Fifteen Years (12 page)

You can’t, but I can. With me, nothing is impossible. Now go.

Josiah stopped breathing altogether and slowly sat upright in his seat. Without moving his head, he slowly averted his eyes to the left as far as they could go, and then did the same on the right. Over the years, he’d heard preachers say that at times God audibly spoke to His people. Not by way of a nudge to their spirits, not through a soft wind against their cheeks, but in an unmistakable clear voice that they heard with their natural ears. Josiah had heard it said, but he’d never experienced it… until now.

The trembling of his body was so pronounced that he could feel the Audi shaking along with him. He didn’t know if he were causing the car to tremble, or if it were shuddering because it was scared too. Maybe he should have been rejoicing at the knowledge that God cared so much for him that He took the time to speak …
really
speak to him. But Josiah was anything but joyful. He was frightened out of his wits. It was an inexplainable fear—like none he’d ever known. If it weren’t for the trembling that he couldn’t control, Josiah would have thought he was paralyzed.

Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into an hour. That’s how long it took for Josiah to recover from the encounter. He didn’t even realize he was breathing again until a bickering couple approached the car parked beside him. They climbed in, slammed their doors shut, and then the car backed away, leaving
Josiah staring at an empty parking space. With renewed control of his limbs and a smidgen of courage, he turned around and searched the area around him.

Josiah wasn’t surprised when he didn’t see anyone. He knew that the voice he heard wasn’t from a fallible being. He swallowed in hopes of moisturizing his scorched throat, then took several deep breaths as he fumbled to get the key in the ignition. With the car cranked, he looked out at the world through the windshield. Another hour had been lost, and darkness was now beginning to engulf the city. There was less than an hour of daylight left, and it would take him twenty minutes just to get where he was headed. Josiah was tempted to use that as an excuse to shut off his engine and go back to his hotel room, but remembrance of
that voice
wouldn’t let him. God had told him to go, and that was precisely what he was going to do.

A needle in a haystack had been an understatement. The GPS had brought him to North McDonough Street, and within minutes of getting there, it was too dark to recognize much of anything. To Josiah, all of the houses and neighborhoods looked alike, and none of the street names sounded familiar. As a teenager living in the city, he hadn’t paid much attention to street names, and now it was coming back to haunt him.

Making arbitrary turns, he ended up on Trinity Place. Still unfamiliar. More driving brought him to an intersection that was busier than the others he’d seen. Cars maneuvered up and down the street in a steady stream. Candler Road. For the first time, something rang familiar to his psyche. Something about this street was recognizable, but Josiah couldn’t yet connect the dots. He drove into the business district of the road and sited restaurants that reminded him
that he hadn’t eaten in more than six hours. More driving brought him within view of gas stations, grocery stores, nightclubs and …

When Josiah abruptly slammed on brakes, the person in the car behind him pressed his horn and held it. Making a quick right turn, Josiah cleared the way for the enraged driver to go on his way, but the angry man continued to lean on his horn even as he drove away Josiah couldn’t blame him. His sudden decision to come to a stop had nearly caused an accident.

The sign for South Dekalb Mall had been the cause of Josiah’s reaction. This was clearly a landmark that he remembered from his childhood. His foster mother grumbled about shopping there, but often did so because it was convenient to the house.

Blurred snapshots flashed in and out of Josiah’s mind as he sat in the parking lot of the busy mall. His old neighborhood had to be nearby. As he recalled, it didn’t take long for them to ride from the house to the mall.

“Come on, Lord,” Josiah whispered into hands that were cupped at his lips. “You sent me here, so show me where to go.”

He sat quietly, bracing himself to hear the voice that had all but petrified him before. But he heard nothing. Only the sounds of a group of loitering teenagers who stood in the parking lot laughing and talking. They seemed to be competing in a spirited game of
let’s see which one of us can curse the most.
Their words were foul, and it all seemed to be in the name of good fun.

Sad.

Josiah shook his head as he began navigating his car back toward Candler Road. All of a sudden, this area didn’t seem to be the best one in which to park an Audi R8. Especially at this time of night.

For a few more minutes, Josiah drove aimlessly past more stores, restaurants, and gas stations. When the area began to look
less commercial and more residential, he pulled into the back lot of a large building and decided to call it a night. He’d search again tomorrow. There was no way he would find anything at this late hour.

Using his index finger, Josiah began entering the information into his GPS that would deliver him back to Stone Mountain, to the quiet comfort of his room at the Hampton Inn. Just as he completed his entry, his cell phone rang out the tune of “Stronger.”

“Hey, Craig,” he answered after seeing the name flash on the screen.

“I was waiting for you to call me,” Craig said. “You got there safe and all, right?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Just got done trying to find my old house, but didn’t have any success.”

“None?” Craig sounded like it was a personal defeat.

“Well, I found a shopping center … a mall where Mama … Mrs. Smith used to bring us to buy clothes and stuff. I know I’m not far, but it’s too dark now. I can’t see well enough to recognize the old neighborhood even if I found it. This area doesn’t seem to be the safest, so I’m throwing in the towel for night.”

“Where are you at the moment?” Now Craig sounded concerned.

“I’m pulled into a lot of some kind,” Josiah informed him. “I parked here to reset my GPS, but I’m getting ready to head back to the hotel.” He began backing out of the parking space as he spoke.

“What kind of lot are you in?”

“I don’t know, man.” Josiah was grimacing. What difference did it make?

“You need to remember it so that when you’re back out and about tomorrow or Monday … whenever you go back out again, you can recall how far you traveled on that street.”

Craig made a good point. Josiah took a look at the structure for the first time. “Oh. It’s a church,” he said. “
A
pretty big one, but I’m kinda parked in the back of it, so
I
can’t see the sign. I’m sure I’ll remember it tomorrow.” He drove toward the exit and merged on to Candler Road once again.

“So you plan to be out searching for your foster parents again tomorrow? Tomorrow is Sunday.” Craig said it like Josiah needed to be reminded. “You’re not gonna take the day off and find somewhere to worship?”

Josiah slammed on his brake pedal for the second time, and for the second time, a car behind him came to a screeching halt just before hitting his bumper, and the occupant blasted his horn in displeasure before navigating into the left lane to pass.

Josiah’s eyes were too focused on the sign posted near the edge of the road at the front of the church to even notice how close he’d again come to causing an accident. The words
KINGDOM BUILDERS CHRISTIAN CENTER
seemed to tattoo themselves onto his eyeballs.

“JT, you there?” Craig asked.

Blinking rapidly, Josiah managed to drive his car alongside the front entrance of the church parking lot and shifted into park. “Yeah … yeah, I’m here.” There had been some marked improvements made to the structure, but it was definitely the same church.

“Did you hear what
I
said?” Craig spoke again. “Are you parent hunting tomorrow, or are you gonna go to church somewhere?”

With his heart banging fervently on the walls of his chest, Josiah said, “Both.”

SUNDAY MORNING service had already begun when Josiah edged into an empty space that sandwiched his car between a silver BMW and an early model Mustang that was candy apple red all over, except for the driver’s-side door. It was black, an obvious replacement for the original. Josiah felt fortunate to spot a vacancy so close to the structure. The owner of the BMW had parked over the line, probably intentionally, with the hopes that no one parked beside it. Owners of expensive cars did that kind of thing all the time to lessen the possibility of getting dings and scratches on the precious frames of their automobile. Fitting between the two vehicles wasn’t too great of a challenge for Josiah’s coupé. He figured that the owner of the BMW wouldn’t be too upset to see the car nestled so close beside his was also a German-made showpiece.

Josiah had purposefully arrived late, hoping that doing so
would allow him to be inconspicuous in the crowd. Not that anyone here would remember him after so many years. He realized that the chances were better than good that the Smiths may no longer worship here. But if no one else remembered him, Josiah hoped that the pastor would. No doubt, Dr. Charles Loather could tell him how to get in touch with Thomas and Joanne Smith. They had been loyal members of the church for quite some time. Even if they had moved out of the city of Atlanta, or out of the state of Georgia, Josiah was sure that they wouldn’t have done so without informing Dr. Loather of their whereabouts.

Dressed in a single-breasted, charcoal grey Armani suit, Josiah climbed out of his car and used his tinted windows to check his reflection. Then he took a moment to absorb the enormity of the new improved structure that stood before him. The church itself was at least twice the size it had been when Josiah last attended. And that wasn’t including the large school that had been built on the grounds beside it.
KINGDOM BUILDERS ACADEMY
, the sign on the front of the learning center said. The property looked massive in comparison to what it had been fifteen years ago.

The overhead sun beamed down on Josiah, and after being outside his car for only a few minutes, he could feel beads of sweat forming on the top of his shaven head. The handkerchief he pulled from his pocket made quick work of absorbing the moisture.

Long strides narrowed the gap between Josiah and the front entrance of Kingdom Builders Christian Center, and when he opened the door, cool air from the air conditioner greeted him much like the air at MacGyver did every morning upon his arrival at work. It felt good.

“Welcome, and God bless you,” a greeter said, handing Josiah a church bulletin.

“Thank you.” He tried not to appear surprised. He couldn’t
remember KBCC being a multicultural church when he attended as a child.

Josiah must have looked like an outsider because the Caucasian redhead immediately handed him a visitor’s badge and said, “My name is Jill; and you are?”

“Josiah,” he responded. He offered his hand and hoped hers were clean.

She accepted his handshake and said, “As in the biblical Josiah, king of Judah?”

Shrugging, Josiah replied, “Same spelling anyway.” He didn’t know if anything else about his life and King Josiah’s could compare.

“Praise God!” Jill was far too excited. “What a blessing. Is this your first time worshiping with us?”

“Yes … I mean, no.” Sounds from inside the church diverted Josiah’s attention. The choir was singing, and their harmony was delightful to the ears. Josiah appreciated Jill’s warmth, but he longed to enter the main sanctuary. He fumbled with the buttons on his suit jacket, but never took his eyes off the woman who stood before him. “It’s been several years since I’ve been here, but I’ve been here before,” he explained.

“Good. I pray that you enjoy the service today.” Her smile showed off braces that were almost invisible. Josiah wanted to ask her who her dentist was so that he could pass along the contact information to Mickey. Jill swept an arm toward the double wooden doors. “Go right in and an usher will be more than happy to direct you to the best possible seats.”