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The Voice Of Truth

“Are you sure it’s not an imposition?” Paul buckled his seat belt.

“It’s our pleasure, really.” Jeb put it in gear. “Matt said you were looking forward to a small town Christmas and Carol needed a Sentinel for the holidays.”

“I like Empire City holidays, but I’ve been feeling a little homesick. You know?”

“I’ve seen it on TV. Looks fancy.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Like coffee with too much sugar?”

“After a while…”

“I hope she won’t keep you too busy to enjoy the peace and quiet. You’ve more than earned it.” Jeb slowed to wait for some deer to cross.

“It should be fine.” Paul studied the deer. “Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve had to worry about this kind of foot traffic.”

“You’re from…”

“Minnesota, originally. Looked a lot like this.”

Jeb nodded and drove around a straggler.

“Think we’ll be home before sunset?”

“Sure, it’s only another ten minutes down the road.”

Paul checked his wristband. “Great, I’d hate to miss a real sunset after all this time.”

“No problem. I’ve got a couple Adirondack chairs in the yard pointing in that direction.”

“Oh, you are the man.” Paul smiled as he drank in the rural scenery.

Carol’s phone rumbled in her coat pocket. She checked the traffic light. Still red. Quick peek.

Dinner?

Nathan? What was he up to? Either way, she wanted to stop home and drop off her laptop first. Nathan could wait. Nathan would wait. Maybe.

If he made other plans before she got home, she had some leftovers and an hour of Masterpiece Theater to finish up.

If he had his mind made up to see her for dinner, he’d probably insist on a cozy little nook at the Marbury Inn.

Seemed romantic, but that was just how he was.

She rolled it over in her mind as she drove home. Before she knew it, she turned onto Morgandale Avenue. Down the block, a few doors past the stone half-wall with the red gate that led to Brendan and Trilby’s place, she backed into her driveway.

Just got home. Dinner sounds great.

She waited for the garage door to close before getting out.

Marbury? 5:30

Carol rolled her eyes. ‘Gee, imagine that.’

She was glad her dad had installed that gizmo on the garage door. The lights in the garage stayed on until she turned them off, but only when she was coming home. When she closed the garage doors on her way out, the inside lights knew to go out.

She wondered if Ryan knew how to set up a system like that.

Ryan?

Not the Ryan she used to know. That Ryan would only have cared about lights being off so he could break in somewhere.

‘God, what did I do?’ She took her laptop to her office space and locked it in a filing cabinet. ‘Ryan could rip this thing open like a candy bar.’

He didn’t know where she lived. Not yet.

When they were a thing, she still lived with her folks. They didn’t like him much.

That was ages ago.

Now she had Nathan. Sort of.

Nathan was good for a free dinner, some business chit chat and a lot of schmoozing.

‘Dear God, all the schmoozing.’ She trudged into her bedroom and studied her attire. She was dressed for work, not for being worked over. ‘Hmm, a little too comfortable for a nice dinner with Mr. Personality.’

Time to spruce up. She considered rewarding him with a bit of a neckline, but it was still so cold and windy. She slid hangers around in her closet in search of something to wow him. ‘Well, it won’t be windy in the restaurant, but it might be drafty.’

Why wow him? It’s not like they were going steady. She wasn’t entirely sure where she stood with Nathan. He was a schmoozer. Made her feel special until she learned that he dished out all that charm on whoever he was speaking to at the moment.

At least with Ryan, she knew where she stood. You were his, or you were not.

She was not.

When he roared out of town on his fat boy with both middle fingers held over his head, she understood it was over.

It tore her heart out.

How did she feel when she learned that Nathan was, well, Nathan?

She fell for his charm. She was enchanted until she wasn’t.

What then?

She pulled a cranberry blouse out of the closet and held it over her in front of her mirror. Pretty close to Thanksgiving, so why not?

“You’re a vision, my dear.” Nathan smiled as he helped her out of her long coat.

She smiled at the attention, but she simply felt numb.

He handed the coat to the hostess. “Anderson, table for two.”

‘Here we go.’ Carol kept smiling. Nathan was all about appearances, so this was how she repaid him for dinner.

The hostess draped the coat over her arm, took two menus and led them to the dining room. She placed the menus on a small round table. “I’ll hang this for you. Renee will be with you shortly.”

Nathan pulled out a chair. “This is cozy.”

“It is that.” Carol sat down and let him push her in. ‘Cozy would be warm pajamas, warm meatloaf and enjoying the rest of my movie.’

He took his seat and opened the menu binder with a flourish.

‘Can’t he do anything without the theatrics?’

He peeked over the top of his menu. “So, how was your day? Everything running to plan?”

Ryan was vacuuming the narthex when Greg emerged from his office. The pastor rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms out wide.

“Evening, pastor.”

“Hi, Ryan. I understand congratulations are in order.”

“Guess we’ll see.” Ryan focused on his vacuuming.

“What time do you start?”

“He wants me there at five.” He kept sweeping. “Sure hope that wind lets up.”

“Hope springs eternal, buddy. I’m sure it will let up by morning.”

“Maybe so.” Ryan turned off the vacuum and headed to the socket.

“Doing okay?”

“It was weird.” He pulled the plug and gathered the long cord as he returned to coil it on the back of the machine. “Like I didn’t belong.”

“New beginnings can be uncomfortable. Before long, it will be old hat.” Greg smiled.

“Before long, it will be over.” Ryan finished coiling the long cord and snapped the plug into a little receptacle. “I’ll be right back in a jam.”

“Ryan, can you look at me?”

He looked into the pastor’s kind face.

“There’s a voice inside of you telling you to be scared. Given all you’ve been through, that’s understandable.”

Ryan sniffed and cast his eyes down.

“That’s not the one you should be listening to. The Voice of Truth never tells you to be scared.”

“Unless there are bullets coming at you.”

“Fair point, but even then.”

“What?” He looked at the pastor.

“If your instinct is to take cover, it’s because the Voice of Truth is telling you to live. It’s not telling you to be scared.

It’s telling you to take cover so you can live.”

Casting Crowns – Voice of Truth (Official Lyric Video)