Their footfalls fell noiselessly upon the concrete as they passed between the marble pillars that lined the front of the brick building.

 

Students milled down the paved pathways to and from classes, jogged out of dorm halls and hurried to a lecture about to begin.

 

The humans passed by them, walked through them, unknowing.

 

Argider glanced at a girl alone on a bench.

 

Her tears were dried now, but the pain in her heart was still raw.

 

Sade followed his gaze and stared at the girl, “She’s pregnant. She’s thinking about—”

 

Argider nodded.

 

“Can you stop her?”

 

“No. I can only guide. She’ll have to make the choice herself.”

 

“But…what if she makes the wrong one?”

 

“That’s up to her.”

 

Sade shook his head, “I don’t get it. What are we here for if we can’t really do anything?”

 

“We’re here to guide and protect, to radiate the light of El Shaddai, to praise His name, to teach His Word, to show His love.”

 

“But we can’t prevent people from making horrible mistakes.”

 

“We can guide them. They have free will, even as we do. Sometimes they refuse to listen, but other times they hear us. For those, we must keep speaking, keep showing, even when it seems no one is listening. ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.’ That’s why we’re here.”

 

© Whitney L. Schwartz

 

Italicized quote is 1 John 1:1 NIV