The Quenched Desire – Episode 9
The Quenched Desire – Episode 9
© Lewis Dampson
Three years later, Charles’ mind became confused. Sometimes, he would start a service in gentleness and joy, then suddenly jump up, wave his arms, and sharply rebuke those who weren’t pure in heart. Then he would threaten to leave the service. Charles was hearing different voices, and sometimes he wasn’t sure which was God’s and which was his. This confusion made him an erratic person, not sure of himself.
The voices Charles was hearing troubled him greatly. But instead of receiving counsel from mature leaders, he chose to continue following the signs and to ignore the uneasiness within. He pressured himself so much and still refused to rest or eat. The pressure built up within his system made him react to even the least thing.
Noah had come from a long distance to visit Charles. He had heard of the emotional trauma his friend was in and was greatly troubled. He arrived late in the night and went to Charles’ house to check up on him.
Charles hadn’t married. His reason for not getting married was that, he wanted no woman to come between him and God. He had no maids in the house. Virtually, Charles lived alone.
Noah had no troubles since he knew where Charles always hid his spare keys. Taking the key under the flower pot, he opened the door and entered the house. As usual, the hall was dark since Charles always turned off the lights in there. Noah switched on the light to avoid hitting his shin against an object. With the illumination, he climbed the staircase to where he knew Charles would be- the prayer closet.
When Noah opened the door of the prayer closet, it was empty. Charles was not there. “Where could Charles be?” he asked rhetorically. With that, he went looking for Charles in all the rooms available in the house. He screamed Charles’ name, “Charles!!! Charles!!! Where are you?” He still got no response. Noah was anxious since he knew his friend was an introvert and would never go outside the house.
With anxiousness, he entered the kitchen, a place he knew Charles would never be. But, since he ran out of options, he checked that place too. When he opened the door of the kitchen, it was dark in there too. He switched on the light, and there was no one there. He was near closing the door when something caught his attention.
Noah saw water spilt on the floor of the kitchen. He became curious and moved closer. He then saw pieces of glass scattered near the fridge. He moved cautiously this time around to avoid stepping on any of the pieces of glass on the floor. On moving further, he discovered the broken glass from which the pieces on the floor came from. Then, he saw someone’s leg. The rest of the person’s body was hidden behind the huge fridge.
Noah immediately rushed behind the fridge and saw Charles lying motionless on the floor. Apparently, he had come to drink water from the fridge and had collapsed.
Noah was horrified by the experience. He called Charles’ name, but he didn’t respond. He shook him on the floor and tried to raise him up, but he couldn’t see any motion from Charles. He bent down and gave Charles first aid. Charles started breathing and his pulse was normalizing. When Noah saw that his first aid had yielded fruit, he dashed into the hall to call a doctor.
“Doctor Nash, please come quickly to Charles’ house! He is not feeling good at all. He went unconscious,” Noah said. “I am on my way. Will be in the house with an ambulance in ten minutes. Please stay close to him,” Doctor Nash advised while he hung up.
Noah moved from the hall and went back to the kitchen. Charles was still lying down on the floor, but this time breathing a little. Noah raised him from the floor with much effort and took him into the hall. He placed Charles on the Sofa and sat right beside him, waiting for Doctor Nash and the ambulance.
True to Doctor Nash’s words, he arrived exactly the time he proposed with the ambulance. They took Charles into the ambulance on a stretcher. The nurses attended to him and he was responding to treatment.
The ambulance took Charles to the hospital where he received further treatments. When Charles regained consciousness, he canceled all his meetings. The doctor explained later that Charles had suffered from emotional collapse and was under intense stress. He further explained that, the stress caused his unconsciousness. He instructed Charles to rest more and cancel all his meetings until he was fully rested. With that, Charles was discharged from the hospital.
Noah also canceled all his meetings and schedules to care for Charles since there was no one around.
When people heard about the cancelation of Charles’ meetings, they were outraged and offended. Most said things like, “why should he cancel his meetings knowing how hungry we are for God? Charles doesn’t care about us!! He only thinks about himself.”
These comments were finding their way to Charles’ ears. He didn’t like what the people were saying. He was greatly disturbed when thousands of people gathered in front of his house pleading with him to reschedule his meetings. Instead of Charles coming out with his reasons for the cancelation of the meeting, he rather thought that bringing out those reasons would make people think he was weak. He kept the reasons to himself.
Noah was comfortable with the presence of the crowd that had gathered outside. He knew his friend on seeing them would be pressured into doing something that would harm him. He decided to go outside and dissolve the crowd by stating the reasons Charles canceled all his meetings.
When the people saw him, they all became quiet as they knew him to be a friend to Charles. They knew whatever he said would be from Charles. They gave him their rapt attention as he spoke. “I thank you all for leaving your work to be here. I am happy within because I know it is the love and hunger for God that has driven all of you from your places to this place. It is rather unfortunate that Charles had canceled all his meetings. I want to say emphatically that, he didn’t do it on purpose, or to spite you, or to betray the confidence you have in him as a messenger of God. He canceled his meetings because….”
The next thing Noah heard before he could complete that sentence was a loud roar from the crowd. He was perplexed as he didn’t know and understand the reason for their screams. He turned and saw Charles standing close to him. “Charles, I thought the doctor instructed you to rest? What are you doing here?” Noah asked with a puzzled face.
Charles didn’t answer his question, but rather moved and addressed the crowd. As he spoke, the people became quiet. “Nothing can stop the work of God. Not sickness, money, prosecution or even death. I want to tell all you lovers of God that I have rescheduled all my meetings and they will go on as planned,” Charles said and went back to the house.
There were a lot of excitements in the crowd. Many spread the good news to their friends and families. Soon, news had spread that Charles had rescheduled his meetings.
To be continued
