XI

Destiny felt the dread begin to leave her after she prayed for strength and the wisdom. She opened her mouth to speak, but another voice sounded before hers.

“Well, look at this, two best friends chatting away,” Brock said as he scratched his head, yawned and made his way to the coffee pot. After Brock poured a cup, he glanced at his cousin. “Why do you look like the cat that swallowed the canary and my wife looks like somebody relieved themselves in her Cheerios? Have you been telling her about all the fights you’ve gotten me into?”

“No, I’ve been telling her about the loves of my life,” Seven Sallie said. “Who also happen to be the greatest heart aches of my life.”

Brock kissed his wife on top of her head and sat down. Seven jokingly asked where his kiss was. Brock quickly rose up, grabbed the sides of his cousin’s head and kissed his forehead.

“What the!” Seven gasped and then squirmed so much he fell out of his chair.

Destiny laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair. Brock calmly sat down, took a sip of coffee and smiled at his stunned cousin. “Do you want a good night kiss, too?”

“No, I’m good,” Seven Sallie said cautiously, as if Brock might barrage him with more kisses. “For the rest of my life.”

“Okay, well, your loss,” Brock said as he took another sip of coffee.

Destiny watched her husband’s large bicep push the sleeve of his t-shirt toward his shoulder. Part of what made what she was witnessing so funny is Brock being a muscle head and Seven being so squirrely. She was also delighted to see such lightheartedness with someone her husband supposedly didn’t like.

“You’ve changed man,” Seven Sallie said.

“How’s that?” Brock replied.

“For one thing, I don’t ever recall you being a jokester.”

“Who’s joking,” Brock said, kissed the air at him and then chuckled.

Seven leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and gazed at his cousin with a puzzled expression. “You were always one of the most melancholy people I have ever known. Now you seem…you seem to be…”

“Joyful,” Destiny said

Brock nodded. “You see, Seven, I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.”

Brock waved a hand at Destiny, and she responded. “Where?”

“Down in my heart.”

“Where?”

“Down in my heart.” Then Destiny and Brock sang together. “I’ve got that, joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay. Cause I’m so happy, so very happy, I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Six Sallie said as he stood at the foot of the stairs with his wife.

“Sorry,” Destiny said. “Did we wake you guys?”

“No, no,” Charley said. “I had planned on setting my alarm for 5:30 to make breakfast for everyone and forgot. I’m the one that’s sorry. You all must be starving.”

“Oh no, we’re fine,” Destiny said as she waved a dismissive hand. “We’ve just been talking and drinking coffee.”

“By the way, this is really good coffee,” Brock said enthusiastically. “What kind is it?”

“You don’t want to know,” Six Sallie said. “It’s Seven’s.”

“It’s called Death Wish,” Seven Sallie said.

“Huh?” Brock frowned. “Why Death Wish?”

“Cause it’s highly caffeinated,” Seven Sallie said.

“Dangerously caffeinated,” Six Sallie said. “If you have a weak heart, you could end up a client of mine.”

“Oh my,” Destiny giggled. “You better not finish that cup, Honey. You’re used to half café.”

“Coffee with half the caffeine?” Seven asked. “Is that before or after a half dozen Red Bull or Monsters?”

“Nope, I don’t drink energy drinks anymore. I replaced them with sparking water.”

“Alright, where’s the real Brock?” Six demanded with a smirk.

“Should we sing again, Dee?” Brock asked.

“No, don’t sing again,” Seven Sallie said disgustedly. “Right before you came down, Destiny was going to share her testimony with me. Now, you can to. Who wants to go first?”

“In a galaxy far, far away…” Brock started.

“Dee, why don’t you go ahead?” Seven interrupted.

“Well,” Destiny said and then cleared her throat nervously. “When I was eighteen, I was an exotic dancer right here in Minneapolis.”

“Also known as…” Seven Sallie began to say when Brock clutched his arm and squeezed. “Ouch!”

“Shut up and pay attention,” Brock said with a scowl.

“Alright,” Seven nodded. “Now that’s the Brock I remember.”

“Continue my sweet, peachy plum,” Brock said.

“And that’s not,” Seven Sallie said.

“Any who,” Destiny began again. “Brock and I first met when we were working at the same club. He was a bouncer and I was a dancer.”

Seven opened his mouth, and Brock clamped a hand over it and shook his head. “I said shut up and pay attention, got it?”

He then clutched his jaw and caused Seven’s lips to form an exaggerated pucker as he helped him nod.

“So, I happened to live a few blocks from the club,” Destiny explained. “One night, unbeknownst to me, I was followed home. The man broke into my apartment and attempted to rape me at knife point. Brock had become suspicious of the man when I was performing my routine, and he too came to my apartment and rescued me just in time. After that, Brock and I went our separate ways. He went to Miami and I went to Los Angeles, where I continued my dance career and also got into films.”

Brock looked sharply at Seven, who smiled impishly and made a zip gesture across his lips. The corner of Brock’s lip curled into a smile. With the scar that curved up from the other side of his mouth, Seven couldn’t tell if he looked friendly or sinister. He made the zip lip gesture one more time to be sure.

“About a decade later,” Destiny went on. “I found myself out of adult entertainment living in Iowa City, Iowa with my long time girlfriend. She too had been a dancer and actress.”

Brock’s eyes rotated to Seven. He smiled, raised his eyebrows sheepishly, and for a third time did the zip lip gesture. Brock winked at him.

“She ended up breaking up with me, ironically after turning religious,” Destiny said with a sigh. “In the months following, I found myself spiraling down into depression and alcoholism. I ended up suicidal. But before I ended my life, and by the grace of God, I became reunited with my Aunt Belle who happened to live only twenty miles away from me in Cedar Rapids. She ultimately led me to Christ. It was also at her church out in the country west of C.R. that I was reacquainted with Brock. Even though he was serious with another woman at the time, we became good friends.”

“So tell us, big fella,” Seven Sallie said. “Just how did an atheistic thug from the Twin Cities who had been living in sunny Miami come to reside outside of a city that isn’t even the largest in Iowa?”

“Well, little buddy,” Brock said. “Not long before I left the security agency I worked for in Miami, I encountered something pretty ugly with a detail I was on. It led me to ponder what a pathetic, evil world we live in. Obviously, I had known it was a cruel world before this experience. That’s what led me to my belief that there was no God. Other than my brother dying from AIDS, what I experienced on this detail was the ugliest situation I found myself in.”

“So you were in serious danger?” Six asked.

“No, but the billionaire I was guarding was.”

“How could he be in danger, and you not be if you were one of his bodyguards?” Seven asked.

“Because he was in danger of me,” Brock replied icily.

“What was going on?” Six asked.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Brock said coldly. Everyone began to chuckle, but when Brock just stayed expressionless, the mirth quickly disappeared. “Seriously though, I’m not at liberty to say much. But we were in the Orient, and I had a gut feeling about human trafficking. Just to reiterate, I had a gut feeling, no proof. Nonetheless, it put me into a very dark place. I was contemplating like never before what a diabolical, unjust world we live in. Then a thought so profound, a lightbulb above the head moment, sent me on a spiritual journey. If there wasn’t a God, where did I get these concepts of just and unjust?”

“So I went to a bookstore. I bypassed the section on Christianity. Between child molesting priests, money grubbing televangelists, the secret rapture and the concept of hellfire, I wanted nothing to do with becoming a Christian. So I end up in this section called new age or enlightenment or maybe it was just philosophy. Anyway, there were so many books with so many bizarre titles and concepts I became confused. So I uttered my first prayer since I was a kid. I didn’t even really do it consciously. I just simply whispered, Dear God help me figure this out.”

“No sooner had I said it, when I spontaneously reached for a book titled, ‘Ancient Mysteries Explained.’ I put my finger on it and began to pull it out. It was as thick as an encyclopedia. The book dragged a smaller book out with it and it fell to the floor. I pushed the book I intended on looking at back into place so I could pick up the book that fell and return it to its spot. But the title had caught my eye. It was called ‘A Star Fell From Heaven.’ Then below that it stated the origin of evil explained. Then below that it said the only way of escape given.

“I read the back of the book and perceived it was a form of Christianity. The book had intrigued me until I saw that it was Christian. I marvel now that I seemed to despise Jesus when I didn’t even know Him. Now the living Christ is the center of my being. Anyway, so I figured the book was put in the section I was at by mistake. I grabbed the ancient mysteries book along with ‘A Star Fell From Heaven,’ to let them know it was in the wrong place. When I get to the counter, I happen to notice the cashier was wearing a cross around his neck and he had a WWJD bracelet on his wrist. So I show him the book and told him where I had found it. It was in the right section, he told me with a sarcastic snort. I asked him to explain why. He said it was filled with false teachings. I asked him what was false. He said it not only went against the traditions of mainstream Christianity, it criticized it. Much to his chagrin, I bought it and left the ancient mysteries book with him.”

“When I got home I started reading it and couldn’t put it down. It written by a guy named Kirk Samson. I marveled at how much scripture he used to back up his concepts. He also told his readers they needed to search the Bible and what he was teaching for themselves, to trust no man, examine their own lives and that prayer was the better half of study. After I researched him, I discovered he was a former Army Chaplain and he pastored a church in Iowa. I decided to take a road trip home to the land of ten thousand lakes and visit his church on the way. Another coincidence was Tito’s brother Bentley lived fairly close. I had gotten to know him after he had stayed with us a couple times and he was eager for me to pay him a visit. He invited me to stay with him for as long as I’d like. So I took a road trip north.”

“Please tell me it was summer,” Six Sallie said.

“Close enough,” Brock replied. “So I take Bentley up on his offer and decide to stay with him for a day, maybe two. I loved the area where he lived. Remote country. A lot of woods to the north and west. Corn, bean fields and farms as far as you could see to the south and east over wavy, rolling land . He could tell I loved the peacefulness of it, and that’s when he told me he could use a roommate to help pay expenses. But the old farmhouse he rented was over a hundred years old and it looked like it.”

“Then I went to Pastor Samson’s church. I was really intrigued and fell in love with the place. To make a long story short, a one day visit ended up, what? Three or four years.”

“So, just in a nutshell, what are his concepts?” Seven asked.

“The main theme was the controversary between Christ and Satan. The origin of sin, our fallen world, and then he just explained all these different deceptive factors that have taken place throughout history. How paganism came into the Christian church in the 4^th century when Constantine converted to Christianity. How there was an attempt to change the law of God, which most of Christendom still adheres to yet today. Also the false teaching of a place called hell, which most churches also believe. He also explained the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation and the seconding coming of Christ.”

“Sounds kinds deep, and also a little fishy. For starters, what did you just say about hell?” Seven Sallie asked as he leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table.

“That there is no such place.”

“Where did you or he come up with this stuff?”

“The Bible.”

“The Holy Bible?”

“Right.”

“I hate to have to tell you this Brock, but you’ve been miss guided. Like I was telling your wife before you came down, I was on my way to becoming an evangelist before my wife wrecked our marriage, family and my life. As much as I dislike the idea of hell and eternal torment, I’ve been over the Bible and back. And up and down and sideways. The doctrine of hellfire is a real thing. That’s one of the main reasons why I’ve mostly rejected the so called word of God.”

“I hate to have to tell you this, Seven, but you are the one that has been misguided. I have no doubt you’ve studied the Good Book thoroughly, but you obviously came at it with the wrong approach.”

Seven snorted sarcastically, leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Your making the point I was getting at. The Bible is so complex and has, what, forty different authors? You can make it say almost whatever you want. That’s why there are a zillion different denominations.”

Brock nodded his head, and smiled patiently. “And you’re making my point. Religion has watered down God’s Word and misapplied it. Traditions and compromises with the secular world throughout the last two thousand years have altered the plain teachings of Christ and His apostles.”

“Who are you?” Seven asked with a dazed expression.

“What do you mean?” Brock asked as he sat back and folded his thick, muscular arms over his chest.

“I have to admit I’m impressed,” Seven Sallie said. “But I want to get a Bible and show you where you are dead wrong about hellfire.”

“Not now boys,” Charley said. “Scrambled eggs and oatmeal are ready. There’s also bagels and juice. Then you guys can go to war.”

“What do you mean go to war?” Seven asked.

“Haven’t most wars started over religion?” she asked.

“We’re just having a civil disagreement,” Brock replied.

“We’ll continue it after breakfast,” Seven Sallie said.

“If I’m going to be your bodyguard,” Brock said using air quotes. “We need to discuss the how, when and where of that before anything else.”

“Seven, I also want you to finish telling me about your marriage and how it affected becoming an evangelist,” Destiny said.

“Before anything else, breakfast!” Charley declared. “Or I’ll whack each and everyone of you with this spatula. Even you Mr. Storm.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Brock said and then meekly bowed his head.

Everybody laughed and then ate.