TRICKY TRIANGLE

CHAPTER 7

MAY 1979—AUGUST 1985

Wendy’s cancer wasn’t caught early, but it wasn’t stage four either. After a year long battle, it went into remission. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. The one positive thing to come out of Wendy’s ordeal was the transformation of her spiritual life.

At the time of her marriage to Edward, Wendy had become a born again Christian. But it was more of an outward, intellectual acceptance rather than an inward, true heart conversion. She went through various religious motions, but as her husband slowly lost interest in spiritual things, she did as well.

However, as she faced the very real prospect of dying when she was only thirty-two years old, it became a huge wake up call. She began a nightly ritual of kneeling in prayer by her bed. She often looked at two particular Bible verses before she did this. James 4:14, as she stared her mortality right in the face, and then she turned to the most famous verse in the Bible to take in eternal comfort, John 3:16.

The early 1980’s found Dawn, Hal, and Wendy regularly attending Sabbath services. Ed was usually either too busy or too tired to join them. Wendy and Hal felt like the time flew in church. Whereas Dawn increasingly looked at her watch, longing for her weekend bubble baths, a glass of wine, and her latest romance novel.

On Wednesdays, Hal and Wendy began attending weekly prayer meetings. Afterward, they often conversed over a cup of herbal tea. Although their friendship was strictly platonic, both were slightly disturbed that they were developing a close bond with someone of the opposite sex that wasn’t their own spouse.

However, they justified their relationship by the fact that their spouses were aware of their friendship, and not interested in talking about Biblical issues. Ed, now a detective, often worked late into the night, and Dawn usually wanted to relax with her latest book.

Hal was steadily growing spiritually. He was concerned with Dawn’s spiritual apathy, and her growing desire to escape with wine and novels. He didn’t understand what happened to the zealous young woman that declared she couldn’t be yoked to an unbeliever. Not that she had become an unbeliever herself, but she was increasingly and subconsciously, embracing relativism. On the positive side, she did still faithfully attend church. She was also a great mom, and she also had a renewed interest in non-sleeping bedroom activities, which Hal found quite pleasing.

In the summer of 1983, Wendy had consistently not felt well. She was in denial, and hid her illness as long as she could. But when Ed began to notice how often she was tired and her loss of weight, he insisted she get checked out.

Her cancer had returned with a vengeance. It spread quickly through her body. She fought valiantly, prayed earnestly, but unfortunately it was a losing battle. Her fight was courageous, and her cheerful outlook through her darkest hours inspired many.

In hospice, visits from her husband and best friend broke her heart. Although they tried, both were unable to hide their pain and sorrow. Ironically, she loved seeing Hal. He always had Bible promises at the ready, and a strong, stoic demeanor to help her stay brave. The last time they saw each other, Hal would never forget every word she said to Dawn, Ed, and himself that fateful day.

“Time is such a deception,” she had begun.

“What do ya mean, Honey?” Ed had asked.

“Our time on earth is really so short and unpredictable,” she had said, pausing after to get her breath. “Our lives are like a blink of an eye in the scope of eternity. We make so many earthly plans, and subtly become so neglectful of things eternal. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets out of here alive without Him. Please remember that, all of you.”

Then she smiled that sweet happy go lucky grin they all remembered from their youth. Utter peace radiated from her face, but her words came with great effort. “Don’t be sad for me, we will meet again. I’m just going to sleep before you all, but the next thing I will realize is the resurrection, and Jesus coming with thousands of angels. My redeemer, dear lovely Jesus.”

Wendy closed her eyes after that and never opened them back up. A few hours later, she took her last breath as she passed away peacefully, just a few days into 1984.

Ed had seen a lot of horror in his life, especially in Vietnam and then as a police officer. But nothing compared with the anguish he felt over losing Wendy. He quit the force, sold their house, bought an RV, and traveled the country.

In late spring, Ed returned to Minnesota. He acquired a spot at a campground for the whole summer. Hal and Dawn were delighted that their old friend was back, at least for the warm season.

Although his campsite was a twenty minute drive to the Storm residence, he drove there almost daily to have dinner with them, or to just hang out. At first, it had been a comfort for all of them to reminisce. Then they simply enjoyed each other’s company. Hal and Ed watched sports, played golf and tennis.

In July, Ed bought a Harley from a former coworker. He took Dawn for afternoon motorcycle rides on days she wasn’t working at the department store. They would stop at parks and go for long walks. They’d talk about life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. They always seemed end their time together reminiscing with a story from their youth.

At the end of October, Ed took Dawn and Hal out to dinner. Ed informed the couple that he was going south for the winter. Dawn insisted he come back for the holidays. He emphatically declared that he didn’t want to be anywhere near Minnesota during his first holidays without Wendy.

On a beautiful, exceptionally warm autumn day, Dawn and Ed went for one last motorcycle ride. It was bittersweet. When Ed dropped Dawn off at home, they embraced. Occasionally hugging wasn’t something new to the longtime friends, but when both went to kiss each other on the cheek for the first time, their lips accidently met. Both lurched back in surprise and then laughed.

“I meant to kiss your cheek,” Ed explained as his face flushed.

“Me too. I guess we missed,” Dawn giggled.

“I know, that’s why you reeled back in repulsion,” Ed said with a chuckle.

“Oh, I wasn’t repulsed at all,” Dawn replied with a coy smile. “If anything, I was tempted.”

“Tempted to what?” Ed asked, becoming serious and still.

“What’d ya think, ya dope?” Dawn asked with a sarcastic laugh as she slapped him playfully on the arm.

After looking awkwardly at each other for a long moment, Ed said “Well, I better go.”

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Thank you for going.”

“You’ll be back in the spring?” Dawn asked.

“Probably, but I haven’t been very good at making plans this year,” he explained and then emitted a fake laugh.

“Well, you better,” Dawn said with mock sternness, hands on her hips. “I’ll want more motorcycle rides after we endure winter.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ed said with an affectionate smile as he rubbed her upper arm.

Over the winter, Dawn recalled the afternoons spent with Ed. She replayed their walks and talks, and the forbidden feeling she had when her arms were locked around his waist on the cycle rides. The clean smell of his soap, and the subtle scent of his aftershave as the wind whipped through their hair. She remembered the accidental kiss, and how she longed for him to kiss her again. Then the urge to kiss him on the cheek when he rubbed her upper arm.

In Florida, Ed’s nightmares about his deceased wife became interspersed with illicit dreams about his best friend’s wife. He longed for her to be more than just a friend, and that was just plain wrong. He needed to stay away. He wondered if Dawn felt the same about him. Plus, after habitually letting his fantasies about her run wild over the winter, it would be too painful to be around her and not have her.

Ed had enjoyed his job working security at a prestigious Tampa hotel, so he thought ‘why not just stay put.’ But in August the hotel manager, whom Ed liked and became friends with, retired. His replacement tried to let Ed know who was boss. But Ed let him know that nobody was going to push him around and immediately quit.

The day after his job ended, Ed left on a motorcycle road trip. Three days later he pulled into Dawn and Hal’s driveway. Dawn’s mouth dropped open when she answered the door and saw Ed. He grinned from ear to ear. “Hey Stranger.”

“Eddie!” she exclaimed before she hugged him. “I was just thinking about you.”

“I know, that’s why I teleported here,” he joked. “Where’s Hal? Shouldn’t he be home from work by now?”

“He’ll be awhile yet. He and a buddy went golfing after work.”

“I’m hurt that he chose him over me,” Ed teased.

“Silly,” Dawn giggled. “You know better than that. There’s no way Hal would have went golfing if he knew you were coming.”

Dawn invited him in, and they began catching up. Ed noticed she held a paperback novel, and almost seemed to be hiding the cover. The phone rang and Dawn answered it, talking briefly. “I’ve gotta pick Luke up from the pool.”

“Doesn’t he have a license yet?”

“He’s got a license, but no car, and I needed it earlier this afternoon. Do you mind waiting fifteen or twenty minutes?”

“I should go get a motel.”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Dawn declared. “David left for college and you can sleep in his bed.”

“Well, okay, if you’re gonna twist my arm,” Ed said with a chuckle. “Can I use your bathroom?”

“No, you can sleep here, but you’ll have to use the gas station to relieve yourself,” Dawn said with a laugh.

Something made Ed stop from shutting the bathroom door all the way. As he watched threw an inch of open doorway, he noticed Dawn go into her sewing room. She put the book in a desk drawer, locked it, and put the key under the pedal of her sewing machine.

When he finished using the restroom, Dawn was gone. With a pounding heart, he located the key to the desk drawer and opened it. The book on top was called ‘The Best Man.’ He read the back. It was about a woman having an affair with her husband’s best friend.

Ed swallowed. He was Dawn’s husband’s best friend. He was also the best man in their wedding. There were a half a dozen other books in the drawer. All of them had to do with some form of illicit affairs. Was sweet, wholesome Dawn into literary erotica? It couldn’t be.

What led Dawn to read novels about illicit affairs? Was it their accidental kiss? Had it aroused her as much as it did him? Was it even an accident? Or was there some other man she pined for? Was she already having an affair? Or was she just indulging in fantasy?

He doubted that she was seeing someone. Yet he never would have dreamed Dawn Storm would be reading stories about illicit sex. Also, she had been twenty or thirty pounds overweight for more than a decade. Now she seemed to have shed all of the extra poundage since he had seen her last. Why? Doctor’s orders, or to impress a lover?

He had wanted Dawn in a bad way before, that’s why he’d stayed away all this time. Now that he knew about a secret naughty side, he was convinced he could have her if he played his cards right. He had enough spiritual training in his life to know that lust begins in the heart. Matthew 5:28 and Proverbs 6:25 seemed to slap him in the face.

No! He needed to just go back to Florida right away and stay put. How could he betray his best buddy? Then again, he didn’t want to steal her, just share her. Hal didn’t even have to know about it. Like the old saying, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Right?

What a decision! So, should he stay or should he go?

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES)

(The LIFE and MINISTRY of JESUS Part 20)

The disciples: (See Mark 3:13-19 Luke 6:12-16)

Jesus loved the scenes of nature. To Him each quiet retreat was a sacred temple. By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.

Philip was a sincere seeker of truth, but he was slow of heart to believe.

When Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…. If you had known me, you should have known My Father also.”

In happy contrast to Philip’s and Thomas’s unbelief was the childlike trust of Nathanael. He was a man of intensely earnest nature, one whose faith took hold upon unseen realities.

Yet Philip was a student in the school of Christ, and the divine Teacher bore patiently with his unbelief and dullness.

Judas believed Jesus to be the Messiah; and by joining the apostles, he hoped to secure a high position in the new kingdom. This hope Jesus designed to cut off by the statement of His poverty. “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:19, 20)

The disciples were surprised that Jesus received Judas so coolly. If He had repulsed Judas, they would have questioned the wisdom of their Master. The after history of Judas would show them the danger of allowing any worldly consideration to have weight in deciding the fitness of men for the work of God.

God takes men as they are, with the human elements in their characters, and trains them for His service, if they will be disciplined and learn of Him. They are not chosen because they are perfect, but notwithstanding their imperfections, that through the knowledge and practice of the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may become transformed into His image.

Instead of walking in the light, Judas chose to retain his defects. Evil desires, revengeful passions, dark and sullen thoughts, were cherished, until Satan had full control of the man. Judas became a representative of the enemy of Christ.

All the disciples had serious faults when Jesus called them to His service. Even John, who came into closest association with the meek and lowly One, was not himself naturally meek and yielding. He and his brother were called “the sons of thunder.”

As His representatives among men, Christ does not choose angels who have never fallen, but human beings, men of like passions with those they seek to save.

There are souls perplexed with doubt, burdened with infirmities, weak in faith, and unable to grasp the Unseen. But a friend who they can see, coming to them in Christ’s stead, can be a connecting link to fasten their trembling faith upon Christ.

We are to be laborers together with the heavenly angels in presenting Jesus to the world. With almost impatient eagerness the angels wait for our co-operation. For man must be the channel to communicate with man. And when we give ourselves to Christ in wholehearted devotion, angels rejoice that they may speak through our voices to reveal God’s love.