Wings

Howls

"There are times when the unseen can be even more dangerous than what our eyes behold" —Erin Forbes
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REMY

Remy woke up stretching. The house was quiet. She checked the clock on the landing. It was only 8AM. She had 4 or more hours to kill before she could go fishing. She remembered that it was Sunday.

She wondered if Father Gabriel would be holding services. He had been given the a room in the uppermost level of the courthouse, she had heard. She decided to head over. Dax stayed on the porch chewing a bone. She wondered who had given it to him.

She found Gabriel in his chapel, but he was alone. He was shuffling papers.

"Notes for your sermon?" she asked.

Gabriel looked up at her and smiled. "I think I'll give it a week to get in the swing of things. I'm still..."

"Adjusting," she finished for him. "I know. Me too. It's not easy."

She sat down in the front pew and Gabriel sat next to her.

"Yunno what I was thinking?"

"No. What?"

"I was thinking about my boots," she told him.

"What about them?"

"Well, they've seen better days sure, but they got me here. They were mine. They carried me a lot of hard miles before we got here."

"Ah." Gabriel seemed confused by her sudden outburst.

"It's kinda like the Israelites," she said. "They wandered the desert for 40 years, but their shoes and clothing never wore out. God provided for them."

Gabriel nodded but he didn't comment.

"We made it," she told him. "I get a good feeling about this place. Most of the people. I'm not saying it's the promised land. I'm sure there will still be trials. But I think...I think we can try and have a little faith now, Gabriel. Shake the sand off and really embrace things. It's scary. But it wouldn't be a leap of faith if we could see the way ahead. Then it'd just be a leap of known consequence. God is still the same as he was way back when the children of Israel wandered the desert. He's the same God you trusted before all of this."

"Who said I..."

"You don't have to. I know you're struggling. That's my gift. I think I was given that gift to reach others. And I don't know if you're still wrestling with grief or guilt. Or both. Or neither. Just...whatever it is, you've gotta let it go. Yunno, our faith, hoping and trusting in the Lord? It frees us from the burden and guilt of our sins. It's real freedom. If it's your faith you're struggling with, maybe I can help with that too." She squeezed his hand and Gabriel squeezed back.

"You already have," he told her. "You've been...very good to me. Kind. I can't say that for everyone in the group."

"They're hard people. That's how they survived. I think being here will help them. But if not, is it such a bad thing? They're survivors. And because they survived, so did we. God used them the way they are."