Lightning and Thunder

10

𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑

EPISODE 10 (AUSTIN'S POV)

"Jayden, where is your sister? We'll be late!" I said as I finished tying my knot.

"Mommy is dressing her!" my five-year-old son said, grinning impishly as he clambered to the top of our neatly laid bed and began his usual morning routine of bouncing on our bed.

"Jayden, get off that bed this instant," I said in a firm voice.

He giggled and I puffed out a breath of air. I knew what he wanted-the chase, the tickling, the cuddling/piggyback ride-but now wasn't an ideal time for play.
Apart from the fact that we would be late for service if we didn't leave within the next ten minutes, I had been trying to use this silent period to speak to God.

The thing was, the chief missionary pastor had an emergency call that necessitated him leaving town yesterday evening and his assistant wasn't feeling too well. So they had assigned me the task of addressing the group of youth we had gathered over the years. We had grown to a large number of about 700 people and we held our meetings in a makeshift warehouse.

I was nervous and blank on what to share with the mixed multitude of those eager, desperate souls.
After the dealing of God a few years ago when he threw me into the shadows, I had not been much of a do-it-all guy anymore. And I saw the wisdom in that, now that I was a bit older. I didn't think I was ready to be seen so publicly again.

My missionary role included all sorts of obscure work-majorly praying in the secret place for the souls we were sent to rescue for the Kingdom. Sometimes, I would be the one to go to prison to bail out some of those struggling people who got in trouble or regressed to their former lifestyle.

There have been lots of ups and downs over the years we've been in Madagascar. For example, many spiritual attacks on me and my family, the time I was arrested for no reason, or abject hunger sometimes.

Aside from those occasional glitches, my family life was amazing. I understood why God blessed me with Judith. She was everything and more. Humble, supportive, prayerful and loving. I couldn't have asked for a better wife.

Since I couldn't work full-time, I adopted Judith's freelance style. Using my expertise in tech and business, I became a virtual consultant for tech businesses. At least, God had given us that permission to do things that would make us assets not liabilities to the work of God.

Then, there were my wonderful kids. Jayden came dramatically. I still remember the day he came prematurely. I almost had a panic attack. I didn't have the money to afford a caesarean section, so I prayed frantically that God would intervene and he did. Judith came to and was invigorated enough to give birth to Jayden. His little sister, Silver, came along two years ago and he became the doting older brother.

With his large adorable eyes and heart-melting smile, it was hard to stay angry at him for too long. Jayden was very intelligent and active and had the purest heart. He was also very intuitive. Even though he was young, he had an unusual connection with God. Sometimes I marvelled when he would pray innocently to God or relay some dreams he had to his mom and me casually over dinner.

"Come here, big boy!" I said, "You don't want to get your church clothes all wrinkled, now do you?"

He tried to adjust my tie, copying what he had seen his mother doing for me often.

"You like it?" I asked, tapping the tip of his nose.

He giggled and nodded.

"Daddy," he called and placed his palms on my cheeks to make me face him directly. His gaze was earnest. "Why are you worrying?"