The End of Days, Part 7

                The drive home flew by. David felt a deep sense of peace as he left church and it continued as he pulled into the driveway of his small house at the edge of the city. He wasn’t sure what the future held for him, but David felt that no matter what happened things would turn out alright in the end.

                The house was quiet and dark. David placed his keys on the dining room table and walked into his living room. Normally this would be when he would sit down to play games until bed like he did every time he had the house to himself. After his experience at church he had no desire to indulge in escapist fantasies. He checked his messages on his phone, half a dozen from Leah had come in throughout the day. David explained to her how the meeting at church had gone long but found it hard to describe what had happened.

                David checked the news on his phone. Thousands of churches across the country had held celebrations of Christ’s return. The man calling himself Jesus issued a call for all the leaders of the church to come and meet with him so that he could instruct them in the truth. He also invited clergy from other religions to join him and learn his better way. David was curious what this man would have to say and what he would change in the Church.

                The sound of an e-mail notification broke David’s train of thought. It was a message from his employer’s human resources department. Despite the events of the previous day everyone wass expected to be at work tomorrow, anyone who lost family in the Toronto explosion could tell HR to book time off for bereavement.

                A yawn took David by surprise. He felt good, like weight he didn’t even know he was carrying had been lifted from him, but the experience at church that day had left him feeling exhausted. David rushed to get ready for bed and lay down under the covers. He fell into a deep, peaceful sleep almost instantly.

                David woke before his alarm went off. He climbed out of bed and made his way downstairs, plopping himself down on the couch. He reached for his controller out of habit but stopped himself. This had been his morning routine for years: Wake up before everyone else and spend the time he had to himself before work or the kids got up playing games. The experience at church the day before still burned brightly in his mind. He pushed the controller away and picked up his bible instead and began to read. He paused every few chapters to pray for God to give him wisdom to know what he should do in the days and weeks ahead and to know how to discern if this Jesus was truly His son.

                The parking lot at the office had fewer cars that it normally did when David pulled in to work. He set his bag down and turned his computer on. He had not yet sorted through the e-mails that had come in over the weekend when the first of his co-workers came up and knocked on the cubicle wall.

                “knock knock.” The tall young man said, a mug of tea in his hand.

                “Hey Robert, how was your weekend?” David asked out of habit.

                “Uhhh, pretty crazy.” Robert replied with a laugh.

                “Yeah, sorry, force of habit.”

                “no worries, man. That was nuts what happened though, right? I was supposed to go to a concert with some friends in Toronto but we couldn’t go on account of the hall being vaporized.”

                “That would hinder things a tad, I imagine.” David replied. It felt strange talking so casually with Robert given everything that happened.

                “But I bet you’re pretty excited, eh?”

                “Why’s that?”

                “Well, the whole ‘Jesus is definitely real and came back to the earth’ thing?” Robert replied, raising one eyebrow.

                “Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s exciting if it’s true but… I’m not so sure.” David said, looking down at the ground and fidgeting. “I’m not sure he really is Jesus.”

                “What do you mean? He shows up out of nowhere, right in the middle of a big-ass explosion, causes earthquakes and lightning and fire and can read people’s minds. Who else would he be?” Robert said with a laugh.

                “It’s hard to explain. If it really is Jesus, then everything Christianity has taught and believed, even with all the different denominations and interpretations, is wrong. Like, no theologian has taught that Jesus would make His triumphant return and tell His disciples to go to work and have fun and stuff.”

                Robert nodded his head and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Yeah, I dunno, it’s crazy, man. He’s asking for all the priests and stuff to come meet with him this coming Saturday to learn what he wants so I guess we’ll learn more then, eh? Just gotta wait and see.”

                David returned to his e-mails but barely had time to read through one before another co-worker came by his cubicle. He was known around the office as the religious guy because he attended church and went to Bible college. In the eyes of some people just attending there made him some sort of pseudo-pastor even though he only minored in religious studies. He received visits from many of his coworkers that day, all asking what he thought about Jesus coming back and wondering what he might want, if David thought it was really the son of God, if they should start attending church now, and many other questions. David did his best to answer them but found himself saying “I don’t know” and “I’m not sure” more often than not.

                When quitting time came around David realized he accomplished very little actual work. Most of the day had been taken up by theological discussions with his friends and coworkers. He checked his e-mails and saw a message from Darryl. It was sent to many people from the church.

                “Hey everyone, Mary and I have decided 2 host dinner at our house 2nite.” It read. David rolled his eyes and smiled to himself. Darryl was in his sixties but typed like a teenager from 2001 in a chatroom. “any1 who wants 2 come can. If u have food u want 2 bring u can but we will have enough 4 ever1. I will have my guitar. God bless us all.”

                Normally, David would have replied thanking them for the offer and turned him down with some excuse so he could go home and have the evening to himself. After his experience at church the previous day the thought of spending more time with his fellow believers seemed far more appealing to him than going back to his empty house to sit in front of a screen. “I’ll be there! I’ll swing by the store on the way and pick something up.” David wrote before getting in his car and driving off the parking lot.