The Cost

Chapter 6-The Choice

"Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you will try to enter and will not be able to." —Jesus

When I entered the room with Rachel, everyone was gathered in a circle around the low table, TV shut off. I immediately noticed that Sierra had a Bible in her hand.

"Hey Jacob!" she said. "You eaten yet? We were just going to have a quick Bible study before bed." The food hadn't been removed from the low table. Suddenly hungry, I took a paper plate and two whole slices of pizza along with about handful of the Greek-style salad. I scooted up in one of the lone plastic chairs as Sierra started to talk.

"Well guys, I guess we all knew this day would come didn't we? But we were warned in this," she gestured with the Bible in her hand, "that anyone who wants to live a godly life is going to be persecuted."

"2 Timothy 3:12," one guy spoke up, seeming proud of himself for remembering the reference.

Sierra nodded. "But don't forget that we're also eligible for a pretty big reward when God takes us home one day. It's not easy doing the right thing—that's why the world's the way it is today—but the results are worth it. Never forget Who we're doing this for."

Everyone in the room nodded.

"So as I was reading earlier, I thought this verse seemed appropriate for tonight," Sierra said, flipping through the pages of the thick, yellowish-brown book in her hand. "In Mathew 5:11-12 Jesus says, 'Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.' "

The Bible was passed from person to person as conversation followed around the verse, conversation that I didn't really pay attention to. What I really wondered was how I could have ended up being part of this whole thing. But, at the same time, how couldn't I have?

It was a crazy turn of events. And now I was apparently going to be stuck with these people and their religion for quite a while—at least until things could get back to normal, I told myself.

If they ever got back to normal.

****

"I guess no one's really tired tonight, huh?" Sierra's voice startled me just as a breeze swept across the deck. I wasn't the only one there, but, with my thoughts as the only companion I had really cared for at the moment, it sort of seemed like it.

I shrugged, watching as the moon passed under and out of the dark clouds on the horizon. Something about the sea felt familiar. Maybe I'd dreamed about it when I was little, I wasn't sure. The ocean has a way of stimulating memories, or at least the feelings left from them, when you least expect it.

Sierra leaned on the rail over the side of the ship. "I heard about your sister. I'm sorry—I didn't know or I would have done something to help her."

I was tempted to give Sierra a little more detail about the kind of 'help' I had been offered. Instead I nodded. "I'll find some way to get her back." Silence. "Where are we actually headed?"

"A small island off the coast. No one will find us there." Silence again. "Jacob," Sierra said finally, "I've been meaning to ask you what you think about all this. I mean you read the entire Bible in a short amount of time—which is pretty impressive—but you haven't asked a lot of questions."

"I didn't really get a chance to."

She smiled and shrugged.

"To be honest," I told her, "I don't know what I should think." On one side I felt like I had unwittingly come on board a journey with some weird cult. On another, I still had that crazy desire to understand more about all this.

"What you 'should' think is pretty different from what you really think," Sierra answered.

I smirked a little. "Well right now I'd think you're trying to convert me."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her smile again. "Ok, let's say I was trying to convert you. Would it matter? I mean, anyone can be converted. It's whether or not your heart's in it that matters."

"Ok...?"

"Think of it this way; if you're converted you can have the appearance of joining something. But if you encounter something and believe it for yourself—that's a unique thing. When you encounter the God that we've been talking about, you know when He's trying to draw you to Himself."

The moon was veiled again—but dotted between the black clouds, stars were still scattered.

"So what," I told her, "is He going to appear in a cloud like He did to Moses or something? It stills sound pretty impossible. Let's say there is a God out there—how would I even know if He's talking to me?"

Sierra smiles. "Maybe He already has—He's always talking. The thing you have to do is unplug your ears to listen."

There was a sudden ring. Two girls who were chatting not far away looked in our direction for a second before they carried on their conversation. Sierra picked a cell phone from her pocket. "Hello?"

I looked up at the stars again. Order from disorder or order from a Creator. Give my life to a God who wanted to change everything I'd known or live the way I was comfortable with. I almost hated to admit it, but I was convinced deep down. I wanted to be more stubborn, to have every reason to believe there was no God for me to be accountable to. But whether it was just exhaustion from the trip or what, it was clear to me that whatever God was out there had determined to make Himself known to me by uprooting me and placing me with these crazy people. And for that, I couldn't exactly ignore Him. It seemed I would have to face the facts either way.

"Okay," Sierra said. "Got it. Sure, thanks." Taking deep breath, she hung up and put the cell back into her pocket. "Got a call," she told me. "We might have something about your sister and a couple others who we missed in our escape."

"Where is she?"

"Not sure yet, but I have a friend who's finding out."

Kris walked up to us. "You guys coming inside? Rachel said a storm might be on the way."

"Kris," Sierra said, "you're not going to believe this."

"Okay....?"

"Ben Joshua is alive."

It was under the stars that night, in the oddest of moments, that I felt a peace come over me. And though I can't say everyone's experience is quite as decisive, I chose to turn my life over to the only One who could order it—the One who had died on the cross for me.

(To be continued....)