Am I dead up in heaven?
No, my knee is brushing up against my wife’s leg, and the faint aroma of frankincense anointing oil lingers in the air. Leaning forward with my elbows on my knees and my eyes heavy, I slowly come into awareness of my surroundings. Euphoria envelops me. I’m completely content to just sit here.
“So,” Marti begins softly. She waits a moment. “How are you doing, Danny?”
Inhaling deeply again, I allow my eyes to open. The brightness of the room momentarily blinds me. Was it this bright when I came in here?
Allowing my eyes to adjust, I lean back into the sofa cushion. I look over at Grace, her face red and her eyes still brimming with tears. She smiles sweetly as she dabs at her nose with a tissue, and I smile back. Has she always been this beautiful?
I turn slowly to where Marti is seated in front of her office window. The bare branches of the dogwood tree sway with the wintry breeze against a cloudless blue sky. I marvel at the beauty. A shocking realization slams into my heart as I gaze around the room.
The Others are gone.
Maybe they’re just staying out of sight because they’re still mad at me.
I squeeze my eyes closed and I think about Kendra, Garrison, Brody, and Tiny Tot. I expect them to be standing right in front of me as I open my eyes again. That’s how it’s always been.
There’s no one here but Grace, Marti, and me.
I lean forward to look around Marti, expecting to find one of them hiding behind her. Nothing. I glance past Grace expecting the same thing. I see only the floor lamp, the open bookcase, and the Christmas manger scene figurines. My head is a swivel as I take in the entire room from corner to corner, expecting to see one of the Others camped out somewhere. But none of them are anywhere to be found.
Closing my eyes once more, I think about the voices of Kendra, Garrison, the Bossman, Brody, and Tiny Tot. My entire adult life, I’ve only ever had to think of their names and they would start a conversation. I open my eyes again. There’s no voice but my own.
A new wave of tears begins to fall, but this time they are accompanied by laughter. Trying to compose myself, I look at Grace with wonder. I cannot believe the words coming from my own mouth. “They’re... they’re just gone. They’re all gone, Grace. It’s just me. Every one of them is gone.”
Grace’s jaw drops, her brows raised and tears instantly welling up. She can barely whisper, “What?!”
Laughing and crying again, I look directly at Marti. “You don’t understand,” I explain. “For as long as I can remember, every single time I have looked at someone like I’m looking at you right now, the part named Kendra was always standing just behind whoever I was looking at. She would be holding a clipboard, and she would be taking notes about everything I said or did.” A teary giggle escapes me. “I’m looking right at you, Marti, and she isn’t there.”
A thrilling mixture of awe and relief washes over me.
But what if they come back when I walk out the door?
I look at Grace, my eyes pleading. “I don’t want to leave this place, babe. What if they come back? I’m afraid they’ll come back when we leave.” Having tasted the elation of being free of the Others, desperation grows.
Marti leans forward. “Do I have your permission to take authority so they don’t?”
Her question is barely complete before I blurt, “Absolutely!”
Looking toward the door, Marti points to something I cannot see. Her words are bold and resounding with supernatural power, and the room is electric. “I speak in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ who lives in me, and I command every single one of you to leave and stay gone permanently! It is written that what I bind is bound, so in Jesus’ holy name I bind every single one of you tormentors and I cast you to the feet of Jesus for Him to deal with you. Out! Your access to Danny is broken from this day forward, and you will never afflict him again. I declare for Danny, on earth as it is in heaven, that he is whole and in unity in his spirit and soul and body, as Father God created him to be.”
Inhaling deeply, Marti turns back to me. “Lord Jesus, what would you like to give Danny in exchange for what you’ve just taken from him?”
Closing my eyes, I giggle and tear up again as a mental picture forms immediately. Jesus and I are sitting side-by-side in my backyard on the stone bench again. His arm drapes over my shoulder in a brotherly touch. Smiling, I convey aloud the phrase I sense from Jesus. “He said, ‘I’m going to teach you how to have fun again.’”