but not eager, Pastor Donovan anticipated the inevitable encounter about to happen. With his eyes’ fluctuating attention on the team, he greeted the remaining few individuals exiting the church. A decoy to mask dismay, he greeted the men with his pastoral voice. “It was a joy to have you here today.” He was not about to admit that he did not notice them in church. Though he faced the congregation the entire service, he saw only his daughter in the pew and the distractions in his heart. He smiled and continued, “I wish I would have known that you were coming. I would have asked Ashley, my wife, to have prepared more food for lunch.”
Rather perplexed, George asked, “You did not get the phone message that I left last night?”
“No. As a rule, I go to bed early on Saturday nights; and I do not use electronics on Sunday mornings—no phone, no Internet, no television. It is a spiritual discipline to help prepare me for church.”
“I called to let you know that we were coming to hear your decision, meet Anne, and to tell you that everything is in place to begin.”
With peripheral vision, Pastor Donovan noticed that the family stood ready to go have lunch. What he didn’t see was Anne coming to tell him this. She stepped right up to him, leaned her head on his shoulder, and politely interrupted, “Daddy, Mom says the food in the oven will be burnt if we don’t leave now.” She took her eyes off her dad and turned them toward the men. “Hi. I’m Anne, the pastor’s daughter.”
“We know.”
She looked back at her dad. He cleared his throat, and hesitantly revealed, “Precious, these are the men that know about our surprise. They came to find out our decision.”
“Did you tell them?”
“I have not.”
Anne stood up straight, faced the men, and declared, “I am willing, and anxious, to pursue the plan.”
With muffled elation (for there were lingering parishioners nearby), George said, “That’s wonderful! I know that you have questions. That’s why we want you to attend our meeting tomorrow night. Your questions will be answered and the Lord’s return will be accelerated.”
“Will my dad be at the meeting?”
“We would have it no other way.” George nodded to the team, indicating that it was time to go. He looked at Anne and said, “Thank you. We’ll see you tomorrow night.” He looked at Pastor Donovan and said, “And thank you. That was a great sermon.”
Pastor Donovan smiled, and then winced when he saw the suspicious look on his wife’s face. Even from the parking lot she could make her mistrust known. This was not going to be a normal lunch.
* * * * *
Doug quipped, “It’s the way we all like it,” when his mom removed the more than well-done roast from the oven. She was not amused by this stock assessment whenever something went wrong in the kitchen.
After the blessing, Ashley immediately asked, “So who were those men that you were talking to after the service?”
“Well, they were not a search committee, if that is what you were wondering.” Believing diversion was the best tactic to avoid his wife’s inquest, he turned to Anne and asked, “More importantly, how did your college admission exam go yesterday? How do you feel you did?”
Ashley interjected, “I’m so sorry, Anne. I completely forgot to ask you about the test.” To her husband’s delight, she continued, “How did it go? What was the essay question? I know you were concerned about that part of the exam.”
“Actually, I couldn’t have felt better about it,” responded Anne. “I felt completely free while taking the test, especially while writing the essay.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“But Mom, you know I’m not supposed to talk about the test, especially the essay.”
Payne looked down at his plate. Anne had told him about the essay when he picked her up from the test site. “Dad,” she had said, “it was like God gave me an opportunity to, I don’t know, work things through. I mean, it’s not as if the admission exam itself matters anymore. But the question, of all things, asked whether or not our lives would be better off with limitless technology. Dad, I got to think, really think, about what we planned to do. This was my thesis statement: Although many believe that rapid advancement in technology trivializes what it means to be human, I think we should yoke ourselves to it because innovation and expansion are core values for humanity.” Still looking at his plate of tough meat, Payne recalled the chill that had gone down his spine when Anne said in the car, “Embrace the future; harness it; and advance it.” He wasn’t sure if the chill had been from fear or awe.
Doug chimed in as his father sat uneasily silent, “How about a little hint for your favorite brother who will have to take the test in a few years?”
“You want a hint? Here’s a hint: Listen to Dad’s mantra, ‘Catch the wave.’”
Doug was clueless as to what his sister (or his dad) meant by this, except that she was not going to discuss the test any further. He asked if he could be excused from the table. Sister and father caught Doug’s wave and exited, too. Mom sat alone in the kitchen. It’s the way they all liked it; well, all but one.
* * * * *
Pastor Donovan thanked God for a no-more-questions Lord’s Day. He repeated this prayer of thanksgiving the next morning. Ashley would be gone all day with a childhood friend that she recently reconnected with. This meant that Anne and he could go to SarkiSystems without explanation, as long as Doug was distracted. Money to order pizza took care of that.
The room was set up the same. As a pastor, Payne entered with ambition; but as a protective dad escorting his daughter through the door, his first thought was, Why is there not one more chair set up for Anne?
George Carlson welcomed the team. With everyone still standing, he announced, “Tonight we place an entry into the book that is in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne in heaven. It’s sealed now, but soon this ultimate ‘World Civilizations’ textbook will be opened.”
Dr. Greybellum exclaimed, “In nine months we will see prosopon pros prosopon the only One worthy to unroll the scroll of God’s sovereign will.”
George reigned in the excitement by inviting the men to take their seats. “Indeed, we will see Him face to face,” echoed George as he motioned to Anne to come to the podium. He prayed a short prayer of grace, mercy, and peace to rest upon her, and wisdom and guidance to be upon the surgeons and all those involved in the procedure. Following a solemn, reverent “Amen,” George unveiled the plan for the evening—a blueprint for the team, a bombshell for Pastor Donovan and Anne.
“The embryo implant will take place tonight. In a moment, a surgeon will come to get Anne. An egg will be removed from one of her ovaries. The nucleus will be removed. Using electricity, this enucleated egg will be fused together with Jesus’ DNA obtained from the cord blood. The embryo created will be implanted. And then, Lord willing and her temperature doesn’t rise, Anne will go home with the Son of Man in her womb.”
The body language of both Donovans conveyed uneasiness. They were not prepared for such haste.
George explained that the whole operation would
