Excerpt

“George,” the attendant said, “There’s an alert for you on the Village computer marquee. It says you should report to the medical clinic right away.”

“Thanks,” George responded.

“There was an earlier alert for Rachel,” the attendant said, “but that’s down now. She’s probably there already.”

“Very good,” George said. “Dave, we’ve got to go. Your assignment started with Betsy’s report and continues now with our rush to the medical clinic.”

“I’m with you, George.”

“Let’s go out the back door. The clinic is all the way across the complex.”

As the men exited the Reception Center door, Kasten caught the view of the center area of the complex. “Those are flowers!” he remarked, seeing the Cross up close for the first time.

George kept walking quickly. “Yes, Dave, those are flowers.”

“That’s the cross I saw from the plane.”

“Right. Those are hardy, flower-carpet roses; six acres in all.”

The men were nearing a corner building that had a small sign on its side which read, “Infirmary.”

“We’ll go in and through the Infirmary,” George said, “and then take the passageway to the medical clinic.”

Kasten began to fall behind but caught up as George opened the Infirmary door. There was a wide hall through the Infirmary with windows on each side. Kasten could see that a forth of the twenty or so beds were full.

“Are these villagers,” he asked.

“Yes, the Infirmary is restricted to villagers,” George answered as he opened the next door to another passageway. “These passageways,” George volunteered, “are each 207 feet long. Some villagers use electric carts to navigate from place to place.”

In a few minutes the men arrived at the Medical Clinic door. George cautioned, “Now, Dave, I don’t know what we’re going to run into here.” He turned and opened the door.

A nurse jumped up from the station desk when she saw George.

“Hello, Ann,” said George.

“I’ll take you right in,” the nurse answered. “You’re here ahead of the family.”

“They’ll probably be brought around front,” George responded. “Do they know where to come?”

“Yes, George. The mother went into cardiac arrest in the hospice, and we couldn’t revive her. She was very ill with cancer. Rachel and Dr. Anderson are with her now.”

They arrived at the door; the nurse pulled it open slowly, looked in and dropped to her knees with her face nearly touching the floor. George froze. Kasten moved around him to see what was happening.

A woman in her late fifties was sitting on the edge of an exam table, facing Rachel. Her face was glowing with joy. Rachel was standing in front of her holding both of her hands, smiling and crying at the same time. Dr. Anderson was standing behind the women with his head bowed down. He too was crying. Rachel was praising God over and over. “Thank you, Father, thank you, Jesus, thank you Holy Spirit.”

There was a commotion in the hallway and the nurse got to her feet. It was the woman’s family coming into the Medical Center. The nurse talked to them for a moment and then brought them into the room. George backed out edging Kasten out also. After less than a minute, Rachel joined George and Kasten. She couldn’t talk. George took her in his arms. They swayed back and forth for a long time. Joyous sounds could be heard coming from the room.

Dr. Anderson stepped out quietly. He spoke to Rachel and George in a clear, medical tone. “Not only did you bring her back to life, but for her to sit up in her condition, well, I can assure you, the healing went much further. Praise God.”

“Praise God. Thanks, Richard,” Rachel said.

Kasten sat down abruptly on one of the chairs lining the hallway. “How can this be?” he asked.

Rachel touched his shoulder and she spoke quoting the Bible, “Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.”

“But Christ healed them and He was God,” Kasten stuttered.

“Oh Dave,” Rachel said. “That verse was from the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus had already returned to the Father. Jesus said his disciples can do greater things than He did, and we can.”