A howl of anguish rises to the heavens; “Why God? Why? I trust you. I’ve helped others trust; and now? My granddaughter God? How am I to trust now God? Why God? Why?”
Exhausted, Job sleeps.
Job, in a car; six excited young women; chattering, joking, laughing, eager for tomorrow’s first day at Christian university.
A speeding pickup careens towards the intersection; not slowing.
No one notices.
“Stop,” Job screams. “Stop!” He shakes the shoulders of the girl driving the car, grabs for the steering wheel then; shrieking metal, screams of pain, breaking glass, exploding airbags, silence.
Job weeps. He tenderly caresses his granddaughter’s cheek then starts awake.
Sleep again.
This time, no speeding pickup, no crash; just happy girls arriving at university, their home for the next four years.
Time slips a beat; a party, young men, young women; a celebration. Only Job notices the powders slipped into the community “punch” bowl.
Silly grins and nonsense conversations; giggling girls stagger back to the dorm.
More parties, more powders.
A watch stolen and sold; money surreptitiously exchanged for pills.
A purse rifled; a body sold; more pills.
A dark alley, a slumped figure, an empty baggie, a once young body, ravaged by time and circumstance, surrenders life.
A voice of stern
power. “Who is this that obscures my
plans without knowledge? Who is this who would thwart my purposes? You question
your Creator? So be it. You have such wisdom Job? You’ve seen the alternatives;
now YOU choose between them."
