Kicking Eternity

Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12

Raine filled her lungs with warm, water-logged air. A hazy, duckling-yellow sun laid a ribbon from the horizon to where Drew sat a hundred yards down the beach. She walked toward him on the water slicked sand. His knees were drawn up, his face buried in his arms, no guitar in sight.

“Morning.”

He lifted his head and looked at her with bloodshot eyes. “Hey.” His voice was as flat as the listless waves lapping at his feet.

She sat in the sand next to him and nudged his shoulder with hers. “What’s wrong? I’ve been here for thirty seconds and you haven’t called me ‘Rainey’ yet.”

He turned his head toward her, and she could see his soul swimming in ocean blue eyes. “I endangered thirty two lives yesterday by not doing what my boss told me to do.” His gaze settled on a white triangle of sail in the distance. “Why did I think I could make a better decision than Jake? He’s a sailor, a weather junkie. I don’t even read the weather in the paper.” He dropped his chin to his chest and stared at the sand between his feet.

“No one was hurt.”

“Stu sliced his toe open on a rock—four stitches. Bubba has a strawberry the shape of Florida and almost as big.”

Raine scooted around to face Drew. “You’ve asked God’s forgiveness—”

“All night.”

She picked up Drew’s Bible from where it lay on the sand. It felt heavy and foreign in her hands. She thumbed through the thin pages littered with underlines and hand-written notes. Her finger stopped on the passage she was looking for.

“If you confess your sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.” She closed the book, running her hand across the worn, brown leather, and set it back on the sand. “What does it mean?”

“God has forgiven all of my sins.” Drew said it in a monotone.

“Did He forgive you for refusing to submit to Jake?”

“That’s what I said.” 

She nudged his chin up with the back of her hand, forcing him to look at her. “It’s done. Faith is believing what God said in the Bible is true.” She dropped her knuckles from the stubble on his chin.

“I believe it. I don’t feel it.”

“Your feelings will catch up. If the emotion was wiped out as soon as God forgave us, we’d go right back out and do the same thing again. Like I’m sure not drinking any more wine on camp property!”

Drew’s eyes widened. “You’re what?”

“Cal and Aly are on a mission to educate the missionary. I tasted Cal’s wine cooler—” She was embarrassed all over again. “God used it to help Aly see I mess up like she does, but I still regret it.”

Drew shook his head. “You’re full of surprises.”

Her gaze drifted down the beach littered with tree limbs and seaweed and trash displaced by the waterspout—not so different from the wreckage inside Drew. She looked back at him. “Let’s pray.”

Drew shrugged like he didn’t see the point.

She reached for his hand. He needed this. Lord, please comfort Drew. This was a hard lesson—

“Okay, God, I’m going to say it one more time, and then let it be. I’m sorry I didn’t obey the authority You placed over me. I see the result of my sin in the injuries, putting lives in danger. I get what You’re teaching me. May I be a better man because of it.”