The Ticking Clock
Page 21
I looked around the passenger cabin, half expecting to hear a trumpet call and see seats being vacated, but somehow sensing, while the hour was much nearer, the clock was still ticking. The time was not yet at hand.
A pretty female flight attendant in a fitted gray skirt with a starched white blouse and a red, white, and blue neck scarf saw me looking around. She approached and asked with a smile,
” Je peux vous apporter une autre tasse de café, Monsieur Shepherd?”
I smiled back.
“Oui, jeune fille, je ne me dérange pas si je le fais.”
After all, sometimes coffee fuels my mission.
*******
The End
Is not yet here.
Epilogue
Most people lead lives of solitary anxiety. Solitary, because they don’t talk about their fears with anyone. They don’t even want to admit they have them.
They don’t know who they are, or why they are on the earth.
Introspection only brings more doubts and fears, so they seek solace from science.
Science tells them they are just carbon-based biological organisms, evolved from muck, eking out a brief existence at the expense of a doomed planet. Science tells them life is random, meaningless and pointless. Take another pill, and try not to think about it.
The clock is ticking.
Many are wandering through life, aimlessly waiting for the clock to run out. Some are seeking something to make them feel as if their life matters in some way. They mostly want to “do the right thing,” but violently disagree on what “right” is, because, “Every way of a man is right, in his own eyes.”
The clock is ticking.
People know, from the moment of birth, they are doomed. They know life is short and uncertain. It may end at any time. The best of them ask, “why”?
Why do we exist? Why are we the way we are? Why do bad things happen? Why is there suffering and death? What happens after we die? Do we just cease to exist? When we die, will it be as if we’d never existed at all?
The world offers many different and conflicting answers. Most of them are lies.
So, most people everywhere, in every walk of life, are as lost as sheep without a shepherd, stumbling blindly through however many days remain to them, silently screaming in desperation.
The clock is ticking.
I know why I get up in the morning. I know what I’m supposed to do and how I should do it. I live to serve, but I don’t serve the planet earth, a government, or myself.
I serve the holy God; the creator of all things. I am appointed as one of His ambassadors in this place.
I serve The Good Shepherd.
He alone is perfect.
Like me, His sheep are imperfect, but His sheep know His voice when they hear it.
Other sheep wander around lost, following whatever voices sound most pleasant to them at the moment, even the voices leading them to slaughter.
The wolves prowl among them, picking sheep off one at a time, sometimes whole flocks, en masse.
Sheep without a shepherd are helpless against the predators.
I am appointed as a Shepherd of His sheep, to seek the lost sheep, and stand against the wolves.
We who serve as Shepherds are imperfect, but we are empowered and equipped for service.
I have the sword of Truth, the message of glorious hope.
I have work to do.
I wish I were a better Shepherd.
The clock is ticking.
*******
A note from the author
Thank you for reading The Ticking Clock. I would love to hear from you. You can contact me at my website ~ www.danielbanks-books.com .
I hope you had as much fun reading this book as I did in writing it. If you liked it, please tell a friend - or better yet, tell the world by writing a book review on the book’s page on Amazon, or on Goodreads.com.
Even a few short sentences are helpful. As an independently published author, I don’t have a marketing department behind me. I have you, the reader. So please spread the word!
And, to make it a little more fun, if you write a review, e-mail me at authordanarnold@gmail.com to let me know you posted it. I’ll send you an excerpt from one of my works in progress, a little note from me, or maybe even a free e-book.
Thanks again.
All the best,
Daniel