Page 31 of Hidden Ascent

Jay shrugged. “Peter mentioned you were in trouble. You want to tell me about it?”

“Look, Jay, I don’t know if you know this, but Peter believes God led him to you.”

“I know.” If she was trying to scare him away, she wasn’t doing a good job of it. Her resistance only made him more determined to prove himself.

When she moved to a nearby chair, he stretched out on the couch.

“So, a random guy turns up at the beach, tells you God sent him, and you get in a car with him? That’s not brave. That’s stupid. Or demented.”

“Which do you think I am? Stupid or demented?”

“Judging by the way you looked when you first came in, I’d say you were a raving lunatic.”

“Understandable. I had a swim.”

“Fully clothed?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t it a bit chilly for a swim?”

“I almost drowned.”

“On purpose?” The concern on her face was undeniable. She had a tough exterior, but she couldn’t hide her heart. Maybe he could get along with her after all.

“No. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I was running away.”

“From who?”

“Myself. And I swam out so far I couldn’t make it back.”

“But you did.”

“I know. You may not believe that God sent Peter, but God saved me from drowning, and when I came out of the water, Peter was there. Sent from God. It’s hard for me to deny, even if you don’t want to believe it.”

“Peter has a different relationship with Him than I do.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I think God’s got better things to do with His time than drag some guy out of the ocean so that I have help.”

“Lucky for me, you’re wrong.”

“No, that’s not—” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t mean He’s too busy to save you. What I mean is, He’s got the entire world to run. He’s given me the brains and the training to work things out for myself.”

“He’s God. You don’t think He can look after you and the world at the same time?”

“How long have you believed?”

“It’s a recent thing.”

“How recent are we talking?”

“I’m still counting in hours.”

“So, you’ve been a Christian for a few hours, and you think you’ve worked out that God is intricately involved in our everyday lives?”

“He saved me from drowning and got me back to shore where He had Peter waiting. So, yeah, I’m probably siding with Peter at this point.”

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