Inspirational Christian Fiction Boxed Set: Embers and Ashes Series (Books 1 - 4)

by T. K. Chapin

  I began to thumb through the documents until I arrived to a newspaper clipping. My eyes began to water as I read the words highlighted in yellow.

  Blake E. Johnson, 22, of Ocean Shores, died February 2012 as a result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident involving a drunk driver. He was born August 9, 1990 . . .

  “What is it, Micah?” William asked.

  I pulled my lower lip into my mouth and bit it as I shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said, holding the clipping out for him to grab.

  He sighed and took it from my hand. He read what he could of it and then wrapped his arms around me so tight, I felt like he wasn’t ever going to let go. Denise came into the room and up to us as we stood near the desk. As my eyes watered, she put her hand around my back and leaned her head on my shoulder. Bringing her other hand to William, she ran her fingers through his hair and said, “Everything’s going to be okay, William.”

  William brought his arm out from my side and put it around Denise and leaned his head against her as he continued to cry. “Thank you,” he said through the tears.

  Leaving the house, we all three got in Denise’s car and drove back over to the cabin. Joe was sitting on the porch when we arrived. This time I was happy to see him. He didn’t look good, though. It looked as though he didn’t sleep a wink the night before. Getting out of the car, I walked over to him.

  “Hey,” he said, looking at me. He flashed a look over at William and Denise and then back to me. “Could we chat?”

  “Sure,” I said. I walked out to the sidewalk with him.

  “You feeling okay?” he asked.

  “Yep. What’s up?”

  “So. There’s this thing that I’m trying to figure out. Um. I’m not sure how to go about saying this . . .”

  My eyebrows went up as he stumbled over his choice of words. “I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m in pain. If you could speed this along, it’d be appreciated, buddy.”

  “I have to ask you something, and I’m scared what you’ll respond with.”

  “Well, if you don’t ask it in two point five seconds, I’m go—”

  “Will you move to Ocean Shores and run the church?” he asked quickly and then winced as he waited for a response.

  I hadn’t even entertained the thought. His question did make sense, though, since I had basically destroyed the leadership at Christ Community. “Can I pray about it and get back to you?” I asked.

  “Of course,” he said, nodding. He seemed relieved. “Thanks for not shooting it down right away.”

  “I never say no right away to a possible opportunity. Especially when it involves God.”

  “Good,” he replied, smiling. Glancing past me, he looked at the two of them and waved, “Nice seeing you again, Denise. And William—glad to see you made it back safely.”

  They both waved to Joe as I looked back at them. I smiled and looked back at Joe.

  “Betty’s going to be home in a minute with some food. I better get back.”

  “Thanks for coming over.”

  He nodded and began walking down the sidewalk.

  “You can stop by and sit on my porch anytime you want, Joe.”

  He laughed. “Thanks,” he replied. He continued on the sidewalk down to his house.

  CHAPTER 21

  After explaining the situation to Judge Riddick the next day, he ordered that a temporary guardianship be provided to Denise and me for William. With the custody in place and an official hearing scheduled for a month out, we all three packed up and left for Spokane a week later to attend Kane’s wedding. The decision to Pastor Christ Community Church still hung in the air, but a decision hadn’t been made on my part. Never being led to be a pastor in my life, I wasn’t sure if it was a calling put on my life or not. God hadn’t given me clear direction one way or the other.

  Pulling up to our house in Spokane, William took his seatbelt off and leaned forward between our seats. “That’s your house? It’s amazing!”

  Denise and I both looked at each other behind William’s head. We had a lot of good memories in that house. Sure, there was lots of pain associated with the house, but we were coming into a new period of our grief in which we allowed ourselves to appreciate the time we had. In reply to William, I said, “Sure is, buddy.”

  Walking inside, I couldn’t help but have memories of Jasmine come flooding into my mind. It was different than the last time I was in the house. Instead of a sense of hopelessness, I was filled with a sense of loss, but also gratefulness for the time I did have with her. Watching William climb the stairs as he seemed to be investigating the house, I smiled, admiring his sense of curiosity.

  Denise started in on the laundry we had and I began to do the few dishes I found in the kitchen sink. Hearing the washing machine lid close, I could sense her returning down the hallway. She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head against my shoulders.

  “I love being home and your being here again,” she said.

  “I missed it too,” I replied.

  “Where’s William?” she asked.

  “Upstairs investigating.” Setting the dishes down, we both headed upstairs to find him and saw Jasmine’s bedroom door open.

  Denise leaned toward me and said, “I hadn’t gone in there since the accident.”

  “Me neither.” I’ll admit I was a bit nervous as we walked down the hall. I hadn’t set foot in her room since before the accident. It felt like a door I didn’t ever want to open again. But we continued down the hall and went in together. I saw William with a dipped chin, standing in the middle of the room.

  “What’s wrong?” Denise asked as she moved across the carpet over to him.

  “This was her room, wasn’t it?” he asked, looking up at Denise.

  Denise didn’t respond, but just nodded as her eyes watered.

  Coming over to them, I put my hand on each of their shoulders. Looking at William, I said, “Yes. This was Jasmine’s room. It’ll be your room after we do some cleaning and organizing.”

  “I had to help Charlie clean my parents’ room out after they passed. It was hard. I understand what you’re going through.”

  My eyes went wide. This kid might have been young, but he had some serious life experience under his belt. William turned and looked toward the window in the room. Looking back at me, he raised his eyebrows.

  “You can go look.”

  He smiled and hurried over to the window. Looking outside, he said, “Wow! You can see the neighbor’s yard from here!”

  I smiled and nodded to him as I put my arm around Denise. She laid her head against my shoulder and put her arm around my back.

  “Can we go chop wood?” William asked, turning around from the window. “I see an axe and everything down there!”

  I smiled and said, “I can teach you.”

  “Awesome!” he replied, dashing for the doorway of Jasmine’s room. Hearing him hurry down the stairs and head to the back door, Denise lifted her head and looked at me.

  “I’m glad you’re my husband. You’re an amazing man of God and will be great to William.”

  “Thanks,” I replied.

  We walked downstairs together and I headed out the back door as Denise split off to the front room.

  Shutting the door behind me, I found William carrying a log over to the stump. Setting it down, he looked over at me smiling and said, “Show me how it’s done.”

  I laughed and came over to him. Grabbing the axe that was leaning against the stacked wood, I said, “So you hold it like this.” Taking the axe into my hands, I set my feet shoulder width apart and showed him how to follow through on the swing of the axe.

  We moved the split pieces of wood over to the pile and then put another piece of wood on the chopping block. Standing behind William, I helped him swing the axe and split his first piece of wood.

  “Cool!” he shouted as the wood fell to each side of the chopping block. Setting the axe down, he ran over and grabbed the pieces to stack w
ith the others.

  After dinner, Denise took William to get him a suit for Kane’s wedding the next day. As soon as they pulled out of the driveway to go, I called Cole and asked if he could come over and help me with moving the furniture from Jasmine’s room. I knew Denise would be gone for a while and saw it as an opportune time to get it done.

  Getting out of his SUV, Cole came up the driveway and into the garage to greet me. Setting the box in my hands down, I embraced him in a hug. He patted my back and shook his head as he released. “How’d the beach treat ya?”

  I hadn’t told him what had happened yet. “It was interesting.”

  “God get through to you? You seem different.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, man. You could say God got through to me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

  We began moving furniture down from Jasmine’s room and into the garage. Piece after piece, I told him about all that had happened. As we brought the last piece of furniture—the flowery, purple-colored dresser—down and set it on the garage floor, Cole wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm. He leaned against the top of it and looked over at me. “How do you do it?”

  “What?” I asked, wiping the sweat off my face onto the corner of my white tee shirt.

  “Always keep the Lord so predominately on your mind. Even though it sounded like you were struggling there for a bit, you got back on track and even witnessed to a dying man.”

  “My wife plays a vital role. I was in Ocean Shores and wasn’t getting back in touch with God like I planned on doing. She helped me refocus. She reminded me of why I had gone. It took guts on her part to say something, but I’m better for it.”

  “So your wife?”

  “Yep. She’s like my sharpening stone, brother. Behind every great man of God is a woman whom he can rely upon, a woman he can trust, and a woman that loves the Lord with all her heart.”

  Cole nodded. “Between me and you, I think you should go run that church.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Absolutely, Micah. There’s no real reason why you can’t do it.”

  “I have no formal education, never went to seminary—”

  “C’mon, Moses!” Cole interrupted jokingly.

  I broke into a smile and nodded as I laughed. “Good one.”

  “Seriously, though. Don’t let the fear of failing hold you back from experiencing God’s will for your life. All this happened for a reason.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Standing next to my comrades from station 9 on a stage at the Martin Woldson Theater, I looked across the crowd of people who had come to celebrate the marriage of Kane and Kristen. My eyes jumped from face to face in search of my wife and William. My smile grew when I found them in the midst of the crowd. I hadn’t seen her since I left the house earlier that morning, so I was missing her. My wife looked breathtaking in a beautiful yellow dress with crystal-like gemstones. William looked dashing with his comb over and a dark suit.

  William waved up at me and I waved back.

  Leaning into my ear, Cole said beside me, “Cute kid.”

  “Yeah. He’s a good boy.”

  On my other side was Rick. He leaned over and asked, “Who’s the kid?”

  “Did you miss the conversation we had at breakfast earlier?” Cole asked, looking in front of me at Rick. “Or were you taking another nap, grandpa?”

  Rick laughed. “Don’t be mad because you’re jealous I’m retired. You know that hearing aid I just got a while ago doesn’t work too well!”

  Cole smiled.

  I looked at Rick and said, “He’s a kid Denise and I are going to look after now.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “At your age?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  Shaking his head, Rick said, “Good luck. You’ll be over sixty when he graduates high school.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll still be younger than you,” I replied with a smile.

  Kane finally entered the auditorium and hurried down to the stage stairs and up to us.

  “Did you have some second thoughts?” Ted asked from beside Rick.

  “No,” Kane replied with a short and nervous laugh. “Just a few hiccups in the kitchen about the fish and steak. I got it all sorted out.”

  “All right. Let’s do this. We’re already ten minutes past three,” Cole said.

  Kane nodded as he wiped his brow with the sleeve of his tuxedo. “I’ve never been so shaky in my life.” He looked over at Cole and then at me. “Do you think this is a sign or something? Like I shouldn’t go forward?” He glanced toward the door of the auditorium.

  “No, man. It’s not a sign,” I said with a hint of laughter, remembering those jitters all too well.

  Cole put his arm around Kane and said, “It’s okay to be nervous. It’s a big deal.”

  Kane looked to the back as the doors opened and his bride appeared. His smile grew bigger than I had ever seen as she began walking down the aisle.

  Taking Denise’s hand in mine, I led her out to the dance floor in the reception hall. Pulling her in close, we began to sway to the rhythm of the music. As she rested her head against my chest, she let out a giggle.

  Looking to see what she was laughing about, I spotted William taking the hand of one of the little girls that were attending.

  “He’s a sweet boy,” Denise said.

  “He really is.”

  “You give any more thought to taking Joe up on the offer?”

  “Talked to Cole about it some yesterday.”

  “And?”

  “He thinks it’s a good idea.”

  “He’s okay with losing you at the station?”

  “Outside the fact I’m set to retire next year, I think he cares more about what God wants than what’s good for the station.”

  “I guess that makes sense.” Denise lifted her head and looked me in the eyes. The soft white lights coming from the spinning disco ball reflected in her eyes as she said, “You should do it.”

  “But what about our house and the pension and—”

  “When has God let us down? Ever not provided?” She looked over at William as he slow danced with that girl. “I think it’d be good for him, too. He knows a lot of kids in the church and the people there.”

  Denise was right. God wasn’t one to let us down or not provide. Everything that had happened since Jasmine had passed did so for a reason. Taking the trip to Ocean Shores and waking up early that morning and meeting William—God was working things together all along. “It’s going to take a lot of work to rebuild that church.”

  “I know. I’ve already acknowledged that.”

  “Even for you. Being the pastor’s wife.”

  She nodded. “I’ll stand by your side no matter what you choose to do, Micah.”

  I smiled. “How’d I get so lucky to get to call you my wife?”

  She beamed with a smile in return and said, “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Later in the evening, all the guys from the station were sitting at a few tables that were pushed together when I decided to break the news.

  Standing up, I tapped my water glass with a piece of silverware to get everyone’s attention. Silence fell across the group of guys.

  “Hey, all.” I looked over at Kane and said, “Sorry to steal your special day with an announcement, but I need to let ya’ll know I’m moving to Ocean Shores to live and be the pastor of a church there.”

  Everybody was hushed for a moment before the Chief stood up. Unable to read his mood as the lighting in the reception hall was low, I waited nervously for his response.

  He raised his glass and said, “Everyone know how I was out for the past little while?”

  “Yeah. You were on vacation like a month. Slacker,” Kane said, grinning.

  He smiled and looked down the tables at me. “I wasn’t on vacation. I was in the hospital having a triple bypass.”

 
The group of guys gasped.

  “Really?” Kane asked.

  “You didn’t tell us?” Cole added.

  “Why didn’t you say anything, Chief?” Ted questioned.

  Paul tipped his chin to me as he continued. “Micah knew, and he came up to the hospital the morning of the surgery.” He paused as everyone looked over at me. “He told me something I’ll never forget, and I’ll cherish it until the day I die. He said, ‘Paul, if you only trust that God has your best interest in mind, you’ll find the peace you so desperately need.’ I relied upon that statement alone through the recovery process of my operation, and I am blessed to have you as a friend as long as I have. You’ll make an amazing pastor, and all I have to say is you’d better call! Here’s to your future in Ocean Shores with Denise and little William.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, smiling. My eyes began to well with tears.

  CHAPTER 23

  The following week we put the house on the market and began preparations to move. One day I was out in the garage, working on sorting through more of Jasmine’s belongings, when I came across a picture of her and her last boyfriend–Austin. My eyes watered looking at my princess’s face. It had to be one of the last photos she had been in. Glancing over at Austin, my eyes began to water. I hadn’t reached out or communicated with the kid in any way since the accident. He had to be devastated.

  I went inside and found Denise in the kitchen wrapping dishes in newspaper. “Hey, honey.”

  “Yeah?” she said as she continued wrapping a plate.

  Holding the picture in one hand, I tapped it against the palm of my other and asked, “Have you spoken to Austin since the accident?”