A SAINT IN SIN CITY

MASON MAXWELL

CHAPTER 3

MERCY AND TRUTH HAVE MET TOGETHER (Psalm 85:10)

I have never had a relationship where I had so much in common, yet at the same time was so vastly different than with Saul Sallie. In the beginning, the nucleus of our relationship was baseball, but over time the core of our bond would evolve to spiritual. We loved each other like the brother’s we never had. Yet our friendship was volatile enough to cause the media to paint a false drama that wasn’t even there. That was never realized more prominently than by that fateful World Series.

These are the key things we had in common. We were both the only teammates drafted by Minnesota that were native Minnesotans. We were both pitchers. We were both traded to Las Vegas when we were in Triple A. We both grew up in rural settings, with Saul somewhere between Minneapolis and the Iowa border, and with me northeast of Duluth just a couple miles from lake Superior.

We both had older sisters that were superior athletes, and daddy’s favorite. We both accepted Christ as our Savior as teenagers. We both decided that if we were drafted past the eighth round we would go to college instead of playing pro ball. We were each other’s best men at our weddings. I guess the media ignored this when they tried to make us out to be enemies.

However, there were some key things that made Saul and me like oil in water, and they all had spiritual ramifications. Saul practiced his faith, and I say to my shame, I only professed faith. Saul grew in his spiritual journey, and was diligent in daily devotions. I was big on grace, and once saved always saved, and only cracked my Bible on Sundays. That is, if I remembered to take it to church.

So once again to my shame, I enjoyed some carnal pleasures, with God as some type of insurance policy, I guess. I wasn’t too wild, comparatively speaking. I partied with teammates, but never got drunk or out of control. Maybe a bit silly sometimes. Although I had premarital sex with my girlfriend, we eventually married. Once again to my shame, I did fool around a few times with baseball groupies, but never “went all the way.”

It was after I hooked up with a baseball groupie for the first time, that Saul and I came to verbal blows for the first time. Actually I came to verbal blows due to a guilty conscience. I suppose it was like a ‘Tell Tale Heart.’ I thought Saul saw me with her. I thought the next day he was giving me the cold shoulder. But it was only my guilty conscience making me paranoid. Then mad. Then without realizing it, confessing my sin as I confronted Him.

We had just left a team prayer meeting. I sauntered up next to Saul as we left, gave his shoulder just enough of a nudge so he would know it wasn’t friendly, and glared at him. “You have a problem with me?”

“Should I?” he asked calmly, yet staring hard into my eyes. It caused anger in me to rise, yet I couldn’t return his stare, and I averted my gaze.

“I saw your raised eyebrows when I got into that woman’s car after the game,” I said defiantly, as my ego gave me the will to look at him again.

“What woman?” he asked innocently.

“You know very well what woman.”

“I do? What’s her name?”

“Jill,” I spit, then frowned. “No, Jen. Something with a J anyway.”

“Wow, your bond was so special, names were irrelevant,” he said with a smirk, and crossed his arms. Saul is no dummy. He instantly perceived what was going on.

“Look dude, we’re over a thousand miles from home. Forgive me for not being the stoic holy roller you are. I’m not content just sitting in my room and reading, I need socialization. Jill, or Jen, or Jan, or whatever her name is, was a nice gal. After the excitement of the game, I simply forgot what she said when she introduced herself. We had nice time, a nice visit.”

“My bad,” he smiled, and shook his head. “I owe you an apology. I assumed by your attitude that you had sex with her, and were now lashing out at me due to a guilty conscience.”

My jaw clenched. “We talked, and yes, kissed, and then she, well, had sex with me. I didn’t ask, or even persuade her. It just, you know, happened.”

“Oh, I see. So I imagine you’ll tell your girl, Beth, isn’t it? About your one night friend?”

“Look man,” I tried, but the wind was absent from my angry sails. Some of us in low A were still teenagers, including Saul and me. A couple who wouldn’t give up their dream were in their mid-twenties. The rest were in their early twenties. The vast majority would have been hooting, and back slappy me, and saying “way to go.” As a pro ball player, it was easier than for most guys to get a casual hook up. But it wasn’t the major league yet either.

Saul’s patient words kept echoing in my head. “Beth, isn’t it? Beth, isn’t it?”

I was breathing harder than after a sprint down to first base. I slapped a hand to my forehead, and quietly said, “Man, did I screw up.”

I had shoved Saul on the shoulder a minute earlier, but he put a gentle hand on mine, and said softly, “The devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“What do I do?”

“If any man sin, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous,” he said with a sympathetic smile. (1 John 2:1)

“Right,” I nodded. But that wasn’t necessarily what I was talking about. “But what about Beth? Do I tell her?”

He shrugged. “That’s your call. I’ve never met her, and I don’t know how serious you two are.”

“Very,” I replied. But all he did was nod. So I asked, “What would you do?”

“Well,” he said, and sighed uneasily. “I wouldn’t have a casual hook up in the first place, so I don’t think I can answer that.”

Although his reply was no rebuke, or any type of boast, my pride became indignant. I thought, that’s easy for you to say when your looks are on the order of Howard from the TV show ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ But who was I to judge that? I actually looked more like Sheldon, from said show, than I did Colin Farrell. We were both kind of nerdy looking guys above the shoulders, but lean and athletic below the neck.

“Besides, I don’t have a girlfriend,” Saul shrugged.

I nodded, and thought, of course you don’t Howard. But that would change when he was called up to high A in Cedar Rapids. That’s where he met an incredibly sweet, beautiful young woman named Marcella. I might as well stay on the same TV show. Marcy looked enough like Penny, they could be sisters.

“But if I did have a girlfriend,” Saul continued. “And I gave into temptation. I’d have to confess.”

Of course you would, I thought, but said, “Do you even get tempted with anything?”

“Of course I do,” he chuckled.

“With what?” I challenged.

“I’m prone to all the typical temptations of guys our age,” he said sternly, and with the unspoken message of mind your own business. We hadn’t know each other very long back then, so I respected his privacy.

“Well, I figure what Beth doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” I said boldly, despite my damaged psyche.

“That’s your call,” he replied with the unspoken message he didn’t approve.

“Look, most guys have to take care of carnal needs,” I continued. “If God blessed you with out the desire for sexual release, more power to you. But my needs get overwhelming by times and I have to take care of them one way or another.”

“Have to, or want to?” He asked mildly.

My jaw clenched, and I closed my eyes. I actually prayed. “Lord, help me to not punch your servant on his big nose.”

It worked. I mellowed enough to say, but still with clenched jaw, “Point taken.”

I now wanted away from him, and I wished I’d never see him again. Careful what you wish for, I needed a real friend in my life, and that was Saul Sallie. I just didn’t know it yet.

“Maxwell,” our pitching coach bellowed. “I need to see you in the office.”

Was I in trouble? Was last night’s fun with the manager’s daughter or something? But as soon as I walked into the office, he and the manager were grinning at me.

“Congratulations, you’re moving up to high A,” the manager told me. “Good luck, son.”

“When?” was all I could manage.

“Pack your stuff, your flight leaves in three hours.”

I wouldn’t see Saul again for eight months. Believe it or not, I missed him.