Page 54 of In This Moment
Dwayne tried to breathe, but he couldn’t make his lungs work. What else was it? What had Principal Quinn said? Dwayne’s mind was spinning now. Something about his story.
Yeah, that was it.
With Jesus as the Hero, your story just moves from here to heaven.No more tears, no more dying. Just like the Bible said.
Dwayne struggled to take another breath. Aspyn was right. Dwayne was going to be okay. God had not wanted things to end this way. Here in the alley.
He was just a high school junior.
No telling what his life might have been like here on earth. The plans God would’ve had for him. This wasn’t even where he was supposed to be tonight. But as he drew his last breath, Dwayne smiled. Aspyn’s words washed over him.
You’re going to be okay, Dwayne. God is with you.
It was true because Jesus was the Hero of his story. And tonight, any second now, Jesus was going to rescue him and Dwayne would take his next breath in heaven. With Jesus. Light washed over him, and Dwayne let himself go toward it. God was calling him home now. Dwayne smiled. Home to heaven.
Where his story would never end.
16
It was just after two o’clock in the morning when Wendell Quinn got the call. At first he thought it might be James Black, calling to tell him he was fired. But that wasn’t rational.
Not long after he’d threatened to fire Wendell, James Black had called again and promised Wendell could keep his job through the trial. The school district didn’t want to draw attention to itself in the midst of the court proceedings. No, it wasn’t James Black.
But as Wendell answered the phone, he couldn’t make out what the man on the other end was saying. Something about a gang and wanting him to know before school in the morning. Only after a full minute did Wendell understand what had happened.
Dwayne Brown was dead.
The news knocked the wind from him. Long after he hung up the phone, Wendell sat straight up in his bed. How could this happen? Dwayne was like one of his own kids. For two months he’d been attending Raise the Bar. He’d even been baptized. Wendell felt sick, his head spinning.
The young man had his whole life ahead of him.
Wendell leaned back against the headboard and stared out the window at the night sky. Dwayne was like a lot of Hamilton kids. Bad relationship with his family. No interest in the classroom. Dwayne had been a problem at the school since his freshman year.
Until this semester.
Tears filled Wendell’s eyes and trickled down his cheeks.Lord, I’m trying. I’d give up my own life for those kids.He felt the heaviness of the situation to the center of his soul. Wasn’t this the point of the Bible study meetings? To save kids like Dwayne Brown?
There was just one person he wanted to call, one who would understand the way his heart was breaking. Alicia Harris.
None of it made sense.
He grabbed his phone and was just about to hit her number when he realized it was the middle of the night. It would have to wait. Instead he opened his photo library.
There, in his album of favorites, was a picture of Alicia and him. A year ago summer. The two of them in a canoe paddling around Geist Reservoir near Admirals Bay. Someone hiking on the trail had stopped and taken their picture.
Alicia had come so far since her days of being paralyzed by anxiety. But she would be devastated when she heard about Dwayne.Please, Father, help her through this. Keep her mind steadfast on You. Please.
Wendell thought about Dwayne. In a few hours he’d have to tell the kids at Hamilton High what had happened. How Dwayne had died in a gang fight. Another senseless, tragic, heartbreaking loss.
“I’m gonna need Your help, Lord.” Wendell looked out the window again. “I can’t do this alone.”
Not only that, but just before lunch he and Luke Baxter would attend the jury selection at Marion Circuit Court downtown. The place for more significant civil suits. And if the media attention had been any indication, the suit against him and Hamilton High qualified.
There was only one way to prepare for such a day. Wendell closed out the photo of Alicia and him and opened his Bible app. He turned to John 16:33 and let his eyes move over the words.In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Yes, that was his hope. Jesus had overcome the world.
Wendell had definitely had trouble. Not just at Hamilton High. Losing Joanna had been the toughest thing Wendell had ever been through. But God had seen him beyond that season. Then when Alicia left last year, again he didn’t think he could survive the hurt. But once more the Lord had been faithful to carry him through. Faithful to heal Alicia.
