10 a
Although initially everyone thought Officer Andrew Williams would lead them into the desert toward Las Vegas, instead, he led them south of Mojave on the 40 toward Flagstaff, Arizona. Andy pointed out that the bad guess was rather the point.
Andy said, “Don't ever slip and forget that we are beyond the Orwellian society and hip deep in
the apocalyptic society now. Remember, Jesus said that up to this point, never has there been anything worse, and never will there be a time worse after.”
“Of course,” Gary said, “within this apocalyptic tribulation week it will build and build, jumping exponentially worse in the middle of the week, the Great Tribulation, and somehow gain momentum from there.”
“Correct,” Andy said. “And so our goal is to hunker down and see if we can just get through it and come out the other side relatively unscathed. Therefore, we avoid the trouble spots. These would be what you'd call the Major Metros. That's why we avoid Las Vegas with a population approaching two million, and Phoenix approaching the same.”
Niggling the back of Sandy's mind was their undefined mission. “About that. What you said about coming out unscathed... Is that our mission? I mean, I'm all about staying out of trouble, but what is it we're supposed to be doing? Aren't we supposed to be telling people about Jesus or something? Or, you know, we aren't exactly the A-Team, so we surely won't be going off to fight the army of darkness or blow up a dam. What are we doing?”
“I've been wondering the same thing,” Nathan said. “Up to this point our mission was to get away from the coast, because all the coastal areas we know will go bad, plus those major metropolitan cities. Do we even have a mission? Only thing I could find beyond living life in a way that pleases Jesus and being like him, was the great commission at the end of Matthew's gospel.”
“That was for the church,” Gary said. “I know I constantly have to remind myself that we are believers, but we aren't the church.”
“Right,” Andy agreed. “Think of this more like Old Testament times. Back in Jesus' time, the Jews rejected him as their Messiah. In fact scripture does say God Himself partially blinded the Jews. Then, Romans chapter eleven, the predominantly gentile church is gone. In the place of that branch, the Jews are once again grafted in. So the prophetic timetable for Israel resumes. I was listening to my Bible app reading that to me. So yes, I agree with what you guys were telling me earlier, back at the house.
“The apostle Paul was calling that period of the church, a mystery. The Old Testament dropped hints about other sheep and all that, but God revealed to Paul that mystery. Daniel's entire prophecy was, as Gabriel said, concerning the city, Jerusalem, and also the people, which of course are the Jews. My point is, God provided a couple thousand years for a remnant of Jews, but mostly for the rest of the nations to hear the gospel and join His family, by adoption, becoming joint heirs, Jews and gentiles, with Jesus.”
“Amen,” Gary said. “That's the mercy of God. Meantime, I don't see a mandate to go unto all the world and preach the gospel as Jesus commanded his church. So who are we? Believers is what we are, but I feel a bit like a man without a name. I know from a couple of the books I've been reading that after Revelation chapters two and three the church is never again mentioned. That's right where chapter four has the window of heaven opened, a trumpet, a shout and 'Come up here.' So I agree. No more church.”
Nathan said, “Tribulation saints, way I heard it.”
Sandy quickly added, “I don't feel much like a saint.”
“Saint,” Nathan said, “is someone set apart to God for His purposes, which is said of all who are His. It's not what we earned, but who he made us.”
Sandy took her eyes off the road to see what theologian climbed into the seat next to her.
Nathan shrugged, “I literally just was reading about that in my Bible footnotes last night. What. You think I came up with that on my own?” he laughed.
Andy said, “I like Tribulation Saints. Old Testament believers were saints, even though not all Israel were true believers. It makes sense. Jews or gentiles, all believers are the saints today. It'll do unless a more descriptive moniker comes along.”
“So again,” Sandy said, “are we just to survive? I mean, I want to be on God's good side, doing what He wants and all, but I'm good with duck-and-cover.”
“I think God will show us if there is something He wants from us,” Andy said. “Prophecy is in motion. Even Satan's mighty attempts to thwart Jesus' plans will fail, and he knows prophecy better than we do. We're just supposed to overcome. Saints are who we are in Christ, on the road to being overcomers. Frankly, I prefer overcoming to martyrdom, as much as an honor that crown would be.”
“Amen,” they one and all said.
“So, Officer Andy,” Sandy said. “We are the Overcomers. Sounds like a musical group. You're driving the Mystery Machine. Where are we going on this magical mystery tour?”
“You're a regular riot,” Andy said.
Tooling down the highway with talk radio in the background, there was the briefest of crackles, as with a nearby lightning strike, but in this case the signal was lost. The radio was still on. Everything on Sandy's dashboard was still functioning and lit. Nathan reached over and hit buttons on the radio. Then he tried a scan. He cranked the volume and the hiss increased.
From Andy's van he called across that radio, “You guys read me?”
Sandy said, “Still here, yeah.”
“Good,” he said. “That folks, I suspect, is what an EMP is like in a properly shielded and also old enough vehicle. Oh, look out for cars...”
Sure enough, they were coming up on some cars that had been ahead of them but were now dead on the highway, their drivers looking confused.
“Uh... Do we stop and help, or...?”
The uncertainty in Nathan's tone mirrored Sandy's own. It was their first big moral dilemma. They were coming up on the 133 exit to Searchlight near Needles, so Arizona was close. Nathan lurched forward into the glove box and snagged his pad. It was secured in an anti-static pouch. He held his breath and depressed the power button till it came to life.
“So far, so good,” Nathan said. “Let's see if she boots.”
“What's that?” Andy asked over the comm radio.
“Nathan's pad,” Sandy said. “He had it in that envelope in the glove box. Checking it now.”
“Depending on how far we are from the detonation, you may be okay. I didn't see a flash from the nuke.”
“Nuke!” Sandy said.
“A high yield EMP will detonate hundreds of miles up and is powered to emit many millions of volts by a nuke, yeah,” Andy said. “I wonder who did it. If it was the Russians or Chinese, you can bet on a big one right over the middle of the country, way up high for the farthest affect.”
“Whew,” Nathan said. “Looks good so far.”
Gary said, “Look more cars, more people.”
“What do you want to do?” Andy asked. “Let's evaluate. It's not like a jump start will get them going. We are past the heat of the day. Yes, it's a bit of a walk, but they are close to Needles. Look, there're two cars on the other side too. Think wartime. These are panic times. We could be robbed, shot, murdered... That's just for information purposes. Talk among yourselves.”
Sandy and Nathan looked at each other but were indecisive. How often would such instances come up on their many hundreds of miles trip? They certainly did not have food, water, clothing for everyone. What was to be their guiding principles? Nathan was the first to pose to Sandy, what would Jesus do, but Sandy pointed out, they were not Jesus, could not turn water into wine or antifreeze into water and could not raise the dead either.
“Who was that in the Old Testament,” Nathan ventured, “Elijah or Elisha... He went to stay with that widow but she only had a little bit of grain in a jar. In faith she shared with the prophet and when they got up next day the jar was full again? Something like that.”
Gary, in the van with Andy said, “Ah, man! Now you've gone and done it.”
“What,” Nathan said.
“You've gone and played the Faith Card! Now we have to,” Gary said.
“What are we doing guys?” Andy said, “We're about to Needles.”
“Okay, how about this,” Sandy began. “We stop at Needles... Potty break... Andy we leave your lovely and magic Mystery Machine there, because who is gonna climb into that for a ride and besides, she's pretty full of stuff. Then a couple of us swing around and see who wants a ride back into Needles. Those that don't we can at least offer bottles of water.”
“Well,” Gary said. “I for one love it. You guys?”
“I can see this as something Jesus might do,” Andy said. “Even the potty break. I'll see you and raise your water and add some snacks.”
“Let's do it,” Nathan said.
In Needles they pulled right in to one of those multi-plex gas stations that serves as truck stop and multiple food centers. They were receiving some wild-eyed stares from folks over cars and trucks with the hoods up, or often two or three people pushing cars into the lot, or around the lot, including some good-ol-boy truckers looking none too happy they could not turn their rigs over. They also noticed theirs were not the only operating vehicles. They were surprised by a more modern car working, probably as a result of something favorably random. Who can guess?
They didn't want to isolate too much, but did not want to park right in the middle of all that either. They parked closer to an inn and hopped out. Sandy revealed for Andy that she was carrying by slightly lifting the edge of her shirt.
“If there is not one chambered and cocked, now's the time to do it,” Andy said. “There is nothing wrong with, and everything right about, defending yourself, even as Christians. Even as Tribulation Saints.”
Nathan said, “Or Apocalypse Babies.” Everyone offered eye-rolls.
“I'm kidding!” he said.
Andy said to Nathan and Gary, “You two carrying?”
Nathan said, “Bruh,” and raised the corner of his shirt.
Gary shook his head. “Never learned.”
Andy said, “We will remedy that another time. Stay together, look casual, but not easy. Do not leave the van, no matter what. I believe we have a limited window before folks realize how deep they are in and things get crazy. She won't start if hot-wired so even if, she ain't going anywhere. In fact...”
Andy walked over, popped and propped the hood. “There. Now you look like everyone else. Sandy and I will run the International out as many trips as we can, but probably shouldn't take more than three or four. We won't go out that far and we can't all night.”
“What about gas?” Sandy asked. “Mine's okay for now, but she's a beast and drinks hard.”
Nathan said, “I'm watching that station right over there. Got a couple of guys trying to take care of business. Dude over there just aired a tire. I'm thinking their pumps are on a generator. It's not like they're going to have lines with all the cars dead, and it's not like they will run out of gas. We just play it cool and we can top off before we leave town.”
“I like it,” said Andy.
“Okay, now for the important part,” Sandy said. To all the blank stares she said, “Let's pray.”
After a prolonged silence, she glanced at Andy who gave her an encouraging nod. “Father, I'm still new at this, but we all want to get this right. We know whatever era we are in that You change not. So we want to behave as Jesus would, right up to what is within our ability. Beyond our ability, or what we can anticipate, we ask for wisdom and your protection. We are vulnerable and useless without you, God. All glory be to you in whatever good comes of this, and I guess whatever we see as bad, that will work out for your glory too, even if we don't get it. Just please show us and protect us in Jesus' name. Amen.”
“Couldn't have done better myself,” Gary said. “Thank you.”
Sandy and Andy got into the International and proceeded back west on the highway from whence they came. As they went, about two miles out of town they ran in to a man and two women walking the center median toward Needles, so they rolled to a stop. The man asked how their car was still running while Sandy handed them bottles of water.
“Grace of God, I suppose,” Andy said.
The man responded, “I think the grace of God abandoned us.”
Andy said, “I take all this as God's mercy giving me another shot when He didn't have to. He warned us plenty beforehand, did He not?”
All the man did was shrug and nod.
One of the women said, “I've been thinking about that a lot the last couple days. Now I'm looking forward to taking another look at one of those motel Bibles when we get into town.”
“Power's out everywhere,” Sandy pointed out. “Please tell me you have cash.”
When they looked at her with suspicion, Sandy said, “Look, we're not going to rob you. They might manually write your credit card down and bill later. We didn't check.”
The woman said, “We have a little. Not sure it's enough for three people, especially for more than a day.”
Sandy gave Andy a questioning look, so he said, “I expect before long it will be useless anyway.” And he shrugged. Sandy pulled four hundred out and handed it over, to the amazement of the trio.
The woman said, “Why? I can't imagine how we'll pay you back.”
Andy said, “You remember that movie about paying it forward? Well Jesus said it first. He said to do to others as you would have them do to you.”
The two women just stared at the money, mouths agape, while the man said, “Can I at least shake your hand?”
Andy and Sandy shook his hand in turn while the women stammered thankyous. As they pulled away, Andy said, “John. Read the Gospel of John.”
“We will!” the man shouted after them.
“Dang,” Sandy said. “Here I go tearing up again. I hope we did that right.”
“It sure felt right,” Andy said. “I don't know if it's right or not, but God is sovereign, so if they don't have enough or need anything else, God is perfectly capable of bringing someone else along, right?”
“Like my dad used to say,” Sandy said, “Darn skippy.”
Andy laughed. “No offense but that's dumb. What does that even mean?” he laughed.
“I don't know but right now, it fits.”
“Yes it does.”
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