The Secret of the Desert Stone (15 page)

The earth lurched again, and they toppled to the sandy ground. Looking up, they saw the Stone's top edge move across the sky directly overhead. They were being pummeled by small rocks and sand, the first particles of debris flying out from the mountain of earth the Stone was bulldozing before it.

This is it!
Dr. Cooper thought. In only seconds they would be buried under a rolling mountain of debris.

They felt the ground stop shaking.

They looked all around. As far as they could see, the desert was quaking, shifting, shaking under a boiling shroud of dust.

But under their fallen bodies, the ground seemed perfectly solid, perfectly still. They looked at each other.
What's happening?
their eyes said.

Jay was the first to think his eyes were playing tricks on him. He blinked, looked several directions, then blinked again, trying to be sure he was really seeing the desert drop away all around them. “Hey . . .”

“Hang on,” said Dr. Cooper. “Don't move!”

They all felt a sensation like going up in an elevator, and then their eyes confirmed that the brown, dusty mantle over the desert floor was dropping away. They were rising above it, just like an airplane flying up through the clouds into clear blue sky.

Lila's hand felt empty space. She looked, then screamed in horror and surprise and clutched at the earth that remained under her. Right next to where she lay was a sheer drop. Dirt and sand were still shifting and sliding over the edge. Dr. Cooper grabbed hold of her, and then they all grabbed each other as they realized the abrupt edge extended all around them.

They were resting on a platform, a weird-shaped chunk of desert floor that was rising higher and higher, and just in time. With a thunderous roar and a billowing cloud of dust, the massive pile of earth and torn up desert rolling in front of the Stone cascaded directly beneath them, tumbling and falling like a Niagara Falls made of earth. Strangely, they felt no quiver, no shaking, no danger. It was like standing on a safe look-out platform, high above it all.

Finally, they could see what had happened. A large arm of rock, an extension from the Stone, had risen up beneath them, lifting them and the desert floor they were lying on. Now it was drawing them in, shrinking in close to the sheer face of the Stone to form a wide, safe ledge. They could feel the wind rushing around them. The Stone was carrying them like passengers, cradling them on a safe ledge above the destruction as it continued to grow, slide, and tear up the desert.

Dr. Cooper was awestruck as he peered over the edge and watched the incredible cataclysm. “He will keep me safe in his shelter . . .” he said in wonder. “He will keep me safe on a high mountain.”

Lila was squealing with delight. “I knew it! I knew God would take care of us!”

Jay was really enjoying the ride of his life. “Is this what you call the Rock of Ages?”

Dr. Henderson shook her head, totally bedazzled, shocked, awestruck. “You guys are too much!”

“Now do you believe?” Lila called over the noise.

Dr. Henderson peered over the sheer edge at the tumult below. They were riding—it seemed like flying— over the desert several hundred feet in the air, the wind rushing around them, the earth boiling, shaking, tumbling, and rumbling beneath them. It was like having a comfortable box seat from which to observe the end of the world—or its creation. “This is . . . this is unbelievable!” Then she added, “But I believe it!”

To the west of the Stone, across the wide grasslands, Chief Gotono and all the Motosas braced themselves against the old trees that sheltered their village and watched in holy amazement as the mountain from God moved. It was sliding, rumbling, digging its way away from them, moving toward the cities and people of the east. Beneath them, the ground quivered and rumbled, but it was nothing dangerous. Every Motosa, young and old, was accounted for and every home was solidly built on stone footings. The people would be all right; their houses would stand.

In awe, several Motosas fell to their knees and cried out to God for understanding. Many came to the chief and asked him the meaning of it all, but he only told them to keep watching, and to pray. Understanding would come later, he said. God was speaking again, and soon they would know His message.

But what was that new sound? A trickling, a babbling, and then a rushing . . . like a river.

The chief looked down at his feet just as water swirled around his toes. It was cool and brown from the silt it had picked up on its way across the grasslands, but it was water! He cried out, not in fear, but in boundless joy. Then he started shouting to the others, waving at them to come look.

They came on the run and watched the long, meandering ditch they had dug fill with rushing water!

They left the shelter of the trees and started running across the grasslands to see more of this miracle. When they came over a rise, they shouted, they screamed, they danced for joy and amazement.

Where the Stone had once stood there was now a deep, square depression in the earth, and in the center of that depression was a foaming, spouting, gushing fountain of water hundreds of feet high! The Stone had broken open a deep well, and now a mighty lake was forming, its waters not just filling the ditch, but overflowing it, filling the dips and low spots, flowing around the high spots, carrying water through the grasslands to the village and the crops.

The Motosas fell to their knees, raised their hands toward heaven, and sang to God.

“Look!” said Dr. Cooper, pointing below. “Nkromo's army!”

From their platform high on the smooth, flat face of the Stone, they could see hundreds of little dust clouds rising from the desert, kicked up by the feet, wheels, and tank tracks of the fleeing army—and the Stone was catching up.

“They're not going to make it!” Dr. Henderson cried, shaking her head.

“Look!” said Mobutu. “I see His Excellency!”

They searched in the direction Mobutu was pointing and finally spotted one tiny figure standing defiantly in the path of the Stone, one hand outstretched to point a silver saber, the other hand a shaking fist.

Mobutu shook his head in sorrow and wonder. “He still defies the Stone! He defies the God of the Motosas!”

The rolling, building mound of earth was tumbling toward the tiny little dictator with great speed, but he would not budge; he only stood there, a lonely little speck in the desert, shaking his fist in hate.

When the huge, mountainous wave of earth, stone, and sand rolled over Idi Nkromo, it only took an instant. First he was there, and then he was gone.

TWELVE

T
hey sat on a mound of soft rubble: sand, dirt, small stones, bigger boulders. It was suddenly quiet—so suddenly that the Coopers, Dr. Henderson, Mr. Mobutu, and his two loyal sidekicks were the only things still shaking. The air started to clear up as the dust drifted away on a steady north breeze. The first question on everyone's mind was,
Where are we?

They knew they were on solid, steady ground—at least, it wasn't rolling or tumbling. But they were up high, on a long range of hills they'd never seen before. To the east they could easily see the beginnings of green jungle and the white buildings of what had been called Nkromotown. But now that it was the capital of a small, free country no longer under the iron hand of a dictator, another name could be found.

To the west, they could see the largest, longest, deepest skid mark in the world, if not the known universe. The Stone had carved a deep, flat rut across the desert, and now, at the far end, an expansive lake was forming. The nation of Togwana would have to redraw its maps because it now had an entirely new geography: a vast lake where once there had been a desert and the hills upon which they sat that the Stone had scraped up.

Nkromo's army was gone. Some had perished with their boss under the moving mountain of earth. The rest had scattered into the jungles and small settlements to the east, no longer a powerful force now that their wicked leader was dead.

As the afternoon sun washed over the Coopers and their friends, they began to grasp the fact that the Stone was gone too. They could all remember the platform they were sitting on descending again, just like a plane coming in for a landing. They could remember the desert coming up to meet them, and they could even remember rolling gently off that platform onto this long, bulldozed pile of earth the Stone had created. But no one saw the moment the Stone vanished, and none could say just where it went. All they knew was it had done its work, left them here, and then disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Dr. Henderson was the first to speak. “Now that, my friends, was some kind of ride!”

Dr. Cooper was already on his knees. To pray his prayer of thanksgiving, all he had to do was remove his hat. “Lord, You have shown us that You are mighty indeed! But Your mercy is also as great as Your might, and for that, we thank You!”

“Do we ever,” said Jay.

“Amen,” said Lila.

“You're real, God,” said Dr. Henderson. “You've gotten through to me. I believe.”

Then they all sat there quietly, thoughtfully, pondering what had happened.

“Togwana will never be the same,” said Mobutu, looking east and west. “We have a whole new country now.”

“In more ways than one,” said Dr. Cooper. “The geography is different, but you're also rid of Idi Nkromo. Now you and the rest of the people can rebuild Togwana the right way.”

Mobutu nodded with understanding. “As God leads us. I have much to repent of. I have much to set right.”

Dr. Cooper smiled at that. “No better time to start than right now, Mr. Mobutu.”

“By the way,” said Lila. “Thank you, Mr. Mobutu, for saving our lives.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Jay said, and then they all extended their thanks to Mr. Mobutu, Bernard, and Walter.

“Don't thank me,” said Mobutu. “Thank your father. He knew.”

Jay and Lila looked at their father. “Knew what?”

Dr. Cooper smiled at Mobutu. “Go ahead and tell them.”

Mr. Mobutu sighed and then confessed, “I am a Motosa. Chief Gotono and I are from the same family, the Mobutus. We are cousins.”

Lila's eyes got big, and then she slapped the ground with the realization. “So that's why you look so much alike!”

Mobutu nodded with a smile. “I grew up in the Motosa village. I knew of the Motosas' God.”

“Remember the story of the Man in the Tree?” Dr. Cooper asked his kids and Dr. Henderson.“‘God sent Ontolo to save Mobutu.' Mobutu was the chief's name before he became chief. I had a hunch there was a connection.”

“And you guessed that I would fear God?”Mobutu asked.

Dr. Cooper eyed Mobutu knowingly. “I knew you did, somewhere deep in your heart.”

Mobutu nodded. “My days among the Motosas were long ago, and I journeyed far from home to follow a man who was really a devil.” He shook his head sorrowfully. “How thankful I am that God intervened and saved my people from Nkromo. How thankful I am that He saved
me!
Ontolo has saved Mobutu again—even when
this
Mobutu does not deserve it.”

“Ontolo,” Jay considered. “The Man in the Tree.”

Mobutu smiled, nodding his head. “And a Stone the size of a mountain!”

“The same God, the same Savior,” said Dr. Cooper.

But Dr. Henderson was still perplexed. “Well fine, Dr. Cooper, but that doesn't explain how you knew the rest.”

He gave her a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

She knew he was teasing her a bit. “Don't give me that! How did you know the Stone was going to, you know, grow, and move, and take out Idi Nkromo?”

Dr. Cooper raised an eyebrow, a twinkle in his eye. “Dare I refer to the Bible again?”

Dr. Henderson threw up her arms in surrender. “Go ahead, go ahead.”

“All through the Bible you can find scriptures that compare Jesus to a stone or a rock: The rock in the wilderness that produced water when Moses struck it . . .” They all shot a glance at the lake still growing as water gushed out of the earth. “‘And they all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that was with them. That rock was Christ.' Oh, and then there's the rock upon which the wise man built his house . . .”

“And we saw how the Motosas used that idea,” said Lila.

“Just like the stone the builders rejected that became the cornerstone. And then there's that scripture in Daniel . . .”

“Oh, yeah!” said Jay, recalling it.

Dr. Cooper explained. “When Daniel interprets a dream King Nebuchadnezzar had, he tells about a huge stone that was cut out without hands that smashed and destroyed all the evil kingdoms of the world, then grew into a mountain that filled the whole earth. It's a very exciting picture of Christ, and how He would eventually do away with the world's evil powers and fill it with His glory instead.”

“I love it!” said Lila.

“So . . . since the Stone seemed to be God's way of showing the Motosas—and us—the power and majesty of Jesus Christ, I figured the Stone might act out that picture in the Book of Daniel.”

Dr. Henderson cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “Wasn't that kind of a long shot for a man about to
be
shot?”

“Well . . .” Dr. Cooper thought it over. “Considering everything else God has done to reveal Himself to the Motosas, it had to happen, and I knew Idi Nkromo couldn't last, not if the Motosas were to survive and Chief Gotono's dream was to come true.”

That got their interest. “What dream?”

Weeks later, a small, single-engine airplane soared over Togwana's new lake and landed gently on the lake's western shore, only a quarter of a mile or so from the Motosa village. Green fields of wheat and corn flourished and sheep and goats drank their fill at the water's edge. The grasslands were greening up, and new homes were being built. Things had changed in Togwana.