Watch Your Step or Step Out to be Heard

Topic: 1) Write a story with a character being followed. 2) who struggles to do the right thing.

Watch Your Step or Step Out to be Heard

Was my imagination running away from me? Everywhere I went I would see a sinister shadow lurking in the dark corners. At times a hot, sulphury wisp of air would trace across the back of my neck. When I would turn around there was nothing. There were no visible signs that anyone or anything had been following me. I felt convinced, however, that I was being stalked. I now avoid evening walks down through my neighborhood because the last time I heard muffled steps behind me. On my last walk someone or something reached out touching my back. My heart raced. Gasping, I felt a deep chill course through my body. There was no doubt in my mind someone was after me.

When I first participated in this international venture, my very close friends warned me of the impending repercussions for my involvement with such an organization.  I briefly wondered if my night experience had anything to do with this. They claimed I would be putting myself and my entire family at risk. I knew that despite the perilous nature of the “business,” I had to do this.  My lack of action would define me as lazy, indifferent, and callous. It was not in my nature to think someone else should do this job.  Lives were at stake; families and communities depended on this international outreach. The countries in dire need of my help were adamantly opposed to my intervention. The people of those nations desperately sought help, but their governments blatantly refused it condemning it as anarchy and lawlessness. It was imperative that I join others following in the footsteps of the late Richard Wurmbrand and his wife Sabina.

Their persistence in serving others in communist and tyrannical nations have inspired so many others over the years to help the oppressed. Now I accepted a position in that organization dedicated to serving our brothers and sisters internationally.  I knew full well it would put a target on my back overseas. Often it seemed that the target was illuminated at night.  Early in my job, my wife would flippantly say that I was covered in iridescent paint. She would chuckle saying my actions glowed like a swarm of mosquitos at night. Then things really became very serious. Her attitude changed as menacing things began to occur. We did not believe it would happen now several weeks before I left for my next assignment.

At first it was a car breakdown. I really did not consider it seriously until other events started happening soon thereafter.  My email and social media accounts were hacked. Repeatedly. Our mail was strewn over the yard on several occasions. Delivery packages went missing or were ripped open. Then my wife and I began having headaches and bouts of vertigo. The greatest concern was when we received death threats in the mail and over the phone.  These occurrences were not in a foreign land but right here in the United States!

I alerted the FBI. I was determined that these threats were not going to dissuade me from doing my job. Thankfully, my wife fully supported my decision to continue in my duties. The FBI was less than enthusiastic that I maintain a highly visible profile. There was reluctance in providing 24-hour protection since the organization I represented was not part of a government agency.  I worked for a non for profit with limited resources. The FBI said I would need to work within the confines of our local authorities because the threats could not be confirmed that they originated over state lines or overseas. I suspected that my current mission would reveal the culprits.  

As the weeks passed, I was not surprised that the investigations into the incidences would be hindered, eventually turning into cold cases. My assignment date was only days away. I knew in my heart who that sinister figure was that chased me on my streets. It was this same wretched foe who instigated all of the misery befallen on us. This same villain is the one I wrestle with in the countries I seek to help whether it is North Korea, Bhutan, China, India. It is the same perpetrator who shudders in fear when men and women belonging to the “Voice of the Martyrs (VOM)” call upon the name of Christ. Men and women dedicated to supporting those people who are persecuted around the world for their Christian faith. I am unrelenting in my efforts to help those who struggle day to day in foreign lands to freely worship and honor Jesus Christ.  Most are subjected to harassment and ridicule. Many Christians are ostracized from their towns. Clandestine churches meet to avoid prosecution by the state authorities. Some, especially pastors who refuse to renounce their faith, are condemned to death when discovered. It is hard to believe that this is still rampant in 2024. Given our present-day global turmoil, I ask myself if this is now the reality of the world we must live in. But it does not have to be this way!

I know the horrors perpetrated by those who are hostile to Christianity. The Accuser, Satan, knows what my purpose is and will release his fury to stop me from helping others spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I work within the parameters of VOM to communicate with pockets of Christian communities, particularly in Peking, Bhutan, Indonesia, and India.  I open lines of communication using the broadcasting resources of VOM radio via digital online and podcast distributions.  My assignment this time is to meet with a group of Christian ministers from various parts of Indonesia to establish a deep VOM network. The rendezvous point would be Bali. Being a tourist mecca plus having a Catholic diocese with a cathedral in Denpasar, the ministers and I felt we would be relatively safe from any outright persecution.

The night before my departure I was restless and had a splitting headache. After swallowing a few aspirin, I dozed a little. I read a devotional but my mind was still racing. I convinced myself I could get some sleep on the plane which had a scheduled departure of 3:00pm. Still, I needed to get a breath of fresh air. Against my better judgement, I decided to take a stroll down my neighborhood street at 2:30 am. I shuffled along the sidewalk. There was an eerie stillness.  That same chilly feeling swept over me when a plume of sulphury smoke entered my nostrils. Instantly, I awoke from my meandering. I craned my head and neck for anyone or anything that crossed my path. Was I imagining this? The shadows were distorted silhouettes of bipedal creatures with wings. It appeared like they were encircling me like a pack of hyenas surrounding their prey. The hair on my neck stood on end.  As of man of faith, I believed in supernatural occurrences. I closed my eyes and internalized a prayer to God for protection. Immediately, I felt a release of the grip that fear had upon me. Nonetheless, I scrambled back to my house.

I did not share my experience with my wife that night. I silently slipped under the covers. Maybe I got 30 minutes of rest? When my alarm went off at 8:00 am I pretended I was well rested and ready to take on the new day.  My taxi to the airport was running late. It did not seem to matter because my flight had been delayed anyway. From my perspective international departures never seem to leave on time. I reflected on my experience the past night. I would not be self-dissuaded or intimidated into aborting my mission. I knew what had to be done.

Navigating through late morning traffic the taxi arrived at the departure terminal. The driver carelessly removed my suitcase from the trunk. Inadvertently, he dropped the bag on the concrete walkway which caused it to pop open. Clothes littered the walk. Reluctantly, the driver assisted in repacking my bag. Fortunately, he had several straps that would secure it (or at least I hoped). The lines through airport security were lengthy and slow.  My check-in time for the normal flight had already passed. At last, I finally made it through security and gate check-in only to see that my flight had just started to pull away from its gate. It seemed that forces beyond my control were impeding me to my final destination. To my horror, I glimpsed a grotesque dark shadow lurking from the cockpit window of that plane.

I did what I could only do at this point. I prayed. I prayed to be directed into my next steps. No sooner had I finished praying, a gate attendant told me that there was another international flight leaving for Bali at the other end of the terminal.  

I made the flight. I notified my wife that I arrived safely at Bali.  The meeting with the Indonesia ministers was successful to promote the communications of VOM. As uneventful as when we met, we all adjourned back to our homes.

It was not until I returned home that my wife had told me that the original flight I was supposed to take had to execute an emergency landing in London. She did not want to worry me while I was overseas. Somehow an extremist had smuggled a bomb on board. He had ignited it in the lavatory spewing sulfurous smoke throughout the passenger cabin. No one died but several people had to be treated for inhalation injuries.  

Originally, I thought dark forces were responsible for my delay catching my flight. But now I realized that God used them for His good purpose.

Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel. (Psalm 71:4, NIV)

Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10, NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)

VOM and VOM radio are real entities… https://www.persecution.com/   https://www.vomradio.net/

Acknowledgement: Reedsy.com

(NIV=New International Version)