the secretary and a dozen teachers and staff members. Through the emptiness that called out to him time and time and time again.
And through the most amazing woman he’d ever known.
But every single time he’d refused to open the door.
“People, I beg you.” Bob’s voice rang in the still air. “If you want to let Jesus into your life, into your heart, then come forward. Come here.” He motioned to a place in front of the small stage-maybe twenty feet deep, forty feet wide. A section of the street that had been roped off from the mass of people.
Dayne was breathless. Was the invitation for him too? He and Bob had shared hours of conversation. They’d talked about the women Dayne had been with and the regret he felt over the emptiness. They’d talked about Kelly’s abortion and the loss Dayne felt because of it. Dayne talked about being adopted and how he had a biological family he thought about every day.
Most of all, they’d talked about Katy Hart.
For every topic, Bob listened and lent Dayne gentle feedback, wise perspective.
When he told Bob he thought he was in love with Katy and that maybe she was the only reason he was feeling strangely out of sorts, Bob simply tilted his head and said, “If she’s all that’s eating at you, why aren’t you in Bloomington?”
Touche.
Now … with the air cooling around him and against the background of people weeping over the years they’d spent alone without God, the truth was as obvious as the sound in his own heartbeat. The sound of someone knocking.
God, is this invitation for me too? Right here … now?
My precious son … I have drawn you with an everlasting love.
The words echoed in his soul, in the places around his heart. Dayne gulped.
Okay, so maybe the invitation was for him, but if so … he should do something about it in private. Back at Bob’s house.
Or maybe not.
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Bob was explaining how people could come from either side where there was a break in the roped-off area. “Come now, friends. Jesus wants to come into your heart. He wants to stay with you; He wants to walk with you. He wants to live in your soul starting right here, right now.”
A man with a guitar took the spot to the side of Bob and began to play. The sound was familiar, a hymn they’d sung a million times back in boarding school.
The words were in Spanish, and they filled the air. After a few seconds Dayne recognized the song. “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound-that saved a wretch like me! …”
And it was on that note, with that part of the song, that Dayne felt himself crack. His eyes flooded, and tears spilled onto his cheeks.
From all over the crowd in the street, people were heading to the stage, falling to their knees, and crying out to God.
“That’s right,” Bob was saying. “Let God in, people. Don’t wait.”
Without thinking another minute, Dayne stood and joined the flow of people. Not one person gave him a second glance. Dayne Matthews wasn’t the famous one how, not with all of eternity on the line. That place belonged to God and God alone.
The God Dayne had spent a lifetime hiding from.
His chest hurt as he made his way closer, and he realized why. A lifetime of rust and decay had built up around the door of his heart. As long as he left the door closed, he could hide from the pain, deny the bad choices and emptiness of his life. But now-as he opened it to Jesus for the first time-it hurt.
But nothing had ever felt better or more right in his entire life.
Finally he made his way to the front of the stage. There for the first time since the beginning of his movie career, he wasn’t Dayne Matthews. He was a guy who’d been alone and lost for most of his life, one of these hundreds of people desperate for a Savior. As he dropped to his knees, as he silently cried out to 212
Jesus and begged Him to come through the open door into his heart, into his life, he felt something he’d never felt before.
His heart was complete, and that could mean only one thing: the hole was gone.
As he knelt on that broken asphalt street in Mexico City, Dayne recalled everything rotten and wrong about his life and he gave it to God. He asked, as he’d done one time before, for forgiveness. But this time he went one step further. He asked for salvation. Redemption.
After a few minutes, Bob led them through a prayer.
When it was over, when God had filled Dayne with a peace he’d never known, and when his tears had washed away all traces of doubt or distrust, he looked around. Rosa was praying with a group of women, and after a few minutes of looking, he found Bob.
As their eyes met, Dayne could see how happy his friend looked. “You saw me down there, didn’t you?”
“No.” Bob’s eyes widened. “So you did it? You finally let Him in?”
“I did.” Dayne clenched his teeth and stared up at the sky. He could feel the tears again, but he didn’t want to cry. Not now. Maybe not ever again. “I’ve never felt like this in all my life.”
“I knew it.” The intensity from earlier was gone, and in its place was a joy that spilled from Bob’s eyes. “I didn’t have to see you. I knew you’d come.” He gave Dayne the sort of hug they’d shared at the airport. “Finally, brother.
Finally.” Bob pulled back and raised his fist in the air. “Thank You, God!”
The celebration felt as right as Dayne’s next breath.
“Hey, Dayne …” Bob looked at him, his expression intense once more.
“Remember when 1 told you I was praying for you?”
Dayne wanted to shout. He felt so good inside that he couldn’t keep from grinning. “I remember.”
“This, man-” he spread his hands out, indicating the street 213
ministry, the atmosphere, and most of all the change in Dayne- “I prayed for it to happen just like this.”
“Amazing.” Dayne could hardly wait to move forward, to get home and call Katy and get back into his Bible and find a church where he could understand the faith that drove everyone who mattered to him. But he had a question first.
“It’s a street ministry, right?”
“Right.” Bob hesitated, as if he figured that much was obvious. “It’s leveled right at the people on the street. People who believe in God but who never knew they could begin a relationship with Him.”
“Okay…” Dayne had wondered this the whole time Bob was at the podium. “So how come you gave your talk in English?”
Bob’s expression changed. Even in the dark of nightfall, the color clearly faded from his face. “What do you mean?”
“Your talk.” Dayne searched his friend’s face, looking for signs that old Bob Asher was pulling a practical joke. There were none. Dayne’s voice fell. “The whole time, Asher. It was in English. I understood every word.”
At that instant, Rosa walked up, breathless. Her cheeks were tearstained, but her eyes glowed-much like Bob’s. She said something to her husband in Spanish, and then she grinned at Dayne. “Good you! You give life to Christ, yes?”
“Yes, Rosa. Thank you.” Dayne wanted to finish the conversation with Bob. What had caused his expression to change? And why the shock in his eyes?
Rosa took a step closer to Dayne. “I see you come. I see …” She made a frustrated sound, as if she couldn’t find the right words. She turned to Bob and rattled something off in Spanish.
Dayne was confused, trying to make sense of whatever was being said. He looked from Rosa to Bob. “What’d she tell you?”
Bob swallowed, the shock in his face stronger than before. “She said … she was surprised you came, surprised you could 214
make out what I was saying.” He paused, unblinking. “She says she didn’t know you understood Spanish.”
“What? That’s … that couldn’t be.” Bob Asher had given his entire talk in Spanish? Is that what Rosa meant?
Bob was nodding. “It’s true, man. Not a word of English the whole time.”
The ground beneath Dayne suddenly felt unstable. That was impossible. He had sat in the chair off to the side and listened to the whole thing. Every word had been as clear asUnderstanding came over him like a torrential rain.
Dayne felt overwhelmed, awed. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but ponder what had happened. The God who had called him all his life, the God who had met him this very night on a street in the heart of Mexico City, wasn’t only his Savior and Lord. He was God Almighty, ruler of the universe. Bigger than anything Dayne could fathom. The one who had found him wasn’t only the God who would bring wholeness and meaning to his existence, the God who would lead him into a new life in Christ, a changed life. God was something else too. Something Dayne hadn’t thought about until just an hour earlier.
He was the God of miracles.
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Tornado warnings were in effect for counties south of Bloomington. Rain beat on the windshield as John Baxter drove to the Indianapolis airport early this afternoon. He had already called ahead to see if his kids’ planes were delayed.
They weren’t. Apparently the weather south and east of Bloomington was more stable.
The tornado warnings didn’t worry John. The forecast showed the storms heading farther north. Besides, the news he had to tell his kids tomorrow concerned him much more than any bad weather.
He and Elaine had taken a walk down to the creek yesterday. They were spending more time together-though it wasn’t a fact he’d shared with any of his children.
“It’s time, John.” Elaine had stopped and shaded her eyes with her hand. “Isn’t that what you decided?”
No matter what he’d told Ashley, he hadn’t made up his mind. Not yet. He slipped his hands into his pants pockets and stared at the tallest tree on the other side of the creek. “I keep thinking
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I should wait.” A sigh came from the anxious places in his s “Maybe Dayne will write or call.” He looked at Elaine. ” news would be so much easier to hear if we knew Dayne wai to meet us. Don’t you think?”
Elaine hadn’t said anything. She didn’t have to. As their frit ship had developed, one of the things John appreciated r. about her was the way she didn’t rush into conversation. Inst she let her eyes, her quietness act as a mirror. At the creek yes day, much like other times, he could sense the right answer.
By the time they returned to the house, he’d made his d sion.
John glanced in his rearview mirror now. Ashley and ( were in their van right behind him. They would need both v cles to bring the group and their luggage back to the Ba house. Luke and Reagan and their two kids would go home \ Ashley.
Erin, Sam, and the girls would ride with him in the Brooke had lent him. Kari and Ryan were at the house, get dinner ready for after their arrival.
“Everything’ll be all set when you get here.” Kari had ki; his cheek as he left half an hour ago. “It’s going to be the week of the whole year.”
John wasn’t so sure.
It was the first day of the Baxter reunion, and he was sti gling. The radio was off, the silence welcoming. With all praying John had been doing, he hoped maybe God would sp to him on the ride to the airport, give him wisdom about 1 exactly to handle the news he needed to share tomorrow.
The day he would tell the rest of his kids about their o brother.
Two weeks had passed since he’d sent Dayne the letter photos via the studio, and with no word, John could only assi the worst. Dayne’s agent was right. The oldest Baxter son was a Baxter but a movie star. America owned Dayne Matthews, in the mix of people guarding his career and shaping his im 217
no one was willing to allow for something so crazy and unsettling as Dayne meeting his birth family.
John squinted at the road ahead. It was raining harder than before. God, I’m struggling. I want all five of my kids to enjoy this time, to celebrate being together. I don’t want anything to change between us because of… of Dayne.
He heard no answer, but a Scripture flashed in his mind: Philippians 4:6-7-verses he and Elizabeth had memorized early in their marriage: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
He let it run through his head a few times, and the promised peace filled his heart-the way it did every time he thought about the Scripture. He forced a smile and drew a long breath. Worrying about tomorrow wouldn’t make it any easier. And in little more than an hour he was going to meet his granddaughter Malin for the first time, the precious child Luke and Reagan had adopted from China.
Okay, God … I get it. Let me enjoy today. In fact, let Your presence be with us tonight, Lord, so that every one of us knows You’re there in our midst.
He checked on Ashley in his rearview mirror again. Yes, this afternoon, this evening would be amazing, no doubt. And tomorrow… well, like the Bible said, tomorrow could take care of itself.
The rain had stopped, so Ashley barely noticed the gathering dark clouds. She and her dad had talked about the storms earlier. Everything was supposed to hit north of Bloomington. Besides, they were used to this. April was always stormy in Indiana. It was four in the afternoon when Ashley pulled her full van 218
into the Baxter driveway and found her regular parking spot. The excitement in the vehicle was fever pitch. Luke was sitting in the seat beside her, and in the back Reagan sat next to baby Malin strapped in her car seat. In the last row, Cole was buckled in beside nearly three-year-old Tommy. The two cousins had kept up a steady conversation the entire trip.
In the front, Ashley and Luke had done the same thing, and already Ashley felt like her brother had never left.
Luke peered through the windshield at the Baxter house. “Doesn’t ever change, does it?”
“Nope.” Ashley’s heart sang within her. They would all be together! She only wished she could’ve had her baby the month before, instead of after the reunion.
That way she might’ve gotten around a little easier.
“Hey, Ash-” Luke grinned at her-“you look great. Really. I know I told you at the airport, but you do.”
“Thanks.” She pursed her lips and blew out. “I feel like a house on legs.”