In the dark African night, two weary people bounced along in a car at the foot of a tall, black mountain.
"Look out! There's only a path. We're not even on a road anymore," the woman shouted to her husband.
The man and woman were scared. When they turned to look back, their worried eyes seemed to shine with tears.
They could not see the invisible angel riding along with them. Hark the Herald Angel had been sent from heaven. His job was to fill in a few gaps in the record of Christian hero Festo Kivengere. But now, seeing the fear on Festo's face, Hark worried that he had found the wrong person. This man is running for his life. Could he really be a hero? Hark wondered.
Because he was an angel, Hark could hear people's thoughts, even when they said nothing out loud. Now he could feel the fear that wrapped around Festo and his wife, Mera, like a knotted rope.
But Hark could not help the two people. He had gone back in time. What he was seeing had already happened. He could not change it. He could only watch -- and worry -- as he recorded the missing facts of Festo's story.
"Mera is ill," Hark wrote on his heavenly notepad. "She has a fever and is growing weaker. She needs to rest. But she's afraid the soldiers are following them. And if the soldiers catch them . . ."
Hark could not bear to write the rest. President Idi Amin's soldiers already had killed many Christians in Uganda. Festo's name was next on their list.
So Festo and Mera were trying to escape from Uganda, their beautiful homeland. They would be safe if they could reach Rwanda, the country next to Uganda. But to get there, they had to cross the mountains tonight, before the soldiers found out they had left.
But maybe the soldiers already know about their escape, Hark worried. Maybe they are already following. Or perhaps up ahead more soldiers wait to jump out and capture the two nervous travelers.
It was almost too much for Hark. He was not used to being worried and afraid. After all, there are no such feelings in heaven!
Then Hark realized there was still another problem. Sometimes other narrow paths crossed the trail. He watched as Festo and Mera looked this way, then that way. They turned the car around and tried going another direction. Then they turned around again, bumping and bouncing as the car rumbled over the rocky trails. Sometimes the car bounced right to the edge of the narrow path. Mera thought they were going to fall over the steep side!
They're looking for something, thought Hark. He caught his breath as he realized what it was.
The trail, Hark gasped. They can't find the right trail to cross the mountains. Festo and Mera are lost!
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Jill Briscoe has an active speaking and writing ministry that has taken her to many countries. She has written more than 40 books, including study guides, devotional material, poetry, and children's books.
Jill is executive editor of Just Between Us Just Between UsJust Between Us , a magazine of encouragement for ministry wives and women in leadership. She serves on the board of World Relief and Christianity Today, Inc.
A native of Liverpool, England, Jill launched into youth evangelism after becoming a Christian at age 18. She married her husband, Stuart, in 1958, and since then they have ministered together through Telling the Truth Telling the TruthTelling the Truth media ministries at conferences and mission organizations around the world. They reside in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Stuart completed 30 years of ministry as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church. Both Stuart and Jill now serve Elmbrook as ministers-at-large. They have 3 children, David, Judy, and Peter, and enjoy the blessing of 13 grandchildren.
Jill and Stuart call suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin their home. When they are not traveling, they spend time with their three children, David, Judy and Peter, and thirteen grandchildren.