"Tim LaHaye - Left Behind Kids 02 - Second Chance" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

JUDDThompson Jr. had always sized up situa-tions quickly. It was clear to him that of the four kids
who had fled to nearby New Hope Village Church during the greatest crisis the world would ever see, he
was the oldest. The redhead, the only girl, had a hard, bitter edge to her. But still, if Judd had to guess, he
would have said she was younger than he was.

Ah, what did he care. How could he ever care about anything anymore? The end of the world, at least
the world as he knew it, had come. Millions all over the world had disap-peared right out of their clothes,
leaving every-thing but flesh and bone behind.

It wasn't that Judd didn't know what had happened. He knew all too well. As he had heard in church
and Sunday school and at home his whole life, Jesus Christ had come back to rapture his church, and
Judd had been left behind.

He even knew why. It didn't take the ear-nest visitation pastor of New Hope Village Church, Bruce
Barnes, to explain that. Of all things, Pastor Barnes himself had been left behind.

Bruce Barnes had spent the last several minutes telling Judd and the three other shell-shocked kids his
own story. He finished by telling them there was still hope. Life would be miserable from now on, of
course, and they would be alone except for other new believers, but it was not too late for them to come
to Christ.
 Bruce had urged them to think about it and not to waste much time. The world had become dangerous
overnight. With so many Christians disappearing from important jobs, the result was chaos. No one had
any guaran-tees. Life was fragile. Judd was impressed that Bruce seemed so eager to convince them that
their only hope now was to trust Christ.

Judd knew it was the truth. He had to face himself, and he didn't like what he saw. His whole look, the
way he carried himself, the me-first attitude, the secret that he had never really become a Christian--- all
those things sickened him now.

Why had he wanted to appear so old? Why was it so important to him to know where he fit in every
crowd? Everything that ever mat-tered to him now seemed ridiculous. He had been a tough guy, a big
shot, the one with all the plans and schemes. He had stolen his dad's credit card and bought phony
identifica-tion papers that said he was old enough to travel on his own.Yeah, Judd thought,I was a real
player.

But though Judd had come to some hard realizations about himself, he still had a major problem. There
was no question Bruce was right. Judd didn't want to live without his family and without Christ. Though
he knew he had had every chance and could have been in heaven with his parents and brother and sister
right then, everything in him still fought to blame somebody else. But whom could he blame?

His parents had been wonderful examples to him. Even his little brother had recently asked Judd if he
still loved Jesus. If he couldn't blame his family and he didn't want to blame himself, that left only God. He
knew there was no future in blaming a perfect and holy God, but right then he had to admit that he didn't
much care for God's plan.

Whatever happened to the idea that God loved everybody and didn't want anybody to die and go to
hell? What kind of a God would leave a sixteen-year-old kid without his family?