The Highboy and The Lifeline

I'm sitting on grandma's porch this morning. It seems to be the only place untouched by the world's chaos. Looking back, I remember it always being this way. Coming to grandma's meant peace. I didn't recognize it then but the way my spirit still settles when I'm here speaks volumes.

It took me all day to get here because of the city's disarray. Confusion and hopelessness seemed to be written on everyone's face that I passed. I'm glad dad had just fueled up the old Ford Highboy because I have a feeling it's going to be awhile before the panic settles and I can, hopefully quietly, make my way back home. In the two month's since pop has been gone grandma's yard and the long gravel drive leading up to it has become a bit unkept. It's rained almost daily , to the point of the driveway moving into it's old rutted pattern that pops and dad always fought so hard against. Grandma has been staying with mom and dad since pop's passing so I was expecting the house to be cold and empty. Oddly enough, though, it seems very well stocked and warmly inviting...but still eerily quiet.

This old truck has really proved reliable. Over and over again some family member or friend would need a temporary set of wheels and dad would dust it off, check it out, crank it up and send us on our way. It isn't much to look at but it never once has let us down. I grin to myself as I glance at the old thing and remember, not too long ago, pops giving grandma a boost up as they had to head off home in it when they couldn't get her new ride to start. I remember how she laughingly scolded him as he popped her rear with the little booster cushion she had to use just to see over the dash. Grandma's old cat rubbing against my leg brings me back to the present.

Dad always told me grandma's house would be the best place to be if "hell ever breaks out in town". Just last month when we were talking over coffee he told me again. Thinking back, it seems recently he had been talking more about the "what if's". He had been talking more about Jesus, God and the Bible too. I expected these kind of discussions with mom but was a bit surprised to hear dad saying some of those same things. I dismissed his talk as him growing older and seeing things more from grandma's perspective now. He had put things "in order" as he called it, so I wouldn't have to rummage around and figure things out when something happened to him and mom. I assumed he was talking about death, as pop had passed away unexpectedly a few months earlier. I was sure his rambling was part of his grieving process so I half-heartedly listened not really wanting to participate in the discussion. Fortunately, he had written down these sudden ramblings and told me they would be in the lap drawer of his desk when I needed them.

Dad's "ramblings" he had written seem amazingly coherent and detailed. Things were divided into two columns: "If I die" and "If I'm missing" with numbered instructions under each. I grabbed them after looking around for someone, anyone of the three would have done, and said under my breath "Well there are no bodies and even grandma is nowhere to be found so I guess I'll go by the 'missing' column". The knot that had began developing earlier in the pit of my stomach was quickly turning into full-blown anxiety.

Number one in the 'missing' column said: "Take the Highboy and go to grandma's (on the backroads, not the main road)." How specific. Normally I would have dismissed those words in parentheses but this time I felt an urgency to follow them to the letter. As I glanced over the rest of the list I couldn't process anything beyond the first part so me and the Highboy are now at grandma's house along with her cat. Her Bible is on the kitchen counter where she kept it. She always called it her lifeline, saying it was more reliable than even the old Highboy. Dad's crumpled up instructions are laying on top of it where I placed them. I'm going to have to look at them again - soon - but for now I'm holding out hope all of them will come bouncing up that rutted-out driveway and make the world right again. After glancing at the end of dad's instructions the lump in my throat and the knot in my stomach is telling me otherwise. While I don't recall what's written between number one and the end, I distinctly remember reading that last paragraph...

"*IMPORTANT!! If you find none of us here and we are not at grandma's further instructions will be in grandma's Bible. Son, we love you, have prayed for you and believe we will see you again. Read and hold grandma's Bible close. Stay strong in the Lord and don't be deceived by the lies of this world.

ASAP read: Acts 1:11, John 14:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. Begin reading the entire book of Revelation.

Hold on to the Highboy as long as you can and never let go of the Lifeline!

We will see you soon!"

Curious? Perhaps you need to read the above scriptures as well.

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