"26. Long Arm of the Lord--Wayne Watson"
Another video. As the music swelled in, a bandit was on the run.
A million dark alleys you can hide in / Dig a tunnel to the center of the Earth / Convinced you've got nobody to confide in / They've got you questioning the sum of what you're worth / People label you the black sheep of the family / Come collect upon your prodigal reward / 'Cause you can never outrun or go beyond the reaches / Of the long arm of the Lord
I've been ashamed, I've been humbled and forgiven / I've been chastened by my Father's loving hand / Oh, but still at times I go on with my evil / It seems to constitute the nature of a man / But forgiveness is as close as my confession / And my sin amputated by His sword / 'Cause I can never outrun or go beyond the reaches / Of the long arm of the Lord
If He gave to me all that I deserve / This could be my final breath / But with compassion in His eyes, He's drawing me home / Into His arms, into His tender arms of rest
There are pagans at the corners of creation / Making light of the salvation that we know / And with a small, narrow mind I give them over / To the passion of the godless seed they sow / But in truth we have just as much potential / To be godly and perfected by the Word / 'Cause no one in this world can slip beyond the reaches / Of the long arm of the Lord...
Even in life, Lazarus had been known to frequently turn up where you were not expecting him, so the sight of Wayne consistently popping up wherever the bandit had just been was hilarious, in addition to highlighting the futility of the bandit's attempts to flee. It was so him.
The old her would have smirked wryly at the political naughtiness of the chase--a white-clad sheriff on a white horse always getting the better of the bandit on his black horse--but now it was just one more layer of humor, made doubly funny by the fact that life was imitating art. It also helped that Lazarus, through Wayne, was telling on himself again. He made no secret of the fact that he needed mercy just as much as she or Mom did. Better, he was inviting her (and probably Mom as well) to avail themselves of the same grace that he was enjoying.