Sweat rolled into the corner of his eye and stung. His shirt was soaked through and the cool night air that billowed under the door only made it worse. He pulled his knees up to his chest, and shivered.

He didn’t know how much more he could take.

士兵们紧张不安. 州长已经失去了控制. Wild stories of odd sightings and strange happenings the last two days had everyone spooked. People were afraid to be alone, yet terrified of being caught with people they knew. 

然而,, 他来了, lying on a pallet spread out in front of his door, as if he could keep his family safe, as if that sad excuse for a door could keep anyone from breaking in.  

在远方的某个地方, either at the top of the alleyway or at the cross street, 男人们在叫喊. The commotion was close enough his heart pounded, far enough away that angry words melded together. 这声音现在很熟悉了. 一个尖叫的女人. 木头碎裂. 另一个被逮捕.

又是一个长夜不眠.

他很安全，他告诉自己. 他们 是安全的. He was a nobody, and they weren’t interested in nobodies. 他们要的是领导人，而不是他.

他感到一阵疲倦. 是的，领导们. The authorities were looking for their leaders. 好吧, 我们不都是吗? 他叹了口气.

The sharp ping of running feet against stone pavement outside sent blood surging through his veins. 他用一只胳膊肘撑着身体.

“是他们吗?”?”

The frantic voice behind him belonged to his son Aaron. The boy sat bolt-upright on his bed, a thin pallet an arm’s-length away. No doubt Aaron had heard what he’d heard—runners. 跑步者朝他们的方向跑去.

He put a finger to his lips and a quick hand on his son’s shoulder, then scrambled to his feet. The door was locked, but he braced himself against it as added security. 他希望.

Molding his back to the door hid him in the darkest shadow in the room, 正是他想去的地方. His son looked to him for reassurance and the last thing he wanted was for his face to betray him, to reveal the question that now tormented him—我们怎么会错得这么离谱?

Still seven months shy of his twelfth birthday, Aaron was perceptive beyond his short years. This son, the reflective one, said little. His questions, since it happened, were few. 但是，这并不重要. He knew Aaron understood what it meant. 亚伦知道他们失去了什么.

The light that squeezed in around the tattered corners of the old door converged in a faint halo around Aaron’s head. His thin body shook, but his feet were planted. 他是一名站岗的士兵. 在他身后, 静静地睡在地板上, 是他的弟弟, 丹尼尔, who had slipped downstairs sometime after midnight, 拖着他的托盘. 

Despite it all, his heart swelled with pride. 亚伦，一个如此高贵的人. 丹尼尔，随时宝盈集团bbin打架. 在九岁, he was too grown up to sleep upstairs with his mother and sisters, yet child enough still to sleep through the storm brewing outside. The club 丹尼尔 had fashioned from a cedar limb was wrapped up in his arms. Aaron bent down and snapped it up.

4个，也许6个，赛跑者通过了. 然后,另一个.

两个停在他的门外. The door was feeble but thick enough their heavy breathing and low whispers make it impossible to make out what they were saying. Only one phrase was clear, and it turned his blood cold: “It ends now.”

He twisted his shoulder to put his ear against the door and when he did, 那扇叛逆的门颤抖着.

“嘘.男人们安静了下来.

He could sense their presence on the opposite side of the door as surely as if he could see them. He eased his weight off the door, and stepped back. 他的心怦怦直跳.

The door handle turned quietly, but it didn’t give.

另一个跑者过来了. 他停在门外. The exchange between the men was quick, urgent, and low. The scuffle of feet and the sound of hurried, retreating footsteps soon faded into the night.

然后沉默.

Long moments passed before he dared to breathe again. 他转身扑向亚伦. He caught him before the boy’s knees buckled beneath him. In the darkness, he drew his son close. 他们挤在一起坐着, 说小, until Aaron’s tremors abated and his eyelids could no longer stay open. 他把他哄到他的托盘上.

夜晚的空气平静而寂静. 街上很安静.

He fought off sleep for as long as he could, then surrendered. 黎明已经不远了.

*************

The light streaming in from under the door made the throbbing in his head worse. He blinked, but the pounding didn’t go away.

“撒母耳! 打开. 是我. 让我进去.”

他认得那声音. The edgy timbre of his cousin’s voice was unmistakable. He stumbled to his feet and found the lock, but his fingers refused to work. 

“来吧，塞缪尔. 快点.”

Nathan being up this time of morning could only mean trouble. He’d been a reprobate, an embarrassment to the family. The guy had been everywhere and done everything. Always in trouble—until Capernaum.

撒母耳叹了口气. 他又干了什么?

The door opened a crack, and his cousin pushed inside.

“你不会相信的. 我都不知道自己信不信.” Nathan’s words tumbled out on top of each other. “You won’t believe what the women are saying. 谣言满天飞. 我真不敢相信. 你不会相信的.”

塞缪尔揉了揉太阳穴.

“你在听我说话吗??”

“我试着不这么做.塞缪尔打了个哈欠.

内森抓住他的胳膊. 彼得和约翰也去了. 你听到我说的了吗? 坟墓，撒母耳. 它是空的. 没有尸体. 他不在那里. 耶稣根本不在那里.”

The remarkable day gave way to greater events. 在接下来的四十天, more than five hundred eyewitnesses saw Jesus alive, 和他谈过, 和他一起散步, 和他一起吃饭. The resurrection changed a rag-tag group of frightened followers into bold proclaimers of a message that radically transformed lives then, 直到今天依然如此.