Dave Busby’s family was mostly on the East Coast. He wasn’t worried about them for the moment, but he was thinking of all that he was losing on this day of terror and tragedy. He looked up while Charley was still praying and thought about the concerns of the people in that room. Surely God must have a purpose for our lives. Surely this is not some tragic mistake. Surely—

Charley finished his prayer, and everyone quietly echoed, “Amen.”

The conversation was subdued while they were eating, but little by little the talk grew more animated, and they returned to their earlier discussion. Lori came back to the point first. “By all rights, Charley, Carl and I should be victims along with everybody else back in L.A. tonight. This just keeps running through my mind. But instead, we’re here with you guys in a very nice place—relatively safe, I hope. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m having a very hard time with all this. Charley,” Lori said, “I just want to know what’s happening. Can you help me?”

Carl looked up and nodded in agreement. “Me too,” he said. “This is all pretty unreal for me right now—like a bad dream.”

“That’s right,” Lori continued. “Not that we don’t appreciate you guys, Dave and Charley. You’re great. But I keep hoping I’m going to wake up in a few minutes and find out it was just some kind of terrible nightmare. I want my home back. I want my happy life in Los Angeles. I want my old friends—Ginny and Brigette and Tom and Nancy and all the people we may never see again.” She paused and brushed the tears from her eyes. “This just can’t be happening to me—to me, to Carl, or to you guys either. But it is! Why?” Lori wept quietly but openly, and the hearts of the three men in the room reached out to her. They also knew what it was to lose everything. They knew what she must be feeling, and each shared a deep sense of her pain and suffering.

Carl slid closer to his wife and put an arm around her shoulder. “Lori’s right. I feel the same way,” he said. “Our lives, our home, our property, our friends—everything we ever worked for and lived for are gone. My life, my career. Kaput. Just like that! I’ve got to face the fact that for the first time in my life I’m not in control—and I’m both angry and terrified. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Do you hear what I’m saying?”

Charley nodded and sat forward in his chair. “Yeah, Carl,” he said. “I do. We were all caught off guard by this thing. At this moment, I think I have a sense of peace about it, but I know exactly how you feel. I’m also concerned about what comes next.”

“I guess you must think we’re a little crazed,” Lori said, “but we’ve got to get some answers. Can you help us? I have been trying to remember what my aunt told us kids about the end times, but it’s been so long ago. Where in Revelation does it talk about meteors?”