Rooms - James L. Rubart [101]
“Yeah, okay. You’re me. I’m you, etcetera.”
Micah sat with the voice in silence.
“My life has disintegrated. Our life. But I’m going to figure this thing out. I refuse to let it beat me. I think the way—”
“The time for thinking and talking is over,” the voice said. “We have to act. Now. You know it. Look what’s happened since we hesitated.”
Micah ran his teeth over his bottom lip and paced.
“Talk to me, Micah.”
“What do you want me to say? Okay. I admit it. I was wrong. I should have listened to you. Archie’s letter spelled it out in black and white. There is only one voice I can trust. Myself.”
“Yes.”
“But if I’m really supposed to go back to Seattle like you say, two things make no sense.”
“What?”
“Those verses in Matthew. You’d have to be spiritually blind not to know what Rick was driving at.”
“What is that?” the voice said.
“Oh, c’mon. I’ll assume that question is rhetorical.”
“Let’s talk it out to be sure.”
“Hello? The pearl of great price? I have to give it all up. All of it. Everything I had, and have, in Seattle for the relationship I have with the Lord down here. That is the choice.”
“Do you want to give it all up?” the voice whispered.
Micah was silent.
“We must be careful not to take any verse out of context. The Christian life is a journey. We’re not instantly at the point of perfection the moment we start out—are we?”
Micah didn’t respond.
“I don’t think that’s what Archie was driving at or what those verses show us.”
“Your theory?” Micah said.
“Don’t misunderstand.” Light laughter floated out of the darkness. “I’m not saying we don’t need to be willing to give everything up and that we shouldn’t be working toward that attitude. We do, but we certainly don’t have to literally give up everything.”
“Maybe I do. This life or Seattle. Not both.”
“Look to the Scriptures, Micah. Zacchaeus, for example. He gave up half, not all, half of what he owned, and salvation came to his household. The question was whether he’d given up everything in his heart, not the amount of physical wealth he turned over.
“We cannot just sit back and let God’s blessings come to us. We must take part. We must take action. That is how to show we truly believe. Without action how can we pretend we have faith?”
“And going back to Seattle is a step of faith.” Micah coughed and settled to the carpet, his back against the wall next to the door.
“Yes. We don’t know what we’re going to find there. To leave all that is going on here, to see if what we’ve lost in Seattle can be salvaged, with no promise of any of it coming back? Yes, that is a step of faith.”
“Rick would say the step of faith would be to let all of Seattle go and trust God is in it.”
“Rick is an excellent friend. Wonderful and wise. But with all he is, Rick isn’t you, isn’t us. Don’t you realize how difficult it is to give someone advice when your opinion is skewed by your own life experiences and attitudes? Rick’s experiences taint his advice. It’s why we need each other more than ever. We have the same experiences, the same joys, the same hurts. We know what is right for us because we’re one and the same. What a gift to be able to plan the best course together.”
“And the best course?”
“Don’t you think those in Seattle need to see this new Micah as much as the people down here? The Micah deeply committed to his God again, who can now be an example to all at RimSoft? It just isn’t true that we have to choose one world or the other. I believe with every ounce of who I am that we can have both.”
“Stay involved in both worlds.”
“Cannon Beach is our spiritual escape, a place for renewal and relationship with Rick and Sarah and others. Seattle is for career, fulfillment of your dreams, and the godly influence you can have on so many more people than you can down here.”
Micah’s head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton candy. It sounded so right.
“We need to take action before—”
“Shut up and let me think.” Micah threw his head back and closed his eyes. “I can’t give up what I’ve found here,” he finally said.
“Neither