“In that moment I had to make a decision. I could go to you, talk to Luke, and pull you aside, tell you who I was. But the photographers would have captured every moment of it. Within a week, the entire story would have been splashed across the front pages of every tabloid in the country.”
Slowly, like the sunshine after a thunderstorm, understanding dawned on John’s face. His expression grew serious, troubled.
“I saw that one of your grandchildren was in a special wheelchair, that she was handicapped, and I wondered about the rest of them. I know a lot about you. And if I can find out the dirt, so can they.”
John was intrigued now. “What, Dayne? What do you know?”
He didn’t have to think about it. The information was deep in 322
tart, woven into the fabric of all he knew to be true about ^eople he considered family. “I know about Kari’s husband avl\g an affair with a student and how he was shot and killed y a college kid on steroids. 1 know about Peter’s brush with Pain-pill addiction and his stint in recovery. And 1 know about ay’ey’s near-drowning accident. Two of your kids had babies ou of wedlock-Ashley and Luke-and Erin struggled with m Utility until she and Sam adopted.”
J bhn looked as if he might topple off the park bench. “How in e world could you … ?” He wasn’t angry, just amazed. The 1 ^rmation wasn’t something even he had probably ever put 0^fether in one sentence.
bayne raised his brow. “Even you and Elizabeth had your secrets.” He gave his father a sad smile. “Right?”
Two birds landed not far from them and took turns tugging at aXrm.
John put his arm on the back of the bench again. “So you’re ^ing all that information could become public knowledge.” “No.” Dayne gave a sad laugh. “It would become public \owledge. The tabloids are ruthless. I promise you, they’d want erything they could find on the birth family of someone like me.”
“So-” a greater understanding seemed to be filling John nbw-“you didn’t contact us because you wanted to spare us *W scrutiny.”
“You’re private people. People who love God and family and who have stuck together when times weren’t easy.” Dayne’s voice \as thick with emotion. He begged God that his birth father night understand. “I wanted to meet you so badly. But 1 didn’t ^hink it was fair. I couldn’t put you in that kind of limelight.”
John exhaled long and tired, in a way that sounded as if it Vame from deep inside him. “I guess 1 never thought about it.” He scanned the grounds, the parking lot. “Did they follow you this time?”
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“No. I’m smarter now.” He gave John a crooked grin. “More careful.”
“Then … couldn’t you meet our family, be a part of us, and keep it a secret?”
It was the obvious question, the one even Dayne had wrestled with. “We might be able to pull it off at first, but it would get out. The tabs don’t miss much.”
Dayne’s voice fell a little. “Can I aska question?”
“Yes.”
“How come only Ashley knows about me? Why … why haven’t you told the others?”
“Ashley found a letter your mother wrote to you before she died. She … she had written Firstborn on the envelope, and Ashley thought it was for Brooke. She took it, forgot about it and a week later she read it.”
Dayne couldn’t help but smile. “Ashley’s a spunky sort, isn’t she?”
John grinned. “You could say that.” He stared at the sky and gave a sad shake of his head, his grin fading. “We had a family reunion this past week. Did you know that?”
“No.” Dayne felt his heart sink. Why was it always this way? He showed up just in time to know there would not be a meeting with his family. There couldn’t be a meeting. He hid his disappointment. “I prayed for you … the day of the tornadoes.”
John blinked and stared at Dayne. “You… you prayed for us?’
“Yes.” He smiled, warmed by the memory of his recent decision. “I have a friend here. Katy Hart. She gave me a Bible and that led me to Mexico City-where my old boarding-school buddy is a missionary. It happened recently. Right after yoi mailed me the letter.” Dayne could feel his eyes glowing. “I gave my life to the Lord, the way I should’ve done years ago.”
John took hold of Dayne’s shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Elizabeth always knew you’d make that decision one
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day.” He looked deeply at him. “I’m happy for you, Dayne. Choosing Christ will change your life.”
“I know. I can already tell.” He still wanted an answer to his earlier question.
“So the others, if they were all together last week, why didn’t you tell them?”
“I was going to, hut Ashley went into early labor and had a baby. The night of the tornadoes, of all things.”
“Wow.” Dayne hung on every word, every bit of update about his siblings. “I didn’t know that.”
“But really, I didn’t want to tell them because of what your agent said. He told me you wanted nothing to do with us.” John shrugged, his smile lost in a surge of defeat. “How could I tell them that they have a brother they never knew about, but he wants nothing to do with them?”
“You’ll be happy to know something.” Dayne cocked his head.
“What’s that?”
“I fired my agent yesterday.”
John laughed. “Sounds like a good call.”
Dayne looked at his watch. “I have to leave in fifteen minutes. 1 only had today to make this happen.” He hated the thought of leaving now. Especially when he hadn’t seen Katy and wouldn’t have time to see her. “I couldn’t go another day letting you think 1 didn’t want contact with you. This town, all of you …
Katy. I’d leave everything in Hollywood tomorrow for this life if I didn’t think it would hurt all of you in the process.” He thought some more. “That, and the five movies I’m still under contract to make in the next few years.”
“I… I had no idea.” He covered Dayne’s hand with his own. “Wouldn’t that be something?”
They were quiet for a minute, each of them processing all that had gone on this afternoon.
Finally John stood. “You have to go. Let me walk you back to your car, Dayne.
And let’s both pray about what lies ahead.”
Dayne rose and walked beside his father. They talked about 325
John’s career as a doctor and how Dayne’s life was spent running from photographers. Dayne felt the connection, the bond between them. There was an easy rhythm to the way they were together-something that made it feel as if they’d known each other their entire lives.
When they reached the car, John stopped and faced him. “You have no idea the peace, the hope you’ve given me today, Dayne. I’ve longed for this from the first minute Elizabeth told me about you.”
“I wish…” Dayne looked down at the ground. With the toe of his shoe he kicked at a loose bit of gravel. “I wish her parents would’ve understood.”
John’s eyes welled up. “Me too.”
They thanked each other for coming, and they each promised to pray.
Dayne felt the pain in his heart and knew it would only get worse when he drove off. In some ways, this goodbye reminded him of his adoptive parents, catching stolen moments between flights and never really having enough time with each other. Dayne stepped back and studied John’s eyes. “I want more than this.”
Then, without any pretense, John put his hand on Dayne’s shoulder and began talking to the God they both believed in. “Lord, I bring You my firstborn, my oldest son.” His voice cracked, and when he found the words, there were tears in his voice. “Fame and celebrity aren’t real, God. So please… show us a way around the snares that seem set for us. Give us a way to be a family. We beg You, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
With that, they hugged one last time, and Dayne climbed into his rented car and drove away. The tears came then, and he didn’t stop them. But for the first time when it came to the Baxters, they weren’t tears for all he’d missed, all he’d lost along the journey of life. They were tears of longing, because he had found his father and just as fast, he had no choice but to say goodbye.
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He had to find a way out of Hollywood. He didn’t belong there, not anymore. Life wouldn’t be right again until he could come back to Bloomington without hiding, without watching the clock and always rushing back to the airport.
As his tears dried on his cheeks, as he watched Bloomington disappear in his rearview mirror, Dayne realized something remarkable. Here and now, he had found something else, something besides his father. Something he hadn’t even known was missing.
He had found his way home.
327 A WORD FROM KAREN KINGSBURY
Dear reader Friends,
Okay, so yes, this book has been a long time coming. There were weeks and months in the past year when I kept wondering how in the world my schedule had gotten so jam-packed and how I could’ve let this book fall so far down the list of things demanding my attention.
The obvious answer, of course, is that my publisher-Tyndale-asked me to take a break from the Firstborn series to write Divine. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, I hope you will. It’s a story about a modern-day Mary Magdalene, a woman who was so thoroughly saved from such great evil that her Rescuer could only have been one truly divine. It’s a story that defends the divinity of Christ at a time when so many other sources are calling His true nature into question.
Anyway, even in the midst of asking God to help me handle that amazing challenge, I was aching to get back to my friends in Bloomington. I could hardly believe I’d left Dayne with a Bible and a hundred questions about God or John Baxter with the phone number of a PI and little else in the quest to find his son.
I feel much better now.
Isn’t there something wonderful about the word foundl It implies that something was lost-something or someone. But now, everything’s okay. That’s the beauty of being found. While I took Dayne down the journey of finding Christ, of allowing God to find him, I thought about my own life-the lives of the people I love.
What would my life be like if someone hadn’t prayed for me, if my husband hadn’t taken the time to show me God’s Word? I might be writing books; I might even be selling a lot of copies. But I would be completely and utterly lost without Jesus.
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We are all lost until we meet Christ, aren’t we?
In a discussion with our kids the other day, one of them said something sort of blunt. “All roads lead to hell except Jesus.” The sound of that sentence set us back for a minute. It had a harsh sound to it. The room fell silent as we pondered that thought. But just as quickly we came to realize the truth in it.
There are many good people in this world. Many roads that seem fruitful and successful. People on those roads may have found their motivation in great works or charity, in helping people or succeeding at something wonderful. There are athletes and lawyers and businessmen and mothers, artists and singers and teachers and students-all going about their business in a way that seems pleasant enough.
It’s not often that we take another look and realize that for every one of them-for every one of us-the life that has us getting up each morning, smiling and succeeding and returning to our beds at night-is a road that leads nowhere without Jesus.
That was something Dayne had to figure out.
He thought maybe his emptiness came from his loneliness, from wild relationships, and from the loss of his first child. He wondered if maybe Katy Hart or the Baxters would somehow make him feel whole. And while those were wonderful possibilities, the truth for Dayne is the same truth for us. Wholeness is always and only found in finding that relationship with Jesus.
I guess the thing that stayed with me as I wrote Found was this-we need to pray for the people in our lives who haven’t yet found their hope in Christ. Dayne had people praying for him. Katy Hart, John Baxter, Bob Asher, and even Ashley-who still doesn’t know his name but prays for him anyway.
There is power in prayer, power enough to move mountains or give someone a miraculous translation when the message that would change their life is being spoken in Spanish. By the way, I used that miracle in this story because when I was a reporter, I did a story on a girl who was drowning in a wind-tossed lake.
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Her rescuer spoke only Spanish, but she heard everything he said and understood it.
Because she heard it in English.
, Our God wants a relationship with us, and He’s willing to make miracles happen to turn our heads, to make us finally see that He’s been there all the while-waiting for us to find Him.
So be encouraged. If you or someone you love hasn’t found the One who will make life whole and complete, don’t give up. Keep praying. God wants us all to come to a saving knowledge of Him-and until we do, He wants us to pray. Please know that I’m praying for you also. If you’re not sure how to find Jesus, get ahold of a Bible and read the book of John in the New Testament. Using the yellow pages, find a Christian church-one that teaches only what the Bible teaches.
Nothing more, nothing less. As it was with Dayne, so it is with every one of us.
God is waiting … there’s no time like now to make this decision.
Deep breath. You won’t believe what I’m off to do.
Between hugs and kisses and time spent with my kids and my husband, I’m starting work on Family tomorrow morning! I promised I’d bring you this series in quick installments-and this one was hardly quick. But the next one will be released this fall if all goes well. I can’t wait. Only God will be able to get the Baxters and Dayne and Katy Hart through the challenges of the coming two books.
By the way, I’d love to hear from you. Stop by my new Web site at www.KarenKingsbury.com and see what’s coming up or use it as a place to meet other readers and book clubs. You can also leave prayer requests or take on the responsibility of praying for people. So often people ask me what ministry they might be good at-especially if they’re home a lot or not able to get out. Prayer is a very important ministry. Remember, it was prayer that turned things around for Dayne. Your prayers could be crucial in the lives of someone else, someone God is calling you to lift to Him in prayer.
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Thanks so much for sharing in this journey, the journey of the Baxter family. I pray that God is using the power of story to touch and change your life, the way He uses it in mine.