Ask a Missionary - Catch The Fire

Singles, Couples, and Kids
Counting the Cost
6
SHE STOOD IN THE MIlDEWED HAllWAY ON THE
tenth floor of the tenement. The late-afternoon Swedish sun was
softening as she knocked on a dirty steel door.
“Vem er han den?” an old man muttered through the door.
“It’s Aina. Aina Flood, Daddy,” she answered.
Hearing no response, she teared up. “It’s your daughter, Papa.
Aina. Behaga öppen dörren.”
He yanked the door open until the chain snagged. The stench
of alcohol oozed through the gap.
“Aina? No!” His stubbled face crinkled as he squinted into the
light. “Aina? I left Aina in the Congo a lifetime ago.”
“My mama was your Svea. Open the door, Daddy.”
That name, Svea, opened the door—and the old man’s eyes,
dulled by cataracts.
———————————————————
Aina, a grown woman now called Aggie Hurst, entered the
dark apartment and David Flood’s smelly life. He stumbled to a
cot and choked out, “I never intended to give you away. I am so,
so sorry.”
Aggie knelt beside the bed. “It’s all right, Papa.” Tenderly she
held his bony arm and said, “God took care of me.”
David Flood shouted, “God? God forgot all of us. Our lives
SINGLES, COUPLES, AND KIDS: Counting the Cost | 153