The questions weren’t new and have been asked by thousands of unfortunate people for centuries. Why must I suffer so much? And if I had to suffer, why did my family and friends have to endure with me?All I had tried to do was to earn a decent living while treating my employees and others fairly. I had tried to live by the old injunction to “do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.” But in spite of my efforts it came crashing down and fast. After the loss of the company, the comfort and security we had known as a family vanished as mist before the morning sun.
We lost our home and most of our possessions. We sold a few remaining pieces of furniture in order to buy groceries. One of the most difficult sacrifices I was forced to make was to give away Rajah. It was he who had sat beside me as I conversed with Gideon. Overwhelmed and despondent, I began questioning everything I held sacred. The question was not “Where was Gideon?” but, “Where was God?” Eventually we moved to another state in a desperate effort to start over.
And then, as a final blow, my father, descendant of Mahn Singh of Bharat, passed away. Many were the sorrowful moments I spent alone but, even so, a new understanding was dawning. On quiet evenings as I drove home from work I could still hear his voice in my head.
While commuting one evening,I was thinking how scarce Gideon had become during my troubles. Why couldn’t I see him when I needed him most? Suddenly the sound of sirens sent me searching my rear view mirror. Startled, I saw the flashing lights of a state trooper preparing to pull me over. Not now, not now! I can’t afford a ticket. I must have been so absorbed in my thoughts that I forgot about the speed limit. I pulled over to the shoulder of the road and nervously fumbled through the papers in the glove compartment as I awaited the trooper. Apprehensively, I turned around to glance up at the smiling face of the bearded man and almost dropped the papers in total surprise. “I’ve been hijacked… Gideon! You… What… I mean…” I couldn’t continue. His grin widened as I just stared, dumbfounded in amazement.
“Well, at least say ‘Hello’,” he demanded.
“It’s good to see you again but, for crying out loud, where have you been?” I stammered.
“Just thought you could use a laugh and, as I recall,you wanted to see me.”
“Where did you get this car?”
As if it was normal procedure, he calmly replied, “Created it.” Ignoring his answer, I said,”I’ve got to talk to you, but we can’t stay here.”
“That’s why I came. I’ll see you at ten tomorrow morning. Here’s the address. We’ll have lots of time to talk then.” Handing me a piece of paper, he gave me a slap on the shoulder, waved, turned around and walked back to his car. I glanced at the address then up to the rear view mirror. He was gone vanished just like he used to.
I could hardly contain my excitement as I drove the rest of the way home. Tomorrow I’ll see him again. I had lots of questions and, this time, I wanted answers. Tomorrow we shall see, I thought as I pulled into my driveway.
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