A Time to Overcome

  by J.M. Downey

  Copyright 2014 Southern Rose Press

  North Carolina

  Hello Readers,

  This is an alternate first chapter to my debut release A Time to Say Goodbye created for promotional purposes only. Please feel free to share this, give it away, and most of all enjoy.

  Take Care,

  J.M. Downey

  Chapter One

  Wisor Lutheran Seminary at Winchester

  1855

  Michael Thompson stopped outside the door to his room and ran a hand through his sweat filled hair. A cream colored envelope lay against the dark brown wood, making a jolt pour through him. It had finally come. He plucked the envelope off, ripped it open and pulled out the note. His gaze darted over the page. They wanted him. The small church in Henderson, NC, that desperately needed a preacher. Michael closed his eyes and mouthed thank you as the tenseness he had been feeling all week fled from him. In a few months he would take up a position at the church whose members still remembered his father’s doctoring skills. He would finally see where he was born.

  “Yes.”

  Something solid crashed into him, making Michael brace his hands on the door. He spun around, spotting his two friends, Patrick and Josh, in matching rugby uniforms of orange-striped long sleeves shirts and knee-high orange striped socks.

  “That was quite a challenge,” Patrick said, shoving Michael’s shoulder. A twinkle filled his dark brown eyes, contrasting with his flushed cheeks.

  “Yes, it was.” They’d finally beat Eddinton hall. And what a match it had been.

  Josh took a step closer, his brows furrowed, gaze obviously focused on the note. “Have you received a reply?”

  Michael chuckled. “I have, and they want me. I’m going home.” Home. A rolling land, lost in a thick forest as his mother had said. A land he had never seen. He had dreamed of this moment since the Lord had called him to ministry. And now it would finally happen.

  Patrick planted his hand on his hips and bent his head to the side as a smirk crossed his face. “Well, Good Michael, now all you need is a wife with….”

  “Patrick.” Michael cut him off and turned to his door, shaking his head. He had no time to find a wife. Especially the sort of wife Patrick described.

  “Maybe, during your time with the Jacobses you’ll meet a nice girl you can’t leave behind,” Josh said.

  The sounds of his friends’ footsteps followed him into the small room filled with nothing but two small beds, and matching trunks pushed to the side. Michael plopped on his bed, wrinkling the starch grey sheets.

  “Michael, are you ever going to give a girl a chance?” Josh asked. “How can you be so immune to their charms?”

  “If the Lord wants me to marry then he’ll have to plop one in my lap.”

  “Nah, Michael just needs to find a pretty girl in need,” Patrick said as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “Then the hero will come back to life.”

  Michael shook his head. He would need to start putting together sermons and practicing how to lead a flock. He’d have no time for chivalry. “The Lord does not have a wife in my future.”

  Both friends looked at each other and laughed. Patrick bent over and slapped his knees, shaking his head.

  Michael’s cheeks warmed. “What is so hilarious?”

  “Have you not learned anything while at seminary?” Patrick asked.

  “What lesson am I lacking?”

  “The Lord always gives us what we least expect.”

  His friends burst out laughing and then left leaving Michael to his thoughts.

  Michael fell back on his bed, his head bumping the wall. He scrunched his eyes and then blinked a couple times as a small pain throbbed through his skull. Well, then he would just pray for a wife. Since that was last thing he wanted.

 

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