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Chris and Dwight returned to Open Door on Thanksgiving morning. And even though Jessica (along with Pete, Maggie, and Cari) worked all morning to have a Thanksgiving feast on the table by one o’clock, when one o’clock came, Chris and Dwight were nowhere in sight.
“Do you want to say grace?” Maggie asked her husband as she wiped her hands on a frayed apron.
“Uh, sure,” Galen said, looking around to find someone more qualified.
“We should let Daniel say grace,” Isaiah piped up.
“No,” Daniel said quickly. “G can do it.”
“All right then,” G began. “Let’s bow our heads. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day that encourages us to really focus on our gratitude. Thank you for all the food that has been provided for us here and thank you for the people who prepared it for us. We thank you for your provision and protection. Amen.”
There was a short-lived stampede toward the food line.
“Easy!” Maggie tried. “There’s plenty for everyone!”
“Got to get there first, or there’s no cranberry sauce!” Tiny explained too loudly.
Daniel was staring at Galen.
“You going to get in line, buddy?” Galen asked.
Daniel shook his head. “Is that what you pray in the morning, when you’re walking around?”
“Yeah,” Galen said, ruffling Daniel’s hair. “Something like that.”
“Can I pray with you tomorrow?”
Galen looked surprised. “You want to go outside with me?”
“Yeah, I want to walk around and pray, like you do.”
“OK, sure. You’ve got to get up early, though.”
“I’ll be up,” Daniel promised and then he ran to the end of the line.
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Galen’s family stayed for Bible study that night, so as Galen took his spot up front, the front row was full of his family, and his extended family, Harmony and Daniel.
Galen read from Philippians 4, and talked about how the key to true gratitude is contentment. “I know it can be difficult to be grateful when you are struggling just to get by,” Galen said, “but that might be the very best time to give thanks. When you are in need, you are most dependent on God. That’s when he really has an opportunity to bless you.”
The guests, even the new ones, listened attentively to Galen, and when he gave the altar call, several people came forward, including a few people who had only recently come to stay at the shelter.
One of the new people was an attractive young woman, and as she knelt at the altar, she began to weep. Galen was already praying with someone else, and Daniel got up from his seat and knelt beside her. He reached up and put his small hand on her back and then bowed his head, speaking softly to her.
Everyone else finished praying, but Daniel and the young woman stayed. Everyone waited patiently for them to finish, everyone that is, but Dwight. Dwight was fidgeting in his seat and making his impatience known with a series of exaggerated sighs. Finally, Galen looked at him, but Dwight didn’t return his stare. He just kept wiggling in his seat, looking increasingly agitated.
“Look, if you’ve got to go to the little girls’ room, just go,” Duke said, and several people laughed.
Dwight swore at Duke and just kept fidgeting.
Finally, the young woman and Daniel stood up. The woman, keeping her head down, headed straight for the door. “Maggie,” Daniel said from the front of the room, “could you please go with her and call the police?”
“Of course,” Maggie said, surprised, and she jumped up to follow her out of the room.
Dwight stood up. “Nobody’s calling the cops.”
The woman stopped walking so quickly that Maggie almost ran into her.
“Everybody, just sit down,” Dwight said.
“What’s going on, buddy?” Galen asked Daniel.
“That man,” Daniel said boldly, pointing at Dwight, “hurt her. We need to call the police.”
Galen nodded at Maggie. “Get her out of here.”
Maggie started moving again, taking the shaken woman by her shoulders.
“I said, don’t move,” Dwight snapped, and from the back of his waist he pulled out a handgun and leveled it at Maggie.
There was a collective gasp, and the people in the back rows began to run out of the room. “Everyone sit down!” Dwight hollered, but the fleeing people ignored him. He swung the gun in their direction, but only briefly. Within seconds, it was pointed again at Maggie, and the two dozen people who had been seated behind him had fled to safety.
The two dozen people in front of him, however, were crouching on the floor. Isaiah lay on top of his brother, and began to pray. Mothers pressed crying children into the carpet and pleaded with them to stop whimpering. Only Chief remained in his seat, and he turned toward Dwight without fear. “That’ll be enough, you fool. You’re not gonna shoot anyone.” Chief called Dwight a few names that insulted his masculinity, and Dwight swung the gun toward Chief. Chief stood up to face Dwight, apparently fearless.
“Shut up, old man,” Dwight said through clenched teeth.
Maggie urged her charge forward a few feet, but Dwight saw their movement out of the corner of his eye and swung the gun back toward them. “I said, stop! No one is calling the police.”
“What are you going to do?” Chief asked. “Murder us so no one reports you? Does that really make sense? Just how many bullets you got in that gun?”
“Stop, Chief,” Daniel said gently. “He doesn’t understand.”
Dwight held the gun on the women, but turned his eyes to glare at Daniel. “Shut up, you stupid little freak.”
“Shh,” Galen tried to hush Daniel.
“It’s OK,” Daniel said to Galen. The young boy took two steps toward the man with the gun. “I know you don’t understand, Dwight. I know you’ve been lying every day. I know that hurts. But the only thing that can fix this is Jesus. You have to talk to him. You have to—”
Dwight charged toward the boy, completely forgetting about the women, who fled for the door as Dwight pointed the revolver at the child. “Shut up, for once, will you just shut up, I’m going to kill you,” Dwight said, showing no signs of slowing his advance on Daniel.
Galen threw his body between Daniel and Dwight, and Dwight, his face red, his eyes ice cold, pulled the trigger.
A lot happened in the seconds that followed.
Galen immediately crumpled to the floor. His hands flew to his chest, and he made a moaning sound that sounded surprised and weak. Young Daniel fell to his knees beside Galen and put both his small hands over Galen’s large ones just as Galen’s eyes closed.
As Galen fell, Chief tackled Dwight from the side. Both men went down, and the gun flew out of Dwight’s hand. Chief leapt off the man and scrambled for the gun. By the time Dwight had righted himself, Chief had already checked to make sure he had another bullet. Then he pointed the gun at Dwight. “If you move, at all, I will shoot you in the head. Please, give me the chance. Jail’s not much worse than this place. I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery.”
As the nearest patrol car headed toward the church, as the EMTs dropped their sandwiches and jumped in their ambulance, as Maggie ran back into the sanctuary, screamed in grief, and fell at her husband’s side, Galen was already somewhere else.
The light was blinding, and Galen’s instinct was to squint, but then he realized he didn’t need to. The light felt warm, inviting, magnificent. He searched the light for something he might recognize, something he might understand, and then he saw a face appearing, a face so familiar he instantly recognized it, even though he’d never seen it before. “Savior,” Galen breathed, and the face smiled.
“Son.”
Galen felt tears sliding down his cheeks. “I thought there were no tears in heaven.”
“You’re not in heaven,” Jesus answered. “You’re not done on earth yet.”
Galen felt a pain in his heart then, as if it was being pulled in two different directions. “I don’t want to go.”
“I know. But I’m asking you to. My sheep need you. Go, feed my sheep. I’ll see you again soon.”
Galen’s chest felt as if it was going to explode. He gasped for air as he’d never gasped before, as if he’d been underwater for far too long, and the air came rushing into his chest so fast it burned, and then he gasped again, his mouth open, he gulped and gulped for more air, more sweet, delicious, scorching air.
The first thing he heard after Jesus’ voice was his wife’s. “Galen, can you hear me?” As he listened to her voice, it grew closer, and he opened his eyes to find her teary emerald eyes only inches from his own. Instinctively, he reached one hand up to her, and she laughed through the tears. Galen laid his hand on her hair and stroked it as he shifted his gaze to his sons, who were now sitting on the floor staring at him. They had obviously been crying too. Then Galen looked at Daniel, who still had his two small hands pressed to Galen’s chest. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his lips were moving silently.
Galen looked down at his chest, but there was nothing there. No wound. No blood. Only a small hole in his shirt. He sat up, still looking around, but there was no evidence to support the pain he had felt.
He looked at the guests, all rising from their spots on the floor, slowly, as two police officers rushed in, with two paramedics right behind them. The paramedics rushed to Galen, who tried to hold them off. “I’m OK, I’m OK.”
“What happened to you?” one of them asked.
It did look kind of strange. He was still sitting on the floor, with a young boy and a woman crouched over him as if he was dying.
“I was ... I was ...” He looked around as if looking for words to say. “I was ... nothing. I’m good, I think.” With both hands he felt his own chest, and, sure enough, it was a chest, his own chest, as solid and whole as it had ever been.
“Did you fall?” the paramedic asked.
“Yes,” Galen said with a chuckle. “I fell all right.”
The paramedic checked him over, but finding nothing wrong with him, asked, “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“No, no, I don’t think so.”
The paramedic looked around the room. “Was anyone else hurt?”
No one answered at first. Then Daniel said softly, “There’s a woman here. She’s been hurt.”
“She’s in the office,” Maggie said, not looking away from her husband.
––––––––
The police arrested Dwight, and this time, Chris did not come to his aid. This time, Dwight was charged with multiple crimes. This time, the police learned that not only had Dwight never served overseas, he had been dishonorably discharged after less than a year of service.
Within days of his arrest, Dwight began to share what used to be secrets. Apparently, there had been a lot of money in a church safe, a safe that had disappeared one night only hours after Dwight had told his second cousin about said safe.
And Dwight had a lot to say about Pastor Chris, the elders, and their accounting practices, and while no charges were filed, Chris was quick to resign. The church in Haileyville, Connecticut asked that their financial support be returned, and JCTV quickly canceled Chris’s contract.
Galen asked the elders to formally resign as members, and they, who had heard stories about what had really happened that Thanksgiving evening, spoke to Galen as if they were spooked he was speaking back.
They couldn’t get out of that church fast enough.
Pete, Maggie, and Cari spent a single afternoon together writing new bylaws and then formally offered Galen the job of pastor.
He accepted.
Annie formed a new worship team made up of church guests. She had more than enough volunteers. Tiny even wanted to join, so she told him he could play the triangle.
Pete took over half the Bible studies.
Galen hung a sign at his garage that said, “Open Fridays and Saturdays only. Call 555-3399 for emergency towing.” The Turney family moved into the parsonage, which, though small, was far more spacious than their apartment had been.
And Daniel stopped healing people. He didn’t do so consciously, and he never stopped believing that if God wanted to heal someone through him, he still could. But for a while anyway, God was choosing not to present those scenarios.
