06 The Visitation by Frank Peretti

Author:Frank Peretti
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Christian
ISBN: 9780849944772
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc
Published: 2003-09-15T05:00:00+00:00

17

T WAS MARIAN, God bless her, who helped me turn it around-or rather, turn myself around. I still remember the evening I lay on the couch with my head in her lap. I had tears in my eyes, but she just stroked my hair and told me, "Travis, you're a man of God and this is your calling. Don't worry about me having to work. Just be faithful. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. God will do the rest." She tilted my head toward her and I looked up into her eyes. "And I will always love you, T. J. You're my man, and don't you forget it."

I called Lucy Moore and apologized for all the misunderstanding. I didn't want to take over, I told her. I just wanted to help. Could I? She said sure.

At work that night I finished up each rest room in less than an hour.

Wednesday evening, one of my nights off, Marian and I showed up to help Lucy with the youth meeting. I played guitar and helped lead the singing. We goaded and challenged the kids during discussion times. We did anything we could to help while letting Lucy be the boss. It clicked. Before long we were all team teaching the Sunday school class. We worked together planning a camping trip to Corral Pass, and it came off without a hitch.

After I'd been on the job two months, the boss let me try my hand at the big mall sweeper. Now that was fun, driving that thing up and down the vast floor, buzzing past all the store windows and around the big central pillars, singing praise songs only the Lord could hear. How many shoppers ever got a chance to visit the mall as I did

For the first month I took care of mowing the church lawn, and then Lucy, Marian, and I organized a work day for the youth group to mow, weed, and fix up the church grounds. The kids did a great job, and we were proud of them. I rewarded them by taking them all swimming.

Sister Marvin heard that some of the girls wore two-piece swimsuits and walked right by the groomed lawn to give me a stern rebuke. It was the first feedback I'd gotten from her.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS was perking up. We got into heavy discussions about morality, sex, authority, respect for others, honesty, and what the Scriptures had to say about it all. The kids opened up about school, friends, parents, hopes and fears, what was cool and what wasn't. We talked about Bible prophecy and how it could apply to happenings in the Middle East. Even Trevor and the Outsiders got wrapped up in it. They talked about inviting their friends.

When they didn't invite their friends, I asked them why not.

They said they didn't want their friends to have to sing "Deep and Wide" and "Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain" and march up front to put money in Barney Barrel.

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