The man's hopeless desperation made my heart cringe for I felt the anger and guilt this man had levied against himself as the primary one of blame for the situation that had befallen his church.
I grasped his shoulders and said, "There are miracles waiting for the asking. There is favor from heaven ready to be given if only it is desired. There is nothing impossible for God to accomplish. Not even this hard thing that you lack the strength to accomplish on your own is too hard for God. The Holy Spirit is willing, able, and eager to intercede!"
The man gazed into my eyes straight up as if looking for clues, "Are you an Angel?"
"No, just a man who seeks the will of God over his life even as you now do."
The man swallowed before asking, "What do I do?"
"Will you relinquish the authority over your flock as their shepherd and allow me to borrow your pulpit for a sermon?"
The main studied me intensely, but then simply said, "The Spirit of God says yes, who am I to say otherwise."
I nodded in acceptance, "When does your service begin?"
"At 10:30. I'm probably not going to be on time myself as service starts in…"
"You're not going to be there." I said cutting in.
He swallowed, "What do I tell them, when they ask why I'm not there?"
A shotgun blast punctuated the air suddenly with its heavy percussion and the car behind the pastor sank down to one side.
"It would appear that you've acquired a flat tire. Call ahead and let them know you've arranged for a fill in to replace your absence at the sermon today."
I stepped away from the man and held out my hand to Zora, who slipped her hand into mine. We started down the road and just like that we were gone from view.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The pastor stared at the empty space where the couple had just been and felt himself falling to his knees. God had answered his prayers and sent help!
The pastor cried out in prayer and praise all in the same breath. Deliverance was nigh at hand, which would spark rebirth, if only the people would listen and obey the calling of the Spirit of God.
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We reappeared at the edge of the town and instinctively I knew which church it was. I had thirty minutes before the start of Sunday morning services.
"Zora I want you to go on ahead of me to the church and sit in the back. Sometimes these church transformations don't go well."
"Elon?" Zora asked in concern to my statement.