Chapter 30 Zach
Zach
Zach shook his head as he drove toward the cabin in the woods. Smoke billowed from the chimney, drifting slowly around the bare branches above it. “I can’t believe you kept this from me.”
Lauren scoffed from the passenger seat. “I didn’t keep it from you. It was a surprise.”
“Those are the same. I really had no idea I was renovating this cabin to be a church.”
Lauren clapped her hands in front of her chest. “Surprise!”
Three other trucks were parked in front of the cabin, and Bella paced on the front porch, bouncing Ariana in her arms. She waved, then stuck her head inside, probably to let everyone know the heathen was arriving.
Lauren waved back. “Thank you for giving this a shot. It means a lot to me.”
“What means a lot to you? I drive you around all the time since your car decided to be a piece of trash.”
“Not that. For coming. I don’t want to push you, but…”
“But what? Don’t get shy now. You’ve never had a problem asking me for things before.”
“What? I do not!”
Zach ticked off the list on his fingers. “Help me find my cousin. Help me renovate my house. Cook my dinner. Take me to work. Fold my laundry.”
Lauren sat up straighter. “I never asked you to fold my laundry!”
“You’re right. It was shovel my driveway,” Zach corrected.
She swatted his arm playfully. “Stop cracking jokes. This isn’t for me. It’s for you, but it matters to me.”
Zach shifted into park and killed the engine. “Why does it matter to you if I go to church?”
She ran her fingertips over the edge of the Bible in her lap. “It’s not going to church that matters. It’s where you end up when our lives here are over.” Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug. “I want to spend eternity with you.”
Hearing those words come out of Lauren’s mouth stole the last of his breath. If only she meant it in the way he wanted her to. “Slow down. You haven’t even taken me on a proper date yet.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. I want you to have a relationship with God, and that relationship shouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
“Except that it’s all your fault,” Zach added.
“Fine. It can be my fault because I don’t want to stand before the Almighty one day with empty hands. I want to grow His kingdom. That’s bigger than you and me.”
Zach rubbed the back of his neck. There she was, carrying the weight of his bad decisions and his future on her shoulders again. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure this out.”
She gave him a little nod, and the shadow of a smile lifted her lips. “No pressure though.” A laugh burst out of her, clear and blooming like a garden in spring.
Zach bumped his elbow against hers. “You good?”
This time, her nod was unmistakable. “Yeah. Let’s go. I’m right behind you.”
Inside, he stayed close to Lauren, even when she struck up a conversation with Tammy, Bella, and Hadley. It was like he couldn’t pull himself away from Lauren, and she kept glancing at him. Whatever the reason for the frequent looks, he didn’t hate it.
Over the weeks he’d been working at the ranch, the people there stopped being annoying and started being his friends. He’d even warmed up to Travis despite the guy’s uptight attitude. It was easy to see why Travis acted so much like a father, knowing how protective he was of Bella and Ariana.
Once everyone settled down and found seats, Matt asked Gage to pray. Everyone bowed their heads, including Zach. Lauren had been praying before their meals for a few weeks now, and the whole thing didn’t seem awkward anymore. The only thing he had to do was listen.
Gage pulled his hat off and cleared his throat. “Lord, we come to You today to humble ourselves. Help us to see Your word and to understand it. Give us discernment and clarity as we hear the message you’ll bring us tonight. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.”
Zach lifted his head, but one word of the prayer stood out. Humble. It was something Lauren had said before. His whole life had been about making himself bigger and more important, but Gage had done the opposite.
Matt picked up his Bible. “Turn to the book of Joshua, chapter two.”
Lauren flipped through the pages of her Bible, then leaned over and pointed to the spot on the page Matt was talking about. “Right here,” she whispered, leaning against Zach’s side to let him read along with her.
After Matt read a story about a group of men spying in a place called Jericho, Zach glanced around the room. No one seemed to be surprised to hear that a prostitute played a part in the story.
“I thought this was the Bible.” Zach picked up the book in his hands and turned it over to look at the cover. “I expected less war and sex.”
Bella chuckled but tried to hide the slip behind the baby cuddled against her chest. “Nobody prepped the new guy?”
Matt leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Rahab is a huge part of history. She was an average woman living a sinful life in a pagan place, but she helped the Israelites overthrow the largest city of the time.”
“She’s a lot braver than I would have been,” Bella whispered. “Or a lot braver than I was when I had to confess.”
Travis reached out and took his wife’s hand. What had Bella done that needed a confession? These people had let Zach in the door, but he hadn’t moved past the foyer yet. He didn’t know their past and their secrets.
“It’s our instinct to hide when we’ve done something wrong,” Matt said.
“Rahab could have backed into a corner and let the shame scare her away from her destiny. Instead, she humbled herself and acknowledged God’s forgiveness.
Even though it went against everything she’d grown up believing, she heard about God’s love, and her heart knew the truth. ”
“But she lied,” Zach pointed out. “Isn’t that bad?”
Matt nodded. “You’re right, but she wasn’t honored for her lie. She was saved because of her faith. She didn’t lie to save herself. In fact, she could have gotten herself killed. She wasn’t afraid of the soldiers. She was afraid of God, and He used her to carry out his purpose.”
“God can use anyone,” Gage said. “Ask me how I know.”
Matt closed his Bible and rested back in his seat. “There’s something to be said about discernment. God pursues us, but so does Satan. We’re the ones with a choice. Which master will we serve?”
Zach glanced at Lauren who scribbled a pen across a page, taking notes about a story she’d probably heard before.
Lauren’s allegiance was locked in. She knew where she belonged, but where did that leave Zach?
He heard the whispers of the devil more often than the small tug of goodness in his heart, but things were starting to flip.
Watching her choose good over evil time and time again was enough to make him want to believe.
It all came down to one thing. He wanted to be on Lauren’s side. Wherever she stood, he wanted to stand beside her because she knew how to make sense out of things he couldn’t understand.
“What happened to Rahab?” Zach asked.
Matt’s mouth tugged up in a grin. “She married an Israelite and lived the rest of her life with the Israelites as far as we know. She was a direct ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth. God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.”
Bella wiped at her cheeks. “Yeah. This bunch of ordinary people changed my life.”
“Mine too,” Gage said.
Zach didn’t speak up again, but the question replayed in his head all afternoon. Which master would he serve?