XCVIII

UNLESS YOU ARE CONVERTED AND BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, YOU WILL BY NO MEANS ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

MATTHEW 18:3

DESTINY KNIGHT-STORM

(INTERVIEW WITH THE BRADLEY’S Part 1 of 2)

When I interviewed the Duncan’s, what made their situation personally interesting for me was simply how their reacquaintance at a rural church quite far from their hometown was in many ways similar to Brock and myself.

With the Bradley’s, there were two things that grabbed my attention. First was Bill Bradley’s difficult youth, and history of trouble and fighting. Secondly was how he became a success, and how both his trouble and success won him the heart of Jenny.

The Bradley’s were in their early forties. They had been going to Cotton Creek Cove’s sister church, Spring Valley, for about six months. They were affectionately known as the Bradley Bunch. This was due to their amalgamated family, and a play on the old sit-com ‘The Brady Bunch’, which also had an amalgamated family.

Only instead of the mom having three girls, and the dad having three boys of about the same age, Bill Bradley had two daughters and a son, with an age range of 18, 16 and 14. Jenny Bradley had a son, 12, and a daughter, 10.

Bill was a rugged looking man. His skin was tan and turning leathery from years of working outdoors. He had close cropped, light brown hair and close set hazel eyes whose gaze was as intense as I had ever seen. He looked like a former Marine, or a tough gunman out of an old western movie. Yet when we shook hands, his smile and greeting was warm and friendly.

Jenny was blonde, blue eyed and looked as though she would have been a cheerleader. She also aged well. Although 41, if you told me she was 29, I would probably have believed you.

“How long have you two been married?” I began.

“We just had our seventh anniversary two weeks ago,” Jenny said, smiling happily.

“Since you both were married before, may I ask about that situation?”

“I was in an abusive marriage,” Jenny told me with a pained look in her eyes. “We had an ugly divorce.”

“My first wife passed away of an aneurism when she was only 32,” Bill told me with a hard look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I replied, and then did some quick math in my head. Their children would have been  9, 7 and 5. “What a terrible shame.”

Bill pursed his lips, looked down at the table and nodded.

“How did you two meet then?” I asked.

“We sort of knew each other briefly in high school,” Jenny said, smiled ruefully and added. “Before he was expelled for beating up a teacher.”

“I have no regrets,” Bill said boldly, a challenging look in his eyes.

I couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of that one! “I hope you explain in a little while.”

“Gladly,” he replied, as he smirked with a corner of his mouth.

“Okay, so you two knew each other in high school,” I said.

“It was more like knew of each other,” Jenny clarified. “When we really got to know each other was when I was in college. Hannah Briscoe, who would become Bill’s wife, was my roommate. She was a beautiful, strong soul, and we became best friends.”

“Jenny also tried to convince Hannah not to have anything to do with me when we first started seeing each other,” Bill said and then chuckled.

“Could you blame me though?” Jenny smiled and covered a hand over his.

“No,” he responded with another deep chuckle, as his other hand went over the top of hers. “I was a high school drop out with two assault charges and a public intox on my record.”

“Hannah wouldn’t listen to me though,” Jenny laughed. “But you know what? Because of her, Big Bad Bill became Sweet William.”

Little did I know when we finished actually recording for the podcast that the venerable Seven Sallie would sing a ditty about Big Bad Bill becoming Sweet William. It wasn’t half bad!

“So unfortunately Bill’s wife passed away, and you were divorced Jenny. How long before you two began to see each other?”

“Actually, after Hannah passed away,” Bill explained. “Jenny and I probably only spoke once over the next year. She had called me on what would have been Hannah’s 33^rd birthday to see how I was doing.”

“Then we ran into each other at Hannah’s grave site,” Jenny continued. “It was a year to the day she died. We sat right in front of her stone and talked for a couple hours, and it was so bittersweet. I was in such a dark place personally, but talking to Bill was a breath of fresh air. ”

“We were both single and lonely,” Bill said with a non-humorous chuckle. “I asked her if she would like to have dinner. She said that wouldn’t be a good idea because her ex was stalking her. She told me she had tried to date a couple different guys, and Chad had scared both off. Big Bad Bill awakened inside me, and I told her I’d like it if he tried to scare me off.”

“Bill and Chad, my ex, clashed big time,” Jenny said shaking her head. “So we never really became close as far as couple get togethers go. You know, when Hannah was still alive.”

“I never had much tolerance for bullies,” Bill said sternly. “And I could tell two minutes after he and I met for the first time that that was just what Chad was.”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t fully comprehend this until after I said I do,” Jenny said.

“You said fully comprehend,” I repeated. “Did that mean you had signs before marriage?”

“Yes, little ones,” Jenny shrugged. “Like, he would get jealous if he thought I was too friendly with another guy. This actually happened repeatedly with Bill, even though Bill and Hannah were obviously head over heels with one another.”

“Hannah saw it too and tried to warn her,” Bill said.

“I guess love can be not only blind, but stupid,” she said and shrugged. “So, anyway, Bill tells me he’d like to see Chad scare him off. My better judgement told me to say no. Not only because Bill had put that side of him to rest for so many years, but Chad was a big guy. He was a defensive end in college and almost drafted into the NFL. He actually made the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, but was cut.

“But the thing was, Bill knew how to fight. Chad had rarely fought, he just literally threw his weight around. This intimidated most guys, and they backed down. But I was there in gym class that day when Bill pummeled Coach Beckham. He also punched a couple wrestlers that tried to help the coach. I think they were afraid of him because none of them seemed to try very hard. Bill fled before anyone could get their hands on him.”

“Most people are afraid of a crazy person,” Bill chuckled.

“Okay, now you have to tell me what happened,” I said. “What made you beat up a teacher?”

“Long story short,” Bill said with a shrug. “I spent most of my childhood in the rough part of Los Angeles. My dad beat me on a regular basis. On the streets you had to be part of a gang just to survive. I hated that. Both my mom and dad got sent to prison for dealing drugs. Lucky for me, my mom’s aunt here in Iowa took me in.

“I didn’t realize what a blessing that was at the time. I just didn’t care about anything. I had a massive chip on my shoulder. I hated bullies, especially ones in authority. Before the Coach Beckham incident, I had been in a few fights here in Iowa, but they were nothing. Tough guys here were as soft as could be. They wouldn’t survive for a minute on the mean streets of a big city.

“Anyway, Coach Beckham taught driver’s ed and also some gym classes. He was also the wrestling coach. One of his wrestlers was making fun of an overweight girl. His cronies were laughing like what he was saying was actually funny. I never understood people feeling tough in part of a group. I was in an actual street gang, and I felt ashamed that I didn’t feel I could stand on my own.

“I commented on the wrestler’s behavior, and I did use profanity. The coach told me to watch my language and threatened the principal’s office. I rebuked the coach for ignoring the bullying, and I insulted his manhood in the process, once again using profanity. The coach told me to go to the office. I got up as if to go, but I planned on getting in the coach’s business first.

“The wrestler that was leading in the bullying told me I was dead meat. I said, is that right? I’ll fight you anywhere any time. But is it just you and me, or do you need your friends to help you? Cause I’ll wipe the floor with you if you don’t.”

“The whole class of about forty students were stunned,” Jenny interjected. “The whole place was still, other than the confrontation taking place. I was so nervous! I was actually a wrestling cheerleader, but I was rooting for Bill in this situation. I was also marveling at his bravery.

“The next thing I knew, Bill was pushing the coach. The coach tried to do a take down, but Bill punched him hard in the face. You could here this loud pop, and blood poured out of coach’s nose. But he kept coming at Bill, Then there was a snap, and the coach screamed and grabbed his broken arm.

“This in turn snapped the bullying wrestlers out of their stunned stupor and they rushed to the coach’s aid. Then for half a minute it was like watching a Chuck Norris film. Bill kicked one in the groin and he went down. Then he immediately punched another. The rest didn’t seem too eager to approach Bill and he fled.”

“That was the end of my academic career,” Bill laughed. “Not only was I expelled, but I was also arrested. Fortunately, when the judge heard the entire story and spoke to witnesses, including the bullied girl, I was exonerated.”

“The whole school was divided,” Jenny said. “It seemed like half the school thought of Bill as a hero, while the other half thought of him as a heathen. Here’s the thing though. I’m ashamed to say, that at the time, I sided with the wrestlers because they were part of the clique that I was. But I know that most of the people that bad mouthed Bill, secretly admired him.”

“I want to clarify something,” Bill said. “This is by no means a criticism of wrestlers or wrestling. Both our boys have wrestled. This is simply an indictment on some bad apple bullies.”

“So fast forward more than a decade, and deja vu all over again,” Jenny laughed. “Bill and I start seeing each other, and not long after, a confrontation with my ex ensues. Like I said, my ex is big, but my current is fast and strong.

“They end up in a skirmish, and Bill starts slapping Chad. Chad keeps trying to get a hold of Bill and he slips him. Then slap! Chad tries to punch him, gets blocked, and slap!”

Jenny starts laughing. Bill looks at her, then smirks and explained. “I guess it was kind of a psychological move. I wanted to prove I wasn’t scared, and by toying with him, that he was no match for me regardless of his size advantage. I wanted him to stay away, and leave us alone.”

“It worked,” Jenny said, still chuckling. “Bill’s got strong hands from years in construction. He left red marks on his face, and even bloodied Chad’s nose just with slaps. Chad was literally crying. The slaps stung and he couldn’t stop his eyes from watering. Chad stopped stalking me, and I can count on one hand how many times we’ve seen him since.”

“Is he not involved in his children’s lives?” I asked.

“Nope,” Jenny said coldly.

“Did you want it that way?” I asked with a frown.

“One of the reasons I divorced Chad,” Jenny said and then sighed. “Was because I felt like he never wanted the kids in the first place. He was angry when I first told him I was pregnant. He also was showing signs of being abusive. I was relieved when he never fought for any type of custody. But I also never asked for child support, and he never offered a penny.”

“Shifting directions a little bit,” I said. “I know you all have been attending Spring Valley for about two years. Were you Christians before joining?”

“No,” they replied in unison. Then Jenny continued. “If you asked both of us if we believed in God, we would have said yes. But we didn’t go to church and were skeptical of religion.”

“What changed that?” I asked.

“Our youngest daughter asked me about my upbringing,” Bill said. “I didn’t pull any punches. I told her exactly what it was like for me growing up, and what an ogre I had for a father and an enabler for a mother. In the process, our little girl taught me about forgiveness.”

“Taught us about forgiveness,” Jenny added. “That was only the beginning. Our eighteen year old daughter got to know Sevenia. What an amazing young woman! She’s almost unknown from the world’s standpoint, yet women who do porn and other outrageous things have thousands even millions of followers. No offence, I know you used to do porn.”

(Destiny’s story is told in the e-book ‘Knight Storm’ by Johnathan Embers.)

“Non taken, I totally agree,” I replied. “I’m just thankful for God’s forgiveness and redemption. Now, please tell me how your own children led you to the Savior.”

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES)

(HISTORY OF THE CHURCH: THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM)

“When Jesus was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it.” Luke 19:41

Amid the universal rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while palm branches waved, while glad hosannas awoke the echoes of the hills, and thousands of voices declared Him king, the world’s Redeemer was overwhelmed with a sudden and mysterious sorrow.

But Israel had turned from her best Friend and only Helper. The pleadings of His love had been despised, His counsels spurned, His warnings ridiculed.

Though rewarded with evil for good, and hatred for His love (Psalm 109:5). He had steadfastly pursued His mission of mercy. Never were those repelled that sought His grace.

He who alone could save them from their impending fate had been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified.

The loss of even one soul is a calamity infinitely outweighing the gains and treasures of a world; but as Christ looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was before Him.

What, then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic glance took in, not years, but ages.

Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgements of God. The woes of a fallen race, pressing upon His soul, forced from His lips that exceeding bitter cry.

Few would seek Jesus, their only source of help. He was willing to pour out His soul unto death, to bring salvation within their reach. But few would come to Him that they might have life.

The Majesty of heaven in tears! The Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit and bowed down with anguish! The scene filled heaven with wonder. The scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

The disciples had been filled with awe and wonder at Christ’s prediction of the overthrow of the temple, and they desired to understand more fully the meaning of His words.

Christ presented before them an outline of the prominent events to take place before the close of time. (See Matthew chapter 24)

For nearly forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had been pronounced by Christ Himself, the Lord delayed His judgements upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was the longsuffering of God toward the rejectors of His gospel and the murderers of His Son.

Then God withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen.

Blood flowed down the temple steps like water. Thousands upon thousands perished. Above the sound of battle, voices were heard shouting: “Ichabod”—the glory has departed.

The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan’s vindictive power over those who yield to His control.

We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan.

The world is no more ready to credit the message for this time than were the Jews to receive the Savior’s warning concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God will come unawares to the ungodly.

“Know that it is near, even at the doors!” (Matthew 24:33)

“Watch ye therefore,” (Mark 13:35) are Jesus’s words of admonition.