“The Fifth Truth is both the
easiest and hardest thing you will ever do,” Sam continued. “Are you ready for
it, Joe? It is going to cost you.”
“I have some money,” Joe said, not
understanding.
“It will cost you everything, Joe.
Everything. Anything less than everything is not real. You must understand this
because nothing else matters. The Bible calls it the Hidden Treasure, and the
Pearl of Great Price.”
“Isn’t that some kind religious
book?” Joe wondered.
“Yes, it is Joe, but that’s another
conversation. What I’m talking about is two short parables Jesus told.
“Parables?”
“Kind of like a story that teaches
a truth,” Sam said. “Read Matthew 13:44-46.”
Joe got out his Bible and read:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it,
he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that
field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and
bought it.”
“So, what do I do?” Joe was
agitated.
“You need to give up everything and
follow Jesus. That’s the deal.”
Joe thought about this for a
moment. Then, “So who is Jesus?”
“That is the question for
the ages, Joe,” said Sam. “Let me take a couple of minutes and see if I can
answer it effectively for you. I’ll try to be brief. I believe that Jesus is
the Son of God. By that I mean that he, along with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, form what we call the Trinity. You already know that the First Truth
says there is only one God, so a belief in the Trinity is not a belief in three
gods, or even a god with three parts. I believe there is one God with three distinct
personalities within the Godhead. So, I believe that Jesus Christ, a carpenter
from Nazareth
“I’ve never heard this before,” Joe
said.
“It is the most important truth of
all human history,” Sam said, “yet there are so many, like yourself, who don’t
know its message.”
“Sam, I want to be a follower of
Christ.”
Just then they heard a woman
scream. A minute later Felicitas burst into the room and said, “It’s Heather.
Her water just broke. She’s not doing well; I think we need to get her to the
hospital right away.”
“Okay. You get her ready, I’ll meet
you downstairs in a couple of minutes.”
Sam quickly got a little booklet
out of a drawer. He handed it to Joe and said, “read this tonight before you go to bed and let’s talk
about it tomorrow after breakfast. I’m sorry about this, but duty calls, Joe.
Heather is a recovering crack user. This might be a tough delivery, and I won’t
get to see you until after the baby is born. Let me say one more thing. My
advice would be to get out of the city. This place is full of people who are
sold out to the Enemy, or are victims of the Enemy. I can’t explain all of why
I am saying this, but leave the city. Read that tonight. It will tell you what
you need to follow Jesus. But leave tomorrow. Your future lies elsewhere for
now.”
With that Sam rushed out the door
and down the stairs. He put the booklet in his Bible and headed down the
stairs. He found Pol in the kitchen.
“Have a seat, Joe. Looks like we’ll
be dining alone.”
They had baked chicken with rice
pilaf and mixed vegetables. Over dinner Joe asked Pol what he did here at The
Refuge.
“I do a little of everything. We
have Sunday worship services here and I preach now and then. I go out with Sam
in the evenings, or by myself, and minister to people. But I guess one of the
main things I do is security.”
“Security?” Joe asked.
“You have probably noticed that
this city is not the friendliest environment for a place like this. I try to
keep an eye out for people who might try to hurt Sam or anyone else here. People
don’t live in a vacuum. I mean, for example, that when a prostitute comes to
live with us, she leaves behind people who would rather she didn’t leave. She
is a source of money to them. I make sure they don’t bother her. And for those
who get well, they have to leave here sometime to follow The Way as God
intended for them personally. I help them with the transition. God gave me this
great size and strength for a reason. So, during the day I work out. In the
building next to us we have a gym. I lift weights & run. We also lease
space to a Taekwondo school. The
instructor’s a follower of The Way. I train with him several days a week. In
this way I can be of the greatest service to The Way.”
“What do you do for income?” Joe
asked.
“Don’t tell anyone I told you this,
but I write children’s books,” he said with a laugh.
“That is truly amazing.”
“Well, I don’t think I will ever
marry, I mean look at me. So, I can reach out to children even though I won’t
have any of my own. I’m okay with that, and the money is enough so I don’t have
to be a financial strain on Sam or The Refuge.”
“Pol, I think I’m going to leave
tomorrow after breakfast.”
“Yeah, I thought you might be doing
that. Don’t give up, man. Pursue the Seven Truths. Find The Way.”
“I will, Pol. I promise.”
After dinner Pol had to go out. He
showed Joe where he could sleep, and then left. Joe went to his room and
started reading. The first one was John 3:16. It read: “For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.” Sam had said that he believed that Jesus was the
Son of God, so this must be referring to him. He underlined that verse and went
on to the next one. It was John 14:6. It read: “Jesus answered, “I am the way
and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So,
the only way to God was through Jesus. Even though he believed there was a God;
that by itself was not enough. He must believe in Jesus. Joe put his Bible down
and prayed: “Jesus, I want to believe in you. I want to follow your Way. Help
me.”
About an hour later there was a
knock at his door. It was Felicitas. She looked worn out.
“Hi, Joe. I just got back from the
hospital. It’s going to be a long night, and Sam and I are taking shifts. He
thought I should check in on you. Would you like some coffee?”
They went down to the kitchen and
sat at the table. Heather was having a tough time of it. The doctor was worried
she might lose the baby. She and Joe talked and prayed for Heather and the
little life she was bringing into the city. The next year was going to be tough
for her no matter what happened.
“So, Felicitas,” Joe ventured,
“what are your plans?”
“You mean for the future? Well, I
don’t feel I’m ready to leave here as yet. I know I’ll never go back to
prostitution, but I’m worried the drug habit may tempt me if I’m on my own
right now. Sam has said that I can stay for two years without worrying about
money. After that he thinks it would be good for me to start pursuing what I
want to do with my life.”
“Have you thought about what you
would like to do?”
“Who hasn’t? I think in the short
term I may get a job, live here and go to college. But in the long term, I
would like…” she paused, then “I would really like to be a wife and mother. I
say this carefully because with my background, well, that’s a lot to have to
marry into.”
“Don’t give up on that, Felicitas.
I believe you will make someone very proud someday.”
They looked at each other. They
both knew there was an attraction between them, but there was a lot of road
between here and there. Better to just let that alone. If God wanted it to be,
it would be. Then Joe did an odd thing. He set his cup down and reached over
and took her hand. Then he said, “I have never done this before, but could I
pray for you?”
Now it was her turn to be
embarrassed, but she said, “Yes, Joe, you can pray for me.”
“God,” he began, “I want to pray for
my new friend, Felicitas. I pray that you make her strong. I pray that you not
let her give in to drugs. I pray that she find your path for her. Oh, and God,
I pray that she find a man who loves you and loves her. Amen.”
Joe let go of her hand, and when he
looked up there were tears in her eyes. She just said, “thank you, Joe.” They
sat for a while and at ten o’clock she had to head back to the hospital. Before
she left, she said, “I saw Pol at the hospital. He told me you are leaving in
the morning. I probably won’t see you before you leave. I know what you have to
do. I have been there myself. Know this: I will pray for you every day.”
“That means a lot to me. Thank
you.”
“If you come back this way, stop in
and say hello.”
“I’m not sure what’s ahead, but I
will stop if possible.”
“Bye, Joe,” she said, and was down
the hall before he could say anything.
Joe got up early. It appeared like
he was the only one awake. He went to the kitchen and made coffee and toast. He
ate an apple. He got out his map and looked at where he might go. How many ways
were there out of the city? He didn’t have enough money for the plane. When he
called the train station the only train he could take wasn’t leaving until late
that evening. So, he decided to find a ship. That was both exciting and doable.
Joe left The Refuge, and walked
back up the hill to the metro station. He could take the red line to another
station and then transfer to the blue line which would take him to the waterfront.
It was only about eight o’clock, and there were a number of people waiting for
the train. “Where were these people going?” He thought to himself. There was a
man in a turban with two children. There were three men in suits with
briefcases. There were several nicely dressed young women with large bags
looking disapprovingly at some skaters who were ogling them. Joe’s train came
and several people got up including one of the men in suits. Joe noticed that
he had left a large manila envelope on the bench. He grabbed it, boarded the
train behind the man, and followed him down the aisle. When the man sat down,
Joe approached him.
“Excuse me, I think you left this
on the bench,” Joe said.
The man looked up distracted and
condescending until he saw the envelope. His eyes got wide, and he said, “Oh my
God! Thank you. You saved my life. Here have a seat,” he said gesturing to the
empty seat next to him. Joe sat down.
“Richard Barker,” he said extending
his hand.
“My name is Joseph Matthews, but
people just call me Joe.”
“Joe that envelope represents six
months of hard work. I would like to repay you somehow.”
“That’s not necessary,” Joe said,
“anyone would have done the same.”
“No, Joe. They wouldn’t have. Your
honesty in this city is rare, if not dangerous. Look why don’t you come up with
me to my office? I would really like to do something for you. I promise it
won’t hurt.”
“Well, okay.”
They got off in the business
district and walked a block to one of the high-rise office buildings. They rode
the elevator to the thirty-fifth floor. Down the hall they came to a door that
had a “Barker and Jones” sign in a little bracket off to the side. Inside was a
typical office with cubicles, copy machines and inner offices. When they
entered the secretaries greeted Joe’s new friend with, “Good morning Mr.
Barker, or “there are six messages on your desk,” or some other piece of
information. At the end of a hallway was a door with Barker’s name on it. There
was a woman at a desk to the left of the door. “Joe this is my secretary,
Randi. Randi, this is Joe. Would you get him some coffee or whatever he wants?
Then if you could entertain him for a half hour or so, I’ve got some phone
calls to make. Bring him into my office at nine. Is that okay with you, Joe?”
“Yes,” Joe said, “that would be
fine.”
Randi took Joe to the lunchroom.
“What would you like, Joe?”
“Uh, coffee, I guess. Look, I know
you must be busy. I can just hang out here and read magazines or something.”
“No, Joe, the boss told me to
entertain you, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
Randi was stunning. She wore a black
skirt with a pale yellow blouse, but the skirt was a little too short and the
blouse a little too low cut. Her blond hair was flawless, her makeup was
impeccable, and her jewelry was perfect. Joe felt stimulated and uncomfortable
almost simultaneously. He sat on a couch by the pop machine. She pulled up a
chair and sat across from him crossing her legs. Joe tried not to look.
“So, Joe, what brings you to Barker
and Jones?”
Joe told her what happened at the
station. She did not appear to be impressed.
“If this is some kind of scam, Joe,
you might be better off if you left.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Joe said,
getting up. “I didn’t feel right about accepting a gift from him.” For some
reason that changed her attitude. She put her hand on his chest to stop him.
“Wait, Joe. Maybe I shouldn’t have
said anything. Maybe you should wait. See what Rich has to say. Come on let’s
go outside.”
She led him out through a glass
door to a balcony off the lunchroom. There was probably a great view of the
city from there, but it was cloudy. Straight down he could see cars and buses
with tiny people in them.
“I love it out here,” she said,
then “So, Joe, what do you do?”
“I used to be…I’m traveling. I plan
to leave the city today.”
Suddenly, she got serious, “Hey,
Joe, why don’t you hang around and have a drink with me after work?”
“I don’t know, Randi, I really have
to move on.”
The put off didn’t seem to bother
her. She just looked at her watch and said, “It’s almost nine. We should get
back. The offer’s still on. Think about it, Joe.” When she brushed by him the
smell of her perfume was intoxicating. They went inside, and back down to Barker’s
office. Randi sat down at her desk, picked up her phone, pushed a button and
said, “Mr. Barker, do you want to see Joe now? Okay, I’ll send him in.”
“Thanks for waiting, Joe,” Barker
said as Joe entered the room. “Have a seat. Now, I don’t believe in
formalities, so I am going to cut to the chase. I like you, Joe. Your honesty
really impressed me this morning. I would like to offer you a job. It’s not
much, mind you. The pay would be only about forty five thousand to start, but
there would be a lot of upward mobility. With hard work, in two years you could
be making six figures. We just had a young man leave for greener pastures, and
I would like to train you for his job.” Before Joe could respond Barker pushed
a button on his phone, “Randi, I’m offering Joe, Ron Smith’s old job. Could you
get the appropriate forms and such? Thanks.” Then he turned back to Joe,
“Follow me.” They went down the hallway a couple of doors to an empty office.
“This would be your office. Check out that view. Well, it’s kind of cloudy
today, but take my word for it, the view is fantastic. So, this office and a
chance to prove yourself in the business world. What do you think, Joe?”
“It’s a bit sudden,” Joe said,
“could I have a little time to think it through?”
“Sure, Joe. Why don’t you let me
know after lunch? Here is my card. Call my cell when you decide, okay?”
“Thanks. I’ll do that.”
When Joe walked past Barker’s
office, Randi barely looked up at him. He left, and headed down the hallway for
the elevator. He was just about to push the button when he heard a voice:
“Joe! Wait.” It was Randi. She
grabbed his hand and said, “Follow me.” They went through a door into the
stairwell. When they were alone, she said, “Joe, you gotta know something.
Barker doesn’t make offers like this every day…and neither do I.” She pressed
up against him and said, “I mean that, Joe. Take the offer. You won’t be
sorry.” Then without another word, she turned and left him breathless in the
stairway. He was a mess. He decided to walk down the stairs until he could
think clearly. In the last hour he had been offered a great job and had a beautiful
woman throw herself at him. It was every young mans’ dream.
Joe walked down three flights
before he could breathe normally. He stopped and thought: “If I was making a
hundred thousand a year, I could really help Sam out. Plus, I could talk to his
investor friend, and put away some serious money. And Randi, wow, that’s an
interesting twist.” The more he thought about it, the better it seemed. He went
back out into the hallway and took the elevator down to the lobby. By the time
he’d gotten outside, he had decided to take the job. He’d decide about Randi
later. He went across the street to a little coffee shop. It was full of
business people. They were all dressed in suits and ties. He felt a little out
of place in the clothes Sharon bought him. That was going to change soon. He
got his coffee and found a table. He started making plans for his new income.
An hour later he had his next two years all planned out. All he had to do now
was call Rich. But first he had to use the bathroom. The barista told him it
was in the back. He found the bathroom and went in the first stall. But before
he could use the toilet, something caught his attention: There on the wall, so
small he almost missed it, was a hand-lettered Bible verse: “1 Corinthians
10:13.” He stopped and stared at it. Where did that come from? Why here? He
almost ignored it and walked out, but then he got out his Bible right there in
the stall and looked it up. It read: No temptation has seized you except what
is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so
that you can stand up under it.” He sunk to the floor and sat there too
humiliated even to weep. It was so obvious. What was he thinking? Just last
night, a man he trusted told him his best plan was to get out of the city. Now,
someone was offering him a job in the same city, and a woman he’d only known
for an hour was coming on to him. “What’s wrong with this picture?” he thought.
How could he have been so easily turned aside from The Way? Nothing like sex
and money to distract you from what is important. He wasn’t just base and
profane, he was an idiot.
He got up. There was a pay phone in
the hall outside the bathroom. He called the number. After two rings, “This is
Barker.”
“Rich,” Joe began, “this is Joe.”
“What have you decided, Joe?”
“I’m not going to take your offer.
It’s a great deal, but it’s not for me.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, Rich, I am a follower of The
Way…and I think the job would be a hindrance.”
“I see what you mean, but I think
that ‘Way’ stuff is a waste of time. See you around.”
“Thanks again for the offer, Rich,”
Joe said, but he had already hung up.
Joe went outside and walked back to
the train station. He took the train to the waterfront. He wasn’t sure exactly
what to do, but he was committed to leaving the city now more than ever. He
walked around the docks, and started asking around. Finally he talked to an old
timer who told him there was a cargo ship leaving for somewhere up north in a
couple of hours.
“She’s down at pier thirty one.
Might be able to buy a ride from ‘em. Dunno. Sometimes they do that. Gotta
ask.” The old timer pointed out the ship to him, and Joe walked down to pier
thirty one. He looked at the stern of the ship where the name was painted. All
it said was “The Pearl.” Was that a coincidence, or from God? Sam had
talked about the pearl of great price. Was he talking about this ship? Probably
not, but it was sailing soon, so he walked up the gangplank. He was told:
“yeah, you might be able to get a ride. Hafta go to the office, though. Down
there.” He pointed to a warehouse. “Coastal Carriers” was painted in big
letters on the side.
Joe went to the office, but the
door was locked and there was one of those signs in the window with a little
clock on it where you could set the hands. They were set for one thirty. That
was an hour from now. He looked around and found some chairs outside the
building. There were cigarette butts all over the ground. It was obviously
where workers came to take smoke breaks. Since no one was there, he sat in one
of the chairs and got out his Bible. He hadn’t read for ten minutes when
someone yelled at him: “Hey, what are you doing?” Joe looked up and saw a large
man walking toward him. There were seven or eight other men behind him.
“I’m waiting for the office to open
up,” Joe explained, as he stood up.
“No, what are you doing there?” he
said pointing to Joe’s Bible.
“Oh, uh, I’m reading my Bible.”
“That’s what I thought.” He was
right up on top of Joe now. Joe could smell alcohol. This wasn’t good. “You
religious types piss me off,” he said and knocked the Bible out of Joe’s hand.
“Hey!” Joe said, but the man hit
him and he fell over. He grabbed Joe’s shirt and picked him up. He started
shaking him. Joe thought this was going to get ugly, when all of a sudden the
man let go of him. Joe almost fell over again. When he caught himself he saw
the one thing, rather the one person, he would most like to see in the whole
world: Polycarp.
“Why do you want to hurt him?”
Polycarp said, “What’s he done to you?”
“You stay out of this big man, or
we’ll all take you down,” the bully said, but he was backing up into the crowd.
“Maybe not,” was all Polycarp said.
He walked right up to the crowd of men. There were no preliminaries, no
posturing or trash talk, just immediate and final confrontation. The man who
hit Joe took a swing, but Pol was much quicker. Quicker than could be imagined
for a man his size. He caught the man’s fist and squeezed until the man
screamed out in pain but his scream was cut short because Pol slapped him so
hard he knocked him out. The man fell like a stone. Suddenly it did get ugly.
Someone had a knife, and made the mistake of taking a swipe at Pol, but before
he knew it, Pol had the knife in one hand and the man’s neck in the other. He
held the knife right up to the man’s eye so close it was touching his
eyelashes. “Would you like your knife back?” Pol asked. The man was afraid to
even shake his head. All he could manage was to whisper “No.” Pol dropped him
and threw the knife. It stuck in a light pole twenty feet away. In the mêlée
that followed two people ended up in the water, one limped away with a knife
wound in his leg. Only two men now faced Pol, one of them had a chain. He took
a swing with the chain, but he was drunk. Pol easily caught the chain and
before the man could react, he had the chain around the man’s neck. Pol spun
him around and pulled him up close so he was standing behind him still holding
on to the chain.
“Now listen to me carefully,” Pol
said, “do you want to die?” The man shook his head. “That’s good. Here’s the
deal. I see the two of you at The Refuge tomorrow, or I come back and find out
why not. How about it?” Pol dropped the chain. The men said, “Okay,” and walked
away. The man who had hit Joe was still unconscious. Pol dragged him over to a
faucet and ran water on his face until he woke up. He propped him up against
the building.
“Okay,” Pol said, “Let’s try it
again. Why do you want to hurt my friend?”
“I hate religious do-gooders,
that’s why.”
“I’m a religious do-gooder. What
about that?”
“You’re a lot bigger than I am.
There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Oh, I see,” Pol said
sarcastically, “you only hate religious do-gooders that are smaller than you.
Is that right?”
“No, that’s wrong,” the man said
defiantly.
Pol thumped the man in the eye with
his finger. The force knocked his head against the building. The man screamed
again and held his eye with his good hand.
“Don’t get smart with me, fat boy,”
Pol said, “or I’ll throw you in the drink.”
“You’re some kind of follower of
The Way picking on people!” the man yelled.
“Make no mistake,” Pol cautioned,
“I’m done picking. Be best to choose your words carefully at this point.”
“Why don’t you just let me go, and
I’ll promise to leave your friend alone.”
“That’s what I want to hear,” Pol
said. “You probably ought to go now. I’ll be checking up on you.”
As the man walked away Joe said,
“Pol, where did you come from?”
“I’ve been following you since you
left The Refuge, you know, doing my job. When I saw you go into the high rise,
I thought we’d lost you, man. That’s a scary place. Then I saw you come out and
go into the coffee shop. Then I followed you here. What happened?”
Joe told him the whole story,
Barker, Randi, everything.
“Dude!” Pol said, “The Enemy’s got
your number. You’d better get outta Dodge asap.”
“Yeah, that’s my plan,” Joe said.
“As soon as the office opens I’m going to try to buy a ticket on The Pearl
over there.”
“Sounds good, Joe. I’ll check back
later. Maybe I’ll be seeing you.”
“See you Pol. I owe you,” Joe said.
With that Pol left.
Fifteen minutes later the office
opened and Joe went in. There was a middle-aged woman behind the desk. She looked
at him over the rims of her glasses. “May I help you?” she asked.
“I hope so. I was told I might be
able to buy passage on The Pearl.
“Where do you want to go?”
“The place isn’t important. Is she
going north?”
“You aren’t running from the law
are you? I can’t sell a ticket to a criminal.”
“No ma’am, I am not a criminal. I
am just tired of this city and I want to get away.”
“It’ll be two hundred fifty to our
next port.”
Joe took out his money. He only had
two hundred and thirty three dollars and some change.
“All I have is two thirty three.”
“That doesn’t appear to be enough,”
she said and looked down at her keyboard.
“Pawnshop?” Joe asked.
“Three blocks off pier
twenty-eight.”
“What time does The Pearl
sail?”
“The gangplank goes up at three,
sonny. You’d better hurry.”
Joe left the office and ran. He had
to make that ship. All he had left in the world of any value was his class
ring. It was, in fact, the last remnant of his old life. He got to pier
twenty-eight and crossed the street. It was all uphill. One block, two blocks,
and when he came to the third block it was a major intersection. The pawnshop
was on the opposite corner, so he was going to have to cross twice. The lights
were interminably long. He finally got to the shop and went inside.
“Look,” he said without
introduction, “I’ll make you a deal you can’t refuse. There’s a hundred dollars’
worth of gold in this ring. All I want is seventeen.” The proprietor looked at
the ring, and finally said, “Worth more than that. I’ll give you thirty six
fifty.”
“All I want is fourteen, and I’m in
a hurry.”
“Listen, pal, thirty six fifty or
nothing. If I get a rep for cheating people, I’m outta business.”
Joe didn’t have time to argue. He
took the money and left. By the time he got back it was twenty minutes till
three.
“Okay, I’ve got the money. Here’s
your two fifty,” and he put the money on the counter.
“You forgot the tax. At eight
percent that’s two seventy.”
Joe was shocked and happy at the
same time. He had the exact amount of money. If he’d gotten the money he wanted
from the pawnshop, he would not be going on The Pearl. The lady had him
fill out some papers. She gave him a receipt and a boarding ticket.
“When you get to the quarterdeck
ask for Ian. He’ll show you where you can sleep. Now you better hurry.”
He ran up the gangplank just in
time. Showed his ticket to the man there. “I’m supposed to ask for Ian,” he
said.
“I think he’s up in the pilot
house. Wait a minute.” He called up, and about five minutes later Ian came
down. He was a man maybe ten years older than Joe. He looked every bit the sailor:
weathered face, stocking cap, tattoo, the whole thing.
“Office called before we
disconnected the land lines. Said we might be getting a rider. Next port’s
three days. Name’s Ian. Ever been out to sea?”
“Nice to meet you, Ian. My name is
Joe, and no, I’ve never been out to sea.”
“You will probably get seasick. Try
not to puke on yourself or anybody else, especially during meals. Kinda starts
a chain reaction.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“After the first day it’s not too
bad. Get your sea legs, you’ll be fine. Let’s head aft here, and I’ll take you
to the berthing compartment.”
They walked down the main deck
toward the back of the ship, and when they got about amidships, Ian turned into
a passageway. They went down two flights of stairs that Ian called ‘ladders,’
and through another door. That brought them to a large space with a lot of
bunks.
“So, Joe, how do you like our
little boat? In fact this ‘boat’ is a ship. It is over six hundred feet long,
and is, as you can see, quite large even if it is also very old. We got this
bucket from the Navy when she was decommissioned. Make a couple of trips a
month up and down the coast. Haul supplies up to the fishing villages mostly.”
Joe liked Ian immediately. He was
open and friendly. This might not be a bad cruise after all, even if he did get
seasick.
“I think this will be a great
adventure for me, Ian. So what do I do about meals and all that?”
“You can eat with us. The mess deck
is one deck above us and further aft. Someone will show you where it is. Easy
to get lost first time around. Now about sleeping. There are plenty of racks.
This ship used to be a troop transport. Why don’t you take that top bunk over
there? There are some blankets and pillows in a storage locker at the forward
end of the compartment. There is a locker built into your bunk.” He handed Joe
a padlock with a key. “Keep your stuff locked up all the time or you will lose
it. Also, ‘port’ is left, and ‘starboard’ is right. Remember that ‘port’ and
‘left’ both have four letters. ‘Forward’ and ‘aft’ you can probably figure out.
Now I have work to do to help get us underway, so make yourself at home.”
“Thanks, Ian.”
“See you at dinner, Joe,” and with
that he left.
Joe found the bedding and made his
‘rack.’ He climbed up and lay down. There was a little built in light, so Joe
turned it on and read his Bible. He really wanted to read the rest of those
verses Sam had given him. He’d read, John 3:16, and John 14:6. The next verse
was Romans 3:23. He found it and read: “for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God.” “Okay,” Joe thought, “I wouldn’t have called it that before
now, but I guess I am a sinner. I don’t know exactly what sin is, but I think
it must have something to do with not doing what God wants you to do.” The next
verse was Romans 6:23. It read: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Joe wasn’t completely sure what
death meant, but the eternal life part sounded very good. While he was reading
Joe heard a horn sound from somewhere on the ship, and various messages coming
over the speakers. Soon he felt the ship moving. Apparently they were
‘underway.’
A few minutes later a young man
about Joe’s age came in. “I heard we might have a new guy on board. Name’s
David.” He stuck out his hand. Joe shook it and said, “My name is Joe, and I’ll
only be on until the next port. Pleased to meet you.”
They talked for a few minutes and
something David said sounded strangely familiar, so he asked, “David, is your
last name Burns?
“Yes, it is.”
“Is your mother, by any chance,
blind?”
“Yes, she is,” David answered
surprised. “You must have met her.”
That gave Joe an opportunity to
tell David all that had happened to him, and how he met Abigail, David’s mom.
In reality it had only been a few days since he had seen her, though it seemed
much longer. However, when he was telling David this he noticed something.
Finally David looked at him and said, “You know, I don’t follow The
Way-anymore. After what happened in my family…I just don’t think a loving God
would allow that. I’m sorry. It sounds like it all has been good for you, but
for me, there’s nothing there. Maybe in another life. Look I have to get back
topside, we can talk later.” Joe was sad upon hearing about David’s lost faith,
but he didn’t know what to say to him. David probably knew a lot more about The
Way than he did. He decided to pray for him whenever he could.
The rest of the day would have been
like a new adventure except for an encounter that left Joe with a sense of
foreboding. After David had gone Joe sat reading his Bible. He was interrupted
by a now familiar voice: “You still reading that piece of trash?” It was the
bully from the parking lot. Joe looked up to see the man standing by his bunk.
He now had a black eye that was swollen almost shut, and he was favoring his
left hand.
“Hey, I just want to read my Bible,”
Joe said.
“Don’t really matter what you want
now that the freak ain’t here to protect you.”
“You promised him you’d leave me
alone,” Joe protested.
“I didn’t promise nothin’,” the man
said.
Joe was scared now. The man was
irrational, or he just didn’t care. Senseless, unmotivated evil seemed much
more dangerous than someone who just didn’t like him. As if to prove it, he
grabbed Joe and pulled his face up close so they were almost nose-to-nose. Joe
could smell booze. “Now you listen to me,” the man said in a low voice. “People
call me Bruiser. I don’t have to tell you how I got that name. I beat up more
men than you know, and even some women. You messed with me, I’m gonna mess with
you and hope you don’t like it.”
Joe was terrified now, but all he
could do is sputter, “my friend will find out. Leave me alone!”
“I’ll worry about that when the
time comes. You need to worry about me.” Then he shoved Joe back banging his
head against the bulkhead, and left.
Joe lay there shaking for a long
time. Then he felt it might be safer outside so he locked up what little stuff
he had and went out on the main deck. The ship was just crossing the point where
the harbor met the ocean. The water was a little rougher here and the ship rocked
more than she had. Joe began to feel sick to his stomach. He found that if he
looked off at the horizon it wasn’t so bad. He never did throw up, but he did
feel nauseous for the rest of the day. Other than that, being out on the ocean
on a sunny day with the wind blowing was truly something special. Seagulls
followed the ship overhead, the mist of the water hit him once in a while and
off to the port side there was nothing but water. Since they were heading north
the mainland would be to their starboard side. Joe found out later that they
would keep land in sight for the whole trip even though it would be several
miles away.
Later on Joe ran into Ian who told
him if he didn’t get in the way he could go with him up to the pilothouse. They
ran up several outside ladders and entered a room that seemed to be all windows
and equipment. Most of the things in the room were totally foreign to Joe. Ian
would point to something and say: “that’s the rudder angle indicator,” or
“that’s the compass,” or “that’s the radar.” It was fascinating. Ian told him
that when the Navy owned this ship there might have been four to five hundred
crew aboard, even more during wartime. They operated the ship with a fraction
of that, less than fifty.
Joe spent the rest of the time until
dinner walking around outside. He ate with the crew, but as far away from
Bruiser as possible. Every time he looked over Bruiser was staring at him, and
that intimidated Joe, but thankfully Bruiser left him alone, and he didn’t see
him anymore that day. They had movies that evening, and watched some car chase
& blow up movie. Joe went to bed early. The second day at sea Bruiser left
him alone. After lunch Joe grabbed a folding chair and climbed up to one of the
upper decks. He found a little spot where he could sit and read his Bible
without a lot of people walking by. He wanted to finish those verses on the
paper.
The next verse on the list was
Ephesians 2:8,9. It read: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that
no one can boast.” So Joe could only be saved by faith in God, not by any good
works. That actually was a relief to him. Everything he understood about
religion before now had been the opposite of that-you had to perform. You had
to do something to earn the favor of the god. But The Way was different. The
last verse was John 1:12. It read: “Yet to all who received him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” So, the
deal was not good works, but to receive Jesus on faith. Suddenly he wanted to
do that more than anything. The Fifth Truth was that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
He wanted to make that truth his truth, and he didn’t want to wait any
longer.
Joe looked out over the ocean
before him. He could see the land off in the distance. He prayed: “God, I’ve
never done this before, but I want you as my Lord and Savior. I want to be a
true follower of The Way like Sam and Abigail. Please forgive my sins. I give
you my life. I will serve you no matter what. I will never look back. Amen.”
Joe looked around. Nothing had changed, but he had. He didn’t experience any
lightning bolts or angels singing, but he knew. He knew he had crossed over
from life to death. He knew that he now had eternal life. Then an odd thing
happened. The knowledge brought on the emotion. Once he knew he was now a true follower,
he was filled with a joy he couldn’t put into words. He felt like singing, but
all he could remember was a song he’d heard a long time ago. It would have to
do. He sang: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…something,
something, something…they are weak but he is strong. Yes Jesus loves me. Yes
Jesus loves me. Yes Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.” He stood up and went
down to the main deck. He walked up to the bow of the ship. It was a wonderful
place to stand for a new believer, looking ahead, wondering what the Lord would
bring next.
Joe ate dinner with David and told
him what had transpired in his life. David was happy for him, but not in the
same way that, say Felicitas or Pol would be. Mostly he believed that if Joe
went through what he went through, he wouldn’t be so confident in God.
“I don’t want to rain on your
parade, Joe,” he said, “but you only have one part of the picture. The glass is
half empty, man, and that’s all there is to it, except for me it’s all empty.”
“So, what is it you live for,
David?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, good question. Well, I make
pretty good money on the boat. I am good son and send money to my mother every
month, I don’t hurt people, I don’t cheat on my taxes, and I try to be good.
But to answer your question, I don’t really think much about the future. I do
my job, collect my pay, and keep to myself. Maybe I’ll get married someday, but
you don’t meet the marrying kind of women in this line of work, so who knows?”
“It just seems to me,” Joe said,
“that there ought to be more to life than that.”
“Maybe you’re right, Joe, but I’m
not seeing it.” With that he got up and walked away.
Joe didn’t get a chance to see
David again, because that night everything changed. After dinner Joe went below
and lay on his bunk for a while, but then he thought it might be cool to go
watch the sunset, and look at the night sky, so he went topside. The sunset off
the port side was beautiful. Joe walked around the main deck to the starboard
side of the ship. He could see the coastline off in the distance in the waning
light. He heard someone approaching, and turned just in time to see Bruiser
swing and hit him in the face. He fell to the deck, but he couldn’t stand because
Bruiser kicked him.
“Get up, Joe,” was all Bruiser
said. Joe got to his knees and then managed to get on his feet. “I’m going to
beat you up bad, Joe.” His next swing broke Joe’s nose. He started bleeding all
over his shirt. The swing after that broke something else on his face, but he
was in too much pain to care. Bruiser punched him in the chest and the stomach.
He knocked him down again. Joe got up on his hands and knees. He was coughing
up blood. He was in bad shape. If this didn’t stop soon…well he couldn’t even
think about that now.
Bruiser picked him up and smiled.
He pulled him close and said, “I’m not going to kill you, Joe. I have another
idea.” He went over to a bulkhead and grabbed a life preserver, and then
dragged Joe over to the rail. “Take off your clothes, Joe.” Joe took off his
bloodied shirt, and then Bruiser made him strip down to his underwear. “Time
for a swim tough guy,” he whispered.
Joe panicked. He begged: “Please,
Bruiser. Not this, please, please, please…” Joe blubbered like a baby, but Bruiser
threw the life preserver over the side and then picked him up and threw him
over. The fall almost killed him; it was thirty feet to the water. Joe managed
to get his feet under him before he hit. It was probably what saved him. He hit
the water hard and went under. He flailed with his arms, but his ribs hurt. He
kicked with his feet and that brought him to the surface. He looked around in
panic. It was barely light enough to see, but he knew his only hope for
survival was to find the ring. It had to be behind him. But first he had to
swim free of the ship. It hurt horribly to move, but he had to do it. He swam
for his life fighting the wake of the ship. As the ship passed him he felt a sense
of relief, but he still had not located the life preserver. It couldn’t be too
far from the wake of the ship. Joe swam back, and then he saw something
floating on the water. That had to be it! He swam toward the object in
desperation. A minute later he had the ring under his arm, and knew he wasn’t
going to die, at least not for the moment. Thankfully the sea was not rough.
Just before nightfall, Joe got a bearing on the coastline and started swimming slowly
in that direction. From the deck of the ship it didn’t look that far. From the
water it looked like an eternity away. No doubt Bruiser would tell someone they
had a man overboard, and they might even look for him, but in the dark it would
be impossible. He looked to his left and watched the lights of the ship
disappear in the distance. He never felt more helpless, desperate, or lonely in
his life. No one would be picking him up tonight.
The water was fairly warm, that was
a blessing, but the salt burned his wounds. He was in agony. Joe wondered if
there were sharks in the area, but what could he do about that? So he kept
trying to move in the direction of the land. Soon it was completely dark, and
Joe had to trust God that he was going in the right direction. The second issue
was weariness. The later it got the more tired he became. Once he fell asleep
and slipped off the ring. He woke immediately and panicked thinking he had lost
his link to life. But he spun around and there it was. He managed to squeeze
through the middle of the ring. At least then he wouldn’t lose it.
Joe knew eventually he would have
to give in to sleep, he was not a superman. His only hope was that the water
would carry him toward land. He tried to stay awake and keep his bearings, but
finally he gave in to the inevitable. He woke up when his feet dragged bottom.
At first he didn’t understand the significance of what that meant and he pulled
his feet up. But then he stretched out his toes and sure enough, he could
touch. “Thank you, God!” he said aloud. He’d take a blessing however it came.
Still it was so dark that he didn’t really know which way to go. He reasoned
that the water would get shallower the closer he was to land so he started
tiptoeing along the bottom and eventually he was standing on a large rock. He
stopped and listened. He could hear the waves crashing on the shore off in the
distance. He still had a ways to go. Without shoes the going was hard. He
stubbed his toes more times than he could count. He was probably bleeding
again. But he finally managed to get to the sandy bottom of the beach. He
climbed out of the water and walked until his feet met beach grass. He dropped
right there.
Sleep would have been a real plus
at that point, but Joe was too cold. So he just curled up as tight as he could
get and shivered in his underwear. He tried covering himself with sand, but
that just made it worse. At least he could use the life preserver for a pillow.
He drifted in and out of sleep for several hours. Daylight came slowly. At the
first gray light of dawn Joe sat up. He was cold for sure, but mostly he hurt.
There was a general soreness all over, and then there were very specific and
focused places of pain. The worst was his nose. But it also hurt his chest to
breathe, so he was pretty sure he had at least one cracked rib. He looked down
at his toes. Most of them were bruised or cut. The bottoms of his feet were even
worse. Joe turned around and found that behind him was a tall cliff, almost
completely straight up. He wasn’t going anywhere soon.
Joe had the physical pain to deal
with, he had exposure to deal with, and food to find, but the cliff broke his
spirit. He slumped back down in the sand. He was mad at Bruiser for being so
stupid and mad he’d lost his Bible, but most of all he was mad at God. Again.
He could remember the last time he was mad at God. He was hanging in the dark
from a cliff. He now asked the same questions of God he had then, “Why this,
God? Why now?” Back in the mountain he didn’t know how bad it was, and it
turned out to not be bad. But here there was a huge cliff in front of him. He
wasn’t going to find out this time that there was no cliff. Then a thought
occurred to him, what if he could swim to another beach either north or south
of here, where the cliff wasn’t so steep or tall? That gave him hope, and his
anger subsided.
As much as it hurt his feet Joe grabbed the ring and half
waded, half floated back out into the water. He swam away from the cliff for a
better perspective. At a few hundred yards out he found that there was no other
beach in sight. Apparently he had landed on the only beach for miles. He swam
back madder than ever. He fell back onto the sand and this time he cried. As he
lay there in his underwear, weeping, sand sticking to his face. Then, for some
reason, he thought about Randi and started laughing. What would she think of
him now? Words like revulsion and pity came to mind. To think, he could have
been sitting in his own office right now looking out over this same ocean, and
looking forward to lunch with Randi. So, why did he leave that? Oh, yeah, he
would have lost his soul. And wasn’t it just last night that God gave him an
eternal life? And hadn’t Joe spoken the words “…I give you my life. I will
serve you no matter what. I will never look back. Amen.” The answer to both
questions was “yes.” So, all right. The words ‘Jesus is Lord’ were more than
just words. They expressed a present reality in his life, or at least he wanted
it to be a present reality. He was still frustrated and scared and felt like a
crash test dummy, but he wasn’t going to give up on God yet. Joe rolled over
and stared at the cliff.Questions:
1. What is the Fifth Truth?
2. Why is it the easiest and
hardest thing a person will ever do?
3. What are some reasons why Sam believed that Jesus
is God?
4. Why is it important to the
Fifth Truth to believe that Jesus is
God?
5. Why was it necessary for Joe to leave the city to discover the Fifth Truth? Of
what is the city a metaphor?
6. What do the verses Sam gave Joe
teach about the Fifth Truth? (Jn
3:16; Jn 14:6; Ro 3:23; Ro 6:23; Eph 2:8,9; & Jn 1:12.)
7. What do Rich Barker Randi represent?
8. What is significant about
the fact that the view from Joe ’s new
office was blocked by clouds?
9. What does 1Cor 10:13 teach about temptation?
10. Do you think the bully was
correct in saying that Pol was not a good follower of the Way if he beat up
people? Why/why not?
11. Why did David give up following the Way?
12. What did Joe conclude was different from the Way and all other
religions?
13. How did thoughts of Randi
help him quit being mad at God?
14. How did his prayer for
salvation help him accept his situation?
15. What is the cliff symbolic
of? How is it contrast to the high-rise office building?
No comments:
Post a Comment