To Denounce Him or Make Him Known
By: M.J. Coleman
Katherine’s sewing needle stopped mid-seam and she looked at her husband in fear. “You told them?”
“I had no choice! What did you want me to do, denounce God? Lie about everything we hold dear? Tell them we’re on their side?” Michael shook his head in disgust.
“You could have chosen not to answer!”
“And they would take that as defiance! Where would that leave us then?”
Little Emma spoke from the window. “Horsey!” She had the curtain pulled back slightly and was gazing intently out the clear glass at the dusk.
“Emma, get away from the window!” Katherine commanded her 3-year old daughter.
“Besides,” Michael continued, “God has us in His hands. He knows the situation and He will protect us.”
“How can you be so sure? Did that protect the others?” Katherine’s eyes blazed with fear. She continued to sew with trembling hands.
The government had been killing off Christians one by one since the Great Revival that took place in the big town a couple months ago. They kept it swept under the rug, but that kind of thing quickly gets out, no matter how far under the rug it is. As a result, some of the Christians were trying to keep a low profile while others spoke out more fiercely and with more power than ever before.
“Horsey!” Emma shouted again from the window.
“Emma…” Katherine rose out of her chair, setting aside her sewing, and crossed the room to her little girl. She stooped down to pick her up, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what Emma was so excited about.
Seven men, each astride a horse, stood outside in front of the house. They were dressed in identical uniforms with a government patch on the breast pocket and a lighted torch in one hand.
Katherine’s face turned white as one of them, obviously the leader, gave his torch to one of the other men, dismounted his horse, and looked around at the property. He turned and took in the lake, statue, and bench, and then turned back to the house. Straightening his uniform, he began to march up to the front door.
Katherine turned around to face her husband, pure terror distorting her features.
Michael looked at her and understood her expression. He jumped out of his chair, grabbed Emma, and led his wife down the hall and into the hidden cellar under a rug in the wooden floor.
“If anything happens, use the passageway and come out the other side.”
Katherine nodded, jumped down into the small cellar, and took Emma from him. He closed the door and put the rug back in place just as a knock was heard at the door.
Michael said a silent prayer under his breath and slowly made his way to the door which was impatiently being pounded on.
When he reached the door, he opened it calmly and smiled at the government official standing before him. The official did not return the gesture.
“I am told that a Mr. White lives here. Would you be him?”
“Yes, sir,” Michael responded with forced repose.
“Where is the rest of your family?”
“Family, sir? I am a - …”
The official slapped him across the face. Michael’s head swung to the side, but he did nothing to defend himself.
“Did you or did not you not confess to being a Christian today?”
Michael looked at the official with head held high. “I did.”
The official nodded. He took one look at the small house, then fixed his eyes on Michael. “Where is your family?”
“Sir, I - …”
Another slap stung his face on the same side. Michael raised his eyes to the sky and said nothing.
The official sighed. “I am usually a very patient man, Mr. White, but I’ll admit – you’re trying it. Now I will ask you one more time – WHERE is your family?”
Michael stood silent.
“Very well,” the official concluded, “if you won’t speak, we’ll make you scream.” He turned to the other government officials. “Burn it down.”
The official mounted his horse as the other men came closer to the house and threw their torches through the various windows. The house went up in flames as the officials, all but the leader, turned and went back the way they had come. The leader stayed and watched the show.
Michael ran into the house, dodging flames and debris that was already beginning to crash down around him. He ran to the rug in the hall, threw it back, and tried to pull open the hidden door. It wouldn’t budge. Suddenly, a beam fell on top of the door. Michael jumped back and tried to move the beam, but it was too heavy.
He ran out of the house and around to the right side of it. He pried off the small wire door at the bottom of the wall and looked into the passageway coming from the cellar. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fit in there to rescue his wife and daughter, so he yelled into it, but the sound of the flames and the house breaking was too loud to hear anything. He sat back and did the only thing he could do - praying, begging, that Katherine and Emma would make it through the passageway safely and outside.
Katherine smelled the smoke and it started to seep through the cracks in the floor. She knew instantly that their house was burning.
Little Emma began to cough and Katherine knew they had to get out of there quick. If they went through the floor door, they would never make it out alive. Their only choice was to use the tiny passageway.
“Emma! I need you to do something for Mommy!” Katherine yelled over all the noise.
Emma looked up at her intently, letting out a small cough.
“I need you to follow me and crawl through this hall and reach the other side!”
A look of confusion passed over Emma’s little face.
“Emma, Daddy has some ice cream for you at the end of this tunnel! If you want some, you have to crawl through the tunnel to him! Can you do that for Mommy? Can you follow Mommy?”
Emma’s big blue eyes lit up with excitement and she nodded, her blonde curls bobbing.
“Ok, come on!”
Emma and Katherine dropped to their knees as Katherine grabbed her tiny hand and began to lead the way down the passage to the other side.
The house groaned, weakening from the flames.
Katherine continued to pull Emma along the passageway, coughing from the smoke every now and then.
They were halfway through the passage when a loud crack was heard. Time seemed to slow for a moment. A loud crash and a high-pitched scream sent a chill down Katherine’s spine. Emma’s hand was yanked out from hers. And then silence.
“Emma?” Katherine called to her little girl. “Emma, if you can hear Mommy, answer me!”
Katherine heard nothing but the roar of flames and the house breaking apart. The passageway was much too small to turn around, much less to look over her shoulder. So she did the only thing she could – she backed up a little and felt around with her bare foot.
She felt debris and hot wood. She moved her foot around a little more and felt a soft hand and small fingers underneath a heavy wooden beam – Emma’s hand.
Katherine screamed and cried out in grief. She curled her toes around one of Emma’s little fingers and screamed with agony.
Michael heard the screams and bent his head into the passageway. “Katherine! Can you hear me?!?”
Katherine sobbed, and choked out, “Emma! Emma!”
“Katherine! Emma! Come to me!”
With tears streaming down her face and vision blurred, Katherine forced herself to keep moving. With every crawl away from her crushed daughter, a sting of sorrow penetrated her heart.
She finally reached the other side, covered in ash, and Michael helped her out of the passageway and onto the grass.
Michael looked back into the passageway, expecting to see his little daughter’s face, but was surprised to see only ash and smoke.
“Emma! Where’s Emma?”
Katherine, kneeling on her knees, looked out across the lake with a blank expression. She was in shock from grief. She did not say a word.
“Katherine!” Michael shook her, snapping her out of her trance. “Where is Emma?”
Suddenly, a BANG! He fell over, clutching his side, and groaned in agony. Katherine’s eyes were wide with fear and confusion.
A laugh sounded and she looked up from her husband and saw that the leader government official sat there on his horse about 10 feet away, a pistol in his right hand.
Putting the pieces together, she rose and charged the official, diving at him and knocking him off his horse. They wrestled on the ground a bit, the gun going off a couple times in the air until Katherine finally managed to wrench it out of the dirty official’s hand. She stood up and aimed it at his head.
The official laughed. “You wouldn’t do a thing like this. A sweet, beautiful woman like you wouldn’t take a man’s life.”
Katherine pulled the trigger and the official fell dead on the ground.
She rushed back to Michael. Blood was seeping from the corners of his mouth and from the hole in his side. She sank to the ground and held his head in her lap. She rocked back and forth, brushing the hair out of his face, and repeated his name over and over.
He looked up at her and slowly raised his hand to her face. She grabbed his hand and pressed it to her cheek.
“Be….strong,” he choked out with much effort. “Don’t…lose…heart. I love…you. I…love-…”
His hand fell to the ground beside him and Katherine shook her head. “No, no, you can’t! Don’t leave me! I need you to stay with me and help me bury our child…our little Emma.” She held his hand and spoke in a whisper, “Take care of her. Take care of our baby. Tell her Mommy will be there soon.”
She kissed his forehead and stood, the gun in her hand, and walked toward the bench by the lakeside and pointed the gun at her temple.
Just as she was about to pull the trigger, she stopped. She couldn’t give up. Not now. What would her daughter and husband say? Instead, she threw the gun into the lake and collapsed on the bench, sobbing.
What was she supposed to do now? Denounce God or make Him known?
Make Him known, she decided. She rose to her feet and walked back over to her husband. She kissed him on the forehead one last time, mounted the official’s horse, and turned to ride into town on a mission.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
No comments:
Post a Comment