CHAPTER 7

JAKE

My plan to distance myself from Mary Gold didn’t go as I intended, just the opposite as a matter of fact.  The next day I woke up from an afternoon nap just in time to see Mary Gold get home from work.  I needed to get on my motorcycle and leave before Mary Gold could change clothes and come outside.  I drank a glass of water, brushed my teeth quick, combed my hair, threw on my shoes, and dashed out of the back door.  I snuck around front where my cycle was parked.

Mary Gold was sitting on her front steps wearing jeans and a T-shirt.  She was putting on shoes and socks, stopping to wiggle all of her right hand’s fingers at me.  I waved back and started my bike.  As I maneuvered my motorcycle down the driveway, I noticed Mary Gold watching me with something like longing in her countenance.  

I was just going to leave without asking her if she wanted to come since she didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going.  But she looked a little lonely. That was her problem, so I tried to ignore her. I made a left turn onto the road and went about fifty feet when my cycle suddenly turned into Mary’s driveway.  What was it doing? Did I turn it that way?

“Wanna go for a ride?” I heard myself ask.

“Sure,” she said, smiling brightly as she bounced toward me and climbed on behind me.  She placed her hands in the bad spot again, just above my hips and it tickled.

“Mary, remember? Don’t put your hands there,” I said.

“Sorry,” she said, then purposely wiggled her fingers into my sides causing extreme ticklishness to occur.  I squirmed and shot off of my seat as she giggled.

“Mary, don’t do that!” I said, laughing despite myself.  “Look Mary, now you’re gonna make me not trust you to hold on to me.  You don’t want to make the guy driving a motorcycle jumpy, do you?”

“No, I’m sorry,” she said, looking at me all wide eyed and innocent.

She could have gotten away with murder as a kid. Yet I would bet anything that she was the sweetest, most well behaved child ever. Maybe.

“You better not,” I said, staring her down.

She bit her lower lip, trying to suppress a grin.  I wondered if she knew how adorable she looked, like a living, breathing precious moment’s figurine. I felt the corners of my mouth twitch, and bit down on my tongue before I exposed my own grin.

“Cross my heart,” she said, making an x across her chest with a finger.

I took Mary Gold to see more flowers. This time it was Noelridge Park. She walked around in admiration of the colorful plants, and I strolled along admiring her. So why was there a part of me that wanted to distance myself from this captivating beauty? It must have been good reasoning. The side me that was infatuated with her could bring trouble. When she had checked out every garden bed, we found a bench and sat.

“There’s something I’d like to discuss quick, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“Sure, what’s up?” she replied.

“I love what a straight shooter you are with things.  It makes for good communication,” I told her.

“Thank you,” she said.

“I’ll be honest,” I said.  “After our conversation last night, before we parted ways, I was a little freaked out.”

“How come?” she asked, frowning.

“It just troubled me a bit that the subject of marriage came up with a gal I had only known for half of a day.”

Much to my relief, she laughed.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “I guess I’m just neurotic. It just seems like in the dating world these days that in general guys seem to think they should be able to take a girl to bed after a few dates.  I just feel the need to be upfront about how that is not going to be the case with me.  Do you know what I mean?  I don’t want a guy to invest or waste even one day of time or money dating me without him knowing full well that he will not be getting sex until we are married. I will only marry a Godly man, or I’ll choose to be a spinster if necessary.”

Mary Gold seemed so incredibly wholesome to me, that even hearing her say the word sex made me a little uncomfortable. Could I be a Godly enough man for Mary Gold?  I thought of all the flaws in my character and felt unworthy.

“I admire that,” I told her.

Mary Gold shrugged. “Thanks.”

“I really like spending time with you,” I said.

“And I, you,” she said.

“So, would you be okay if we were just friends, then?” I asked.

Her smile seemed almost forced as she said, “That’s the way it should be.”

“Well, good,” I said, dumbly.

“So does this mean you’re not taking me out to dinner?” she asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll still take you to dinner,” I said.  “Friends have dinner together, don’t they? Then maybe you can buy me dinner.”

“I’d be glad to,” she with a coy smile, causing my forehead to form a puzzled frown.

“Can I ask you something?” I said.

“No,” she replied matter of fact.

I looked at her a little surprised, my puzzled frown deepening. She giggled and gave me a poke in the ribs with a sharp fingernail.  Being highly ticklish, I jolted. Although laughing, I barked, “Stop it!”

She ignored my demand, and went for second stab. I grabbed her hand and held it. Now we both became still, and our grins morphed into a serious gaze as our eyes locked. Were we really gonna be just friends? What was this strange attraction we found ourselves in? What were the obstacles? She swallowed, licked her lower lip. “What did you want to ask me?”

I let go of her hand as if it were hot. I looked at her moist lips for a second too long. I recalled my experience with Heather Louise Baumgartner, and our church’s strong admonition that we court, and ultimately marry from within. Perceiving that Mary Gold’s church was also very conservative, I paused. “Mary, doesn’t your church require that you only marry a fellow believer, a fellow member?”

“Yes,” she replied, and then tilted her head as if to ask, what’s your point?

“Well, we can never be more than friends then,” I told her.

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t belong to your church,” I said with a little bit of a sarcastic chuckle.

“Not yet.”

“Not ever,” I blurted, irritation rising with at her presumption.

“I beg to differ.”

This reply should have caused my irritation to increase. But she had such a pleased look on her face, even kind of silly. My irritation actually left, and I felt myself smile as I simply said, “Is that right?”

“Yes,” she answered with a single nod and then a quick lick of her upper lip. Was she trying to look adorable, or did she just come naturally? The sun made her auburn hair shine, and her green, gold flecked eyes sparkle. But I was strong willed, holding onto my good judgement rather than my desire.

“I beg to differ. Would you care to explain?”

“Well, I feel like we’ve established the beginning of a friendship, don’t you?”

“I do.”

She smiled coyly, biting her lower lip. When I said I do, it instantly reminded me of a marriage vow. I perceived that she was thinking the same thing. I arched an eyebrow and said, “What?”

“What, what?”

“Never mind,” I said. “So we’re friends, that doesn’t mean I’ll become a member of your church.”

“I beg to differ.”

“What, are we in a comedy routine, or something? Tell me why being friends with you will cause me to become a member of your church.”

“It’s simple. We will have plenty of conversations as friends and neighbors. I can tell you are a seeker of truth. I’m passionate about God and His inspired Word, the Bible. So wahla!”

“Well, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t that simple. Yes, I suppose I am a seeker to understand my existence and the meaning of life. But I’ve already ruled out one phase, and that’s dogmatic, legalistic, religion with their fire and brimstone God that punishes with eternal torment just for not believing in him, or bowing down to him. Been there, done that!

“I don’t believe in that God either,” she replied.

“I thought you said you are a Bible believer.”

“I am, absolutely.”

“Well, I’m no Bible scholar, but I’ve been through it, and heard countless sermons about hell with all the time I spent in church as a youth. I know for a fact that it says the wicked will be destroyed with eternal punishment.”

“Punishment, not punishing,” she replied. Then she quoted a dozen scriptures. She recited which book of the Bible, along with chapters and verses, just from memory. In a nutshell, she proved that the wicked die eternally, and the hellfire at the end of time ends when all the wickedness is burned up.

In other words, hell is an event, not place. The world was destroyed by flood the first time. It will be by fire the last time. Then the Lord will make all things new, and it will be perfect. See the last two chapters of the book of Revelation.

We were so engrossed in our discussion, we both had been leaning forward, elbows on our knees, slightly turned toward each other. When Mary Gold concluded our Bible study with no Bibles, she leaned back on the bench, and crossed one leg over the other. There were holes in the knees of her jeans. As I gazed at the lovely kneecap protruding from the denim, I figured the tear in the material was acquired by much prayer.

Despite this thought, I spontaneously clutched her knee with the tips of my fingers and thumb. She shrieked, and then began a little jig on the bench, squirming, wiggling, and grabbing at my hand to free it from her ticklish knee. I cackled maliciously, increasing my grip.

“Please, stop,” she both laughed and whined.

“Do you promise not to tickle my ribs me anymore?”

“Sort… of,” she gasped. I increased the grip a little more. “Yes, yes, please, yes!”

I let go, and her cute face scrunched hideously as she jammed fingers into my arm pits.

“Yeeeeeeee!!!!!” I bellowed. My ribs weren’t the only ticklish spot on me. I grabbed both of her wrists as she giggled. I scolded her as I let go, “You promised!”

“I promised not to tickle you here,” she said as a finger darted toward my ribs. Even though she stopped short, I jolted.

I grabbed the wrist attached to the offending hand and pulled her toward me. Both of us were grinning, our faces inches apart, I muttered, “I oughta…”

I paused, almost kissing her. But she spoke, and my boldness dissipated. “You oughta come to church with me.”

“Okay,” I heard myself say. Even as I inwardly kicked myself, I asked. “When?”

“Saturday at nine,” she said. “You can ride with me.”

“Saturday? Are you Jewish?”

“I’m a Christian. A Seventh Day Adventist to be specific.”

“So why Saturday?”

“It’s the Biblical Sabbath of creation, and the fourth commandment of the ten instituted at Mount Sinai.”

“But all Christians keep Sunday.”

“I beg to differ. There are Seventh Day Baptists, The Church of God Seventh Day, and The Worldwide Church of God, just to name a few of the most prominent.”

Another Bible study ensued from Mary Gold’s uncanny memory and intellect. She almost had me convinced. The next day, I consulted a pastor at a Cedar Rapids church similar to the one I grew up in. When I ran the Sabbath question by him, he assured me that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in honor of the resurrection.

I’d like to tell you that I went boldly back to Mary Gold with my findings. But I also inquired about an eternally burning hell. His argument was flimsy compared to Mary’s belief with only a fraction of scripture to support it. The passages he did use had already been refuted by Mary the previous day. I didn’t want to argue with him, but ironically, I wanted to set Mary Gold straight about the Sabbath, even though she seemed more astute than the pastor I talked to.

“We keep Sunday in honor of the resurrection,” I told her as we took seats on my grandparent’s back deck. Then I frowned at myself. Who’s we? I hadn’t been to church in months.

“Is that right?” Mary Gold asked. “What led you to this conclusion?”

I told her about my visit with the pastor just an hour earlier.

“Can you excuse me for a minute?” she said, and then ran clumsily through the yard and over to her house, lifting her yellow sundress up past her knees as she did so. She was wearing flat sandals and one flew off causing her to stumble. She placed it back on her foot, deciding to just walk briskly. She returned with a well-worn Bible and handed it to me. “Can you show me just one text he shared with you where the Sabbath was changed?”

“Um, he, ah…” I began, and just stared at her.

“Can I show you something?” Mary Gold asked as she opened her Bible to the book of Acts. She showed me several verses where the apostles went to synagogue on the Sabbath. “Why did the apostles still keep the Sabbath instituted at creation if it was changed because of the resurrection? Jesus had already ascended to heaven.”

“I… Um… don’t know.”

“Do you know when the tradition of Sunday keeping began?”

“Obviously I don’t.”

“It became prominent in the 4^th century when the Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity a legal religion. It was during this time that many pagan rites were brought into the church of Rome. The biggest was paganism’s venerable day of the Sun. Human reasoning over Biblical truth prevailed. With the change, instead of worshiping the sun god, they supposedly were honoring the Son of God.”

“Does it really matter what day we keep though? God made all the days of the week.”

“Well, the way I see it. The fourth commandment is the one out the ten that recognizes God as the Creator. It’s the one He made Holy. He did not make any of the other six Holy. God does not change, so no human being has the right to change it for Him. The book of Daniel 7:25 even predicted this would happen around six hundred years before Christ walked the earth.”

“So why did God let it happen?”

“Man has free will,” Mary Gold said with a shrug. “And unfortunately sinful natures. Throughout the Bible, notice that it’s usually only a minority that truly follow God. Jesus warns of this very thing in Matthew 7:13 and 14.”

This was all too much information for my feeble brain. But I was intrigued. Thankfully, I put my pride aside, and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I began to absorb the truths Mary Gold shared with me. I also let her take me to church.

I was about to take my first step starting at Lake Produce, because Leonard “Lenny” Lake attended Mary Gold’s church. I was about to meet him for the first unforgettable time.

(For an in-depth study of the Biblical doctrines brought up, please check out Amazing Facts ministry. They have excellent Bible study guides. Or you can simply watch insightful videos they have posted on YouTube.)