Read Online A Treasury of Miracles for Friends by Karen Kingsbury - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Karen Kingsbury
Tags: REL036000
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Taylor and making everything right again. No matter what else the day might bring, Aaron could hardly wait.
The storm was making Taylor nervous. Clouds shooting off lightning bolts were drawing nearer every few minutes.
Taylor was at the top of the utility pole now, and he knew the protocol: Get down immediately in case of an electrical storm. But Taylor had worked the job for long enough to know how much time he had. Ten minutes at least, maybe fifteen. He was nervous, sure, but he wouldn’t be stupid.
He opened the glass fixture and saw the problem—frayed wires at the back of the bulb, so damaged that one of them wasn’t connected at all. Taylor went right to work, all the while keeping one eye on the storm.
Three minutes, God. Help me be safe for three minutes. Then I’ll be done and I’ll climb back down.
At that instant his cell phone rang.
Because he was a specialist for the company, his personal phone had two distinct rings. One for normal incoming calls and one with short staccato beeps for emergencies. This time the ring was short staccato beeps. Taylor let his head fall forward in frustration. An emergency? Now? When he was so close to completing the task and getting down the pole?
For a single moment, he thought about ignoring the call, but that would never do. Someone could be trapped on a pole or injured on a job site. When the ring came in as an emergency, he had to take it. He flipped his phone from his pocket, holding onto the pole and his safety harness, and barked a short hello.
A few words sounded on the other end, but nothing Taylor could make out. His frustration doubled. This happened once in a while when the utility pole would interfere with phone reception.
“Fine.” He mumbled the word and began the arduous climb back down the pole. When he reached the bottom, rain began to fall, and he slipped inside his car to make the call. At that exact moment, Taylor felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. Before he could blink, a blinding bolt of lightning zapped the utility pole twenty feet away, slicing across the very spot where Taylor had been working a minute earlier.
The place where he’d still be if it weren’t for the phone call.
Seconds passed, and Taylor could do nothing but stare at the smoking tip of the utility pole. He would have been dead instantly from the jolt, no question about it. Finally, as the shock began to wear off, Taylor drew a steadying breath and closed his eyes.
God, you saved me from certain death. Thank you . . . and thank you for whoever called me on the—
His thoughts came to an abrupt stop. He hadn’t checked on the message. Somewhere someone was having an emergency, and they had been counting on him to answer his phone. He pressed a series of buttons to check the previous caller’s phone number and saw it was both familiar and local. But he couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.
He pressed the Send button and waited.
On the third ring, Aaron Grant answered. “Hello?”
“Aaron?” Taylor’s mind was reeling. Of course. The number was Aaron’s landline, a number Taylor had rarely called since Aaron took most of his messages through his cell phone.
“Taylor, you won’t believe it.” The man sounded serious, more clear headed than he had in years. “I’ve changed, Taylor. I had to call you and tell you so myself. Can we meet for dinner sometime this week?”
Could they meet for dinner? Taylor gave a light shake of his head and tried to clear the cobwebs. Something wasn’t making sense here. “Did you call me on my emergency line?”
A pause filled the other end. “No. Just your normal cell phone number.”
“That’s impossible.” Taylor glanced out the window at the black mark near the top of the utility pole. “I was working. I wouldn’t have come down if . . .”
Suddenly the pieces fell into place.
The ring had come through as an emergency by some divine mistake, some God-directed miracle. A chuckle
The storm was making Taylor nervous. Clouds shooting off lightning bolts were drawing nearer every few minutes.
Taylor was at the top of the utility pole now, and he knew the protocol: Get down immediately in case of an electrical storm. But Taylor had worked the job for long enough to know how much time he had. Ten minutes at least, maybe fifteen. He was nervous, sure, but he wouldn’t be stupid.
He opened the glass fixture and saw the problem—frayed wires at the back of the bulb, so damaged that one of them wasn’t connected at all. Taylor went right to work, all the while keeping one eye on the storm.
Three minutes, God. Help me be safe for three minutes. Then I’ll be done and I’ll climb back down.
At that instant his cell phone rang.
Because he was a specialist for the company, his personal phone had two distinct rings. One for normal incoming calls and one with short staccato beeps for emergencies. This time the ring was short staccato beeps. Taylor let his head fall forward in frustration. An emergency? Now? When he was so close to completing the task and getting down the pole?
For a single moment, he thought about ignoring the call, but that would never do. Someone could be trapped on a pole or injured on a job site. When the ring came in as an emergency, he had to take it. He flipped his phone from his pocket, holding onto the pole and his safety harness, and barked a short hello.
A few words sounded on the other end, but nothing Taylor could make out. His frustration doubled. This happened once in a while when the utility pole would interfere with phone reception.
“Fine.” He mumbled the word and began the arduous climb back down the pole. When he reached the bottom, rain began to fall, and he slipped inside his car to make the call. At that exact moment, Taylor felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. Before he could blink, a blinding bolt of lightning zapped the utility pole twenty feet away, slicing across the very spot where Taylor had been working a minute earlier.
The place where he’d still be if it weren’t for the phone call.
Seconds passed, and Taylor could do nothing but stare at the smoking tip of the utility pole. He would have been dead instantly from the jolt, no question about it. Finally, as the shock began to wear off, Taylor drew a steadying breath and closed his eyes.
God, you saved me from certain death. Thank you . . . and thank you for whoever called me on the—
His thoughts came to an abrupt stop. He hadn’t checked on the message. Somewhere someone was having an emergency, and they had been counting on him to answer his phone. He pressed a series of buttons to check the previous caller’s phone number and saw it was both familiar and local. But he couldn’t place where he’d seen it before.
He pressed the Send button and waited.
On the third ring, Aaron Grant answered. “Hello?”
“Aaron?” Taylor’s mind was reeling. Of course. The number was Aaron’s landline, a number Taylor had rarely called since Aaron took most of his messages through his cell phone.
“Taylor, you won’t believe it.” The man sounded serious, more clear headed than he had in years. “I’ve changed, Taylor. I had to call you and tell you so myself. Can we meet for dinner sometime this week?”
Could they meet for dinner? Taylor gave a light shake of his head and tried to clear the cobwebs. Something wasn’t making sense here. “Did you call me on my emergency line?”
A pause filled the other end. “No. Just your normal cell phone number.”
“That’s impossible.” Taylor glanced out the window at the black mark near the top of the utility pole. “I was working. I wouldn’t have come down if . . .”
Suddenly the pieces fell into place.
The ring had come through as an emergency by some divine mistake, some God-directed miracle. A chuckle
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