hen William stepped into the church to pray, there was a heaviness on his shoulders which he could carry no longer. Even though the deaths involved with the Crawley Caper Case were not blood on his hands, he still felt somewhat of a connection and a responsibility for their souls.

He had spent months speculating, studying, worrying about the great price he would have to pay for his own actions within this whole scenario. He wept bitterly as the tears flooded from his eyes and pooled on the altar where he knelt. Never had he felt like this. He felt like this was the lowest point he had ever experienced in his life.

As human, we wonder why God would leave us when we needed Him, His mercy, His strength, His guidance the very most. The problem is we allow so much of the world, so much of what is going on in the world to influence us of not even knowing when God is working on our behalf.

After he had gotten up and walked around the church in the darkness, he let his mind ramble through scripture.

Suddenly, his mind turned to Peter who asked the Lord, "Lord, if it be you, bid me come walking on the water . . ."

Peter must have expected some great flash of lightening or other great event, because he was quite shocked at the response from Jesus. Jesus simply said "Come."

Peter, taken aback, found himself clambering overboard to get onto the water. The other Disciples looked on in amazement as Peter took one step, then two, then several. All the time he was walking on the water, he had his eyes on Jesus. But, when he began to see the clouds and winds and the waves, he sank when he took his eyes off Jesus.

But Jesus immediately stretched forth his hand caught him, and Peter could see a look of hurt on the face of Jesus when he said "Oh thou of little faith . . . . ."

William knelt at the altar again, and cried out anew for Jesus to forgive him. God had shown him his mistake, and he knew he was certainly guilty. For this, he repented and put it under the blood. Suddenly, the weight was lifted.

Suddenly, he felt free and clear again. His chains were gone, and he felt like he did when he first received the gift of the Holy Ghost!

He had heard his Pastor preach on keeping things under the blood by repentance. But somehow, he'd been distracted enough to allow those things which have no power against him, take his eyes off the only power in heaven and hell Who could help; Jesus Christ, the only One and Living God.

After more time of walking around the church, this time praising God and thanking Him for the release, he decided it was time to go. When he started for the door, something started nagging at his spirit again. "Now what?" he thought to himself. He then turned around and headed back to the altar.

A heaviness was settling back down on him, and he began to pray again, this time for God to reveal to him what else He was trying to tell William.

After William had prayed out, he got up and sat down on the altar where he had been praying most of the morning. He just sat there and basked in the presence of the Lord. His mind was still on the Crawley Caper, and he couldn't help but wonder why. The thought crossed his mind, "What was the bottom line, the real thing that the enemy was after in this whole scenario?"

As he sat there the scripture again came to his mind. "Peter, satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift your soul as the chaff . . . . ."

So that was it in the first place! The bottom line. Satan had been able to influence people all through the last five years in an attempt to get his soul. But, why his? Several souls had been lost in the attempt to get HIS soul. Why? Again, scripture came to his mind, and he was brought into the full circle of revelation.

The scripture in Acts 9 where Saul was knocked from his horse, and he talked personally with the Lord. "Lord, who art thou?" he'd asked.

"I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Saul was blinded in the physical, but his eyes were opened to the supernatural. He had been persecuting the saints, in essence, persecuting Jesus! But Jesus would not tell Paul how to be saved. But he told him where to get the information!

But what God told Annanias, is what stuck in Williams mind. In Acts 9:15, Jesus spoke to Annanias, "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake."

William again broke down to tears. Is this what God was trying to get him to see all these years? Was he to be another Paul? Was he to let go of everything in his life to obey a call? What call did he have on his life.

William just let his mind ask the questions. He had lain on the floor for a while now, and he felt broken, a pot that had been destroyed. The scripture came to mind, Lord, let me fall on you and be broken, lest you would fall on me and I would be ground to powder (destroyed).

Again, the scripture came to mind. Isa 6 "

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah 6:1-8 (KJV)

When William left the church that afternoon, he was no longer just William Travis, FBI agent. He had received the call to minister, and he had made the commitment to that call. He didn't know how he was going to tell Sharon, although he knew she would be right behind him to support him. He knew she had made some changes in her own life since his stay in the hospital and near death experience with arsenic poisoning.

There was no doubt they had made a great contribution to the nation of America, but, they'd nearly died doing it. They looked to greater things in the Lord.

He washed my eyes with tears that I might see,
The broken heart I had was good for me;
He tore it all apart and looked inside,
He found it full of fear and foolish pride.
He swept away the things that made me blind
And then I saw the clouds were silver lined;
And now I understand 'twas best for me
He washed my eyes with tears that I might see.

2. He washed my eyes with tears that I might see
The glory of Himself revealed to me;
I did not know that He had wounded hands
I saw the blood He spilt upon the sands.
I saw the marks of shame and wept and cried;
He was my substitute for me He died;
And now I'm glad He came so tenderly;
And washed my eyes with tears that I might see.

As he drove home, he sang a while, then prayed, then praised, then sang, then prayed. He felt the closeness to God he'd enjoyed when he first repented, was baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost. As he pulled up into the drive, he saw Sharon and Melinda on the porch. He could tell they both had been weeping.

He really didn't know what to say, but embraced his bride, gave Melinda a huge hug, then sat down on the porch swing with Sharon. A peace settled over him as he saw the tears begin again on Melinda's face. Finally, she could take it no longer and was the first to speak. "Are you going to tell him, or shall I?"

William looked into the radiance of her face and wondered why the glow, the look of awe, the look of absolute beauty in the Lord. "Okay, what's the big secret?"

Melinda started to speak, but her voice faltered when the tears gushed down her face once again. Finally, Sharon spoke up and simply said, "We've decided to quit the FBI."

"What do you plan to do then?" asked William. It was easy to see he was quite taken aback at the news.

"Well, God has been dealing with us lately on giving our entire being to Him. We don't want to make it hard on you and Len, but, we do feel it is more than necessary to follow the bidding of God than going around solving mysteries. As of this morning, we felt we had a breakthrough in our prayer meeting, and both felt a release of all the weight and burdens fall loose from us. We want to go into the ministry, full time . . ." her voice trailed off.

William was astounded. Was this not just what he had petitioned God for? Was this not just what he had asked God to work out and he would follow Him? Now, it was Williams turn to tear up, and he just raised his arms and big old hands in praise and honor to God.

"This is just what I've been praying for all morning." And he began to relate what God has shown him. Now, all we have to do is tell Len and see what his reaction is going to be.

Melinda called Len's cell phone but no answer, then texted him that she was over at Will and Sharon's house. "Been praying," was his complete answer. William didn't know whether to be pleased or surprised, then decided he would just be both. What a wonderful God was HIS God! "Is that good grammer?" he wondered. "Well, it suits me!" he thought.

Melinda's phone came alive with, stay there. I'll be there in a few. I've got something I have simply got to tell you!"

Within ten minutes, Len's car pulled up into the drive. He got out with a bounce to his step, a whistle on his lips, and a shine on his face. "Looks like he's pretty happy," Melinda said to herself as she watched him come up the steps and on into the house where they were sitting to discuss this great move in their lives.

What Len walked into when he entered the kitchen where they were enjoying a glass of iced tea was a powerful aura of the Holy Ghost. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight out, and chill bumps all over his body. "WOW!" He exclaimed as he walked into the room. And then, "This is what I've been feeling all morning! I know this may come as a shock to you, but, I've decided to leave the FBI . . ."

The wail that arose stopped him in amazement. It was wonderful to hear. It was praise to Him, the Almighty God, Whose body hung on the cross, the Sacrifice that satisfied the demand for pure, perfect blood . . . His Spirit now enveloped that place, and each were filled again with the power of the Holy Ghost. How awesome God is!

They had an awesome amount of planning, studying, praying, fasting, and seeking God for His perfect will in their lives. All had made the same decision independantly and completely unaware of the others decision. All had found their place in God, and all had made the commitment to serve and follow Him all the days of their lives.

When William realized what the full intent of the enemy was, he wondered why he'd been led through all the paths he'd followed in the past six years. But, he found his answer again, in the Word. When Job lost everything, he was being tested. His integrity had to be proven to himself, and then, the path that God had for him was revealed unto him.

Now, William is happily serving his Life's Sentence . . . the sentence of Living for God in the fullness of His Truth . . . The Truth that was once delivered to the saints. The sentence of sharing this wondrous Gospel with everyone he meets, of his salvation, of his being pulled out of the deep miry clay by a merciful God. He works with the passion of leading untold multitudes to God.

What a way to live! He loves to sing the song, You've Never Really Lived and is now playing his guitar and singing for the Glory of God along with Sharon. The rapturous blessings of God gives him the strength to live his Life Sentence in the manner that was intended by God for His creation; mankind.

To say there are no words to describe the feeling of God's Spirit in your life is a vast understatement. But one must never forget the toils of this life. Even though we can experience the raptorous power of His might in our lives, the enemy is still on the prowl, ready to devour, ready to strike at any weakness in our being.

To lay the toil of continual sacrifice onto laxness of being a human frailty becoming tiresome, is of course a human excuse. We are all prone to suffer boredom, longing for something different, some thing more exciting than the last fling. But God in His infinite mercy brings us back under His wing no matter how many times we fall or fail. The choice to go on lies within us. It is up to us as to decide whether or not to get up.

And that is the secret of living for God. When you fail, fall, or stumble, the secret is to get up again. The race is not to the swiftest, but to him that endureth to the end.

The sequel to this book is in the writing. While it is not within the scope of this book spiritually speaking, it does deal with the final problem of the hypnotic chains of Williams. I hope Death After Life stirs, encourages, and strengthens each and all who read it.