00:00It was the world.
00:04But inside that house, life had once again taken the shape of life.
00:10The boy had legs again.
00:13He would run across the courtyard from wall to wall,
00:17race up the terrace steps two at a time, and come back down with scraped knees.
00:22His mother would scold him, and scolding was a luxury she had forgotten.
00:29Outside, the street remained silent.
00:32The other children of Sarepta no longer played.
00:35In the late afternoon, Elijah would sit in the doorway with his cloak folded beside him,
00:40and the boy would sit next to him and ask questions.
00:45Why did the ravens obey God?
00:49Because everything obey God, except men.
00:56I am going to obey.
01:02I know you will.
01:05On one of those afternoons, the woman placed her hand on the prophet's shoulder and spoke.
01:14I am no longer afraid of tomorrow.
01:16He did not answer.
01:18He had learned, at Cherith, that the hand that sustains also tests,
01:24and that faith which is never tested is not faith, it is merely abundance.
01:30He did not yet know how the test would come.
01:33He only knew that it would.
01:36It came on an ordinary afternoon, without warning.
01:39The boy returned from outside early, walking slowly.
01:42He lay on the floor, saying he was tired.
01:45By nightfall, he was burning up.
01:48At dawn, he was breathing like someone climbing a mountain.
01:52His mother moistened his lips, called his name, held his hand.
01:56And at noon, his hand went limp in hers.
01:59His breathing stopped.
02:02The silence that settled over the house was not the silence of the drought.
02:07It was something else.
02:09Deeper.
02:11And then she screamed.
02:19Elijah entered and found her on her knees, with the boy in her lap,
02:22and the woman turned to him with a devastated face.
02:25What have I done to you, man of God?
02:28Did you come to my house to bring my sins to mind,
02:31and to take my son from me?
02:37Elijah did not answer.
02:39There was no answer worth anything on that ground.
02:43He held out his arm.
