Shades of Blue (39 page)
One more thing. I’ve started a program where I will donate a book to any high school or middle school librarian who makes a request. Check out my website for details. Again, thanks for traveling with me through the pages of this book. I can’t wait to see you next time. My next book will be the third segment of the Above the Line Series. It’s called
Take Three
, and I think it will answer a lot of questions you might have about Bailey and Cody and the future for the producers in that series.
Until then, my friends, keep your eyes on the cross.
In His light and love,
Karen Kingsbury
R
EADER
S
TUDY
G
UIDE
Please use the following questions for your book club, small group, or for personal reflection.
1. What do you know about Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS)? If you don’t know about this, look up the symptoms online. Share about this.
2. Do you know anyone who has gone through an abortion? If so, talk about that person in general terms (careful to keep their identity private). Did that person suffer any signs of PAS?
3. What did you initially think of Brad’s decision to go back to Emma Landon and seek her forgiveness? Talk about what Brad might’ve been feeling. What did you think about his decision by the end of the book?
4. Was there a time in your life when you needed to seek forgiveness from someone? How did you go about this, and what were the results?
5. Is there someone in your life to whom you need to extend forgiveness? What is holding you back? Talk about what might happen if you offered an apology to that person.
6. Laura was part of a very strong Bible study. Did you relate to one of her friends more than the others? Which one and why?
7. Are you part of a Bible study or small group? Explain how your group works and how the group’s study and interaction is a benefit to you.
8. Laura’s father heard the news about Brad’s past from Brad. How did Laura feel about this first sign of Brad’s desire to take responsibility for his actions? Have you ever taken part in a difficult conversation, one that wasn’t easy but was the right thing to do? Talk about it.
9. How do you think you’d react if you found out someone you loved had hidden an important truth from you? Can you relate to Laura’s reaction? How would you have handled the news differently?
10. After he had told Laura and her father the truth about his past, Brad chose to talk to his father. Which of your parents are you closer to, and which one might you choose to share something like this with?
11. In what ways was it evident that Emma Landon was still trapped by the pain and regret she carried from her past?
12. Talk about a time when you struggled to find healing and forgiveness. How did that hurt carry over into your life or the life of someone you know?
13. How did Emma react to the idea that Brad had come to Holden Beach to apologize? Has anyone you know ever told you they were sorry for something grievous? How did you react?
14. Emma hadn’t told anyone about what actually happened at the abortion clinic. Why do you think it was important that she shared this information with Brad? How did the news change the way Brad viewed their decision to have an abortion?
15. Christians can get a bad reputation for being judgmental, but many times Christians are actually very understanding. Explain how Emma must’ve felt when Gavin Greeley was willing to listen without judgment when she talked about her abortion.
16. Tell about a time when you or a Christian you know did
not
pass judgment on someone who was struggling. Explain how love and grace was extended to that person, and talk about the outcome for the person who was struggling. Share, also, about a time when a Christian was judgmental. How did that situation turn out?
17. Share your favorite “life” story — proof that life is God’s alone, and that all life is to be treasured. This might be the story of the birth of a child or the miracle story of someone you know or love. Talk about the gift of life.
18. Psalm 139:13 – 14 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” What does this mean to you?
19. Emma and Brad created their own moment of confession and forgiveness on the beach. Talk about what it means to confess your sins to one another. Why do you think God asks His people to confess their wrongdoings as part of the healing process?
20. Laura washed Brad’s feet upon his return to New York City. Explain why this act of humility was a critical part of her transformation. How can you serve someone you love as a way of showing Christ’s love and grace?
R
EAD AN EXCERPT FROM THE FIRST BOOK IN THE
A
BOVE THE
L
INE
S
ERIES
:
T
AKE
O
NE
One
C
HASE
R
YAN DOUBTED THERE WAS ENOUGH
oxygen in the plane to get him from San Jose to Indianapolis. He took his window seat on the Boeing 737, slid his laptop bag onto the floor space in front of him, and closed his eyes. Deep breaths, he told himself. Stay calm
.
But nothing about the job ahead of him inspired even a single peaceful feeling. On Monday Chase and his best friend Keith Ellison would set up shop in Bloomington, Indiana, and start spending millions of dollars of other people’s investment money to make a film they believed would change lives.
Even during the rare moments when that fact didn’t terrify him, Chase could hear the quiet anxious voice of his wife, Kelly, splashing him with a cold bucket of reality. “Only two million dollars, Chase? Seriously?” She had brought it up again on the way to the airport. Her knuckles stayed white as she gripped the steering wheel. “What if you run out of money before you finish the film?”
“We won’t.” Chase had steeled his eyes straight ahead. “Keith and I know the budget.”
“What if it doesn’t go like you planned?” Her body was tense, her eyes fearful. She gave him quick, nervous glances. “If something happens, we’ll spend the rest of our lives paying that off.”
She was right, but he didn’t want to say so. Not when it was too late to turn back. The actors were arriving on set in two days, and the entire film crew would be in Bloomington by tomorrow. Plans were in motion, and already bills needed to be paid. They had no choice but to move ahead and stick to their budget, trusting God that they could make this film for two million dollars, and illustrate a message of faith better and stronger than anything the industry had ever seen.
Failure wasn’t an option.
They reached the airport, but before she dropped Chase off, Kelly turned to him, lines creasing the space between her eyebrows. She was only thirty-one, but lately she looked older. Maybe because she only seemed to smile when she was playing with their two little girls, Macy and Molly. Worry weighted her tone. “Four weeks?”
“Hopefully sooner.” He refused to be anything but optimistic.
“You’ll call?”
“Of course. Every day.” Chase studied her, and the familiar love was there. But her anxiety was something he didn’t recognize. The faith she’d shown back when they lived in Indonesia, that’s what he needed from her now. “Relax, baby. Please.”
“Okay.” She let out a sigh and another one seemed right behind it. “Why am I so afraid?”
His heart went out to her. “Kelly …” His words were softer than before, his tone desperate to convince her. “Believe in me … believe in this movie. You don’t know how much I need that.”
“I’m trying.” She looked down and it took awhile before she raised her eyes to his again. “It was easier in Indonesia. At least in the jungle the mission was simple.”
“Simple?” He chuckled, but the sound lacked any real humor. “Indonesia was never easy. Any of us could’ve been arrested or killed. We could’ve caught malaria or a dozen different diseases. Every day held that kind of risk.”
The lines on her face eased a little and a smile tugged at her lips. She touched her finger to his face. “At least we had each other.” She looked deep into his eyes, to the places that belonged to only the two of them and she kissed him. “Come on, Chase … you’ve gotta see why I’m worried. It’s not just the money.”
He caught a quick look at his watch. “You’re afraid we won’t finish on time and that’ll put us over budget and — ”
“No.” She didn’t raise her voice, but the fear in her eyes cut him short. “Don’t you see?” Shame filled in the spaces between her words. “You’re young and handsome and talented …” Her smile was sad now. “You’ll be working with beautiful actresses and movie professionals and … I don’t know, the whole thing scares me.”
She didn’t come out and admit her deeper feelings, those she’d shared with him a week before the trip. The fact that she didn’t feel she could measure up to the Hollywood crowd. Chase ached for her, frustrated by her lack of confidence. “This isn’t about the movie industry. It’s about a bigger mission field than we ever had in Indonesia.” He wove his fingers into her thick dark hair, drew her close, and kissed her once more. “Trust me, baby. Please.”
This time she didn’t refute him, but the worry in her eyes remained as he grabbed his bags and stepped away from the car. He texted her once he got through security, telling her again that he loved her and that she had nothing to worry about. But she didn’t answer and now, no matter how badly he needed to sleep, he couldn’t shake the look on her face or the tone of her voice. What if her fears were some sort of premonition about the movie? Maybe God was using her to tell Keith and him to pull out now — before they lost everything.
Once on the plane, he tightened his seatbelt and stared out the window. But then, Keith’s wife was completely on board with their plans. Her father was one of the investors, after all. Besides that, Keith’s daughter, Andi, was a freshman at Indiana University, so the shoot would give Keith a window to Andi’s world — something he was grateful for. Andi wanted to be an actress, and apparently her roommate was a theater major. Both college girls would be extras in the film, so Keith’s entire family could hardly wait to get started.
Chase bit the inside of his lip. From the beginning, all the worries about the movie came from him and Kelly, but now that he was on his way to Indiana, Chase had to focus not on his fears, but on the film.
He ignored the knots in his stomach as he leaned against the cold hard plastic that framed the airplane window. The movie they were making was called
The Last Letter
, the story of a college kid whose life is interrupted when his father suffers a sudden fatal heart attack. The kid isn’t sure how to move on until his mother reveals to him a letter — one last letter from his father. That letter takes Braden on a quest of discovery in faith and family, and finally into a brilliant future Braden had known nothing about.
The story was a parable, an illustration of the verse in Jeremiah 29:11: “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ” The verse would be their mantra every day of the filming, Chase had no doubt.
He closed his eyes, and in a rush he could hear the music welling in his chest, feel the emotion as it filled a theater full of moviegoers. He could see the images as they danced across the big screen, and he could imagine all of it playing out beyond his wildest expectations.
But the way from here to there could easily be a million miles of rocky back roads and potholes.
They were still at the gate, still waiting for the plane to head out toward the runway. Chase blinked and stared out the window, beyond the airport to the blue sky. Every day this week had been blue, not a cloud in sight, something Chase and Keith both found fitting. Because no matter what Kelly feared, no matter what pressures came with this decision, here was the moment Chase and Keith had dreamed of and planned for, the culmination of a lifetime of believing that God wanted them to take part in saving the world — not on a mission field in Indonesia, but Take One 325 in packed movie houses across America. Oak River Films, they called themselves. The name came from their love of the first Psalm. Chase had long since memorized the first three verses:
Blessed is the man who does not walk not in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
Oak River Films. That everything he and Keith did would be rooted in a delight for the Lord, and a belief that if they planted their projects near the living water of Christ, they would flourish for Him. Chase shifted in his seat. He silently repeated the Scripture again. Why was he worried about what lay ahead? He believed God was sending them to make this movie, right? He pressed his body into the thinly padded seat.
Breathe. Settle down and breathe.
In every way that mattered, this film would make or break them in the world of Hollywood movie production. Easy enough, he had told himself when they first began this venture. But as the trip to Bloomington, Indiana, neared, the pressure built. They received phone calls from well-meaning investors asking how the casting was going or confirming when the shoot date was. They weren’t antsy or doubtful that Chase and Keith could bring a return for their investment, but they were curious.