Brink of Chaos

  Kingston had planned to fly back to New York, but he had cancelled his flight. He needed to stay in Israel for the time being. First, because he had journalistic responsibility. And second, because he had to sort out some things in his own head. If that was possible. And he wasn’t sure it was.

  In Tel Aviv, Ethan was now approaching Joshua’s high-rise apartment. He was so deep in thought he had momentarily forgotten which street he was on. He had to stop and look around. Then he reoriented himself. The apartment building was a half block away.

  His Allfone rang. It was Rivka. She sounded subdued. “Hello, friend.”

  “Hi.”

  “How are you feeling? Confused, I bet.”

  “Confused? That doesn’t begin to explain it. I’m a mess, Riv.”

  “I know,” she said with a soft kind of regret, “I am so sorry about losing Josh.”

  “Yeah, well, I can’t think straight right now. But what you said — ‘losing Josh’? I’m not sure about that … not exactly.”

  “Ethan …”

  “Well, did he die? Or didn’t he? What happened, really?”

  “Ethan, Josh’s fighter plane was struck by a missile.”

  “I’m a pilot, Rivka. I know some things about flying. The sensors in the cockpit of Josh’s F-35 LV indicated that his body had evacuated the cabin — yet the canopy on that jet was never blown. The ejection seat was never activated. The ground crew found bits of his flight suit in the wreckage. But no signs of human remains. Not a single trace of his DNA. You explain that …”

  “You know what happens when a jet explodes,” she said. There was regret in her voice, certainly, but also persistence. “Everything burns up. Everything.”

  “Not everything. There’s always a human trace. Even a small one. But here, there was nothing. Zero. Zilch.”

  “Okay, Ethan, I know you’re upset,” she said.

  He could tell she was placating him. Maybe that was okay, but he wasn’t in the mood. Ethan was not going to let it drop. “Then what about Abby and Cal and Deborah? The IDF rounded up the terror cell that was responsible for tying them up in that school in the Negev and making them the target for the bio-warhead. But then the Israeli special ops guys located the school — you know what they found? Three empty chairs, some loose rope, and a pile of clothes. Whoosh. The rest of the Jordan family had disappeared. And then there are all those reports about the millions of other people who disappeared …”

  Rivka changed topics abruptly. “I thought maybe we could catch some dinner together. Give you a chance to talk.”

  “I’m talking right now,” he said, as he stood in front of Joshua’s apartment tower. “But you’re not listening.” After a pause, Ethan settled down. “Sorry. Don’t mean to make you the bad guy.”

  “That’s okay. Anyway, you’re right. I’m not one of the bad guys. Those would be the guys who were trying to blow your head off while you were driving an armored car down the streets in Nablus.”

  “Right,” Ethan replied, trying to stay focused. “And I guess I never got the chance to thank you for shooting straight and keeping me alive back there. So thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it. Besides, you had the tougher job. You had to play the sitting duck. Not me.”

  Ethan strode up the steps to the front door of the residential tower. “Listen, I’ll get back to you. We’ll make plans, okay?” he said to Rivka, tenderly, before they ended the call. “I want to sit down with you. Have a long talk. But only after I’ve cleared some things up in my own head first.”

  They said good-bye and agreed to meet the next day.

  Ethan stood at the front door of Joshua’s apartment tower and pushed the security pad. After it buzzed, he identified himself. The security guard at the desk let him in.

  “Morning, Mr. March. So sorry about Colonel Jordan.”

  Ethan gave a slow shrug. “Me too.”

  “You would like to see, maybe, his personal effects?”

  “I thought maybe I’d check out his place. I’m really not sure why I’m here.”

  “I think that Colonel Jordan must have figured you out pretty well, yes?”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He left instructions.”

  “What kind?”

  “A sealed note. Left with manager. Some time ago. To be opened in the event of ‘unexplained absence or suspicious disappearance.’ His orders. So, with what happened yesterday, we decided that … hope you don’t mind, but we felt we should open the envelope.”

  Ethan bristled. Man, these guys didn’t even wait forty-eight hours.

  He waited for the rest of the story.

  “So,” the desk manager said, “he left this.” And with that he handed him a small key.

  “What’s this for?”

  “Safety deposit box of Colonel Jordan. Here in the building. His note said to give this to you. That’s all.”

  Ethan fingered the key, then asked where the box was. The desk manager led him to the second floor and into the room with the safety-deposit boxes. Ethan inserted the key and opened the little metal door. There was only one thing waiting for him. A DVD player.

  The manager gave him the key to Joshua’s apartment, and Ethan walked inside with the portable video pad. It was a strange feeling, knowing that Joshua was gone. But where? That was the question. He noticed that there was a half-filled cup of coffee on the kitchen counter that Joshua hadn’t finished. Probably fixed himself some coffee predawn, just before heading out to the airbase for what would be his last mission.

  Ethan chuckled a little at that. Hey, Josh, I thought Abby got you off coffee and onto tea.

  But the smile faded quickly as Ethan plunked down on the couch. He had never felt so utterly alone. A jumble of crazy thoughts ran through his head. For a guy who always felt he needed to control his future, Ethan was facing a bizarre, uncertain life ahead. Josh, who was not just his boss and mentor, but who had also become his friend, had just vanished into thin air. Along with his entire family. They had become a second family to him. Though he never expected things to turn out like this, especially after Deborah had broken things off.

  Suddenly, Ethan was aware of the vibration of his Allfone. He plucked it out of his pocket. It was an incoming email. He touched the screen and opened it up. A text message from “Jimmy Louder.”

  “Huh,” Ethan mumbled. He hadn’t heard from the Air Force captain since the aftermath of his rescue from North Korea. Ethan had the chance to greet him at South Korean HQ after the mission. But only very briefly. Then the Air Force whisked him back to the United States for debriefing and a return to his wife and kids.

  But Ethan wasn’t in a mood to read it. Not now. He had something much more important to do. He waved his finger over the On tab of Joshua’s video player. The screen lit up. He touched the Forward button.

  What he saw next made him jump a little.

  It was Joshua’s face filling up the screen, looking straight at him.

  “Ethan, if you’re looking at this right now, I’m off the planet, my friend. And you’ve been left behind. I didn’t want that for you. But that’s the way it is. I told you that I felt that the timeline was short, that Jesus would be mustering his army of followers pretty soon, that world events were rushing to a climax. So, I’m up there. And you’re still down here.”

  “Whoa,” Ethan muttered. This was heavy. Ethan immediately hit Pause on the video pad and caught his breath. He waited several minutes before he hit Resume on the control.

  When Ethan started the video again, Joshua walked him through what he called the “half-time coach’s chalk-talk.” Starting with the basics, once again, about who Jesus was, why He came to earth, why He died, what His death accomplished for the sins of mankind, the proof of His divinity by rising from the grave. And how Ethan needed to confess and believe those things and personally receive the person of Christ as Savior and Lord.

  Ethan had heard it all before. Ever since his “salvation event,” as Joshua c
alled his Iranian jail experience, he would drum it into Ethan every chance he got. But now, it was different. Ethan couldn’t avoid it. Couldn’t dismiss it either. Too much had happened for him to play games. Like the miraculous disappearance of Josh and his entire family — raptured away from the earth, it seemed — just like Josh had said, the way the Bible had predicted it would happen.

  Joshua’s face on the screen leaned forward just a bit. Ethan stared back. For that instant, it seemed almost as if a holographic, three-dimensional image of Joshua was there in the room with him.

  No, Ethan thought to himself, even more real than that. As Joshua spoke, Ethan sensed that what he was hearing now was the truest thing that ever existed.

  “Let’s start with the facts,” Joshua said. “Jesus died on a cross in Jerusalem. Now Ethan, I don’t know where you are right now as you are listening and watching this, but maybe you are still in Israel. The landmarks of the miraculous life of Jesus the Christ, the Promised One, are all over the Galilee and Jerusalem. I’ve shown you many of them myself. But just knowing that isn’t enough. You need to face up to your status as a sinner, a man who has fallen short of God’s design for you, just as I had to do. You and I are alike in many ways, you know. Including this — when we measure up our lives with the specs of God’s moral plan for us, we know that we’ve blown it. Time and time again.”

  Ethan nodded at that, even though he was humbled to think of himself in the same category as his mentor. But there it was, the plain fact that Ethan — headstrong, both ruthlessly sure of himself at times and yet, beneath it all, also insecure as well — now had to face up to the same reality that Joshua had.

  “Okay,” Ethan said. “I got it. I guess I can’t deny it. Proud. Selfish. Arrogant at times. Always looking out for myself. I could go on and on … yeah …”

  But then something happened. Ethan was no longer addressing the image on the screen. He knew that what he had to say had to be said to God Himself, and to His Son Jesus.

  Ethan’s voice trembled. “Okay, God, yes. I admit I’m a sinner.”

  On the screen, Joshua kept talking, “Jesus didn’t just die on the cross, Ethan. He was the sinless Son of God, willingly dying on the cross for your sins. Yours, Ethan. The same as mine. As the perfect sacrifice — the only sacrifice that would satisfy God’s perfect sense of justice.”

  “Yes, God,” Ethan murmured. “I know that’s true. For some time I’ve been convinced of that, down deep, but I just didn’t want to come out with it … until now … which I guess makes me a kind of coward …” Ethan’s voice was beginning to crack.

  “And then,” Joshua continued, “to prove to the whole world that He was God in the flesh, Jesus defied the grave and walked out of that tomb three days later …”

  “Yes,” Ethan said. His eyes were cloudy now. Moist with tears. “I remember the stories. Jesus raised others from death. He was God. Walking around, right here in Israel. Looking out for other folks. Never for Himself … Perfect … Of course Jesus rose from the grave …”

  Joshua added, “And the only remaining thing, after acknowledging all of that, is to open your heart, invite Christ in, as Lord and Savior …”

  “Don’t know why,” Ethan said, breaking down once more, “why, oh God, why You’d want Your Son to live inside of a guy like me, selfish, scheming, lying …”

  Ethan was weeping, his head in his hands. “But God, I’m asking if Jesus could come into my heart. Right now … Savior and Lord. No more escape plans for me … no more dodging it, trying to weasel out of it … no, Sir. Please, Jesus, come into me …”

  Reaching out through his tears, Ethan hit the Pause button once again. He sat for a while in silence, not knowing how much time had passed.

  Finally he asked a question out loud.

  “Okay, Ethan … now what?”

  He found himself staring at the ugly shag carpet on the floor of Joshua’s little Tel Aviv apartment, and he couldn’t help but laugh loudly at Joshua’s bad taste in carpeting.

  That’s why you needed Abby — she always was a better interior decorator.

  Right then, sitting on the couch in Josh’s apartment, Ethan was able to reflect. He was beginning to figure something out. Like why Joshua had invested so much into him. Keeping him close. Talking endlessly about preparation. Yes, as it turned out, Joshua had figured Ethan out pretty well. Joshua must have known he would probably miss the first train when it came roaring past, and after the rapture he would be left back on the platform of the station with the rest of the human race.

  He hit Resume.

  Joshua’s face appeared again. And what he had to say was hard and tough to hear. But Ethan wanted it all, the good and the bad. And that’s what he got.

  “Ethan, I hope you’ve accepted Jesus Christ into your heart. If so, you’ve been born again. So now, what you have to do next will be up to you. The world is about to start exploding around you. The forces of hell are going to be mounted against you. I guarantee it. That’s what you’re up against.”

  Then the image of Joshua’s face on the screen broke into the kind of smile that Ethan recognized. Some people might even think it was a look that was a little brash on the surface. But Ethan knew better. Deep down Joshua had been a man who simply knew who he was and what he had to do.

  “In the beginning you’ll feel pretty much alone, Ethan. You’ll have to stand strong.” Joshua said, “I’ll walk you through things in this video log as much as I can. But that’s just the start. After a while you’ll be able to handle things on your own. You’ll be able to decipher for yourself what God has already described about the last dark night of the world that is coming, even if you can’t see it yet, because you’ll have His road map. So when the very worst comes — when the enemy tries to cripple you and destroy you, there won’t be any surprises.”

  Ethan had been bracing himself, but now he muttered back to the screen, “Hey, Josh, thanks for the good news.”

  On the screen, an ever-widening grin spread over Joshua’s face. It was the look of a man who had been gripped with an amazing story, and because he knew down to his soul that it was all true, he couldn’t wait to tell it.

  “But listen, Ethan, it’s not all gloom and doom. There’s the rest of the story, and it’s magnificent. I’m going to share that with you too. Just wait until I tell you exactly what’s going to happen at the end. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’m going to lay this out for you. The same as if you were being given a pre-mission flight check. But, Ethan, this is going to require that you take each step as a walk of faith.”

  Ethan found himself nodding at the screen. “Okay, Josh. What you got for me?”

  Joshua’s image continued to speak. “You need to know two things. First, I believe in my heart that God has picked you to shake things up down there on earth. To help lead an incredible, worldwide spiritual revival. There’s still hope for folks down there. And you’re the one to tell them that.”

  Ethan shook his head. “Oh, man. Are you sure you’ve got the right guy, Josh?”

  “Second thing, Ethan,” Joshua continued. “You may feel alone, but you’re not. God will bring you into contact with an army of people who are ready to claim Christ for themselves — and to stand fast against the darkness. Against the Evil One. The hideous force that will temporarily be running things down there. You need to start searching for fellow compatriots to help you with this mission.”

  Ethan hit the Pause button, shook his head, and spoke out loud. “And where am I supposed to find them?” He thought about that for a few minutes. Joshua’s words walk of faith rang in his ears.

  “Okay, God,” Ethan said. “Where do I start?” Then there was another minute of thinking. That is when Ethan became aware of his Allfone that he had put back in his pocket. He pulled it out and flipped it open. Then he hit the Display button for Captain Louder’s email that he had received just minutes earlier. Ethan began to read it. It said:

  Ethan — Captain Jimmy Lo
uder here. I wanted to connect with Joshua Jordan. But things being as they are — I guess that isn’t in the cards now. So I’d like to talk to you. If you’re still here, that is. It’s about something that Josh had told me during the rescue over in North Korea. And a few things too that my grandfather used to tell me. Why do I get the feeling that things in this old world are never going to be the same? I think I know what is going on, and I want to make sure that I line up with the right side on all of this. Time to make some mission-critical decisions. Can we talk? Here’s my cell number, and you’ve already got my email …”

  Ethan March smiled. Then he laughed out loud and kept laughing. It felt good to let loose. Yes, Ethan decided, in a little while, right after finishing the video message from Joshua, he would make contact with Jimmy Louder. Maybe he would be his very first partner in his new mission.

  Things were already happening quickly. For a guy who had always maintained an outward bravado while inwardly grappling with the fear of losing control — whether it was pitching a fastball, keeping a girlfriend, or flying the newest Air Force fighter — Ethan realized that he had now chosen a different path. A few minutes ago he had just told God that it would be God, not Ethan, who would be in charge of his life and directing the trajectory. If that was true, then his future was strangely settled, even if he didn’t know exactly what that meant or what his life was going to look like.

  Yet somewhere inside, Ethan already felt a newfound sense of certainty, as if he were about to launch a flight into the turbulent center of something dark, dangerous, and unfamiliar. But he was okay with that. Only this time there would be no computerized flight deck in front of him. And while it might be his hand grasping the side-stick in the cockpit, Ethan was already sensing that it would be the power of God within him that would have to control the flight pattern.

  So he returned to the video player and hit the Resume button again. The image of Joshua’s face came to life again on the screen. When that happened, Ethan spoke out loud from a heart that had been humbled, yet his voice was also decisive and immovable, like chiseled rock.