Bills ran. He tore down the shore, bounded up on the rock, and dove into the air. The warm water engulfed him. A boiling heat knocked the wind from his lungs. The shock alone might kill him. But it was pleasure that surged through his body, not pain. The sensations coursed through his bones in great unrelenting waves. Lyon. How he was certain, he did not know. But he knew. Lyon was in this lake with him. Bills opened his eyes. Gold light drifted by. He lost all sense of direction. The water pressed in on every inch of his body, as intense as any acid, but one that burned with pleasure instead of pain. He sank into the water, opened his mouth and laughed. He wanted more, much more. Furthermore, he wanted to suck the water in and drink it. Without thinking, he did just that. The liquid hit his lungs. Bills pulled up, panicked. He tried to hack the water from his lungs, but inhaled more instead. No pain. He carefully sucked more water and breathed it out slowly. Then again, deep and hard. Out with a soft whoosh. He was breathing the water! Bills shrieked with laughter. He swam into the lake, deeper and deeper. The power contained in this lake was far greater than anything he'd ever imagined. "I made this, Bills." Bills whipped his body around, searching for the words' source. "Lyon?" His voice was muffled, hardly a voice at all. "Do you like it?" "Yes!" Bills said. He might have spoken; he might have shouted--he didn't know. He only knew that his whole body screamed it. Bills looked around. "Lyon?" "Why do you doubt me, Bills?" In that single moment the full weight of Bills's foolishness crashed on him like a sledgehammer. "I see you, Bills." "I made you." "I love you." The words crashed over him, reaching into the deepest folds of his flesh, caressing each hidden synapse, flowing through every vein, as though he had been given a transfusion. "I choose you, Bills." Bills began to weep. The feeling was more intense than any pain he had ever felt. The current pulled at him, tugging him up through the colors. His body trembled with pleasure. He wanted to speak, to yell, to tell the whole world that he was the most fortunate person in the universe. That he was loved by Lyon. Lyon himself. "Never leave me, Bills." "Never! I will never leave you." The current pushed him through the water and then above the surface not ten meters from the shore. He stood on the sandy bottom. For a moment he had such clarity of mind that he was sure he could understand the very fabric of space if he put his mind to it. He was chosen. He was loved.

— Ted Dekker

Dive deep. Drown willingly

— Ted Dekker

Do not allow fear to bind you up, dear one. You will only lose what you already have. Accept what is given now. ~Jeshua

— Ted Dekker

Every breathing soul longs to overcome.

— Ted Dekker

Everyone is a lonely victim of life's complexity.

— Ted Dekker

Everything I've written up to this point is crap. Now I'm going to write the real one

— Ted Dekker

Evil was predictable, always painfully expected.

— Ted Dekker

He knew me. He knew me through and through, and he found no shame in me.

— Ted Dekker

He read reports, examined evidence, and poured more reports up the chain than the Pentagon could read. Nothing short of a human sieve. But in the end he was just one small piece on this game board called war. End of story

— Ted Dekker

I believe in God because only an idiot can look at the complex balance of nature and believe that has not been designed. Believe it or not, but some people still believe that a watch can make itself out of sand if you just give it enough time. That’s what they call evolution. And you wonder why I am cynical. From my point of view you have to be a fool not to be cynical.

— Ted Dekker