The Invisible War by Michael Phillips

Author:Michael Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fidelis Publishing
Published: 2024-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Mark walked alone from the dorm at five minutes before eight on the following morning, Bible in hand, to join a cluster of eight or ten others across the street from the library. By the end of the morning, he had made several new friends and realized that in the group called CCF he had found a home. Though he made only one or two brief comments during the discussion following breakfast, Ward Hutchins recognized in Mark Forster a level of insight he was eager to probe more deeply. When the study broke up, he approached his new acquaintance.

“I’m going to walk up to campus instead of driving,” said Ward. “Want to join me?”

“Sure,” replied Mark. “It’s a nice day. You can tell me about the town.”

Ward’s sister Linda accompanied them. They set out on the mile and a half to the university, Mark walking between brother and sister. After some light conversation, the subject of sports came up.

“You ever do any running?” Ward asked. “I’m on the cross-country team. I’m not very good, usually sixth man on the team. But I love getting out there with the guys every afternoon.”

“I do run, actually,” said Mark. “I signed up for cross-country too. I ran in high school.”

“That’s terrific. That means we’ll see each other every day.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” rejoined Mark.

Mark found Ward Hutchins almost larger than life—friendly, outgoing and personable, a dedicated and outspoken Christian, an obvious natural leader who, even as a sophomore, seemed more than anyone he had yet encountered to be the driving energy of the CCF group. His sister Linda, though a knock-out by any standard, which ordinarily would produce a level of self-assured confidence among people her own age, was soft-spoken and rarely contributed in group discussions. She seemed vulnerable, a flower not yet fully open, a personality in the process of formation, still trying to discover who she was. In the group, she was comfortable deferring to her brother, and being known as Ward’s sister. Unusual in one so attractive, there was no hint of flirtation about her. It was as if she didn’t realize how striking she was.

While Jeff saw neither of the Hutchins with quite the same frequency and was never to be seen at the Monday evening prayer meeting, when he learned that Linda never missed a Saturday morning Bible study, which were led by various members of the group, he forced himself out of bed to accompany Mark on most weekends.

If doing the Christian thing, as he called it to himself, was what it took, he could do that. He had picked up enough of the lingo from Mark to be comfortable in that world. From his father he had picked up the knack of fitting into any world. He thus managed to keep himself in Linda’s orbit. Hampered at first by not having a car, and with her living eight miles away, he had to satisfy himself with CCF functions and the “accidental” campus encounters, which, as

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