THIRTY

Abigail and Joshua were in their hotel room in D.C. after meeting with Pack McHenry. Abigail clicked off her Allfone and said, “That was Pack’s wife, Victoria. She’s made reservations for brunch tomorrow, just the two of us. Great, huh?”

Joshua was irritated. “So what do I do? Stay here in the hotel twiddling my thumbs? Abby, excuse me, but the world’s falling apart and you’re doing lunch!”

“Brunch actually,” she said with a look that said she would not be moved. “And about your thumb twiddling, well, I have a message on my Allfone that concerns you, Josh. I’ve got a suggestion …”

“A message from whom?”

“Pastor Campbell. He’s here in D.C. He had a meeting with the Senate Chaplain but said he would like to take you out for lunch. Sort of a way to congratulate you on getting the Medal of Freedom. He was very impressed.”

Joshua had become an occasional golf partner with Campbell from time to time when the two would meet up at some of the upscale golf courses outside of New York City. The pastor wasn’t a half-bad golfer, and he was good company, although he would inevitably introduce the topic of his wife’s faith, and Joshua’s own lack of it. For Joshua, that was always the sticking point.

He gave his wife a doubtful look and complained that he needed to get back to his work on Israel’s request for advice on their RTS system.

She walked over and gave him a lingering kiss. “I’m not going to coerce you or badger you, but I’m looking forward to a great time with Victoria. What you do on your own time tomorrow is your business.” She slipped him a piece of paper. “Here’s Pastor Campbell’s number.” Then she added, “And on the Israel issue that you’re working on … that may be more important in the big picture than you think. Just my little thought.”

“Big picture?”

“Yes, and you know what picture I’m talking about.”

He did. Abigail’s Christian faith, which had proved to be a fully operational lifestyle for her, had also made her a keen student of the Bible. She talked a lot about the theological significance of the Holy Land and Israel’s role in the wrapping up of all human history. It came up more and more recently, ever since Joshua was invited to work with the Israeli defense officials. Yes, he knew about her “big picture.”

Joshua called Campbell. He figured he owed him that.

The next day they met for lunch at a pricey place with a grand view of the Capitol Dome and a menu that included some great Maryland crab cakes. Joshua tried to tell himself that he had done it for Abby. But then, he knew that wasn’t exactly the truth.

As usual, the two of them led off with some golfing stories. Campbell was relating his last defeat on the links. “I couldn’t concentrate,” Campbell admitted. “Every time I got that putter in my hand, I felt distracted.”

Joshua knew the feeling. “People don’t appreciate the mental aspect of golf.” Then he remembered something. “I saw the blurb on your press conference in New York. Looks like a riot broke out. And here I thought I was the public instigator.”

Campbell chuckled. “Oh, it wasn’t that bad. You know how cameras can make a small group of protestors look like a major revolution.”

For Joshua it seemed evident. “Well, pastor, you tell people that the world’s coming to an end — that the earth is going to blow up, which I gather is what you were saying — then you’re bound to get a reaction. On the other hand, you know my approach: if I know an explosion is coming, then I’ll try to stop the timer on the bomb.”

“Some explosions can’t be stopped,” Campbell said. He was pushing himself away from the table a little to stretch out.

“I don’t believe that.”

“Josh, if God’s directing the cataclysm, you’re going to be sorely disappointed if you think you can stop it.”

“That’s a big if.”

“Fair enough.”

Campbell thought about it for a few moments. “Okay, so we need to resolve your ‘big if’ issue. Now here is how I do it. I search the Scriptures and I read the news. Put the two together. My group of fellow ‘searchers of the times,’ the prophecy scholars I meet with regularly, agrees with me about one thing — that the signs of the times, foretold thousands of years ago, are starting to unfold. Right now. Right here on planet Earth. God is about to make a miraculous showing. Awesome. Fearful. Mighty. The human vocabulary fails us when we try to describe the importance of what is coming.”

Campbell tossed his napkin on the table. “The thing is to recognize that it is unstoppable. You can’t pull the pin out of the preordained providence of God. The first order of business has to be to prepare to meet Him.”

Joshua resisted the urge to challenge Campbell, so he let it drop. But he sometimes felt that the pastor and Abby, and yes, even his own son and daughter, were visitors from a distant world. They saw things he couldn’t see and felt things he wished he could experience but didn’t: a spiritual awakening. He had seen the change in Abby over the years. That much was undeniable.

As they were strolling out of the restaurant, Campbell stopped him, “Keep your eyes on Israel,” he said. “That’s how you can read the time on God’s clock.”

That startled Joshua, particularly in light of the call he’d received two days before from the commander of Israel’s IDF, requesting a meeting eventually in Tel Aviv about the RTS system.

Campbell said something else. And when he did, it struck Joshua as both odd and strangely pointed: “But Josh, you can’t be prepared for those great events, for God’s imminent revealing, His apocalypse, until you make a very personal decision. To open the door of your heart to His Son, Jesus, the Christ. The coming King. Listen, the return to this world of Christ the King of Kings is a fact. One that is absolutely certain, more certain than you can possibly comprehend.”