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stop giving orders and pay attention to those who only want to help you. In short, please do not cause any further trouble than you already have.”

Chapter 5
    W hen John stumbled and nearly fell on his way to the shore, Hester and Samuel were there, prepared to assist him into the helicopter’s rescue basket once it was dropped. But he shrugged them off and stood his ground. Given his apparently minor injuries, Hester thought that he probably could have made the trip with them in the boat, but Grady had made it clear that they were to airlift him to the hospital. He had come very close to passing out, and if—as she suspected—he was dehydrated, the team on the helicopter would be better equipped to treat him.
    As for him staying with her and her father, she was quite certain that John could not possibly be any more reluctant to return to Pinecraft with them than she was to have to cater to him while the real work of disaster relief was being handled by others. She knew these thoughts were unworthy of her. Why should it bother her one way or the other where he stayed? He was simply one more human being in need. Yet there was something about him that she found unsettling.
    â€œI can walk,” he growled when Samuel reached once again for his arm.
    He shot her a warning look to keep her distance as well, and she realized that it was those eyes that unnerved her. Their sea-green depths seemed to question everyone and everything. No, he was not a man who would go along with them willingly. She sighed and indicated the route her father and Margery had already taken to the shore, knowing that the chopper could not land amid all the debris and John would need to be airlifted from the open water. Well, let him protest and find his way around her father. That would be quite something to see.
    â€œLook, Pastor …” John had to shout to be heard above the beating of the chopper’s blades.
    â€œArlen.”
    â€œOkay, here’s the thing, Arlen. I’m not about to leave my property to looters and vandals.”
    Arlen surveyed the wreckage behind them. “I see your point,” he said. Hester saw John’s eyes widen in surprise and then narrow with suspicion.
    â€œYou do?”
    â€œJa,” her father continued. “You are not a trusting man, are you, John? And without trust—whether in the Lord or our fellow man—we cannot see the full range of possibilities.”
    â€œI see them quite well,” John protested. “I see the possibility that those clouds there on the horizon could develop into another storm or a tornado, and I have at best a few hours to secure whatever might be left of my property. I also see that even if there aren’t more storms, there’s open water leading straight to my property that could be most tempting to my fellow man living not half a mile away who may have lost everything and decided to rummage through this rubble to find …”
    The chopper pilot had headed off to make another circle over the property, and in the sudden silence that followed, Arlen’s question filled the void. “Do you not see the good, John?”
    â€œThe good?” John’s mouth worked, but no other sound came out. Finally he shook his head and released a bark that might have been a laugh. “I’m afraid you’ve got me there, sir.”
    â€œCould this not be God’s way of suggesting a change for you—a change in the way you live your life, the things you hold in esteem, the lives you touch?”
    â€œSeems to me if God wanted to get my attention, He didn’t need to send a hurricane to do it.”
    Hester heard Samuel suck in a shocked breath at such blasphemy, but her father only smiled.
    â€œPerhaps the Lord has made many attempts, John. Could it be you weren’t listening? It’s a common fault among young people.” He glanced at Hester, and she knew he was thinking of their conversation of