XCVII

I CRIED TO THE LORD WITH MY VOICE, AND HE HEARD ME FROM HIS HOLY HILL. SELAH

PSALM 3:4

DESTINY KNIGHT-STORM

(INTERVIEW WITH THE DUNCAN’S: Part 2 of 2)

Debbie had just told me about her happiest childhood memory. It took place when she and her future husband, Dale, were freshman in high school. Dale had seemingly let her win a neighborhood game of mango ball, a game similar to dodgeball.

It was Debbie’s greatest sports victory. Debbie, a self-proclaimed klutz, was hoisted into the air by her fellow playmates as they chanted her name in celebration.

“Did you ever win anymore mango ball games?” I asked.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “But that was the very last time we ever played. Not that I would have won anymore if we did. Not without someone’s help, anyway.”

“How come you never played anymore?” I asked.

“Winter set in not long after,” Dale explained. “And by the time it warmed up, I guess we all moved on to more grown up things. At least for high schoolers.”

“Did you two ever date in high school?” I inquired.

“Oh, no,” Debbie said, shaking her head emphatically. “Like I said before, Dale was one of the most popular kids in school, and I was one of the biggest nerds. That said, Dale was always nice to me, always spoke to me when we crossed paths.”

“Dale, when did you discover you had romantic feelings for Debbie?” I asked.

“That’s a little complicated,” Dale told me. “I had always viewed Debbie like a sister, or at least like a cousin. But she wasn’t. She also wasn’t like other girls. I’ve always loved Debbie, but I guess that love first turned romantic for me when we were seniors. It all started with a movie.”

“A movie?”

“Yeah, ‘A Walk To Remember,’” Dale said with a chuckle.

“That doesn’t seem like the type of movie a high school boy would watch,” I said.

“It was sort of by accident,” Dale replied with a shrug. “My parents were gone, and my girlfriend and I were, um, fooling around on the couch. The T.V. was on, and I think one of the ‘Terminator’ movies was playing. We weren’t watching, though, if you know what I mean?”

Dale looked sheepishly at Debbie. She shrugged and said. “What transpired next caused them to break up.”

I frowned. “What happened?”

“I went to my room to get a, um…” Dale looked cautiously at Debbie.

“He went to get condom,” Debbie replied, smiled shyly, and blushed.

“But nothing happened,” Dale blurted. “We ended up breaking up instead. When I came back to the living room, my girlfriend had been flipping through the channels and was watching ‘A Walk To Remember.’ The main character, played by Mandy Moore, reminded me of Debbie. I stopped in the hallway and watched for a few minutes. I was mesmerized.

“When my girlfriend spotted me, she shut the TV off. I told her to turn it back on, and that’s when an argument ensued. First she said she didn’t want the TV distracting us while we made love. Then she made fun of me for wanting to watch a chick flick. Then she just came out and said that I only wanted to see it because the character named Jamie was so similar to Debbie. I told her she was correct.

“Then she snatched the condom out of my hand and said, ‘Why don’t you go use this with Debbie then? Oh, that’s right, she’s saving herself for marriage.’ Then I replied, ‘Is that worse than letting a high school boyfriend have his way with her before they go their separate ways in life. Why by the cow if you can get the milk for free?’ After I said that, she slapped me and left. So, that was the end of that girlfriend.

“Then I sat down and watched the chick flick all by myself. It depressed me, and not just because the character that reminded me of Debbie died in the end. It made me realize that I truly did desire Debbie, But even if she would have me, I didn’t deserve her.”

“It wasn’t long after this incident, that Dale tried to kiss me,” Debbie said and then giggled.

“He tried?” I asked. “He didn’t succeed?”

“She turned her face away, and I ended up kissing her ear,” Dale replied, and then chuckled.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did, it truly was,” Debbie said and then shrugged. “But I didn’t want to end up just another notch on his belt.”

“I’m gonna ask something rather personal,” I said. “So please don’t feel obliged to answer if it makes you uncomfortable. Were you a virgin when you two married?”

“Yes,” Debbie replied sweetly. Dale hung his head and looked at the floor. She put a hand over his. “I dated a really good guy for almost a year. He wanted us to get married about five or six months into our relationship, siting his so called physical needs. I told him we needed to wait at least one more year. He tried for a few more months, but ended up leaving me for the woman he was involved with before me.

“It was really awkward. The three of us attended the same church we all grew up in. We were civil and all, I even attended their wedding. But it hurt, bad. It ultimately led me to move away from Des Moines to Tipton, Iowa. I went to work for my aunt in her antique shop.

“What started out as an escape from pain, turned into an incredible blessing. I thought I was a pretty diligent student of the Bible, but my aunt opened my eyes to truths I hadn’t perceived before. In particular, the truth about the sabbath, and the fallacy about eternal torment and what the Bible really teaches about hell. I started attending my aunt’s church and never looked back.”

“Do you still work for your aunt?” I asked.

“Actually I do, but sporadically and part time. After Dale and I got married, I became pregnant right away, and mostly have been a stay at home mom ever since.”

“How about you now, Dale?” I inquired.

“Well, after high school, I went to the University of Iowa and got a degree in business. I guess you could say I had the typical college experience. Frat parties and pretty girls, but all of them seemed to lack something that Debbie had, and none of them lasted.

“After college, I got a job at a credit union. I longed to settle down, but ironically, I put dating on hold indefinitely. I bought an old farmhouse in Stanwood and spent the next year renovating it. Debbie and I were both well over a hundred miles from Des Moines, but living less than ten miles from each other, and didn’t even know it.”

“Yet,” Debbie added with a giggle.

“Okay,” I said. “I’m anxious to know how you two got reacquainted.”

“It actually happened in Des Moines,” Debbie replied. “I was back in town because my sister had just had a baby.”

“And I was back in town for my grandparents 60^th anniversary party,” Dale added. “I had driven from Stanwood to Omaha to pick up my grandma’s brother, and then back to Des Moines. After all that driving, I wanted to go for a quick run to get the kinks out before the anniversary celebration. There was a park close to our old neighborhood that had a mile long trail encircling it, and I went there for my run.”

“And I decided to go for a run before I had dinner with my parents,” Debbie said, and then giggled. “I didn’t typically go jogging, but I guess I wanted to burn off calories before I had a big piece of my mother’s blueberry pie with heavy whip cream.”

“So I’m running along,” Dale explained. “And I came across this nice female form in tight running pants in front of me. I had never seen Debbie in anything but a skirt or dress, so I had no clue it was her. I intended to just zip by. I had rather enjoyed my year of celibacy, for the most part anyway, and I didn’t want to give in to lust. But there was something familiar about the awkward gait of the runner. It reminded me of Debbie.”

“At that time in my life, I had sort of rebelled against my mother’s conservative style of dress,” Debbie interjected.

“So I slowed down and found myself smiling at all the wonderful memories of the shy, cute girl next door,” Dale said. “But eventually, I decided to run past her. Since she was running so erratically, I announced I was coming by on her left.”

“I didn’t really comprehend what that meant at first,” Debbie laughed. “So I moved to the left when he said on your left.”

“And I crashed right into her,” Dale chuckled. “She stumbled and fell, and not wanting to trip over her, I dived and rolled.”

“I was mortified,” Debbie giggled. “I began apologizing profusely. Then we recognized each other.”

“We hadn’t seen each other in three or four years,” Dale said. “So it turned out that it was great to, quite literally, run into her.”

“We only had about five or ten minutes to talk,” Debbie said. “We told each other what we were doing, but we didn’t mention where.”

“We both assumed that the other still lived in Des Moines,” Dale added. “I couldn’t get Debbie out of my mind for several days. She was such a beautiful woman, but not just on the outside. Right when I convinced myself to forget about her, we end up running into each other at a church just outside of Cedar Rapids. Only not literally this time.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Debbie said. “Six days after I ran into Dale, God answered my unspoken prayers, and Dale walked into our fellowship. You see, two things that always kept my heart from getting hopeful about Dale. For one, I knew he cared for me, but I never knew he desired me like I did him. And two was simply not being yoked to an unbeliever.”

“Debbie misunderstood my feelings for her that time I tried to kiss her,” Dale said. “Unlike other girls I kissed, my goal wasn’t sex. I knew what Debbie was about.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?” I asked.

“Like I said before, I didn’t feel like I deserved her,” he replied with a shrug. “Even when I showed up at her church as a new believer about ready to be baptized.”

“Tell me about that,” I said. “How did you become a believer?”

“I’m sure you know Jake Weston.”

“Absolutely,” I replied. “He was a pillar at Cotton Creek Cove long before I showed up there.”

“Well, he’s my UPS guy. We got to each other, and long story short, I had Bible studies with him. Then he introduced me to Little Captain. I fell in love with the guy, and he quickly became a father figure for me. My own dad passed away when I was sixteen.”

David Gibson was the pastor of Cotton Creek Cove’s sister church, Lilly Valley Fellowship. His nickname of Little Captain was a play on a few things. It tied into his mentor, Captain Kirk, aka, Pastor Kirk Samson. The little was a play on his large size. He is six foot six and about three hundred pounds of solid mass. Lastly, he was captain of a tour boat on Lake Superior for several years.

“I had been attending Cotton Creek Cove for a while, and Little Captain showed up one day to do the sermon. Jake introduced me to him and we hit it off. I started studying with him as well as Jake. Since his church was much closer to my house, I asked Jake if he would be offended if I started going to Lilly Valley instead of his church, Cotton Creek. He told me, ‘of course not, they are practically one in the same.’

“So I show up for worship service for the first time, and who do I find in attendance? My little Debbie. No pun intended with the snack cake, although she is even sweeter. On second thought, maybe I intended a pun after all.”

I laughed. “Okay, so how did things turn romantic with you two?”

“First of all, he was baptized,” Debbie said. “For me, that eliminated being yoked to an unbeliever. But I still felt he was out of my league.”

“Between her thinking that, and me thinking I didn’t deserve her, we simply resumed our old friendship. Only this time it was much deeper. We discussed spiritual things for hours. We went for long walks, watched the stars come out on my front porch, studied the Bible together. Yet we didn’t so much as even hold hands.”

“How long did this go on?” I asked. “Surely some spark happened to turn friendship into romance.”

“Two months,” Debbie said.

“And five days,” Dale chuckled.

“Like Dale said, we hadn’t held hands, but he ended up holding my foot,” Debbie said, and then giggled. “We were on a walk, and I stepped in a little hole and twisted my ankle. Dale helped me to a bench, pulled off my sneaker and massaged my foot and ankle.”

“Were you hurt very bad?”

“No, probably just a slight sprain, I didn’t go to the doctor or anything. I just walked it off. But I started to feel uncomfortable because Dale became so quiet and still. I felt self-conscious wondering if my foot was smelly.”

“Actually, I was simply mesmerized by the delicate beauty of her foot, her leg, her whole being,” Dale explained.

“I started to ramble about always being a klutz,” Debbie said. “The subject of that last mango ball game came up. I thanked him for letting me win. He kind of laughed and said, ‘I remember you looking at me when everyone hoisted you onto their shoulders, you were feeling so excited.’ I shook my head, and I couldn’t stop a tear from coming.”

Debbie put a hand to her chest, and looked as if she might pop a tear again. Dale continued the story. “I said, ‘Sure you were,’ and I was puzzled why tears started flowing. She shook her head and barley croaked that it was love. I wasn’t sure I heard her right and asked her to repeat. She then told me that she had always been in love with me. So, I put her foot down and kissed her.”

“This time I didn’t turn my head,” Debbie laughed. Then she looked at Dale with deep affection. “And we have been kissing ever since.”

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES)

(THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT PART 17: LAST PART ON THE SUBJECT)

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” Luke 13:24

The only hope for us if we would overcome is to unite our will to God’s will and work in co-operation with Him, hour by hour and day by day. We cannot retain self and yet enter the kingdom of God.

Are we willing to pay the price required of us? Are we willing to have our will brought into perfect conformity to the will of God? Until we are willing, the transforming grace of God cannot be manifest upon us.

Jacob, in the great crisis of his life, turned aside to pray. He was filled with one overmastering purpose—to seek for transformation of character.

This spirit of persistence in Jacob was inspired by Him who wrestled with the patriarch. It was He who gave him the victory. (See Genesis chapter 32)

That for which Jacob had vainly wrestled in his own strength was won through self-surrender and steadfast faith.

“This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4

“Beware of false prophets.” Matthew 7:15

What message do teachers and preachers bring? Does it lead you to reverence and fear God? Does it lead you to manifest your love for Him by loyalty to His commandments?

A belief that does not lead to obedience is presumption.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of humanity.” Ecclesiastes 12:13

The apostle John says, “He that says, I know Him, and keeps not the commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:4

Obedience is the test of discipleship. It is the keeping of the commandments that proves the sincerity of our professions of love.

“It fell not: for it was founded upon the rock.” Matthew 7:25

Doing, not merely saying, is expected of the followers of Christ. It is through action that character is built.

Do you desire to become a follower of Christ, yet know not how to begin? Are you in darkness and know not how to find the light? Follow the light you have! Set your heart to obey what you do know of the word of God. His power, His very life, dwells in His word. As you receive the word in faith, it will give you power to obey. As you give heed to the light you have, greater light will come. You are building on God’s word, and your character will be builded after the similitude of the character of Christ.

The word of God is the only steadfast thing our world knows. It is the sure foundation. “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” said Jesus, “but My words shall not pass away.” Matthew 24:35

“The word of our God shall stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8