The Dance by Gary Smalley & Dan Walsh

Author:Gary Smalley & Dan Walsh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042000, FIC045000, FIC008000
ISBN: 9781441240873
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

31

Jim pulled into his driveway, waited for the garage door to rise. Playing golf had always been good medicine for him, but especially today. His drives had actually gone several yards farther than his average. Probably had something to do with the short bursts of anger he released every time he whacked the ball. Different faces of people at church would come to mind, the ones he knew didn’t like him or the ones he was certain were talking about him behind his back.

Why did people think that was okay? Especially church people? The garage door clicked into place, and he pulled the car inside. They did it all the time, at least at his church. He supposed he’d engaged in it himself from time to time, or at least sat there nodding dumbly while others did. Of course, it never bothered him so much before. He’d never been on the receiving end. At least not that he could tell.

He turned the car off and got out, stood there waiting for the garage door to close again. It certainly bothered Marilyn—the gossip, that is. And it really had bothered Michele. That was the reason she’d given for leaving the church altogether once she left for college. She had come back one holiday in that first year with a teaching outline from a new church she’d been attending near the school. She said members of this church had to make a commitment to resolve their conflicts by following something she called “Peacemaking Principles.” Then she plopped the outline down, right there on the dinner table, insisting he and Marilyn hear her out.

“That’s what’s so wrong about your church, Dad. Can’t you see? Look at all these Scriptures about gossip and slander. Do you see what this says?”

Jim looked down at the page. He was just humoring her, of course, knowing if he put up a fuss this thing would go on until his roast beef and scalloped potatoes had grown cold. She pointed out one verse after the other, in both the Old Testament and New, stating plainly how much God hated gossip and slander. How it was in the same list of serious sins as sexual immorality and stealing. And she read other Scriptures about how it destroyed relationships.

Jim already knew gossip and slander weren’t good things. He didn’t need his daughter ruining a good dinner by highlighting such a depressing topic. And he certainly couldn’t see how it was as serious a thing as immorality or stealing.

Standing there in the garage now, he began to think there was something to what Michele had been trying to say. After putting his clubs and shoes away, he walked through the garage past the laundry room, when he heard loud music coming from the stairway leading to Doug’s apartment. He headed up the stairs and banged on Doug’s door. The music stopped.

“Hey, Dad, you’re back. How was golf?”

“Pretty good,” Jim said. “How was church?”

“What?”

“You said you were going with Jason’s family this morning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.