Sage, Texas
Roland Fisher sat at his makeshift desk—one
end of an old, scarred kitchen table—to write his upcoming Sunday sermon. Dishes filled the small, stained sink; sun
attempted to brighten the room, but years of children’s fingers, cigarette
smoke, and Texas
dust created dismal shadows about the room.
The dingy walls left little hint of the original color, and the peeling
tile floor only added to the wretchedness of his circumstances.
This sermon was perhaps his most important. Harold Gordon, the man who paid his salary,
was demanding of anyone who depended upon him for support. Gordon attended Roland’s service every couple
of months, and word was out that he would be in attendance this Sunday. Roland needed words to motivate his members;
words to show Harold Gordon his intention of making his congregation the
God-fearing, obedient people they must become for the reward of God’s kingdom.
If the man wasn’t duly impressed, the money would be cut off.
Already two months behind in his rent, he’d received a warning from his
landlady. Bossy woman, thought Roland.
He wrote on—Bible in front of him along
with pages of scribbled papers. He
decided the verses from Jeremiah 29:11-14 would give the impact to his message
that he needed: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go
and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all
your heart. And I will be found of you,
saith the Lord: and I will turn away
your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the
places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again
into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
The real problem, he thought, is that
people don’t understand what it means to seek God and find Him with all your
heart. In this day and age, no one is
willing to completely give their heart to God.
Obedience! That’s the
answer. Children and wives today make
decisions for themselves instead of seeking the hierarchy of God and husbands
in the home. Sparing the rod has ended
up spoiling the child.
Roland wrote on and on. The more he wrote the more fervent he became. He knew what he spoke was the truth, but few
were willing to make the sacrifice to follow God.
Finally, Roland looked at his watch. It was 6:30 and dusk outside. The low-wattage bulb in the overhead light
cast shadows on the dreadful surroundings.
He realized he hadn’t eaten except for a cup of coffee that morning.
As he got up from the table, he saw a
movement from the corner of his eye. Two
mice were creeping along the wall behind the sink. I
really should get some traps he thought.
Roland opened a grimy cupboard door above
the stove. He still had a couple cans of
soup. He opened one and dumped it into a
clean-enough pan on the stove. As he
turned on the burner, the obsessive thoughts returned as they did more and more
often. Living this way is all Isabelle’s fault. If she’d done her duty as a wife and come
with me, I’d have food cooked and clean clothes to wear. God will punish her for her lack of
submission, but in the meantime, what am I to do? Obedience!
Why are people so unwilling to be obedient? Isabelle is just like my mother! She didn’t take care of me either! It was her fault I ended up in prison. The thoughts whirled in his brain as his
hand stirred his pan of soup with vigor.
Why do these things happen to
me? I’ve been true to God. I demanded obedience from my children and my
wife. And now the devil has gotten them.
Just as Roland reached into the sink to
rinse a bowl, he saw the mice again.
Like a flash, his arm reached back to the table where he’d been working,
and grabbed the first object he touched.
Quickly, he raised his arm in a pitching position and his bible went
whizzing across the room toward the mice.
As fast as his response, they easily got away through a hole in the
wall. But at that moment, Roland saw his
precious King James Bible floating in a pan of dirty water. Roland seized the book and ran into the
bathroom.
The nearest towel lay in a pile of dirty
clothes on the floor. At that instant,
Roland began cursing. Words he hadn’t
used for years spewed out of his mouth with the velocity of a hurricane. Intermingled among the swear words were the names: Mother, Isabelle, Rachael!!
To be continued...
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