course.  Latter maps included the settlements of East and North, on those respective streams. Today, all the settlements have grown to somewhat equal size and population ...and are called West Community, North Community, East Community, and South Community.  The initial families in the settlements had always kept to themselves for the most part ...and there was no real communication between West, North, East, or South. The reason that the settlements grew so substantially was that suddenly gold was discovered, and though each of the settlements didn't know it ...each of the four streams were equally rich with gold.

Each of the communities grew from many outsiders hearing of the news ...and each of the communities shared their biased feelings about the unfriendliness of the other communities in the mountain region.  So, there remained virtually no communication among the mountain communities.  They just mined their own gold ...and built churches and courtyards of the precious metal, and as far as word could travel the report was that their extensive worship was unparalleled in any land.

One day while worshiping, Les Adams felt led to reach out to the other communities in the region ...so, he got his family together to voice his intent to visit South Community.  There were no objections ...so they went.

As they are greeted in South Community, Les does the talking, "We want to extend our friendship as an expression of unity."

Mayor Moore considers this a spiritual journey, and greets Les and his family with open arms, giving them the Grand Tour.  Mayor Moore tells them that South Community was the first settlement in the mountain region.  Les and his family are on a journey of peace, so he chooses not to mention all the documents and maps in his own community's possession.

Mayor Moore takes them to the Town Hall, and shows them countless documents about the authenticity of his statements. Les notices that the documents  ...well, the papers just seem too, too ungenuine. The documents seem to all be of the same approximate age. 

Afterwards they are finally taken to the place of worship. Mayor Moore has a big smile on his face, "I've saved the best for last!"

The place of worship is equally as beautiful as where Les and his family worship, but Mayor Moore is full of surprises ...and his smile grows.  He is obviously proud of his community ...and who wouldn't be, as it looks to be a very fine community in every way.  After all, though pride is most often looked on as not a good thing, it frequently is really just proper satisfaction ...and encourages people to do good things.

But, then the shock comes.

Mayor Moore speaks with quiet boldness, and rather glibly, "Do you know that the South Stream, flowing into our South Community, is the only stream that actually has real gold? Others have heard from afar of this famous Gold Mountain, with four communities and four streams ...all having gold, but we are the only one that truly has real gold."

Les Adams had experienced how welcoming Mayor Moore was to him and his family, how gentlemanly he was being ...and he'd been polite enough to not say the other communities were only mining Fool's Gold, but that was the implication.  Yet, Les does not want to offend, nor dispute the claims.  Les merely seeks to return the Mayor's politeness by inviting him to visit West Community.

Others are beginning to gather for worship at this time, and seeing that the mayor hesitates in responding to his invitation, Les thinks that it is perhaps because the mayor doesn't want the others to feel left out by the singular invitation.  So, Les extends his request, "We would be glad to have as many of you who would want to visit our community ...you are all invited, and welcome."

Mayor Moore sees the group's hesitance, and as mayor of the community he feels obliged to answer, "I guess we pretty much all feel that our worship here is so satisfying ...that we feel our Lord would not really approve of us worshiping to any less degree than our worship here.  But, you are always welcome to join us in our community, and at our church here."

One other gentleman does speak up, "Yes, we feel our Lord has ordained our worship here, having established us as the first settlement. Our life in South Community was clearly established here by our Lord's providence."

Les takes a deep breath of the fresh and satisfying mountain air ...yet, an air of aloofness among this friendly group of people surrounding him is sadly what impresses him most; polluting his hope of that spiritual bond he'd intended to create by this visit.

(I guess, the bottom line is ...or if we really think we are on top of things, we must all decide for ourselves how we view all of this, Moore or Les.)