“Look at me!” Vivian screamed. Isaac was jolted from his shoulda, woulda, coulda wishes and dreams. As he brought his eyes back to Vivian she said, “You were my brother’s godfather and yet you never even bothered to see how he was doing, and I sure didn’t see you at my brother’s funeral.”
“I was wrong for that, I admit it,” Isaac said. “But Iona has nothing to do with any of this. Please,” he begged. “Release my daughter and do whatever you want to me.”
“You didn’t even ask how I knew the exact spot where you left my father,” Vivian said.
Isaac looked down again, but he didn’t ask.
Vivian told him, “My mother followed you out here. She watched you kill my father. You left his body for wild animals to tear it apart. But she buried him right in the spot you’re standing on. She used to bring me and Leny Jr. out here once a year. During that time she would retell the story of three friends.”
Isaac couldn’t take hearing anymore. He shouted at her, “Let my daughter go, Vivian!”
“Maybe I’ll just kill both of you,” Vivian said.
Thinking and talking fast, Isaac said, “But that wasn’t our deal. Remember your email? You said that if I came out here you would take me in place of Iona. Now surely you are a woman of your word. So come on, Vivian, give me some proof that my daughter is alive.”
Vivian turned to Larry and said, “Go get her.”
“What?” Larry said as he shook his head. “No, Vivian. This is a bad idea. Let’s just do them and then go do his daughter.”
“I hired you, remember? Go get her. I want Iona to watch as her precious father and step-father die in front of her.”
***
The limbs of the tree knocked the wind out of Johnny as it fell on top of him. He laid there unable to move, panting for air. As he wondered how he would get out from under the tree, a flash of blinding light appeared before him. Johnny put his arm in front of his eyes until the bright light subsided. When he uncovered his eyes, a man as tall as the trees stood in front of him. He wore a radiant white robe and had a bloody sword in his right hand. Golden wings flapped behind him. “What in the world?” Johnny said.
“Not of this world, my friend. I am of the army of the Lord.” He sheathed his sword and said, “We don’t have much time, so let me get this tree off of you and show you where they have hidden Iona.”
The angel lifted the tree as though it were nothing more than a heavy bat a kid had left in the yard and tossed it to the other side of the valley. Johnny was still lying in the ditch unable to move because of the pain in his chest. The angel reached down and laid his hand on Johnny’s chest.
Hot lava soared through Johnny’s body. He convulsed and then lifted his hand to stop the pain the angel was causing, and all at once the pain was gone. Johnny felt no pain at all and was able to get out of the ditch on his own. “Thanks,” Johnny said as he touched his chest and found that the pain from the tree falling on him was indeed gone.
“Hurry,” the angel told him as he cut through the valley and around another wooded area. They walked up rock laden steps and then he saw Iona stretched out on the ground, hands and feet bound; mouth wide, singing a praise song to God.
Johnny had heard nothing so wonderful as Iona singing, “You are great, You do miracles so great.”
He ran to her side and held her tight. “Thank You, God. Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed her and then said, “I didn’t know if I would ever see you alive again. Oh, baby, I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done.”
Tears streamed down Iona’s face as she looked to heaven and then back to Johnny. “God sent help?”
“Yes, Baby. I am the answer to more than one of your prayers. You’ve just got to have faith in me. Okay? I love you, Iona. Do you hear me? I love you.”
Iona nodded, but then said, “Untie me. They will be back soon.”
Johnny kissed her one more time, and Iona kissed him right back. He untied the ropes around her arm. Iona rubbed the reddened parts of her arm where the rope had dug deep, then Johnny released the ropes from her ankles. “Can you stand up?” he asked.
“Give me a minute,” Iona said as she continued to rub her arms and ankles.
“Let me do that,” Johnny said, then he began massaging her ankles while Iona worked on her arms.
Iona said, “Okay, that’s enough. We’ve got to find my father. Vivian is going to kill him.”
As Johnny gave Iona his hand to help her lift up, Larry came around the bend.
“Not so fast,” Larry said as he aimed his gun at Iona.
Johnny jumped in front of her just as Larry pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Johnny in the chest, ricocheted off him and struck Larry in the upper shoulder. Larry dropped his gun and clung to his shoulder screaming, “You shot me, you shot me!”
Johnny dived on top of Larry while he was whining about his shoulder wound and knocked him to the ground. He then flipped him over, took the cuffs out of his back pocket and cuffed him.
Iona was too stunned to move. She screamed, “Johnny are you shot? Are you shot?”
Johnny lifted himself off the ground and brought Larry up with him. There was no blood or wound of any kind on Johnny, but there was a great deal of blood drizzling down Larry’s right shoulder.
“I’m okay,” Johnny told her.
“B-but how could that be? I saw him shoot you.”
Johnny smiled and looked off toward someplace in the air as far as Iona could see. “I’ll tell you all about it later.” He pointed to Larry’s discarded gun and said, “Pick that up and let’s go get your father.”
Iona bent down, grabbed Larry’s gun and then followed Johnny and Larry down the rock laden steps and through a sea of trees to get to her father.
***
“You are right about me, Vivian. I failed you and your brother. I didn’t think about the consequences of my actions or who I might hurt with my acts of vengeance. I know now that killing a man doesn’t solve my problems; it creates a whole heap of problems for the families that are left behind. I ask you to forgive me, Vivian. I’m truly sorry for what I did to you.”
Vivian listened to Isaac as he admitted his guilt. This was the moment she’d waited on for so long. But he was taking the joy of this moment away from her. She had imagined that he would admit what he’d done and then grovel and beg for his life; not ask for her forgiveness. “Don’t ask that of me,” she said. “Just as I will never be forgiven for the people I murdered, you will never be forgiven for what you did either.”
“That’s not true, Vivian,” Keith said quickly. “God forgives sins. Allow God to show you mercy and to wrap you in His arms of grace. He loves you more than you know.”
“Shut-up,” Vivian said.
Vivian’s refusal to forgive him and Keith’s words about mercy and God’s arm of grace brought thoughts of Donavan to Isaac’s mind. His son had been wrong in sleeping with the church secretary, but now Isaac wished he hadn’t treated his son so harshly when he dismissed him. He wished he hadn’t just closed Donavan’s door and walked away after finding him in such a compromising position. If he had it to do over again, he would have walked into Donavan’s living room and wrapped his arms around his son and showed him mercy. He would have remembered the words of Jesus when the Pharisees brought the woman caught in adultery to him. “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.
Give me another chance Lord. Don’t let me die out here in this desolate place and bring my son home so I can make this right, Isaac prayed.
“Don’t preach to me.” Vivian continued screaming at Keith. “God doesn’t care one bit about me. He has never cared!”
“He does care, Vivian,” Iona said as she, Johnny and a handcuffed Larry approached them.
Vivian swung around to face them. “Don’t come any closer.” She swung back to Isaac. “I’ll shoot him. I swear I will.”
Iona trained Larry’s gun on Vivian with her right hand, but she let the other drop to her side. As i
t did, she felt the bulge in her pocket. Then she remembered that ugly, hateful rock she’d been carrying around in her pocket. She’d carried it around with her since the Prayer Journey. It was the rock of unforgiveness she carried for the person who’d so skillfully framed her father for murder. She now had a name for the rock. Iona lowered Larry’s gun and then reached into her pocket and pulled the rock out. She looked at the rock in her hand and found it distasteful. She had carried it everywhere with her, but she no longer wanted this heavy burden. She let go of the anger and bitterness she felt toward the woman she’d called her best friend. As the rock fell to the ground, Iona said, “I forgive you, Vivian.”
“How can you say that?” Vivian screamed. “I’m about to kill your father.”
Tears streamed down Iona’s face as she looked from her father to Vivian. She told her, “I still forgive you. I refuse to live my life bitter and hateful because of what others have done to me. I choose to forgive you – I choose to be free.”
Vivian began to cry and the hand that held the gun shook. “I don’t know how to forgive, Iona. I never had a family like yours to teach me things like that.”
“Let God teach you,” Johnny said as he walked toward her. “I didn’t have a mother or father around either. I had hatred in my heart just like you, but once I gave my life to the Lord, I began to see things differently.”
Vivian turned to Johnny and said weakly, “Stop, don’t come any closer.”
“I want to help you, Vivian. I know how it feels to blame someone for everything that went wrong in your life. But you can’t live like that,” Johnny said.
“How else am I supposed to live then?” Vivian asked Johnny.
“You’re supposed to live through God. Let Him heal the wounds others have caused.” Johnny reached out his hand as he moved closer. “Give me the gun, Vivian. Don’t take another life. Your vengeance will become your own torture – you’ll never forget it.”
“That’s the problem,” Vivian said as she turned back to Isaac with tears in her eyes. “I can’t forget, and I’ll never forgive.” She then lifted the gun and shot Isaac.
Brogan was in the midst of the woods slaying the enemy’s soldiers when he sensed that Isaac’s life was in jeopardy. He gutted the warrior demon in front of him and attempted to get out of the fray of the battle when another hulking, menacing figure stepped to him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The monstrous demon asked as he unsheathed his battle worn sword. “You ain’t leaving here alive and neither is that preacher man.”
“Pray, saints, pray,” Brogan mumbled as he let his sword do his boasting.
Isaac grabbed his chest and fell on the X that marked the spot where he’d left Leonard all those years ago.
“No!” Iona screamed as she watched her father fall. Keith knelt down beside Isaac and began to cry out to God. Iona took off running toward him.
Vivian told Iona, “Stop or I’ll shoot you too.”
Johnny raised his gun. “Drop it, or I will kill you. I mean it, Vivian.” Johnny’s gun was pointed at Vivian’s back.
“Shoot me in the back, Policeman. See how that goes down on your record,” Vivian said as she raised her gun in Iona’s direction.
“I’ll do it, Vivian. Don’t be foolish.” Johnny didn’t care if he lost his job for shooting a woman in the back. He could live with that; he just couldn’t live without Iona.
Iona made it to Isaac and fell down on her knees in front of him. Suddenly Vivian started shooting wildly in Isaac’s direction.
***
Brogan slashed his last demon and sent him back to the darkness he came from, then sprinted toward his charge. Isaac was on the ground with a bullet in his chest by the time Brogan got there. A woman was standing some yards away shooting at his charge. Brogan moved like the matrix in front of Isaac, Iona and Keith and blocked the bullets that Vivian sent their way.
Johnny’s mind was frantic with fear. All he could imagine was that Vivian had not only shot Isaac again but was about to put a bullet in Iona and Keith. He trained his gun on Vivian and pulled the trigger. Vivian kept shooting, so he shot her again, and again until she was down and the gun fell out of her lifeless hand.
“Daddy, Daddy! Can you hear me, Daddy?” Iona cried over her father’s body.
Isaac’s eyes fluttered as he tried to focus on his daughter. “Tell Nina that I’m s-sorry. Tell her, I really wanted to be there to see the baby.”
Tears flowed like a river from Iona’s eyes. Her father had always been so strong, always been such a force in her life, but he now looked frail and weak. She held him in her arms and cried out to God. “Help us, Lord. Don’t let him die like this.”
Keith was praying and sobbing. Johnny came over to them. Larry was still in cuffs and Johnny was pushing him forward. He told Larry to sit down and stay down as he bent down next to Isaac and said, “The ambulance is on the way. Hold on, Pastor.”
Keith was applying pressure to Isaac’s wound. “You gon’ make it, man. Just hold on.”
Isaac looked at Keith. Pain was etched on his face but his eyes filled with memories. “W-we made it through.” He coughed and then continued, “D-didn’t we, old friend?”
“You’re no friend of mine,” Keith said through sobs. “We’re brothers; always been family.”
Isaac nodded with a smile as he closed his eyes.
Iona shook him. “No, Daddy! Don’t go to sleep. Wake up!”
Johnny pulled Iona in his arms. “Baby, it’s going to be all right. Trust God on this one.”
Iona turned to Johnny a look of helplessness was on her face. “He’s giving up, Johnny.”
“Then we need to pray,” Johnny told her.
Pray, that’s right. Iona had a thought and then said to Johnny, “Let me see your cell phone.” She hurriedly dialed Nina’s number. When Donavan answered she started crying again. “Donavan, oh thank God that you’re home.”
Isaac’s breathing was heavy, but he managed to open his eyes and turn toward Iona.
Iona said, “Dad’s been shot, Donavan. Tell everyone to pray like never before.”
Isaac lifted a weary hand toward the cell phone. “Let me speak… need to say sorry.”
Iona hung up the phone and turned determined eyes on her father. “No! I’m not letting you say sorry or goodbye to Donavan, Daddy. I’m also not giving Nina-Mama any messages from a dead man. So if you want them to know how you feel; then live. Do you hear me, Preacher Man? Live!”
The paramedics raced down the dirt and gravel path in the midst of the wooded area. Iona’s screams guided them in the right direction as she continued to command Isaac to “live.” Johnny pulled Iona away from Isaac so the paramedics could put him in the ambulance.
Iona rode in the ambulance with her father. She prayed the entire drive. When they reached the hospital, Iona thought of Nina and Cynda and knew that they were praying with her. Iona finally realized how they had learned to pray such long prayers. They had developed a relationship with God, because they continuously turned to Him in their times of trouble.
As Iona stepped out of the ambulance her hair was tousled, her silk blouse was covered in blood and tears stained her beautiful face. She looked nothing like her normal self-assured persona. She was weak. Cynda had shown Iona that the prayer of faith could save the sick. So, with her last ounce of strength, before she passed out and was put on a hospital bed and taken into the emergency room for observation, Iona prayed and believed that God would raise her father up and see her family safely through this storm.
Epilogue
The church was packed. It was the fifth Sunday of the month of November. It was also Baby Dedication Sunday. Nina sat in the front row of the sanctuary with her new born baby. She smiled down at her precious gift from the Lord and exhaled. It had been a long journey, but she now held the promise of God in her hand. Nina had named him Isaac. Yes, he was a junior, but the name meant so much more than that. For Sarah and Abraham had named t
heir long awaited gift from God Isaac, so it seemed fitting that since God had blessed Nina, a barren woman just like Sarah, that she should give her baby a name that meant laughter as well, because he had brought a special joy to her life that she hadn’t known was possible at her age.
The day Iona had been kidnapped and her husband had been shot, it was the baby that was growing inside of her that brought her peace as she prayed for them. Nina was thankful that God heard her prayers and had brought both Iona and Isaac back home. Isaac had come home after getting a bullet pulled out of him and having a lengthy hospital stay, but she wasn’t complaining. Her man was alive and that’s all that mattered.
Isaac stood behind the pulpit and smiled down at Nina. He then turned his attention back to the congregation and said, “This is a very special fifth Sunday for me. One of the things I love to do as pastor of this church is dedicate babies back to the Lord. And there have been a lot of babies needing to be dedicated in this church.” He looked at Nina again with pure joy etched on his face. “But today I get to dedicate my own baby to the Lord. At one time, I didn’t think I would live to see this day. But God was merciful to me.”
He stretched out his hand toward Nina and said, “Can you bring our son to the altar so that we can give him back to the Lord?”
Nina stood at the altar before her husband. Isaac Jr. was wearing all white, the traditional color for a christening. That was because, a baby dedication was like a christening, except instead of using water, the baby was anointed with a dab of oil on his or her forehead.
“Would the godparents please come and stand with us at this time?” Isaac asked.
Keith and Cynda stood and made their way down to the altar.
Nina turned and watched them walk toward her. It was during the weekend that Iona had been kidnapped, and she and Cynda spent the day in fervent prayer that Nina assured Cynda that she would live to become godmother to her unborn child. Cynda took the challenge, and as each month passed, she kept living. The doctors looked at her in wonder and amazement as she began to regain the weight cancer had eaten away. But Cynda had taken everything in stride. “Prayer changes things,” she told her doctors when they couldn’t find a trace of cancer in her body and couldn’t explain what happened to it.
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