(AN: Hello readers! I hope you are enjoying what I'm writing. I had some help on the last chapter. My nephew whose 14 is a Star Wars fan and I had him edit the last chapter I wrote and let him add things he wanted. He had some other interesting suggestions and I think there are good ideas and might put some of them into the story. He's a GREAT WRITER. He's even working on his own fantasy book series. I got some more ideas for the story, but I REALLY want to hear from you about it. So, please leave your thoughts in a review please. I want to know what yourare thinking about the story! Blessings!)

CHAPTER 8: PRAYERS and Miracles

The suns rose up early this morning over the deserts of Sandtooine. Mrs Skywalker was usually up at this point to make herself some coffee, and depending on Anakin's work schedule may even be making up some breakfast to give him some energy and grow big and strong. But to her surprise on this morning, she found Jar Jar and Padmé working on breakfast.

"We hope you don't mind," Padmé said in a kind voice. "We are just so grateful for you taking us in for our stay and this we thought how we could best repay your kindness. I even started the coffee for you."

"Why thank you," Mrs Skywalker said with a happy smile. She was thankful for the good intentions of her guests and was pleased to have them do such a kind gesture for her.

A timer on Mrs Skywalker's coffee machine buzzed to let them know that the coffee was hot and ready. Padmé grabbed a couple cups and poured some of the coffee slowly and carefully into the cups.

"Mrs Skywalker, would you like some cream or sugar in your coffee?" Padmé politely asked Mrs Skywalker.

"No thank you, Padmé. I like my coffee black." Mrs Skywalker said.

"Funny. Qui-Gon takes his coffee the same exact way." Padmé said curiously.

Mrs Skywalker was quite pleased with this. It means she would save on having to buy more cream and sugar if Qui-Gon and his family moved in. But she saw Padmé putting some sugar in her coffee and a splash of creamer. Padmé brought the black coffee over to Mrs Skywalker and then took the cream and sugar coffee for herself.

"Hows the coffee, Mrs Skywalker?" Padmé asked in an earnest voice.

"Quite fine" Mrs Skywalker said politely

"I don't make coffee too often. I usually go to the Skybucks near the Jedi Christian Temple on Coruscant where we have Bible studies in the morning. I like getting an iced vanilla frappucinno with chocolate chips." Padmé said as she sipped her coffee.

"It has been a long time since I had an iced vanilla frappucinno with chocolate chips," Mrs Skywalker said a little sadness. "Water and chocolate and vanilla are expensive out here. I can only afford a chocolate bar once a year, which I give to Anakin on his birthday."

"My goodness, I had no idea it was so desperate out here!" Padmé said with a shocked exclamation.

"Nothing grows here," Mrs Skywalker said with a matter of fact voice. "Everything has to be sent in from all over the galaxy and the taxation is so expensive, not to mention the shipping."

"Do you get two day free shipping?" Padmé asked inquisitively.

"What's that?" Mrs Skywalker asked curiously.

"Oh, if you order something from the Holoweb, some stores will give you free shipping if you spend enough money." Padmé explained.

"We don't use the Holoweb much out here. The transmission rates are too expensive. It costs almost twenty credits just for one hour." Mrs Skywalker told Padmé.

"My goodness. THAT IS expensive!" Padmé said.

"Yes. It sure is. The Trade Federation controls the costs and they keep raising the rates." Mrs Skywalker told Padmé.

Suddenly, Padmé had a brilliant idea!

"Mrs Skywalker, I've been trying to think of an interesting way we could help your town and maybe we can give your town the Holoweb for free." Padmé said with a joyful voice.

"How can you do that?" Mrs Skywalker asked.

"Obi-Wan is brilliant with computer stuff. He's what we call a "slicer". He can hack into computers and things and I bet he can tap into something and give the whole town free Holoweb access.

"The Holoweb can be dangerous though." Mrs Skywalker said cautiously. "People can be pretending to be other people and of course there's the more adult places."

"But there are great resources to help people be Jedi Christians and they can learn about things they may need to know with their everyday lives. Maybe we can put some parental controls on it so they can just learn about God and educational stuff." Padmé said enthusiastically.

"That sounds like a brilliant idea!" Mrs Skywalker said enthusiastically. "You are such a smart girl Padmé."

"Thank you Mrs Skywalker," Padmé said kindly. "Qui-Gon says I am smart enough to go to Space Harvard on Alderaan, but he's afraid there aren't many Jedi Christians there so I'm probably not going to go there."

"Where do you want to go to school?" Mrs Skywalker asked with curiosity.

"I think I want to go to St. Theresa's on Naboo." Padmé said assuredly. "It's Catholic, but it'll do. They have a really good psychology program."

"I heard Space Harvard has a good psychology program." Mrs Skywalker said as a suggestion.

"But there aren't many Jedi Christians there." Padmé said to Mrs Skywalker.

"But the Bible says we are to make disciples of all species of all planets. If you go to Space Harvard there could be a lot more souls who may hear about God for the very first time. You could preach the gospel to alien species that never heard about him before." Mrs Skywalker said with passion.

"My goodness, that is a good idea Mrs Skywalker!" Padmé said with great passion.

And just then, Jar Jar let out a trillful yell and exclaimed to Padmé and Mrs Skywalker, "OWWWW-WEEE! Meesa has burned his-self."

The women came running to Jar Jar to look over his wound. There was light pinkish blob on the palm of his right hand and another pinkish blob running along the side and the top of his left hand.

"Does it hurt Jar Jar?" Mrs Skywalker asked.

Jar Jar looked down at his hands. "Meesa hurta small-so. It nosa hurt dat bad."

"Perhaps we could pray over it so that it may heal quickly," Padmé said.

"Yes, that's a good idea, Padmé. Let's each take a hand and pray over Jar Jar." Mrs Skywalker said. Padmé held onto Jar Jar's left hand and Mrs Skywalker held onto Jar's right hand.

"Father God," Mrs Skywalker opened her prayer with seriousness and reverence, "we thank you for the heart of this tender creature of yours who was willing to wake up at these early hours and prepare breakfast for his friends. We are so thankful for his heart." Padmé nodded in agreement, but everyone's eyes were closed so nobody saw this. Mrs Skywalker continued, "We pray now that you will look down on your poor servant here Jar Jar Banks and heal his hands, these dutiful, serving hands of his. Heal them of their burns, if that be your will, but Lord our God there is benefit to healing his hands and we ask that You see to that they are healed. Heal his hands, Father God."

"Yes, Lord, please heal the hands of my friend, Jar Jar," prayed Padmé. "Jar Jar is a good friend and serves you faithfully. We ask now that you will heal the wounds on his hands, which he have only in service of love and devotion to his friends."

They opened their eyes and too their amazement, they watched as the burn marks on Jar Jar's hands began to disappear.

"Oh my goodness, it's a miracle!" exclaimed Padmé joyfully.

"This is wonderful!" Mrs Skywalker also exclaimed.

"Praise-a the Lord-so. Meesa is healed!"

And the three danced in joy at the healing of Jar Jar's hands.

"Prayer really does work." Padmé said.

"Yes, why yes, it does." Mrs Skywalekr said.

Jar Jar and Padmé continued making up the breakfast as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Anakin one by one joined them in the kitchen. Jar Jar told the guys what had happened and they all rejoiced on the healing of Jar Jar's hands.

"Meesa want to go speak-so to the muy town and tellso How God heals mesa." Jar Jar said enthusiastically.

"Let's no rush into that Jar Jar," said Qui-Gon with seriousness. "You see, the town does not know you. They never saw the burns on your hands. While I certainly believe you, they may not. Sometimes, there are small miracles that God does that are not meant for a wider audience, but just for you to build up your own faith. I believe God just wants to build up your own faith in him."

"Meesa see your point, Pastor Qui-Gon." Jar Jar said in an answer.

"I have an idea though that we could do to help the people here." Padmé said. "Mrs Skywalker was telling me that the Holoweb is too expensive for everyone to use because the Trade Federation is being scummy and greedy. So, I was thinking because obi-wan is a good slicer, perhaps we can tap into some satellite things and maybe brings free Holoweb access to the town. Mrs Skywalker said some people might use it for bad stuff like watching fornication or use it to shop the Underworld market, but we can set a parental lock on it so they can just go to educational places and Jedi Christian stuff."

"I appreciate you heart, my dear Padmé." Qui-Gon said with a kindly father voice. "I am not sure though that is such a good idea. The Holoweb is a dangerous place and no matter how hard we try to control it is, it is a beast beyond us. A beast that no being can tame."

"Like what James says about the power of the tongue," Padmé said exclaiming. She then recited James 3:5-8 to everyone at the table, "the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

"Your memorization skills are very impressive," Obi-Wan said to Padmé endearingly. There was a slight blush on his cheeks as he spoke.

"Thank you, Obi-Wan, that is quite kind of you to say," Padmé told Obi-Wan with a thankful heart.

"I think today, I'm going to walk around the town and pray the Lord lead us to individuals and bring light to our minds their needs. Let us act in the behavior of Christ as he walked across the galaxy attending to the needs of the people as his first actions."

Everyone nodded in agreement. And after breakfast they all went into town to pray. They split into two groups. The first group was Qui-Gon, Padmé and Mrs Skywalker and the second group was Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Jar Jar. Before they all parted, Qui-Gon told everyone, "Be watchful and vigilant and listen carefully to whispers from the Lord. He will guide you to who you're supposed to meet." Together they said a quick prayer and went into the town.

Qui-Gon's group went downtown. They prayed quietly in their hearts as they passed the denizens walking by and the merchants hawking their wares. As they walked, they came upon a blind Rodian sitting in dimmest of alley ways. Qui-Gon stopped as he saw the alien, and filled with compassion toward them. Mrs Skywalker and Jar Jar stopped after getting several steps of Qui-Gon going down the street. They returned to him when they saw him standing by the alleyway.

"That's Greedo. He was a member of Jabba's gang and part of the group that came and destroyed by husband's church," Mrs Skywalker informed Qui-Gon.

"I believe we must pray with this creature," said Qui-Gon. "I sense the Lord wants to do something with him here today. But I know it will be difficult for you to show mercy, so we will only precede if you are willing."

"If it is the will of God to show compassion to this poor being, then I suppose we must do so." Mrs Skywalker said.

And so the three walk to the blind Rodian named Greedo. Qui-Gon took a knee beside Greedo. "Greetings. I am Qui-Gon, and me and my friends would like to pray for you if you are so willing." He told Greedo.

Greedo spoke in the language of the Hutts, and said in his language, "What do you pray to?"

"To God, the sovereign creator of all living things. He is the maker of worlds, the giver of life, the reason for which we all live and breathe. Today, he has asked us to pray with you. What would you like to pray for today?" said Qui-Gon.

"To see again. I would like to see again," Greedo said.

"Very well. We will pray for such." Said Qui-Gom

The group put their hands on Greedo, and Qui-Gon led a prayer: "Father, we pray for this creature named Greedo, who has done many things against you. We pray for you to forgive him of all the wicked things he has done against you. As an act of mercy, we ask that today, O Lord, you give Greedo his sight again. As you once have taken it from him, we ask that you restore it. Amen."

Everyone said "Amen", but Greedo was still blind. Mrs Skywalker knelt beside Greedo.

"Greedo," she said to him. "You were part of the party that killed my husband and destroyed our church. I saw when you were blinded by my God. But now that I see you, and as you must have lived in the days since, I see you have suffered enough. I forgive you for all your wicked deeds that you have done against me and my late husband and my son."

With this, Greedo began to cry and asked for forgiveness from Mrs Skywalker and from God. Mrs Skywalker at first nodded in agreement, but realized that Greedo was still blind and then said, "I forgive you."

As the two were bonded in forgiveness, Qui-Gon had an idea. Remembering the Scripture of the healing of the blind man, Qui-Gon picked up some of the dirt on the ground, and spit on it. He mixed it together and laid the mud over Greedo's eyes. He then asked Mrs Skywalker to pray for Greedo.

"Lord, I pray for Greedo. I have forgiven him for his actions. By your name and power, by your strength and love, I ask of you, great Lord, restore the sight of my former enemy. May he enjoy again the sight he had once known before, but hold it in appreciation because you have returned it to him. Give this gift, this act of kindness and love to this poor Greedo."

And Qui-Gon wiped the mud off from over the eyes of Greedo, and behold, the Rodian could see again.

"I CAN SEE!" Greedo exclaimed with great jubilation. He shouted thanks to God and Qui-Gon and Mrs Skywalker and Jar Jar, even though Jar Jar didn't do anything. Before the group could say anything, Greedo had ran into the village proclaiming of the miracle that he had received. All had known him to be blind and were astonished at the sudden return of his sight. And that day, many heard of the name of God for the first time. A new hope was beginning to emerge in this wretched town of Moss Espa.

(AN: I want to credit my nephew with some help on this chapter. He didn't write it or edit it because school is starting, but he helped give me some "Star Wars" words like "slicer". He told me the internet in the "Star Wars" world is called a "Holonet". I was already going to call it the Holoweb, and because I was so proud that I was so close I decided to keep it that way. Any hoo, I really hope you're liking this. I really want to write more, but I need your feedback please. So, please, leave a review. I really really want to know what you're thinking. Until the next chapter. Blessings!)