Missed Chance

Missed Chance

          The morning had been the same routine, wake, bath and breakfast; kiss the wife good-bye and out the door. He walked to his truck, fires up the engine and backed out of his driveway. He headed in the same direction as any other day. Nothing seems out of place or abnormal but then again he really was not paying much attention. Right at the stop sign, pass two lights which he was glad were green today and onto the ramp north to Boca Raton. The minute he got on the express way he knew that something was seriously wrong. Cars were everywhere and they seem to be unoccupied like the owners had just abandoned them. There were cars in all the lanes; some seem to have run into the concrete wall and some into each other. Ok now he was confuse so he turned on his radio, but the station that usually played his tunes, someone else was crying on the news. It had become impassable so two exits later he took the off ramp. He tried calling his boss to tell him that the highway was a giant parking lot and that he would not be able to make it in to work. In the distance to his south he could see big clouds of smoke and judging the distance he could swear it had to be the airport. The phone system must be down he thought because all this time with the phone to his ear and it had been a waste. He tried to reach the wife and also his best, friend, “sorry all circuits are down, please try your call again later” was all he got.

      Back in the driveway, he threw the truck in park, walked up and reached for the door, it flew open and his wife stood there. No smile but the look he always got right before all hell broke loose, little did she know. “Have you seen the news”? Were the first words out of her mouth. “No”, he replied and then continued, “but there are cars without drivers everywhere, and I saw a few accidents where people didn’t even open their garage doors, just drove right through them” They sat by the TV and every channel or the few that could still broadcast, all were reporting the same terrible phenomena. That all major airports, railways and all form of transportation had to be cancel. Twenty five percent of all planes that were in the air at the time have either crashed or are missing at sea. With the remote in his hand he flicks through the channels but the news just got worst. He stop on one of the stations where a news anchor was dress like he had just been woke up and asked to fill in because its regular anchor was unavailable. The man seems to be having problem keeping his thoughts together and from his body language he spoke with fear. The news that many boats were just floating at sea unmanned, and that ships had collided with each other was to much to comprehend. The talk of an alien invasion was reported on yet another news station. Reports that the arm forces had been depleted by hundreds of thousands was another anchor story. “Have you figured out what’s going on”? Came the voice of his wife from the hallway as she returned from the bedroom. No, he replied and that seem to be his answer for everything today, even though he had a clue, but couldn’t bring himself to tell.  The two had heard on the news that all citizens should try to remain indoors as much as possible, due to all the increase in crime. There were reports of looting; murder and rape were being reported at an alarming rate. The two decided against it at first but he needed to know if his theory was correct. 

          His first stop was his best friend’s house, who he found just as terrified as he and his wife were. After a short stay the three said their good-byes, and he was on his way to his second destination. It normally only took twenty minutes to get to his parents house, but today was not normal, it took over an hour, and his wife got a firsthand look at the chaos. He knocked at the door but got no answer, so he went around the back and looks through the glass doors and saw no one. Having keys to his parent’s house, he opens the door and along with his wife they entered. The place was deadly quiet, the kitchen was clean as though no one has woken up this morning and his parents were not late sleepers. All of a sudden he knew without a doubt and all the warning from his mother came screeching back. Millions world wide the news man had said, missing without an explanation, gone without a trace said another, which to him meant the same thing. He sat on his mother couch not caring that his atheist wife thought he was crazy and said. “He came just like my mother and the preacher had said He would when I was young” his voice faded as he stared at the floor.  “Who came and what are you talking about” she asked. He replied, “Jesus, Jesus came and we miss our chance” He woke up, sat up so fast that he also woke up his wife. He was in a cold sweat from head to toe; he got up and ran to his living room and turns on the TV and flicked through the channels to realize that all the stations were playing their regular programs. His wife was looking at him with concern when he rushes to open the front door. He steps outside with no shoes looking up and down the street. He walked back inside, locked the door and picked up the phone and dialed. After four rings his mother answered the phone and said “hello” in her sleepy voice. “Is that you mother” he replied, “yes who were you expecting, Jesus to answer” she laughed before she continued, “are you okay, it’s like two in the morning” He paused for a minute then replied, “thank God today wasn’t Him and I’ll talk to you later on today for sure. When he hung up his wife looked at him and asked, “are you crazy or have you gone mad”? He took a deep breath and then replied, “Yes, and today I’ll find someone, to help change your mind”


God Bless you for stopping by, and feel free to leave a comment below, with your thoughts...

                   My Dad’s an Angel in my eyes

                                                                                             

          Jane was terrified as she lay there looking up at Harry. He had been the perfect guy when she had met him at a Fourth of July party three months ago. Her parents had asked her not to go but at eighteen she was old enough to make her own decisions. He had been the gentleman, always saying the right things and picking up the tabs for dinners and the movies. She had him to thank for the beautiful necklace she always wears. Her parents warned her on several occasions, that not being a Christian, Harry was after one thing only and when he got that, she would be history. Jane was no longer listening to their advice as she once did. Her parents never had to repeat themselves during her childhood days. Church on Sundays, youth service on Wednesdays nights were never a thought for her, she was ready without being asked. All through High School she had made honor roll and even the Principals list a few times. Something had change inside of her and God was not real to her any more, in her mind he had become a myth. While her friends are out having fun and enjoying themselves; she had too many rules and commandments to keep. She wanted to experience the world and its forbidden fruits as her father called them. Now here she was with a man three years older and four times stronger, holding and pinning her to his bed. “I’m tired of playing games” he kept saying, “three months of me giving and now it’s your turn” He laughed when the tears started to run down her face. The more she cried, the uglier and meaner he became. Jane closed her eyes and started to pray silently, yet louder and from her heart as never before in her life. Her father’s advice screamed in her head. “You can’t be unequally yoked Jane, God doesn’t approve and sooner or later it will bring you grief”

           Gabriel was a big man, at forty-one he stood five ten, one hundred ninety five pound of solid muscle. He still lifted weights four days a week and ran three miles every morning before heading to work. Gabriel was a Golden Glove Champion and had been scouted for the professional ranks. Not wanting a life of pain and headaches at an old age, he chose college and a career in business. Jane lay there still praying as Harry groped and forced his will on her. “God if you are as real as I have been raised to believe, then I beg you to send an angel to save me now please, I’m lost without you” She heard a small voice say scream, scream so loud that your father in heaven and earth will hear you, and that she did. The door sounded like it came off the hinges and wood just splintered where the lock once held secure. Gabriel step through the threshold of the efficiency apartment Harry called home, like a bull on a single campaign to devour everything in front of him.   Harry is six feet and about one hundred and seventy five pounds, yet in one fluid motion, Gabriel grabs him and threw him across the room. Harry hit the wall so hard that both his elbows left their impressions in the wall. Jane jumped into her father’s arms and cried uncontrollably while he just stared at Harry who sat on the floor still trying to get air back in his lungs. Jane looked at her dad Gabriel and still sobbing asked him, how you knew to come? He looked her in the eyes with tears of his own and replied, well Michael was busy, so God sent me.

Different

  Different

          Chow was different than the rest of his classmates, slanted eyes and skin the color of a baby born with jaundice. His parents brought him to the states fleeing Christian persecution in their beloved China. At sixteen he was a black belt in a few forms of martial arts. He would practice daily in the secret of his home.

          John and his best friend Matt were the stars of their High School Basketball team. John was a misguided youth from an abusive home with an alcoholic mother and father. Matt was being raised by his mother in a single family environment. The two friends were always playing practical jokes on the other student and on occasion they were harsh and even bully their peers. Chow found himself on the short end of there not so friendly jokes; “we were just kidding” they would say when confronted by the school staff. Whenever Chow ran into them outside school grounds, things would get a little out of hand with John pushing Chow around. Chow knew that with just one swift kick he could not only stop John but hurt him badly. Chow was taught to only use his skills in self defense and never try to prove himself otherwise. The two boys couldn’t see Chow without calling him names and making racial innuendos.

          One day as darkness fell over their town; the two boys came across Chow in a secluded area near some woods. The boys decided they would have some fun, since there wasn’t anyone around to reprimand them. The two boys were called the twin towers on their team, John at six feet three inches and Matt at just over six feet tall. Chow stood there for the hundredth time taking their verbal abuse as they stared down at his five feet six inch frame. Unaware to the three of them, two men with weapons stood behind them listening to what was being said. One of the men tapped John on the shoulder and caused him and Matt to do an about-face. One was pointing a gun and the other was flipping a knife from hand to hand. The man with the gun told Chow to move forward, “you may leave” he said, “you have been picked on enough for one day” Chow stood there looking straight at both men and replied, “not without my friends” The man with the knife looks over at his accomplice and laughed at the same time asking Chow, “these two are your friends”? Chow instantly replied, “Yes but they just don’t know that yet” The two big ball players stood there frozen with fear as the gun man pointed his gun right at Matt and demanded all their belongings. With no response from John or Matt, the gunman fired his weapon catching Matt on his thigh, dropping him to the ground. Chow step forward with lighting speed delivering a round house kick that sent the gun sailing and before his left foot had touched dirt his right one was in the man’s chest and sending him for air. All the while Chow had the man with the knife by his wrist with one hand, forcing him to bend at a ninety degree at his waist. When the gun man was down and gasping for air, Chow turned his full attention on the knife man, twisting his wrist clockwise and immediately counter clockwise the man was slammed on his back hard to the ground, follow by a kick to the head, he was out cold along with his partner. The action lasted about ten seconds flat. Afterwards the police were called, had taken the criminals and Matt was rushed to the hospital. John turns to Chow and asked, “Why did you hang around when you could have left and then risk your life to save us after the way we have talked and treated you”? Chow looked at John with a sincere smile and replied, I ask Jesus the same question every day.