Chapter 15
Seek and Ye Shall Find
Effie Taylor took a few wheezing breaths. It had been getting harder and harder for the bus stop owner to take one nowadays. She had fought the fight, finished the race, and kept her faith. Her stiff fingers clutched her worn Bible at her side, her rheumy eyes too blind to read the fine print, but she took heart in that her most cherished item was there beside her.
She took joy in her crowning achievement of her lifetime – setting foot in the Holy Land. She had walked in her Lord's hometown, laid her hands on the slab where his body rested after the crucifixion, and saw with her own eyes the same sunrise her savior might had seen. Strange to think that her lifelong dream, to see an angel had been achieved first before this. When she had reached Jerusalem, she prayed for all of them, that strange group that was gathered together only by the grace of God. She still thought of them all these years later.
The Colonel, so touchy about this precious jukebox, had passed on not long after that strange night. Sue Ellen and Skeeter with their baby, now no longer a baby, but a caring teenager. Though the pair didn't have the wealth, the raised their own with all the love they could give. Strangely Brother Jim had been caught in some unscrupulous deal and the last she heard he was doing time in a minimum security prison.
Effie paid extra attention in her prayers for the soul of Dr. Chester Crayton, the man who had lost so much. The doctor had been on the brink of damnation but was pulled back at the last minute. He forgave the most unforgivable of sins, giving repentance to the man who murdered his wife. The dark haired woman gave a merciful thought to the murderer, Paul Ratcliff, who truly atoned at the end.
The old woman groaned quietly as she turned in her armchair. It was the only way she could sleep some nights. The doctors had said it wouldn't be long now, but she wanted to pass on at home, not in a sterile hospital room.
A soft rosy glow emanated throughout her living room. Oh, how comforting it was. The light warmed her chilled bones. A woman's gentle hand took her old, worn ones.
"Praise God," Effie whispered as she saw who was beside her.
"Yes," Monica whispered. "Praise him and all of his wondrous deeds." The beautiful angel looked not a day older than when the old woman had last seen her all those years ago.
The aged woman smiled, "Have you come to take me home Monica? To the Promised Land?"
"Not me." The redhead gestured to the handsome man beside her. Oh, it was the reporter from that strange day! Well wasn't that a surprise. Two angels had unknowingly been in her midst the whole time.
"Effie, my name is Andrew. I'm the Angel of Death. I'll take you to see the Father, but Monica volunteered to give you the good news." With an effortless pull he tugged on the dying woman's hand, bringing her to her feet.
It was strange, like being reborn again. The years fell away and she was well again, whole and healthy. Effie glanced back to see her wizened body, asleep in the chair.
"My good news is to see the Lord," the woman exclaimed. "What can be better than that?"
"And he will be pleased to see you, Effie, but he wanted to let you know he wishes to bestow on you a blessed role."
"What role? What can a nobody bus station owner do for him?"
The redhead took both her newly unblemished hands within hers pale ones. "Your belief in him and your act of forgiveness towards me all those years ago, so much like his own, made you the perfect candidate in his eyes."
The African-American woman still looked on in confusion.
Monica continued on, "Your words showed me the way back home. So too will you do so for the less fortunate. You, Effie Taylor, are to join the ranks as one of his angels, to spread the words "God loves you' to all those who are lost and are in need of being found."
The newest angel to join the ranks wept with happiness and could only say the words, "I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done according to his word."
I thought this episode was better than Last Call. A bunch of people gathered together and you find out their backstories worked well this time. Andrew's look of shock when Monica doesn't recognize him was adorable. This episode was very powerful in the end especially when Dr. Crayton put his hand against the glass and said "I forgive you." The girl annoyed me though. She's lucky her husband came for her. Towards the further seasons I feel Roma Downey's acting gets flat. She's better in the first four seasons.