Into the Storm Read Free

God.
    “
    Tears in his eyes, Judd put his hand on the railing. As he did, someone grabbed his arm roughly and turned him around.
    The man damped his hand over Judd’s mouth and leaned close.
    “Don’t make a sound,” Taylor Graham whispered.
    “You’re coming with me.”
    Vicki hung on every word. Rayford was about to preach the very sermon Bruce would have given.
    “But before I do that, I want to give you a chance to say something in memory of our brother.”
    Vicki looked around. No one moved. Finally, she heard a voice from the back. Loretta stood and described how she had worked with Bruce since the disappearances. She challenged people to give their lives to Christ as Bruce did, then she broke down. The man next to her gently put his arm around her.
    People around Vicki wept. Loretta was crying. Vicki wanted to stand and say something, but she felt nervous. Would anyone care what she thought about Bruce? Finally, she knew if she didn’t say something, her heart would break.
    She stood.
    Taylor Graham hustled Judd through the front door and around the side of the church. Judd tried to pull away, but the pilot was strong. Judd looked for Global Community officers or a squad car. Two blocks from the church, Graham found his car, unlocked the passenger side, and pulled Judd in after him.
    Vicki shook, but she knew what she was doing was right.
    “I’ve done some bad things in my life,” Vicki said.
    “When my family disappeared, I thought I hadn’t been good enough.
    Then I met Bruce, and I heard the message.
    “He was always kind, and it never bothered him that I asked a lot of questions. When I got sent to a detention center, he visited me. When I heard someone wanted to adopt me and make me his daughter, I couldn’t imagine who. But I should have known.”

    Yield’s voice trembled. She pushed her hair behind an ear and bit her lip.
    “I can’t tell you how much Bruce helped me understand God’s love,” Vicki continued.
    “Mr. Steele is right. God loved us enough to want to adopt us into his family, even when we didn’t deserve it. That’s what Bruce did for me, and I’ll always love him for it.”
    Vicki scanned the crowd. Some wiped their eyes. Others nodded.
    Everyone looked at her.
    “Don’t let this day go to waste,” Vicki said.
    “If you don’t know God, ask him to forgive you today and become his child.
    You’ll never regret it. “
    Vicki sat and bowed her head. From all over the sanctuary people stood and told what Bruce meant to them. After more than an hour, Rayford said they could take one more person before a brief break.
    Vicki heard a voice with a thick accent behind her.
    “You do not know me,” Tsion Ben-Judah said.
    “Many Christian leaders around the globe knew your pastor, learned from him, and were brought closer to Christ because of him. My prayer for you is that you would continue his ministry and hismemory, that you would, as the Scriptures say, ‘not grow weary in doing good.”“ At Rayford’s request, Vicki and the congregation stood and stretched.
    “We’re long past our normal closing time,” he said, “so I’d like to excuse any who need to leave.”
    As Rayford backed away from the pulpit, everyone sat down and looked at him. Someone giggled, then another, and a few more. Rayford smiled, shrugged, and returned to the pulpit.
    “I guess there are things more important in this life than personal comfort, aren’t there?” he said. Vicki heard a few amen’s. Rayford opened his Bible and Bruce’s notes.
    A thousand thoughts flashed through Judd’s mind as Taylor Graham drove in silence. Was Graham turning him over to the hands of the North American Global Community? Was he out for revenge for Judd and Ryan’s escape? Judd had always been able to think quickly. Now he didn’t know what to say or do.
    Graham turned into the forest preserve that led to the Stahley property.
    They wound along the access road and to the edge of the woods. Graham