Prophet Margin
an excerpt

Trina looked down at her bible with tears in her eyes. She blinked them back quickly hoping no one noticed.
"The service was nice as usual," she thought, "but where was the power? Where was the outpouring of the Spirit? Where were the signs and wonders? Surely, there's something more than just a warm fuzzy feeling during praise and worship time and a good stirring message now and then."
Trina sighed and looked up at James standing in the pulpit. When they were first married he had had such a fire, such a passion, that it took her breath away. But the years of pastoring had left him tired and a lot more sedate.
"Lord, stir up that fiery passion in him once again. Father God, we long for more of your presence," Trina prayed silently as James went through his closing prayer and dismissal routine.
Trina scooped up her bible and purse while the kids scattered to talk to their friends. She began shaking hands and hugging necks as the congregation made its move toward the door.
She watched as Mr. and Mrs. Carrington made their way out.
"Mrs. Carrington looks unhappy about something, not that that's anything new or unusual," she thought.
Trina sighed again. She loved the church and the people but sometimes it seemed harder to keep everyone happy than to raise her own children.
Beverly finished the song she was playing and came down off the platform heading straight to Trina.
"Call me later, OK? We should get together and have lunch or something this week. We haven't done that in weeks."
"I know," Trina said. "It's been crazy around our place."
Beverly laughed.
"When is it not crazy around your house?"
Trina smiled and said, "Well, sometimes it's crazier than others. I'll talk to you later."
As Trina made her way down the aisle, she noticed Miss Evelyn waiting for her by the door. Miss Evelyn had been a fixture in the church since before James and Trina came to pastor. Trina could still recall the stories she'd heard as a child about the early days of the church and all the miraculous things that had occurred way back then. Trina longed for those long-lost days.
Evelyn reached out to hug her shoulder and then turned Trina around to look her in the eye.
"Yep, thought so. Buck up honey. It's gonna' get better. Trust me on this one."
Trina smiled and looked into Evelyn's eyes. She hoped she still had that kind of sparkle in her eyes when she was seventy-five years old.
About that time, James walked up behind her and put his arm around her.
"Hi Sweetheart. Hello, Miss Evelyn. What are you ladies cooking up now?"
Miss Evelyn chuckled and said, "Well, when we have it all figured out, we'll be sure and let you know Pastor."
James said, "I have no doubts whatsoever about that."
Miss Evelyn patted him on the hand and said, "That was a right good message Pastor. Well, I'll be seeing you young people later. I've got company coming later on this afternoon and I've got to get home and rustle up some food for them. Bye"
And with that, she turned and made her way out the door and down the sidewalk to her bright red pickup truck.
"An amazing woman," James said.
Trina felt a small tug on her skirt and looked down into the face of her youngest daughter Chloe.
"Mama, is it time for lunch yet? I'm hungry."
"In a few minutes sweetheart. Where are the other kids?"
"Everyone's gone home already except Jonathan, who's still talking to Scott outside."
Trina kissed James on the cheek and said, "I'm going to go ahead and head that way so I can get lunch put together. I'll see you in a bit."
"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I get everything put away and locked up."
Trina reached down and took Chloe's hand, stepped out into the sunshine and began walking across the lawn to the house.
The rest of the day proceeded pretty much the way every other Sunday did. Lunch was followed by cleanup which was followed by a mid-afternoon call from Mr. Carrington to complain about whatever his wife was unhappy with this week which was followed by their Sunday afternoon movie time which was followed by the rest of the day. It was business as usual in the Hamilton house.
That night as Trina crawled into bed, she kissed James goodnight and whispered a quiet prayer for something, anything to change. Then she prayed over James and the children and for the house to be protected while they slept.
When she finished she lay there in the darkness listening to James's rhythmic breathing and thinking about the next day's schedule and what she wanted to accomplish during the week and finally, the words of Miss Evelyn. "It's going to get better."
"Was that just wishful thinking or did she had some kind of insight into upcoming events?", Trina wondered. "Oh well, I guess time will tell."
Trina closed her eyes and tried to shut down the rush of thoughts swirling through her head, and after a little while sleep did finally find her.
She slept deeply most of the night. Toward daybreak, however, she began having a very unusual dream.
At first everything was dark and misty, then a dim light cut through to reveal an snowy-haired man wearing an over-sized brown leather jacket with an old army green canvas knapsack slung over one shoulder coming from some distance. Trina wasn't sure why, but his presence unnerved her. He was walking toward her, and as the mist began to clear she realized she was right there in Saddlebrook. Suddenly the thought came to her that the man was a prophet. She heard a noise and turned to see the entire town gathered on the town square and a huge platform. When the prophet reached the platform, he climbed up the stairs and took the microphone out of the mayor's hand, much to his surprise, and began to address the crowd gathered there.
"The Lord has sent me to your town to uncover a grievous sin here. This isn't for your condemnation, but rather so you can repent and move on. This sin is buried deep in the heart of this town and the symbol of it stands in your midst to testify against you. I come to bring light to this darkness and illuminate the hidden things."
Suddenly there was crying and screaming and chaos and people running in every direction. The man turned and looked at Trina and pointed at her.
"And you're going to help me," he said in a voice that sounded like thunder.
Everything started becoming jumbled and muddled and misty again and Trina woke up.
James was laying beside her in the dim light of predawn with his eyes wide open.
When he turned to look at her, she said, "I just had the weirdest dream" and launched into a vivid retelling of the misty images that filled her sleep. The more she talked, the wider James's eyes grew until he finally stopped her.
"Was the man really old with kind of leathery skin and really white hair and a blue bandana around his neck?"
"Y-yes," Trina said slowly. "How did you know?"
"This is going to sound weird I know, but I just had the same dream."