The Brethren by Beverly Lewis

didn’t mean he hadn’t caused his brother’s death. Why was this so hard for everyone to accept?
    Irvin pulled out a small New Testament from his shirt pocket. “This may sound peculiar to you, but I want you to imagine the Lord Jesus nailed to a crossbeam. For you He died, Zeke. For the blame of sin you feel so strongly.”
    Zeke sighed, pulling on his beard. Same old salvation talk. He was starting to feel nauseated. From not eating, he guessed. Irvin kept yapping. “No matter what you’ve done … or think you’ve done, God’s Son can and will forgive you.”
    Zeke wanted to stop up his ears. Feeling strangely dizzy, he closed his eyes, then blinked them open, only to find Irvin still sitting there, his hair parted on the side, combed like it always was, eyes bright, face clean-shaven.
    “We can trust the Savior even when we can’t trust ourselves.”

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Brethren
    Zeke ran his hands through his hair, wishing he could sort out all the chaos-the unrelenting noise-in his head His leg twitched and he felt pressure behind his eyes. “You’re gom to get me shunned if you keep talkin’ this way” He glanced toward the preacher’s side of the house. “Himmel you sound like my Esther, you know that?”
    Irvin nodded, smiling. “Better to be shunned on earth than for God to turn His back on you on that day of days.”
    Irvin’s words jolted Zeke.
    “Miracles still happen,” Irvin continued.
    “Maybe for other folk … not for me.”
    “God’s love outshines all, even when we think we’re unworthy.”
    Zeke sneered. “The Lord God has left me. Ain’t that
    easy to see?”
    Just then, Preacher Zook’s dismayed face appeared in the doorway. He had heard, probably, Irvin’s salvation talk and wanted to put the nix on it. “Why don’t you join us for a nice hot meal?” Jesse was including both men in his invitation. Til accept if Zeke here will.” Irvin rose and waited But Zeke stayed put. He could feel his neck muscles tense. “Count me out,” he uttered.
    Ben stared out the window, watching a bird preen on the s.U. Love conceals itself deep in the gaps of longing, between finding and losing …and finding again He
    hed heard this, or if perhaps he had read it somewhere. Either way, it was true of him. “All too true,” he whispered, glad for the privacy of the empty family room.
    94 Torn between loneliness and concern for Annie’s family situation, Ben decided to take a risk. At the very least, she and I can be friends, he told himself. And I could use a friend.
    Writing the date, Saturday, May 6, he began to put his thoughts on paper.
    Dear Annie,
    I wish we could have said a proper good-bye before I left so suddenly. I’ve wanted to let you know that I’m back in Kentucky again and doing well. It’s good to be home.
    He lifted his pen and shook his head. What he’d written so far wasn’t even remotely indicative of his true feelings, but he didn’t wish to worry her.
    My sisters were glad to see me again, but you know how it is with siblings. I still wish I might have had the opportunity to introduce you to my family.
    I just wanted to