Chapter 28
God's Stacked Deck
Irish wasn’t with her girls at the battle this time, but she knew everyone was in good hands. She was hitchhiking down I-24 towards Monteagle. She had a friend to meet. Ernie Jacobson moved his prison bus along I-24 with another following. The buses were painted black with bars on the window. He had only been working at the job a week, ever since he lost his job because of the gasoline shortage. He tried to figure it out but never could. All he remembered was Irish and how she changed his life. As he passed the Manchester exit, he rounded the first curve, and there on the side with her thumb out was Irish. He almost wrecked the bus trying to stop. The bus following him almost ran into the back of him, then pulled around in front of him and watched as Irish climbed onboard.
"Got room for an extra passenger, Ernie?" She didn’t have sunglasses on, and her rainbow eyes sparkled with glory. He got up after setting the brake and hugged her.
"You changed my life!" exclaimed Ernie.
The driver on the other bus came storming out while walking with such deliberateness that anyone had to be stupid to miss it. She was a short, 100-pound blonde with a cocky look. She looked like a tough old bird, thought Irish.
"Hey lady, get your hands off my husband! Oh my gosh, it’s you!" The lady fell backward, almost losing her balance on the edge of the road ditch.
"Careful, darling. This is Irish. You see, I didn’t make her up. This pretty little thing is my new wife, Margaret. Her friends call her Candy. She and I have been married for about a week now. She’s about as good a talker as you, Irish."
Irish laughed and reached down to help Candy into the bus. "I really did think he was crazy. I had no idea you were real. Hey, where are your wings?"
Irish smiled, looked up and down the interstate, then shot her wings out bringing them around her while brushing them both as she fluttered them into place, then she pulled them back into herself.
"Wow! Wow! Oh, my goodness!" yelled Candy. "I'm so struck down! You beautiful thing, you! I'm so envious!"
"Thank you, Candy. So you two love birds in the bus business now?" Irish motioned to the buses.
"Yep," said Ernie, "these two beauts are both ours. We lease them out to the State, and they pay us extra for driving them."
"Ernie, you know what’s happening on the mountain, don’t you?"
"Isn’t Commander Dar protecting some kids at the Sanctuary? Or something like that?" Ernie didn’t take his orders from Commander Dar but had heard of him, especially since he handled prisoners.
"Not exactly. Commander Dar, as you call him, is a dark angel named Dar-Raven. He wants the children dead. He attacked the mountain with his prisoner army this morning, but God intervened. He tried to get the other army on the mountain to kill them, but they refused. He has one more trump card left, and I’m here to make sure it doesn’t happen. We need your buses tomorrow morning. I’d be dishonest to tell you that they won’t get banged up."
"Ernie Jacobson has never been on the wrong side in his life, except for Vanderbilt football, and I’m not about to start now. What
do you say, honey? Do we help the kids out?"
"You bet," Candy moved closer to Ernie, still a little jealous of that hug. She bet those angels could get a man to do about anything. She wasn’t about to lose her man—not that easy—not taking any chances either.
"Good going, guys. Why don’t I ride with you, and I’ll show you the way?" Irish pointed to Ernie.
Candy grabbed her hand. "You can ride with me, sweetie. Do some girl talk, okay?" Irish looked back at Ernie and winked. Gosh, he loved them both.
As they approached the top of Monteagle at Exit 134, they were stopped on a routine check. Irish quickly put her sunglasses on.
A soldier asked Candy and Irish, "Hey, where are you heading, girls? Picking up some prisoners? There aren’t any prisoners around here." He laughed, then Irish saw the lieutenant coming. His cigar hung out of his mouth like some kind of big, baby pacifier. He motioned the soldier back to the barricade some 50 feet away.
"These buses for us? Kind of early isn’t it? I didn’t think Commander Dar even figured it out yet." He was laughing at his private joke.
Irish looked at him and said, "You mean Commander Wacko, don’t you?"
The lieutenant look so surprised that he could’ve been knocked over with a feather. "How in the world could you know? What’s going on?" The lieutenant was patting himself all over looking for a bug, a microphone of some type.
"Lieutenant, thank you for disobeying your orders. You’re very special to the children and us. Thank you so much."
"Who is us?" he said skeptically, still examining his uniform.
"Us," she took off her glasses, and he fell backwards but grabbed the bus pole to upright himself.
"Ma'am, I'm so glad to meet you. I'm so glad. You have made my day. I wouldn’t hurt those little kids, even if the President of the United States told me to."
His soldiers looked on from a distance, not realizing whom he was talking to, but then noticed how beautiful the woman was. They could barely hear the sing-song voice of her Celtic accent, and they felt somehow comforted by it. Irish moved close to the lieutenant and grabbed his cigar from his mouth tossing it aside.
She planted a beautiful kiss on him, saying while still holding him, "For your trouble. Now, you’ve been kissed by an angel." He felt himself melt and lose himself in her rainbow eyes.
"Ma'am, I'm so glad we met. In all the Southern tradition and charm I can muster, you can come and visit me anytime you want. With those kinds of kisses, there’s not a man stupid enough to refuse you."
"One other thing, Lieutenant. Tomorrow, we need to get these buses back through your blockade as far down the mountain towards Chattanooga as possible. Can we count on trouble-free clearance?"
"You know you can. I’ll make the arrangements." He touched his lips carefully. "Wow," he thought, "what a woman!"
They started moving again, and the soldiers pulled the barricades back to let them through. Candy turned to Irish, "You're one man killer, Irish. You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you? There isn’t a man alive who stands a chance with you."
Irish nodded, "Yes, but remember, if you had thousands of years to perfect your art, you’d be good at it too."
"Ain’t it the truth? You need to open a school for us girls. We could run it together. How to win them guys, keep them, and control them. We’d make a fortune." They both laughed.
"Candy, when we get to Sanctuary, go visit a man called Nash. Take Ernie with you. He has some things to talk to you about." Candy nodded. Irish wanted these two to get saved. Heaven wouldn’t be the same without them.
The Chattanooga Kids
"Nash," said Keel, "there’s short-wave message from Chattanooga. An orphanage with a hundred kids is camped at the main rest area on Lake Nickajack. They said they need help. They want to get to Sanctuary, but they can’t get through the blockades. They're stuck between the Lookout Mountain Sanctuary and us. Their buses were confiscated by the army, and they don’t have enough food to make it much longer. They’re asking for us to come towards Chattanooga tomorrow to pick them up."
Nash felt crushed. He was out of transportation, and then there was the problem of the blockades. "There are two blockades, and we don’t have transportation. We can’t help. We can’t do it."
Keel spoke seriously, "Maybe the angels can give us some ideas."
Anne and Carey were standing nearby, "Like those ideas?" They pointed at the two buses coming up the Sanctuary road.
Nash jumped up, "This is too much. Where in the heck did those come from?"
Anne saw Irish first, "It’s Irish, Nash! It’s Irish! Is that enough to haul a hundred kids?"
Nash replied, "A squeeze, but it will work."
Irish moved towards Nash, "Get your call, yet?"
"Just did," said Nash, "
you got anything else in the crystal ball. How about those blockades?"
"I personally took care of the first one, the next one’s yours, but you’ll have help."
Candy heard Irish say, "personally."
"She swooned the lieutenant with a mushy kiss straight from heaven’s gate," joked Candy.
"I’m Nash, and you’re?" asked Nash.
"I’m Margaret, but everyone calls me Candy, and this is Ernie, my husband."
Ernie was looking around watching all the other beautiful angels getting back from their battle. They flew the kids back this time. The kids thought it was great and pleaded for more rides, but they begged off. There was much to do.
"Hey, Romeo, I’m still here, remember me, the old ball and chain?" She punched him hard on his shoulder. Nash thought how many times Enya had done the same thing to him.
Enya still hadn’t moved. She was still holding Freckles, and it was getting way too serious now. "Lord, what will I do? It’s getting unhealthy, and she hasn’t eaten, help me." Nash was desperate.
Irish turned to Nash, "Enya will have to drive the first bus, and you, the next, Nash. The kids are at the Nickajack Lake rest area. Short wave them and tell them that you’ll be there at about 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon."
"Enya isn’t in any shape to do anything, not in her state of mind. You must know that?" Nash was shocked that Irish even suggested it.
Irish wasn’t deterred, "Nash, she’ll be okay. She only needs some tender loving care. When you hear the trumpet sound tonight, go to the arena."
"What trumpet?" Nash was puzzled
Keel started to tell him about the trumpet. Irish shook her head "no." He shut up and went to check on the kids.
God’s Trap
"Commander Dar, I’ve picked up a transmission from near Chattanooga to Sanctuary. It seems that one of the leaders, and his wife Enya, are planning to make a trip to pick up some kids. They should be passing through our blockade around 1:30 tomorrow afternoon. Can you give me some additional backup? I got four thousand troops down here. Don’t the leaders normally have extra protection?"
Dar-Raven salivated. He remembered Nash, and he didn’t like the memory. This was payback time. The Colonel was right. If Nash and Enya were outside of Sanctuary, Aaron’s group must be close by. He knew another dark commander recently saw Aaron on Roane Mountain in East Tennessee, another of God’s safe havens,
and he figured he was spread thin, but it was still only guesswork.
I’ll have help for you. Just look over your shoulder. About 1:30 p.m., you say?"
"Yeah, that’s perfect," the colonel went to prepare for battle.
Irish heard something, a heavenly message, and when she came back to Nash she said, "Change of plans, Nash. You need to leave about an hour earlier."
Only Jesus
That night the camp went to bed early. Keel determined that if the trip to Chattanooga was to be successful, the kids needed to stay in prayer throughout the day. He asked for fasting and prayer. He felt in his bones that this was one of the final battles. He confirmed it later when he talked to Ernie. Irish had told Ernie that this was the
last trump card for Dar-Raven to play. It might mean that Dar-Raven would give up, be destroyed; or maybe, Jesus was returning soon. Irish couldn’t know about His return.
Enya still hadn’t moved. Nash prayed for her throughout the night and wanted to come and take Freckles away from her by force. He wanted her to be herself again, but the Holy Spirit kept restraining him. As he prayed, he heard a trumpet sound at one in the morning. He got up from his dozing-praying-dozing and wandered over to the arena. No one heard the trumpet but him. He crawled up the side of the arena. As he came over the top, he froze. There with Enya was the Lord. He had His arms around both Enya and Freckles and was rocking and singing a sweet praise chorus to God. It rang soft and easy right to the top of heaven. Nash saw the heavenly host, thousands of angels filling the night sky. Jesus rocked back and forth as he caressed Enya’s hair and kissed on her face.
Nash heard the "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia," being sung by them all, including Jesus.
Enya turned to Jesus, "I don’t want to let him go."
Jesus softly whispered, "I know, Enya," He continued, "Freckles is with me. Don’t make him come back. His body means nothing. Freckles doesn’t want to come back. You should know that. Let him go, Enya. Let him go. Give your son to me. Set him free, Enya."
Enya groaned while Jesus took her hands and unfolded them from Freckle’s body. Two angels came and held Freckles for a moment. They were gloriously radiant full of brilliant, white light.
Enya buried her head into Jesus’ chest and cried, "I’m so sorry. I know he’s okay; I’m not okay; I’m so sorry."
He wiped the tears from her eyes and gently kissed her eyelids. "I love you so much, Enya. You know that I love all my children. Go rest now. You have a great battle to prepare for tomorrow. You need your rest."
Jesus looked up at Nash, and Nash’s face trembled with emotion. How he loved the Lord. How he loved his Enya. Jesus motioned for him to come down. As he approached them, Jesus scooped her up in his arms and handed her to Nash. Nash was surprised how little she weighed. She hadn’t eaten in three days.
"Anoint her with oil and pray over her. She will recover by morning. Prepare for the battle. Many will be with you."
Enya Restored
The angels came and took care of Enya. They bathed her and made a special bed with pillows, blankets, and comforters. Nash intervened long enough to anoint her with oil and pray over her. She didn’t wake until late morning but woke to the smell of frankincense and myrrh mixed with oils. She felt refreshed but weak. She also smelled food: bacon, eggs, homemade biscuits with cheese grits—she was hungry. She yawned and stretched, then looked for Nash, but all she found was a change of clothes beside her bed. She changed and moved out into the campsite. Something was definitely happening. There were two prison buses parked beside the arena. She saw Nash the same time he saw her and ran as best she could. My, she felt weak. She looked down at her jeans, and they were falling off her.
"Oh, Nash, I love you. I feel like I’ve been in a dream. Have I been?" She leaned against him, holding him lightly, but she was having trouble standing.
"Sort of, but you need food right now, then we’ll talk a little."
He helped her to the breakfast area, and the kids moved aside like the parting of the red sea to clear a place for her. After she ate, Nash brought her up to date on the events she had missed, then about the bus drive.
Enya asked, "There is going to be a big battle or something?"
"Who’s going with us?" asked Enya.
"Just us two. According to Jesus, many more. I assume that means a lot of Aaron’s group. More than we've ever seen before."
"There you go talking about Jesus like He was really here again. Where was I?" Then, she remembered pieces, and it started flowing together. She moaned, "Oh, Nash, I’ve been so selfish. Freckles is really so happy now. I’m so sorry."
"We're beyond that, keep eating, you have some pounds to put on. You know, I like my women with a little weight." He laughed. She knew it was a lie.
"You are always so bad. Can we go look at the buses? It’s been years since I've driven one. You remember, I drove them for the church camp?" She moved much stronger now and felt her strength bounding back.
Prayer Warriors
The kids were preparing to find places to have prayer. Most got in groups of ten or fifteen. They filled the campsites, under trees, in the arena, in the long houses, and beside them. Some went to the woods for even more privacy.
Hunter and Anne went to be by themselves. This was first time they had been by themselves since before the worship ser
vice. They found a place where they could sit together while leaning against two close-grown trees. Anne leaned back into Hunter’s arms and didn’t speak. They only held each other in silence while waiting
on a signal from Keel. The ringing of a supper bell told them it was time to start praying.
Miscalculations
Dar-Raven commanded a full legion of 6000 to back up the soldiers. He wanted to make sure that he either captured both Nash and Enya alive or had their dead bodies. He knew there had to be some of Aaron’s legions nearby, but he was counting on them being too occupied elsewhere.
Rats In A Trap
Finally, the buses moved out to the road and slowly towards the next interstate blockade. The lieutenant kept his word. His men had everything cleared out of the way. As they were getting on I-24, some soldiers held up signs reading, "The lieutenant is sweet on Irish."
Enya worked the gears and laughed thinking, "What man wouldn’t be. She was created that way."
As they moved down the interstate, they noticed people camped out on the sides of the road. It looked like a whole army of people were trying to get up to Sanctuary but were blocked. They all heard how God’s angels were protecting and taking care of everyone, and they wanted part of it too.
As they approached the Martin Springs exit, they saw a huge roadblock made up of transport trucks and one tank. The soldiers flagged them down and kept them moving off the interstate with detour signs and red flags. After 15 minutes, they realized they were being diverted into a flat circular field with their backs to the woods.
They looked up to see a small army in front of them. The wide field was full of equipment, jeeps, and artillery.
"Someone must be preparing for war," thought Nash.
"Get out of the buses!" a soldier ordered rudely. As they stood in front of the lead bus, a colonel came up and abruptly pushed them together so he could talk to them.
"Consider yourself under arrest. Where’s your army? I thought you two were so important that you’d have an army?" The colonel looked around disappointedly—ready to fight with no one to fight.
Nash answered, "What you see is what you get, buddy!"
"It’s Colonel," he snapped.
"Of what cellblock are you from, Colonel?" Nash wasn’t backing off. The colonel hit him in the face, and Enya squealed loudly.
"Leave him alone! Don’t you have better things to do than push people around?" She knelt over Nash and helped him up with his face was already swelling.
"Sure, but I'd much rather be killing them," He laughed and spit a tobacco chew on the ground.
The Colonel walked away briskly and said, "They’re harmless. They’re not carrying cargo or anything else."
One of the colonel’s lieutenants pointed to the buses asking, "Then, if they aren’t carrying anything, who’s that?"
They looked up as civilians started getting off the buses. They were regular looking, nothing outstanding, with plain, everyday clothes. They were all sizes, races, obvious occupations, and background. They looked so plain and ordinary that it was almost alarming.
"Where did they come from?" the colonel asked in surprise. "Never mind. Those buses carry less than a hundred or so adults against our 4000." They turned their backs and went over to check their maps and battle plans. After they took care of these two, they were storming Sanctuary.
The soldiers watched as people kept getting off the buses. As they got off, they moved briskly to the outer perimeters of the field. At first, the flow was slow, then they came pouring out at a feverish pace. Hundreds per minute, adding up to thousands upon thousands. The soldiers mostly ignored the buses, but it wasn’t until there were at least 2000 that a couple of soldiers got concerned. Before they could reach the colonel, the number had already doubled and was halfway around the field.
"Colonel, there sure are a lot of people getting off the buses. You should check it out?"
"Get away from me, boy! I know how many can fit on a bus! Do you think I’m stupid or something?" he spouted back, not looking up to see.
After that rebuke, the soldier moved to the open end of the field and thought, "Serves the old buzzard right if he gets his butt whipped, but I’m getting out of here." He was the only soldier to leave safely, but no one noticed.
Soon after, 8000 had stepped off the buses. The soldiers were milling around with concerned looks on their faces. They heard that Dar-Raven was sending a dark-winged back up, but they were nowhere in sight, but expected any second. Minutes later, there were 10,000 so-called civilians; and finally, Aaron got off and stood next to Nash and Enya.
"Aaron, good to see you! How are those civilians going to help this situation?" asked Nash.
"Civilians? Is that who you see? Look again!" Aaron smiled, as Nash and Enya looked around.
They saw 10,000 angels with their swords drawn for battle. They all were Aaron’s size. He saw them turn their backs on the soldiers, and the soldiers were laughing at the cowering civilians. The angels bent down and covered their heads in a protective manner.
"I’d suggest you get on the bus and keep your heads down," said Aaron smiling.
NASA spotted the meteors coming in from out of nowhere at about 12:30 p.m. "How many are there?"
"There are about a hundred and all sizes," NASA Space Tracking Center replied.
"Where are they headed?" asked a radar specialist at control central.
"We have a bead somewhere in Tennessee, can’t tell exactly. They came so fast that there was nothing anyone could do. Not even a warning. When they entered the atmosphere, they burned up slightly, then they took on an unusual shape."
NASA noticed it too. "What in the Sam Hill is this? Meteor artwork? It’s forming what looks like a giant fist. See the pattern?" a NASA official replied while leaning over the radar shouted.
"This is Houston. Do you copy?" Every networked satellite in the Nation had it on full scope by now. Everyone was trying to figure out exactly where they were going to strike.
The soldiers heard it before they saw it. The meteors slammed into the field traveling thousands of miles an hour. The whole earth shook with the impact. Almost all of them hit at the same time, and the sound was outstanding. A cloud of dust shot up in the air for thousands of feet. It crushed tanks, transport vehicles, and only about 500 soldiers were left. Some soldiers tried to get off the field, but the angels threw them back into it and waded into them with their swords. Several angels encountered armored vehicles intact enough to fire multiple rounds into their ranks. The angels rushed them and with an ease of hot knives through butter cut through the armored shells, opening them up like tin cans. No one was spared.
Nash yelled at Aaron and said, "Isn’t this a little over kill for these guys? There’s no one left?"
"We’re here for them," said Aaron as he pointed to the sky filled with thousands of dark angels. God’s angels took off. Aaron could size up a battle in a second. Aaron had them way out numbered.
Aaron yelled at Nash and Enya, "Get out of here, now! We’ll take care of this. Good to see you both again." Aaron pulled his sword out and charged into the fray, leaving mauled angel parts falling like rain under him. He screamed, as he waded into them, "Slice 'em and dice 'em, guys."
Nash thought instantly, "Aaron’s been on earth too long."
They both put the buses in gear and moved full petal back onto the interstate. Some soldiers tried to stop them at the blockade, but Aaron’s group swarmed them. They didn’t have a chance.
With the bus gyros set at 55, even going downhill, it took them another 45 minutes to get to the Nickajack rest area. The kids saw them coming and started jumping and shouting. They were a full mix of all ages and sexes. The girls got on Enya’s bus and the guys on Nash’s. The orphanage chancellor hugged Enya and Nash, thanking them profusely.
"You are a God send. Did yo
u feel the earthquake? It sounded like it was coming from the mountain."
"Oh that. Hunting season opened up today on black birds, no bag limit, either. Hey, you catch any black crappie, lately?" asked Nash.
"What are you talking about? That’s what we’ve been living off of. God be with you."
"And also with you," Nash shouted back. Nash yelled back at the kids, "Keep your heads down! We’re heading into a war zone!"
Keel and the kids had been in continuous prayer since the buses left. As they prayed, a fierce, isolated storm attacked Sanctuary. Keel knew it was from Apollyon. He knew he was trying to stop the prayers. The kids joined hands the best they could, but the winds continued to pick up. The rain started pelting them in sheets. Some tried to move into the long houses, but even that didn’t help. The flimsy roofs flew off into the trees, but the kids didn’t stop. They knew Nash and Enya were coming back up the mountain, and they refused to stop praying. Hail beat them so badly that kids were getting bloody from the onslaught. Some managed to get protection from the stomping boards they used in worship, and hundreds got under the plywood sheets, lying flat on the ground in the kitchen area, but they still didn’t stop praying. Hunter and Anne held each other so tightly that they almost crushed each other. They ducked behind a group of trees and prayed. This was battle, and even their affection for each other didn’t interfere with their Godly intercession.
Enya and Nash passed back through the first blockade, and there were no soldiers. There were plenty of soldier parts, but no soldiers. Then the sky was blackened by the sight of warring angels. It was as if the whole legion of Dar-Raven were intent on stopping the buses from making it. Dark and light angels alike fell to the ground, some landing on the buses, including wings, feet, arms, heads, and torsos. Body parts came breaking through the windows. The kids screamed in shock and fear. They were getting down on the floors, trying to keep away from the windows, but it still didn’t help. They were being covered with glass and blood. Some of the kids were brave enough to grab severed angel parts and throw them back out the windows. Enya and Nash used their windshield washers to clear the blood off in order to see.
A group of dark angels were trying to break through to get to the buses. Some dive bombed the buses so hard that the roof metal was buckling in on top of them, but Aaron’s angels kept intercepting them. Finally, the battles were taking place on the buses themselves. Eventually, all of them rolled off in fighting brawls down the mountainside or onto the interstate while the kids continued to watch and wail.
Dar-Raven and Apollyon sat together in the darkness of hell’s domain watching the onslaught. Dar-Raven clutched the sides of his own rock throne next to Apollyon’s and embedded his nails till they broke off from his grip. He had a terrible feeling that they may not succeed. Apollyon said nothing, but only stared intensely and focused his attentions on the buses.
Nash looked back, and there were several kids just sitting in their seats staring into space. They were obviously tuned-out, maybe in shock. None of the kids had any experience with angels or this kind of warfare as did the Sanctuary kids.
There were a couple of scary moments when a dark angel slipped through Aaron’s ranks and landed without resistance on the front bus hoods. Enya threw one off by swerving back and forth sharply, but Nash had one that was like a spider. He was getting ready to plunge his sword through the window right into Nash when he saw what seemed like an outline of a thumb and middle finger that literally flipped the angel into orbit. The hand of God thought Nash. Nash knew instantly that the children’s prayers were responsible. They finally passed through the bloodiest onslaught, and it eased up a bit, then it was all behind them. As soon as they reached the top of Monteagle, the storms stopped at Sanctuary. They had won. The buses pulled up off the interstate with the soldiers cheering for them. As they went by, the soldiers kept pointing to their buses, which were littered with angel body parts.
Enya and Nash pulled over to the Monteagle Amoco to rest a minute. As they pulled up to the gas pumps, the manager came running out at them. "Hey, I’m not doing windows today. Take whatever gas you need."
Since the station was joined to the MacDonald’s everyone in the gas station and the restaurant followed him, leaving in a dead-scared rush as far away from the bloody buses as possible.
Nash laughed, "Where’s good help when you need it?"
Enya ran back to Nash’s bus and hugged him hard. "I’ve never been so scared in my life. I could feel the kids praying for us. I know they made a difference." They both ordered the kids to stay on the buses and pulled out, then got to Sanctuary as fast as possible. They didn’t want to have a mass exit from frightened kids.
They pulled into the camp and saw the storm's destruction and knew what had happened. This must have been the final battle thought Nash. Keel and Carey with the rest of the kids greeted the newcomers while Hunter and Anne joined the rest, shouting in jubilation. After they straightened up a little, Keel, Hunter, Anne, and Carey counseled with the new kids about the Lord. After that ride and seeing the angel battle, then Irish’s angels flying around while putting the roofs back on, they had no resistance to receiving the Lord.
Keel announced they would march to All Saints for Sunday services tomorrow.
Writing On The Wall
Alex Tabor packed some suit cases and a small bag of silver. He loaded up a new Grand Cherokee from one of his lots and stepped on it—he was out of here. He already heard about the slaughter of the soldiers from the Westside and the Chattanooga side, and he finally made up his mind. Sunday morning he was going where it was safe. He was going to Sewanee. If Dar-Raven was afraid to go there, that’s where he wanted to be.
The Last Trumpet
All Saints was well into the service. It was a gloriously thankful congregation that prayed and praised God this morning. The priest just finished the sermon, and they started speaking together the Nicene Creed. "We believe in one God."
The congregation heard a faint sound, getting louder, like an echo of what they were saying. Everyone looked around and continued. "The Father, the Almighty," then another stronger echo, and they heard a thunderous clap at the end.
Sister Bernard shouted, "The children are coming!"
The sound of the kids was earth shattering. They continued, "Maker of heaven and earth," then the doors flew open. Thousands of kids poured in, continuing to worship, "of all that is, seen and unseen," they stomped their feet on the marble floors and the building shook. "We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ," they clapped together in unison. There was barely enough room for everyone, as they flowed into the front of and around the altar. Aaron and Irish were the last to enter walking hand in hand as the children continued, "The only Son of God, eternally begotten of the
Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father." They stopped to applause and clap.
The angels heard something that caused their hands to immediately raise in praise. Then, everyone heard a loud trumpet call. The building shook, and brilliant light flooded All Saints, blazing through all the stained-glass windows. The children knew. Aaron and Irish knew. Enya and Nash knew. Keel, Carey, Hunter, and Anne knew. Ernie and Candy knew. Sister Bernard, Scott, and the Daughters of the King knew. Then, they were all gone, including every child. The only ones left were a handful in the choir, along with Professor Sam Pendwight.
Alex Tabor saw the kids marching into All Saints. He got out of his car and ran towards the church as he heard the trumpet sound. Even he knew what it was, but he knew he wasn’t going. Right before his eyes people disappeared, vanished, leaving prayer books and hymnals falling to the floor, and programs drifting carelessly behind them. He was the only one in the church who seemed to realize why he was left behind. The rest cursed God for choosing the fanatics. They screamed how unjust Go
d was, except for Sam Pendwight, who only scribbled down notes on a note pad and cried.
Alex didn’t waste any time. He moved towards the altar and gave his life to the Lord. He knew it was too late for this trip, but he wouldn’t miss the next one.
Dar-Raven screamed as he was plunged into the fire hole of hell. Every fiber of his body burned in the pain of the heat and rebuke from his Dark Father. As he was thrown into the inferno, he remembered Apollyon saying, "I hate incompetence."
THE END
Children of the Sanctuary Page 32
