Page 19 of Echoes of Eternity
“Will do, Pastor. Thank you.”
The pastor’s sermon that morning was on leaving a spiritual legacy, and Ryan’s father, Frank, was referenced several times. The gesture was kind, but it made getting through the sermon a bit of a challenge, not only for Ryan, but Emily as well. As the pastor rounded out the forty-third minute of his sermon, he came to the final passage of Scripture.
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
Psalm 42:1
After the pastor read aloud the Words of God, he paused. He made direct eye contact with Ryan for a moment, then broke away. “Part of our spiritual legacy that we bestow upon our children is modeling what it is to be a Christian, especially in hard times. How we respond to God and His Word is fine and dandy when things are good, but what our children need to see most is how we respond to God and His Word when times are tough. After the sudden loss of a loved one, after financial ruin, or whatever the case may be. This is what our kids need to see. When life throws a bag of bricks at your face, what do you do?”
The weight of the pastor’s words lingered long with Ryan. In the car on the way to the grill, and all through the meal with his family, he couldn’t shake the truth of them. Conviction weighed on his heart, knowing just how terrible of a father and husband he had been for the last month. He hadn’t grieved well at all.
Emily tapped his shoulder as he sat beside her taking a drink of his ice water.
“Yeah?”
Motioning with her head toward the front of the restaurant, he noticed Steven, his manager, with one of the servers. His hands were moving up and down and then he touched his forehead.
“I’ll be right back.” Wiping his mouth with his napkin, Ryan set it down on the table and went over to Steven.
“How can I help?” Ryan opened his hands outward.
“Don’t worry about it.” Steven left the server and him at the counter and vanished into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” he inquired of the server.
“He needs me to stay an extra few hours until Melissa gets here, and I can’t. I have to go pick my son up and get home.”
He shooed a hand through the air. “Don’t worry about it. We have things handled. Go be with your son.”
Going into the kitchen, he found Steven in the manager’s office looking at a schedule on the desk as he rubbed his temples.
“You had no right to interrupt me, Ryan!” Steven’s voice was laced with anger as he turned to face him.
“I sent her home. I can fill in.”
“You?” Steven laughed and stood up. “You haven’t served in years. You think you can just walk in and do it?”
“I can help. I know that much. Are you okay, Steven?” Tilting his head, he saw something more in his eyes. “You don’t get this flustered, from what I understand.”
“It’s hard to keep help around here, and I just . . .” Rubbing his forehead as he lowered his gaze, he shook his head. “I know he was just my boss, but dang. I miss Frank, man!”
Ryan nodded. “Just because he wasn’t your dad doesn’t mean you aren’t upset. It’s okay.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Now, tell me what I can do to help.”
Ryan sent his family home and worked through the afternoon and evening. As the restaurant foot traffic slowed that evening, Jason came in and took a seat in one of the booths near a window.
Coming over to him, Ryan lifted his eyebrows as his gaze met his brother.
“Late night bite?”
“No.” He slid a piece of paper across the table. “I’ve had this since yesterday. Debated on giving it to you.”
“What?” Glancing down he saw the name Linda and an address in Spokane scribbled under it. “Is that for the account?”