Persecution: God's Other Children. Book 2

by Rob Mclean

  Despite these thoughts, she felt proud to see her Church full and also knew that Pastor Greg would be honoured to be the one to minister to them in their time of need.

  They inched forward and she heard others ahead wish the Pastor well and told him that they would pray for him. As he shook their hands and hugged them tightly, she saw his tired eyes smile. At one level she envied him. The warmth and love he received from his congregation must be one of the best things about his job. It was totally lacking in hers.

  When they reached the Pastor, his smile broadened when he saw that John was with them. The Pastor took John’s hand and shook it warmly with both of his, unable to conceal his genuine joy at seeing John again.

  John muttered some embarrassed form of dismissive thanks in return. There followed a moment of awkward silence where Angela thought, along with, she supposed everyone else, that John might say more, but it passed.

  Geoff cleared his throat, “You’re looking worse than ever Gregory. I might have to take the sermon for you if you’re not up to it.”

  “You might do a better job of it,” the Pastor shrugged. “I’ve been up most of the night.” He held up a hand to ward off their questions. “But I’ll say more about that later,” he promised.

  Angela wondered what new development could have the Pastor so worried and if it was related to all the extra people being here today.

  “You know, you could at least get some other people to do the meet and greet stuff,” John suggested. “Maybe double as security too.”

  “Jesus is our security, son,” Geoff said while Pastor Greg looked on with wide eyes.

  “Oh sure, of course.” John scratched his head. “But all I’m saying is that you should delegate. You know, share the load.”

  “Oh listen to him,” Clarice interrupted. “He’s been to Church once and now he’s telling you how to run things” she shook her head and turned to John. “Really? How would it be if I went to your nightclub and-”

  “No, he’s got a point Clarice,” Pastor Greg said in a most conciliatory tone.

  “You’re not volunteering are you son?” Geoff asked.

  “Um, no. I just…”

  “It’s normally not so busy,” Pastor Greg continued, ignoring Geoff’s jibe. “It is a good idea however and I’d be happy to talk with you more about it later.”

  “There you go son,” Geoff waved them onwards. “That’s our cue to keep moving.

  John gave the Pastor a sheepish smile as he rolled the wheelchair forward. He turned to Angela. “Just trying to help,” he said.

  “I know,” she answered, giving him a squeeze around his broad shoulders. She felt the weight of his arm around her waist as they walked side by side.

  Clarice snorted and took the wheelchair from John as if she didn’t trust him with even that simple job.

  Tucked under his protective arm, Angela felt safe as they followed behind her parents. She didn’t see Zeke or any of her friends, but she had decided to stop worrying about them. They could find her, she reasoned, if they were friends worth having. In the meantime, she was happy to be with John.

  A spot had been reserved for them at the front. No doubt Pastor Greg had arranged it for them, knowing how important it was for her parents to attend. She smiled a silent blessing in his direction as she took her place.

  John stood with his back to the stage and surveyed the crowd. Angela watched as his eyes methodically scanned back and forth and she felt sure he was looking for Zeke. She wondered if that was the real reason he wanted to come along today.

  “Your friends are coming over,” he said without a hint of emotion.

  Angela felt her anxiety rise as she stood and tried to see who John has seen. Through the jumble of people clumped together in small groups, chatting while they waited for the sermon to begin, she saw Christie’s long black pony-tail waving as she meandered her way towards them. Behind her, with his eyes on Christie’s tight jeans, trailed the new guy, Aaron. Resplendent in his bleached blonde hair and dark goatee, their hands intertwined, he was being led their way. She grinned to herself; so they were an item now. That meant Chelsea had missed out on him and both of her girlfriends were with new guys and weren’t hanging with her.

  Christie came over and wrapped her arms around Angela in a huge hug. It made Angela so happy to have at least one friend who still wanted to be seen with her. She squeezed Christie tight.

  “It’s so good to see you girl,” Christie said, returning Angela’s embrace. She caught Aaron watching them with a weird, glazed look in his eyes and a smirk on his face, no doubt having some grotty fantasy. What ever did Christie see in him?

  “Hey,” John said, drawing Aaron’s mind back to reality.

  “Hey man,” Aaron put his hand out in welcome, as was common amongst Christians. Angela saw the hesitation in John’s reply, but if Aaron noticed it, he didn’t show it. John kept a poker face and gave him a tight nod as he clasped Aaron’s hand in a firm handshake.

  “Good to see you again, man,” Aaron said. “Been a bit happening since last time I saw you.”

  A skewed smile lifted one side of John’s mouth. “You could say that. How’s our friend? Is he here today?”

  “You mean Zeke?” Aaron jerked his thumb towards the stage. “We’ll be playing later on, but Christie has to sing during the service and-”

  “Hey,” Angela cut in. “You can have my seat and I’ll go sing with Christie.” Angela was keen to get away from Aaron and to have a talk with Christie. She turned to Christie. “That would be okay, wouldn’t it?”

  “Sure,” she said. “That would be awesome.”

  “I was going to say,” Aaron threw a quick look to John, “that you guys might want to come backstage with us?”

  “I’m good right here,” John said almost instantly, then added, “but you guys go right ahead.”

  “You can sing with us too,” Christie said. Her enthusiastic smile was hard to refuse.

  “Yeah that would be amazing,” Angela added, but she saw the panicked look in his eyes.

  “I don’t know the words.” For such a big guy, the expression of terror on his face looked out of place.

  “Doesn’t matter, they have them on a screen,” Aaron said. John gave him a scowl.

  “Nah, I only sing in the shower. I’ll sound really bad, especially next to you guys. It’ll be an epic fail.” John crossed his arms.

  “Look, they’ll turn down your mike if you sound too bad,” Christie said. Her grabbed at his arm and tugged at it with both of hers. “Please?” She pulled him ineffectually towards the stage.

  Angela seized upon his other arm and persuasively added her gorgeous smile. She saw his resolve wavering.

  “Go on man, live on the edge,” Aaron added his own form of coercion. Angela saw his shoulders slump and his feet shuffle forwards by way of assent.

  He turned to Angela’s parents. “You’ll be okay without us?”

  “Go on son.” Geoff waved away his last hope of escape. “Just don’t sing too loud, okay?”

  John gave him an uneven grin, and then followed the girls through a door at the front of the room, on the side of the stage. Angela led him up some steps and opened another door to one of the stage wings.

  In the dim light of the wings, Angela turned and gave John a quick kiss on his lips. “You can still chicken out, you know,” she said.

  He pulled her closer and by way of an answer, kissed her again, a longer, lingering kiss. She returned it with a growing passion, but she felt Christie’s eyes upon her and wondered if he was doing this just for her benefit, so she could gossip about them to everyone. In effect, for Zeke’s benefit, so he would know that they were truly an item. Before she could decide if that would be a good thing or not, John broke their kiss.

  “I’m scared witless,” he said. “This is something totally outside my comfort zone, but you have to live sometimes, right?”

  She wondered if he was having a go at her supposedly sheltered C
hristian life and was about to reply when Christie nudged her and handed her a microphone. Christie had her wired up in no time, but she felt a twinge of jealousy when Christie seemed to be fussing too much over doing the same with John. She chided herself, knowing that having done this hundreds of times she knew how it was done, but that John was totally clueless and while he tried to help, he just made things worse.

  Finally John was wired up and with a nervous grin, he stood ready. Aaron announced that he was going to go and catch up with the rest of the band. He gave Christie a long sensual kiss before going. His hands roamed down her back before grabbing her back-side and pulling her in close. Their hips swayed together, rubbing against each other as they giggled and grinned.

  Angela pressed her lips together in annoyance. She wondered if they thought it was some sort of competition, if they were putting on that big display of affection just to out-do their own moment and prove that they were the ‘most in love’ couple.

  “Don’t suppose they have a chastity vow?” John whispered in her ear.

  Angela turned away from the amorous couple, pulling John along with her. “I don’t know what she sees in him,” she whispered. “He’s so…”

  “Well, he is a Christian.”

  Angela shot him a glare. “He says he is, but I don’t know…” She frowned and pursed her lips. Fleetingly, she worried that she was getting too much like her mother with all her negative thoughts. She sighed “I’ll have to ask Christie if she’s heard his testimonial.”

  “Testimonial?”

  The look on his face told her that this was another of those times when he saw her as coming from another realm. She sighed and reminded herself how different it all must be for him. “It’s someone’s story of how they came to find Christ.”

  “Oh,” John became thoughtful. “It would be interesting to hear his.”

  “Mine isn’t much. I’ve always been a Christian, but some people have really amazing stories to tell.”

  “Yeah, I bet,” John said in a flat tone.

  Behind them, the stage lights came on. In their glow, Angela and John both saw that there had been more people waiting in the wings. There were a trio of younger girls that Angela only vaguely knew from youth group and an older couple, both with hearing aides. They were wired up with their microphones and although they must have seen everything, they gave no indication, other than to give her a knowing smile.

  Angela felt her cheeks glowing and was thankful that she had restrained herself with John. Christie, she saw, looked momentarily mortified, before she put a big welcoming smile over her feelings. The trio giggled, but they ignored them, said their ‘hellos’ to the older couple. They were just introducing John when from across the stage, Angela saw the band emerge from the opposite wing and walk onto the stage.

  She felt her throat tighten, catching her breath when she saw Zeke, even though he hadn’t seen her yet. Her heart leapt about her chest at that thought. She knew she would eventually run into him again if they both chose to keep going to this church, but it was the first time since she had rejected him. It had only been a few days, but she found the change in his appearance hard to believe. As he moved about the stage, setting up the instruments, she could see that he looked thinner, more drawn and gaunt than she thought possible.

  “You okay?” John asked. His arm wrapped protectively around her as he regarded his rival.

  Angela nodded and turned away from the tortured soul that was her former boyfriend.

  “He looks like crap.” John nodded in Zeke’s

  direction.

  “Yeah,” Angela cast a quick look over her shoulder.

  Christie stepped in close to Angela, but spoke so John could hear. “He says he doesn’t care, but he’s hurting alright. I don’t know what went on, but listening to what he’s been saying about you, he’s totally gutted.”

  “What’s he been saying?” Angela asked. Hurt and indignation flared up inside her, but she held up her hand. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t think I want to know.”

  “No, you don’t need to hear it.” Christie wrapped her arms around Angela. “You’ll be okay,” she said in her ear as they hugged.

  Christie’s love and support made Angela’s heart swell. Her tears threatened to erupt, but she blinked them back, lest Zeke mistake them as sign that his vindictiveness was working.

  “I really hope he doesn’t cause a scene again.” Angela said, casting another side-long look Zeke’s way.

  “You don’t have to worry about that.” John reassured her. He stood defensively with his legs apart and hands together at the front as if on guard duty. His hand gripped the microphone tightly and she saw his body tense and his muscles flex in readiness, like an attack dog waiting for the command.

  “You play nicely too,” she said, rubbing her hand over his solid, defined arm as she followed Christie and the rest of the singers onto the stage. As hurt as she felt by Zeke’s behaviour, she didn’t want to see him beaten up. At least not here, not now and not in front of everyone. Besides, she told herself, revenge was something for God to sort out.

  John grunted his assent and followed her onto the stage. He kept his eyes on Zeke, who had his back to them. The band had placed themselves on the right hand rear corner of the stage. The singers assembled towards the front of the stage, to the left of the speaker’s podium. John had positioned himself between Angela and the band and she noticed that he kept turning his head to keep an eye on things. Angela tried to divert John’s attention by showing him where the screen was with the lyrics and motioning towards the audience.

  Angela felt a twinge of nerves when she saw the size of the crowd, but the expression on John’s face told her he felt a lot more nervous.

  “You’ll be fine,” she reassured him with a touch on his arm and an encouraging smile. “You’ve only got a couple of solo parts.”

  “Solos?” John’s face fell. He looked distinctly ill. “You’re kidding right?”

  Angela couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing at his discomfort, falling on him and holding onto him with both hands for support. John scowled at her when he saw that he had been teased, which only made her laugh louder.

  She happened to glance over John’s shoulder to see Zeke staring at them. He had a murderous expression, but quickly turned away when their eyes met. She could imagine what he would be thinking. The laughter died in her throat.

  John spun around when he saw where her gaze had fallen. It only took him a moment to work out that Zeke had been upset by their merriment, cavorting up on stage in front of everyone. When John turned back to her, she saw that he had a satisfied smirk on his face.

  “Don’t worry about him,” John said with a smile. He leant in to kiss her, but suddenly aware that she was on display and in front of the entire congregation, she turned her head. His lips brushed her cheek and as she glanced over the audience, her eyes fell upon Zeke’s parents. Zeke’s mother, Carolyn was glaring hotly at her. Her husband, Gordon was leaning back with his arms folded across his chest. He pursed his lips and shook his head in disgust.

  Angela turned away and hung her head. She felt her cheeks burning, but she clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. She resolved to not let them worry her. She refused to let them have power over her. She put on a bright smile and gave John a hug, but she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

  “You okay?” John asked. A confused frown wrinkled his forehead.

  “No, I’m fine.” Angela surprised herself at how easily the lie came out. “I’m just so happy right now.” She reinforced it by giving his hands a squeeze and a big smile that she hoped didn’t show how brittle she felt. The broad smile John gave her in return did little to make her feel better.

  Before she could worry about how she felt about John, the lights above the podium came on announcing the start of the service. Pastor Greg duly appeared from the wings beside them. As he shuffled past, Angela saw that he was praying. His head was bowed and he murmured to himse
lf, occasionally glancing towards the heavens. He clutched a wad of notes, but they were heavily marked with corrections and alterations. He put them on the lectern, seemingly glad to be rid of them as he didn’t look at them or put them in any sort of order.

  “Hello,” he began, squinting into the audience, he surveyed the crowd. “There really is a big crowd here today.”

  Angela could see that there were people standing in the aisles and against the back wall. There were more in the foyer where his words would be relayed.

  “Which is good,” the Pastor added almost as an afterthought. “I should thank you all for coming today. No doubt you are all as troubled by recent events as I am.” The people listen in total silence. “These are interesting times indeed.”

  Angela thought that some might snigger at Pastor Greg’s understatement, but no-one made a sound.

  “I have a lot to share with you all today.” He waved in the direction of the podium, “but first we should worship our Lord in song.” As distracted as the Pastor appeared, Angela was thankful that at least he was still following the agenda.

  It was their cue. The congregation stood and the band started up. The screen lit up with the lyrics of ‘Abide With Me.’ A well-known standard. She knew the words by heart and they never failed to lift her spirits, but for John, it would be unchartered territory. She gave him a quick smile as they launched into the song. As good as the song made her feel; she couldn’t escape the feeling of Zeke’s eyes boring into her back.

  The song lifted her to closeness with God. Her spirit soared with the words and the familiar tune brought comfort.

  As the last note ended and the congregation sat themselves back down, Angela saw that John had a big grin splitting his face. His eyes were wide and chest pumped as though he had just sprinted a hundred yards or just done a bungee jump.

  “That was so awesome,” he said. His voice, amplified by the microphone that he still held to his mouth, carried across the church. “Oh sh...ugar,” His ears burned and beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. The microphone fell to his side and he gave the audience an embarrassed grin.