On the Edge

by Parker Hudson

  From a position above them, a voice spoke above the screams of the tortured, which never diminished. “Stop your stupid counting Balzor! It is 215 new Christians—lost to us and going to spend eternity where we belong! How could you!?! In one morning, 215 new Christians! Probably more tomorrow! If we're not careful, they'll start a real revival and set our work back by decades in this city, just when we've almost won! How could you let this happen?”

  Nepravel wanted to run, but he knew he couldn't. Alhandra's own lieutenants had surrounded them with a ring of utter darkness and despair.

  “But it was the angels,” Balzor replied, in a voice that was barely audible over the rising fury of the agonized wails and screams, which now seemed to surround them as well. “They planned everything under prayer cover and prayed constantly for their prayer breakfast. I know it was bad. I was just about to punish my lazy streetleaders for letting it happen. Then I have a plan to recover and to minimize the damage.”

  “We won't be needing your plan,” the Darkness spoke, and Balzor backed up in fright. “I have a small village far to the east of Moscow that needs streetleaders, and with your years of experience, you should be perfect, Balzor!”

  “But mighty Lord of the City, this prayer breakfast was not my fault! My streetleaders let us down. They didn't tell …”

  That was the last they saw of Balzor, as the Darkness reached down out of himself and drew Balzor up and away, leaving nothing where he had been only an instant before. Nepravel was consumed by fear as he felt the presence of Alhandra's lieutenants behind him.

  The Darkness bellowed, “Now listen, all of you. I am prepared to blow all of you straight to hell, this instant. No more time on earth. But I need you because you know your neighborhoods, and I am willing to give you one more chance. But one more event like today, and you all go!

  “From now on Tymor is your new sectorleader. He will be in charge of restarting the voices in as many of those who were saved today as possible, to make them feel unworthy, uncertain, and isolated. Also, you must spend more time on the people around them, being sure that their voices of Pride and Disbelief are always working so that this problem will not spread! Until this crisis has passed, I am sending in extra forces—we will flood your sector with the powers of Darkness and Deception. Some of my own lieutenants will work with you. Each of you will receive at least one experienced demon to assist you in fighting the angels sent by the prayer cover.

  “But the responsibility is yours. We are too close to a total victory in this nation—the government, the media, the courts, the industry leaders—almost all are ours. And we will not allow a revival to start here and to tear down all the walls of deception we have so completely put in place. Can you imagine the disastrous effect if the people in one major city like this one realized what we have been doing and turned back to God? Or if a leader in the media understood how helpful they have been to us in destroying this generation? We cannot let that happen! And it could start here, with these men, if you don't stop them! So get to work! Listen to Tymor. I have given him permission, when absolutely necessary, to intervene, not just with the voices, but directly in human affairs, on a limited basis. We will provide the cover for the response if there is one. This situation has got to be stopped!”

  The dark cloud of hate and anger started to move again, back towards the center of the city. Nepravel was relieved that Alhandra's intervention had apparently saved him, at least for the moment. He was astounded by the authorization of direct intervention. Satan himself must be worried about the outcome in their city, and there must be other battles that a revival here could greatly influence for such a move. The level of spiritual warfare in their city had just been raised by a very significant factor—and the outcome, Nepravel knew, was not always predictable.

  Tymor assumed his new position of authority at the center of their meeting, as the wails accompanying Alhandra subsided in the distance. He was obviously pleased with his new position, and all the demons knew that a new sectorleader plus direct attention from Alhandra meant they had better only have good reports in the future, even at the risk of lying.

  Tymor told them to expect new demons in their neighborhoods by the next day, and he exhorted them to redouble their efforts, as Alhandra had commanded, with both the saved and the unsaved. Finally he finished and, much later than usual, Nepravel flew back towards his neighborhood, prepared to inventory all of his voices, even while his unsuspecting humans slept.

  * * *

  FRIDAY, MAY 5 – The next day was Friday, and that evening Amy, Susan, and Bobbie went to dinner and a movie with Billy, Drew, and Thomas.

  Richard again sat in their den and read more from the Gospel of John, while Janet finished a novel, and they tried to ignore the beat of the rock music coming from overhead in Tommy's room. Richard used a pen and underlined passages that seemed relevant to him and to his family.

  “Janet, I know this sounds incredible, but I'm just overwhelmed by how much God has been trying to talk to me—to all of us. Do you know the word John used to describe Jesus before he became an actual man? He called Him ‘The Word!’ How's that for emphasizing a desire to communicate with us? Think of all the other descriptions or phrases he could have used. But he chose ‘The Word.’

  “And the references printed next to the verses in this Bible the Petersons gave us point back to the first of Genesis in the Old Testament. Can you remember how the author described what God did to start the world?”

  Janet tried to remember from her school days as a young girl. “Doesn't it say, ‘And God said …’?” she answered.

  “Exactly! Not that He turned around three times. Or waved a magic wand. Or any of a thousand other things. But He spoke the world into existence! And He said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.’ Jesus was there with God! So here is God who spoke us into being and who sent His Son, whom John calls the Word, to become a man, so that we might learn and see exactly what God's character is! And I've been sitting here for years not listening to God, who wants to talk to me! I must have been a fool.”

  Janet could only continue to marvel at the transformation in Richard. What he had just said didn't seem all that crucial to her, but it had obviously struck her husband as being very important. Maybe once she finished her novel, she would try reading the Bible again. It had been many years….

  Nepravel had been sitting by Richard, trying to start the voices of Unworthiness and Doubt, but the Bible readings and the continuing prayers by the three host church Prayer Warrior teams were making it very difficult. He had just decided to concentrate for the moment on containment, by spinning up the voices in Janet and their children, when another demon suddenly appeared through the den wall. He was larger than Nepravel and carried himself like a fancy courtier from Alhandra, who had been forced to sweep the streets.

  “I'm Zoldar, and I've been sent here to help you in this neighborhood,” he quickly blurted out, the sulfur almost enveloping him because he spoke so fast. “But right now two angels are about to come by this house, looking for our kind, so I suggest we get out of here and go compare notes in a safer place.”

  Nepravel broke away from Janet and followed his new “assistant” through the north wall, heading apparently for the night club in the nearby commercial center, as the two angels, summoned by all of the prayers, swept up the street, looking for careless demons to destroy. Because of this interruption and the constant angelic patrols throughout the neighborhood, Nepravel and Zoldar could not return to spin up the voices in Janet, Susan, or Tommy until Sunday evening. They would regret waiting so long.

  Since Peter Dowling was visiting in town without a car, Kristen offered, when she called him back, to pick him on Friday up at his hotel. “Let's just have a casual night…like old times,” she suggested. “In fact, I'll show you some of my favorite spots in ‘Little Georgetown,’ and then we can go dancing, like we used to. OK?”

  Peter readily agreed, delighted at the prospect
of seeing Kristen twice. “She must not have a steady friend,” he thought to himself, as he hung up for the second time. “That's hard to imagine for a woman as beautiful as Kristen. But maybe I'll get lucky!”

  He was waiting outside the Carlton at 7:30 when she drove her European sports sedan under the porte-cochere. He waved, and smiled. He got in beside her, took her hand from the gearshift, kissed it, and asked, “So, how is the ‘Queen of Real Estate’ in this fair city?”

  “Princess, only the ‘Princess,’” she laughed. “I haven't been here long enough to be the ‘Queen’ yet.”

  “My mistake. And you're much too good looking to be a queen, anyway. Your prince, if I may continue the metaphor, is at your service and ready for an evening at your command!”

  Kristen had always enjoyed Peter's sense of humor, and it struck her that she hadn't really laughed with Richard in a long time. It was going to be nice to be out with someone younger, and someone who had liked her very much, before their careers had led them to different cities.

  “We've got dinner reservations at Presto's, which I think you'll love. A lot of the city's newspaper people go there, I'm told. Then I thought we'd go dance to some old tunes at Edsel's.”

  “Sounds great to me. Lead on, fair princess.”

  She did. They had, in fact, a wonderful, relaxed evening together, as if the five years since their brief affair had not intervened. She found him to be as witty as ever, but now he also seemed to know everything and everybody in the San Francisco area—he had an informed opinion on virtually every topic. And she enjoyed the dancing, which she could never do with Richard. As she pulled up to his hotel again at 1:00 in the morning, he leaned across and kissed her for the third time that night.

  “Are you sure you can't come up for a nightcap?” he asked, before opening the door.

  She smiled and answered, “Not tonight.” But her tone and her expression implied that tomorrow night might be different.

  22

  SATURDAY, MAY 6 – That Saturday was a normal weekend day for the Sullivans. Richard spent the morning at the office, catching up on his contract files. Janet had to do “big shopping,” and she coerced Tommy into joining her that morning for the trip to the grocery warehouse. Susan studied in the resulting quiet for a big math test. Tommy was to spend the night again at Brent's, and Amy had invited Susan to spend the night at her home.

  Richard had a difficult time concentrating at the office because he kept thinking about Kristen and their next meeting, scheduled as always for Tuesday. He knew he had to break up with her. He had used the index at the back of his Bible to look up what God's Word said about adultery and marriage. As new in the faith as he was, he nevertheless knew that God had a higher standard than adultery. God promised joy or judgment for those who obeyed or rebelled. Richard wanted the joy he had seen in others and had read about in the Bible, and he knew he had to leave Kristen. But how?

  He decided to finish his work in time for lunch at home, and he arrived just as Janet and Tommy returned from their shopping. Forty-five minutes later, the four Sullivans sat down to a Saturday lunch of ham sandwiches, and Richard used their meal together to tell Susan and Tommy about his experience on Thursday morning. At first they both thought he was kidding, but as he went on in more detail, obviously still excited two days later, and they noticed their mother's seriousness, they listened with complete attention.

  After ten minutes, Richard had hardly eaten a bite, but the others had almost finished their lunches. He neared the end of his story and told them about Court's advice on how to begin a personal relationship with God. Then he slowed down from his earlier enthusiasm, looked down at his sandwich, and continued, “Kids, I…this isn't going to be particularly easy for me to say…but…I…I wish I could take the last five years back.” Looking up at Tommy, he said, “I wish I had the opportunities I've missed forever to throw the ball, to listen to music, to go to the movies, to watch your games.”

  Turning to Susan, “And the opportunities to help with homework, to watch your matches, to talk about your dates, to just be together.” He started to find it difficult to speak, and the two children, who had never seen their father so vulnerable, softened in their feelings for him. Tommy, in particular, could not believe what he was hearing. At first he had waited for the punch line, but as his father continued, it was obvious that he was sincere.

  “In the last two days I've learned about love and about relationships, partly from men who mostly don't know me, but still love me, and partly from our God, who knows me completely, and still wants to have a relationship with me! I've been convicted—yes, that's the right word…that I have done a lousy job of having a relationship with the two of you. And, yes, with your mother as well. I haven't taken the time to be your father, and I'm sorry. You've needed me, and I've let you down. I'm here to ask your forgiveness. I mean it. And simply to tell you that, with God's help and yours, I plan to try to be more of a father, starting now.” He ended, looked down again, and sighed, as if he had released a weight from his soul.

  No one spoke. Janet didn't know whether to smile or to cry. She was still waiting for some downside to appear. Tommy, despite the defenses he had built up to protect him from disappointment where his father was concerned, acknowledged that his father really appeared to mean what he said. What will be different, if anything? he questioned to himself.

  Susan, who made the fewest demands on Richard and was the least alienated, suddenly felt as if a new potential source of knowledge and of adult friendship was reaching out to her. It occurred to her that it would be good to have a father who was actually sometimes active in her life, instead of just “there.”

  Richard raised his head and looked from one to the other, the openness showing on his face. “Wow!” Tommy finally spoke, and Richard smiled. “That sounds OK to me,” Tommy said tentatively. “Are we going to start going to church?”

  Now all of them smiled, breaking the tension. “Maybe so,” Richard responded. “Probably so, in fact. None of you may appreciate this right now, but I frankly want to know more about God—I'm terribly ignorant—and I think the right church will be a good place to start.

  “Susan, I don't know if your mom told you, but Bobbie's parents have invited us over for dinner tonight, and then they've asked the four of us to go to church with them in the morning. I hope we can all join them tomorrow, at least to try it,” he concluded, looking back and forth between his son and daughter.

  Tommy shrugged compliantly. “I guess so. What time should I come home from Brent's?”

  “A little before ten.”

  “I'm spending the night next door at Amy's,” Susan said. “But I can probably make it, if you think we should. I know Bobbie has been asking Amy and me to go for months. They have some new sort of youth group, Tommy, that's really supposed to be OK. I've heard other kids talking about it.” Richard was pleased to hear Susan's stamp of approval on the idea, to further encourage Tommy.

  “Well, beyond church, I just want the two of you to know I'm really going to try to make time for you. And to listen to you. But you've got to help me. Please let me know when you feel like I'm letting you down, so I can do something different. I'm new at this, and it will take your help to make it work. Maybe I can learn some things from you, and you can learn some things from me. OK?” he looked at both of them.

  “OK,” said Susan.

  “OK,” said Tommy.

  “Thank you,” said Richard.

  Janet was too overwhelmed to say anything.

  Kristen tested her bath water and found it to be just as she liked it. She slipped into the oversized bathtub, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice next to her and her favorite piano concerto beginning on the CD player. She had just finished her Saturday afternoon aerobics class at the same health club where Richard was supposed to work out, and she was enjoying her usual post-exercise ritual.

  Only today there was a new twist. Peter. Since Richard had canceled their “lunch�
� on Thursday for no good reason, and Peter had unexpectedly arrived, she was compelled to compare the two men and to come to a decision about tonight.

  Peter's relative youth and wit had been very refreshing last night. But she admired what Richard had accomplished and his caring for her…when he wanted to. That was the problem. In the past few weeks, since their wonderful trip to Atlanta, he had slowly seemed to grow more aloof. But then he would suddenly change and become the adoring older man she had fallen for so quickly. She had even used the word “love” with him. He seemed so unhappy with Janet. Kristen wanted to love him and take care of him, if he would just let her.

  But what about tonight, with Peter? she asked herself, as she put down her glass and shaved her left leg over the remaining bubbles in her bath. She could picture how he had looked five years ago, as a graduate student. Unlike Richard's slow and caring way, she remembered Peter as wild and free, but loving all the same. Would he still be the same? She smiled as her curiosity rose, enhanced by the old visual images in her mind, and by the voice of Passion, which the demons had spinning at a fever pitch in her, as well as by Richard's recent inattention. Well, she concluded, moving the razor to her right leg, I guess if the situation presents itself I should definitely research what differences five years can make! Purely for scientific curiosity, of course, she smiled to herself.