Daniel walked through the back double doors and searched. None of his friends went to this church so he didn’t expect them to be seated very far up the aisle. Sure enough, he spotted Brandon four pews from the back. He walked up and started scooting down the pew, passing everyone till he sat on the other side of Ricky. “You’re late,” Ricky whispered. “Of course I am. I’m late for everything. To be honest, this 10 minutes is me doing pretty well I’d say.” Ricky just shook his head. He really didn’t expect anything more from Dan. But the other six of them had managed to get there on time. Even Eli, who lived the furthest away, managed to make it on time. It might have been due to his father being the guest speaker for this revival though. It was Thursday night. The only night the whole group could make it. Eli was pretty stoked to have everyone here. They had never all been to a service before. He was a little proud that it was him that got them all together instead of Dan or Ricky. Those two were more so the “leaders” of the group. Dan for his experience and raw intelligence and Ricky because everyone met each other through him. Not that Eli was jealous of them or anything, but achieving something they hadn’t felt good.
The service was pretty ordinary. It echoed the previous night’s flow and feel. That is until Eli’s dad got to the end of his sermon. Before he made the invitation to discipleship, he had the choir sing a song. Eli noticed that his dad went and took his seat in the pulpit. He looked…troubled. Something was off. “S-S-S-Something’s wrong,” Eli stated. “So you feel it too?” Dan asked from three friends down. “No, my dad’s not acting normal. Wait, you feel something?” “Yeah. The spirit’s shifting.” “Well of course Dan feels it. He is the preacher here,” commented Ricky. Eli knew Dan was a preacher but had never experienced just how in tune he was to spiritual things. Dan had alluded to it before but he never really went into detail about it. But thinking about their private conversations, he remembered how passionate he would get when the topic turned to God and spirituality. He shouldn’t have been surprised.
Since Eli mentioned his father, Dan turned his intention to him. He was struggling. He recognized the look. Someone was speaking to him. Whether it was an angel, the Holy Spirit, or God Himself, Dan couldn’t tell. But he felt the presence. It was stirring in the building. Almost like it was preparing the space for something. He had experienced this particular feeling a few times before. “The Spirit has something for someone here. It might be a message or an opportunity or something like that. I can’t tell who though. I usually can tell a general area of where the person is when the Spirit falls but not now. Maybe because I’m not the person being talked to and told. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help.” Dan bowed his head and began to pray. While they all knew Dan was spiritual, they had never seen him so serious about it. It was a tad jarring. He usually tried to keep things light and joked a lot. The others didn’t really know what to do. But Eli just prayed for his father.
They all had experiences with church. Being black and in the south, they grew up in it. Dan, Eli, and Matthew were more studious and experienced. They knew a lot about the bible, scripture, and doctrine. Ricky and Kat were entering a new phase in their spiritual journeys where they wanted to know more and grow their faith. Cade and Brandon grew up in church households, but it wasn’t really something that was real or tangible to them. Not that they didn’t believe or anything but there was something missing for them.
Minutes later the choir stopped singing. The musicians played softly in the background. Eli’s father stood and walked up to the podium, resolve strong. “The Spirit has been speaking to me. I don’t usually do this but I feel as though when the Spirit tells you to do something, you do it.” The congregation echoed with people saying “amen” and “that’s right.” “That being said, I’m blessed to have my son and his friends here with me today.” He motioned his hand to Eli. “If you kids would, would you please come up to the altar?” He started to walk down off the platform the pulpit was on and towards the front of the floor of the sanctuary. Eli was the first to stand, followed by Matthew. Ricky and Kat looked at each other for assurance. After a beat, Ricky reached for Kat’s hand and they stood and began to walk to the front. Dan stood, walked over to Cade and Brandon and sat back down. “You guys don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Don’t feel pressured to join us. This has to be your decision. But don’t let fear or being uncomfortable keep you here. I don’t know what’s gonna happen when we go up there, but you won’t be alone.” Dan paused. “You will never be alone.” Cade looked at Dan and saw a look in his eyes he had never seen before. Almost as if Dan wasn’t there. Cade looked up to Dan like an older brother. They shared something in common that the others didn’t have to deal with. He trusted him. But he hated being in the spotlight. He was content with always being on the sidelines, in the background. He didn’t want to go up there in front of everyone. But something in him told him he could trust Dan. Plus, all his friends were going to be up there. Maybe no one would really notice him. Especially if Brandon went. He was a pretty big guy so maybe people would look more towards him. Cade looked over at Brandon as Dan stood and walked towards the alter. “Mane let’s just go and get this over with,” Brandon said. He rose as if he was agitated. Cade followed behind.
Comments (0)
See all