When He Calls Us Home | Chris Evans FF ✓

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒏𝒅

    THE sky hung dark grey clouds that day.

     The wind slightly picked up its pace, and wafting in between broken branches, the breeze rustled any dried leaves that remained on trees. A storm brewed somewhere far off in the horizon. The sky shuddered with a loud rumble of distant thunder, and a crack of lightning shot across the skyline for the briefest of seconds.

      The faintest dull flash of lightning, illuminated Chris' blue eyes as he intensely watched, in the far off distance of the cemetery, Adeline's black coffin and a Baptist pastor speaking. He didn't hear much of what the man was saying, for his heart and mind were in a different place. A much darker, and lonely place. He vaguely made out red roses atop the casket as his eyes stared blankly out at Adeline's friends and family.

     The news of Adeline's death had reached the actor's ears a tad too late. Chris had called Adeline's cell after his text message wasn't answered in a few weeks, presuming she was busy with work, but only to have Adeline's mother pick up her daughter's cell and inform him of the tragic news.

     Even when the journalist was dead, her phone proceeded to ring alive with people who assumed she were still around. Seems as though the news hadn't quite reached those individuals either.

     Christopher's sapphire eyes drifted to Adeline's parents and eldest sister, and contemplated them both. He could only imagine what her parent's thoughts must be, that one of them should have been in that coffin, not their youngest daughter. The Canadian still had the whole world ahead of her, and in an instant that was all taken from her.

     The actor saw how precious ones life was, really. So much so, that in a blink of an eye, the one person he discovered and grew fond of as a good friend, and perhaps something more as he realized standing at Adeline's funeral from afar, merely died.

     As every solemn and tearful face mourned the loss of a loved one and a friend that day, Adeline's family was filled with hope and assurance of where she truly was now. Therefore, that certainty created more joy in their hearts and minds, rather than grieving their daughter in spirit and body.

     For what is there to grieve about in a born again Christian's life?

    They knew the hope that lived within them, and consequently have the greatest confidence in knowing where they are headed for eternity. God's Word has said the wages of sin is death. Jesus Christ had defeated death at the cross and now Christians can be assured, if they repent and put their faith in Christ, that they too, can pass from death to life—ultimately defeating death as well.

    Chris slunk out of the cemetery before the service had ended, and made his way back to his rental car. He walked with a bitterness in his steps, and an unthinkable anger towards this so called God, Adeline believed in. He didn't quite understand why this had to happen, or why such a mighty, powerful, and sovereign God would allow this tragedy to fall on her.  

    Reaching his car, he stopped a few feet from the vehicle to look up into the darkening sky filling with rain clouds. In the same moment, a harsh gust of wind rushed past his face, displacing a strip of his short brown hair combed neatly in gel atop his head. The strand swept across his forehead. 

    Rain gradually started to trickle from the sky as he took one fleeting glance back on the one person he grew to love, then left without a word. One could say Chris' heart began to harden towards God, but this was only the end of her story and the beginning to his.

____

ONE YEAR LATER

    Chris dragged a boot through the dirt in the grassy ground. Hesitation was dressed in every form on the actor, but he still managed to pull through to get here. He drew the navy ball cap further down the line of his face, a face stricken with sadness, yet conflicting with peace.