Forsaking All Others
By
Darrel Bird
Copyright 2010 by Darrel Bird
Smashwords Edition
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Forsaking All Others
Part 1
Gene Hayden twisted the car keys savagely in the lock as he opened the car door to head out to the Comedy Club. He was a comedian, for goodness sake. How was he supposed to do a comedy act with this going on? His wife Marla had quit talking to him. She was spending all her time at that freak church, and he couldn't even get a square meal anymore. His knew his routine was suffering, and he tried to calm down as he turned into the Comedy Club parking lot.
He was bitter that his wife had quit talking to him, and instead spent the day talking to her friends, gossiping. He would walk into the room to say something to her, and there she would be, on the phone. He would just turn and walk away. He felt left out, cold and alone. What had changed? They had a good marriage. Not a perfect marriage, but they got along.
Then, the previous evening, Debbie Sorenson, the assistant manager at the club, had asked him for a ride home. He had agreed, and she then asked him in for a few drinks. Why not? he thought, Marla will just be on the phone with her freaks! And the unthinkable had happened! How could this be? How had he come to this? Thoughts whirled through his head.
Gene stopped the car next to the back entrance to the club. He slammed the car door hard and walked through the door. He passed Debbie’s office, and she motioned him in.
“Hi, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to see you,” she said.
“Ok, but my act starts in ten minutes.”
“Did you enjoy that last night?” She was giving him an open invitation, and he knew it.
“Look, Debbie, I don’t have time for this.”
She glared at him now. “Well, your act is on the skids, Gene, and you’ve got to perform better tonight!”
He knew she had the power to get him fired. All she had to do was say the word and he was a goner, and then where would he get another gig? He was backed up against the bricks, and it just put more pressure on him.
“Look, could we talk about this later? I have to perform now, and I don’t see why you are giving me a hard time just before I have to go on. You know better than that!” He turned and walked out of the office, and headed for the stage entrance.
He made it through his act, but he knew it wasn’t any good. He cast about in his memory for old jokes and hoped the audience didn’t remember them, but he knew they would probably recognize at least half of them. Still, the audience was polite tonight, because he had always been one of the club’s most popular performers.
He loved being a comedian. He had been the class clown in high school, and he thrived on making people laugh. He learned to read his audience quickly, and in the past his comedy had always been ground-breaking. But he knew if he didn’t get his home life straightened out, and soon, he was done.
After the show, Gene immediately left by fire door on the side of the building to avoid Debbie.
Part 2
Marla Hayden was excited about her newfound friend, Kala Boyd, and had agreed to go to a prophecy seminar when Kala invited her. As the two-week seminar ended, she accepted the invitation to be baptized into Kala’s church, and it had changed her life.
Kala introduced her to a close-knit group of her friends, and they had accepted Marla into the fold. They all had kids, and lots to talk about, and she felt accepted. That acceptance filled a void in her life caused by the amount of time she spent alone, working at home. Marla worked for a medical insurance company, and she was able to do all her work on her home computer. With two kids in school and a third one on the way, it was a great fit.
Kala explained to Marla about the Saturday Sabbath, and how they did not eat meat or wear make-up or jewelry. She also told her about preparation for the end times. Marla was a little frightened by the thought of being forced to worship on a certain day and all the talk of being prepared for survival. But she did stop using make-up and going to the beauty salon, and instead just tied back her long black hair. She was struck by how much easier it was.
She stopped buying meat at the grocery store, and when Gene would say something, she would just explain that it was wrong and unhealthy to eat meat. She did her best to have the house clean and the food cooked by sundown on Friday night, since her friends had explained that Friday was “preparation day.”
Marla quit going to Calvary Chapel, the church she had been attending on Sundays, and started attending the large Seventh-day church full time. She grew closer to Kala, Janice, and Rebecca, and the four of them spent their days talking on the phone about this and that: about kids, pregnancies, and husbands. She felt sharp pangs of guilt whenever they complained about their husbands, but she soon grew used to it and found herself doing it more and more.
Now she and Gene were growing more distant, and fights began to occur regularly. She told her friends all about it, even though she didn’t feel quite right about doing so. Her friends made an appointment for her to speak with the pastor, and the pastor gave her a list of ten demands that she was to give to her husband. She didn’t give them to him until one night when he exploded at her over another meatless dinner and the church she went to.
“You think more of that damned church than you do me!” Gene slammed his fist down hard on the table, and the kids started crying.
“That’s it! Here is a list of things I demand of you!”
He looked at the list incredulously and threw it in her face. “I’ll be damned if I do any of your demands, Marla!” He got up and walked out, got in his car, and spun out of the driveway.
She felt panic rise up inside her, so she called Kala, who suggested they call the pastor.
Kala made the call, and soon the pastor called her. “You are to order him to move out right now, and if he doesn’t go, call the cops,” the pastor told her. Marla phoned Kala, who urged her to do as the pastor said.
Marla was confused, but she was also still angry with Gene for blowing up at her, so she agreed to do it. But as soon as she got off the phone with Kala, she felt the panic begin to rise again. Deep inside she felt that niggling at her heart strings, something deep and wanting, demanding to be heard. This was all wrong, all wrong.
Marla Hayden sprawled across the bed and wept until there were no more tears. She was lying there when she heard Gene come through the door. Her heart leapt in her chest when she heard the familiar sound, and she knew she wasn’t going to call the cops. She ran into the bathroom, splashed water on her face, dried it quickly, and walked into the living room. Gene stood in the middle of the floor, and he turned toward her when she entered.
“I’m going to divorce you,” he said simply, and turned around and walked out on her.
She stood in shock as she heard his car crank up in the driveway and drive slowly away. Her eyes opened wide in disbelief as she heard the sound of the car fading in the distance. “What did I just hear?” her heart cried out. “What have I done? Oh God, what have I done?” The silence of the room mocked her. “Oh God, what have I done?”
Part 3
Dianne Oglesby’s church, Calvary Chapel, met once a month on Sunday night to pray. A few months ago, the pastor had asked who would be willing to participate in a prayer meeting on Sunday night, and nearly everyone’s hand went up.
“It is settled then. Once a month we will break up the order of Sunday night services to pray for the needs of the local church body, the community around us, and any other needs that you feel led of the Holy Spirit to pray for.”
Dianne and her husband Jack had been faithful to go every Sunday evening, especially on the once-a-month prayer night. She enjoyed it and looked forward to it. She hurriedly put the finishing touches on her make-up, and applied a light lipstick. She had enjoyed wearing make-up since she was a kid. She didn’t use much, but she could tell Jack liked it.
As she blotted her lips with a tissue, the Holy Spirit spoke to her heart, “Pray for Marla Hayden and her husband.” She looked at her startled reflection in the mirror. She had forgotten about Marla; she had only gone to the Oglesby’s church a short time. Dianne hurried out the door where Jack and the kids were waiting in the car.
“Late as usual,” Jack teased, as he reached over and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Looking good as usual, too,” he said as he turned the ignition.
“Old Wolfman Jack,” she teased back. When they were well on their way she said, “Jack, do you remember Marla Hayden?”
“Well…sorta. I never did really know her. I remember the two of you were fairly close for a while, though,” he said, as he turned onto the street the church was on. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing, I just wondered if you remembered her.” She wanted to keep it to herself. She had found out through trial and error that the Holy Spirit sometimes meant for her to pray about something by herself, and if she did, the Lord blessed her.
At the church that evening Dianne prayed down through her prayer list, and at the end of her list she came to Marla Hayden’s name. She suddenly felt a great burden roll onto her heart, and she began crying and weeping before the Lord for Marla and Gene Hayden. She wasn’t sure how long she prayed that way, but as suddenly as it had come, the burden lifted. Jack looked at her tear-streaked and swollen eyes, but said nothing as they headed for the door. Everyone else was gone and they were alone, so Jack locked the church up as they left.
As they drove home Dianne said, “I love you, Jack.”
“I love you too, honey,” and he reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Jack loved and respected his wife enough to know she would tell him what her fervent prayer was about, if it was something he needed to know.
Part 4
As Gene slowly drove away from what had been their home for ten years, he was devastated. He didn’t know what to make of the change in his wife. He didn’t mind her going to church as long as she didn’t try to force him to go, and she had seemed happy when she had started going to Calvary Chapel. He had even considered going with her some Sunday.
The trouble was, he tended bar at the Comedy Club on Saturday nights, and Saturday was always the club’s busiest night. He really needed the extra money to survive, and it fit perfectly, as the owner was willing to work around his act. Gene went on stage first, and then he tended bar until one in the morning.
He worked on his act constantly, hoping he would eventually get good enough that it would take them out of San Antonio, to Vegas maybe, or Los Angeles. He had heard that the top comedy acts made excellent money out there. He had performed in Vegas once, and had taken in two thousand dollars in one night, but he knew he needed to get better to get steady work. He was just beginning to be in demand in Dallas when Marla decided to start going to this other church.
That was when she started changing, little by little. At first she pulled the kids out of public school and began to home-school them. Then, slowly, she made other changes. She didn’t buy meat at the grocery anymore, and she quit wearing make up. She had worn it when he first met her, and she was a knockout. Instead of getting her hair done, she now wore it tied back. She ran around in old jogging pants. Instead of spending evenings with Gene and the kids, she was always either going to her friends’ houses or talking to them on the phone. When he came home she just gave him a little wave and went on talking, as if it were only the cat that had walked in. Sometimes he didn’t even get the wave.
She had started buying these strange religious books – expensive books, and if she wasn’t gone or talking on the phone, she was reading them. He had picked one up and scanned through it, and he saw right away that the content was strange and depressing. Working as a comedian, he knew depressing when he saw it. He saw the name Ellen White several times in a number of the books, and Marla was always saying that “Sister White” said that we shouldn’t do this or we shouldn’t do that.
Gene had read the story of the Jim Jones massacre, where over 900 people had committed suicide. He also remembered well the Waco ordeal, and he was afraid of this church. He knew they had played a part in his wife handing him that list of demands. It wasn’t so much the demands themselves that had upset him. It was the ganging up on him by outsiders that he knew he would never, could never, tolerate. Marriage was hard enough without him having to contend with interlopers who had no right or authority under any calling.
In the car, his cell phone startled him out of his reverie.
“Hello, Gene,” he heard Debbie say. “Could you come by the office, please, please? I need a ride home.”
“Where is your car?”
“Oh, it’s in the shop.”
Debbie had a brand new car, and Gene knew she was lying. He knew what would happen, but at the time he felt powerless to prevent it.
“Ok, Deb, I’ll be there in about ten minutes.”
Part 5
Marla jumped when the phone rang; she pulled herself together and walked over to pick up. A voice on the other end said, “Is Gene there?”
“Who is this?”
“This is Debbie, the assistant manager at the club.”
“No, he’s not here.”
“Ok, maybe I can catch him on his cell. I need a ride home.”
“You might be able to.” And she hung up.
“Yeah, I’ll just bet you do, little missy. I’ll just bet you do,” Marla said aloud. The alarm drove through her heart like a locomotive, and her women’s intuition kicked in full force. Fear rose in her throat like bile.
She had to get the medical insurance billing done, but it was almost impossible to keep her mind on her work. “Maybe he’ll come home tomorrow. Oh God, please let him come home tomorrow!” She stared at the monitor, but all she saw was how she had neglected and mistreated her husband. She had sat with those women and entered into their conversations when they criticized their husbands, and she had talked down about Gene.
She had even tried to tell him what to eat and what not to eat. She had thrown away his beer, when she knew full well it had sat in the refrigerator for three months. He would only have a beer when a friend came over, and even then he would only have one. She had said he couldn’t have it in the house, nor could he drink it around her or the kids.
She knew now that the persistent niggling inside had come home to roost, and to accuse her, and she knew she was guilty. She was more frightened than she had ever been in her life, but what if the church was right? What if the pastor was right? But she knew deep down that there was much wrong.
Part 6
Gene woke up, and for a moment didn’t know where he was. The bed felt wrong, and then he saw Debbie’s blonde hair sticking out from the covers, and he remembered. Debbie had told him last night she loved him and would do anything for him. How had he gotten into such a mess?
He felt guilty, even though he had confronted Marla with his intentions. He had stopped by the evening before to talk to her and to see the kids, but the kids weren’t there.
What is a living without my family to share it with? he thought as he lay there. He lit another cigarette off the one he had in his hand. I need to quit, he thought, and then laughed at himself. Debbie stirred and said, “Whaa?”
“Nothing; go back to sleep. I have to go open the bar,” and he reached for his pants and shoes. He showered, but decided he would use the shaving gear at the bar, and slipped out the door.
He entered the bar at nine and began to wash the glasses, set the chairs on the floor, and do general cleanup. He was in the habit of having the club bar spic and span by the time ten o’clock rolled around. He cleaned both bathrooms until they shined. The owner liked him because he was dependable, and he didn’t drink up the profits. He had offered him half ownership if Gene would oversee the place, but Gene really wanted to make it in comedy. That was what he was good at, and it was his dream to make it big.
As he scrubbed the place, he thought about how Marla had wanted him to go to the first church; Calvary Chapel, was it? He thought now that he should have gone. He seemed to feel pulled to go at the time. If he just hadn’t been so tired on Sunday mornings he might have. Or was he just fooling himself? No, he knew he should have gone with her. Was that when it started going down hill? Had he not done what he should have?
Gene Hayden had come from a long line of proud men who stood up to their responsibility, no matter how hard it was. Had he stood up to his own responsibility? No, he decided, I haven’t done all that well. I let my dreams of Vegas shows get in the way of my family, and I let the need for sleep get in the way of my responsibility. Would Marla have taken up with that crazy church if I had gone with her in the first place? He thought probably not.
Now here I am with my marriage on the rocks, and I can’t go back to the way things are. There are just things I cannot do.
A bar regular walked in.
“Hi Gene.”
“Hi yourself. How you doing, Fred? The usual?”
“Yep.” And another day started at the Comedy Club bar.
Part 7
Marla prayed all that day, and the next and the next, but Gene didn’t come home. The house was an empty shell around her, as silent as the grave she felt she had dug for herself. Her heart ached constantly and she missed her husband. Oh God, how she missed Gene.
She puttered around the house that Saturday morning until noon. The kids had slept over at a friend’s, and in the silence she could hear every creak the house made. It seemed to grumble and groan under an undue load. Tears of regret streamed down her cheeks as her heart struggled under the burden of loneliness, fear, and immobility.
Finally, at 1 p.m. she made up her mind that she must talk to someone. But not her new friends – someone she felt would be honest with her. She suddenly remembered Dianne, the one who had been so kind to her at Calvary Chapel church. “I have her number, I think,” she mumbled. She found it in her address book and sat at her desk by the phone. She fiddled with the receiver a while, then she dialed the number. The phone rang twice, and a woman answered.
“Dianne?”
“Yes?”
“This is Marla Hayden; do you remember? I used to attend Calvary Chapel.”
“Oh yes, in fact I have had you on my heart lately. Is everything ok?”
“Oh, yeah, everything’s fine. I just wondered about you.”
Immediately, Marla thought, What am I saying that for? Stupid, stupid, stupid!
“Marla, are you sure everything is ok? There’s nothing wrong?”
When Dianne said that, Marla broke.
“N-N-N-No, I’m lying, everything is wrong!” and she began weeping openly.
Dianne waited until Marla got herself under control somewhat, and listened quietly while Marla explained her situation. Then she said, “Marla, I just feel that I am not the one who can help you. Would you consider going to see the pastor at Calvary Chapel? He’s in his office today, and I will go with you if you want me too.”
Marla sat there and thought about it. She knew the pastor at Calvary Chapel to be a fine, decent man who seemed to have a lot of wisdom. The whole congregation liked him and respected him.
“I… I guess so, if you think I should. Oh, Dianne, I don’t know what to do! Yes I’ll go if you would go with me.”
Thirty-five minutes later they were sitting in front of the Calvary Chapel church. They walked into the office, and the pastor looked up from his study as Dianne knocked gently on the open door.
“Pastor, are you busy?”
“Oh, Dianne. No, come on in.”
Dianne re-introduced Marla.
“Oh, yes, I remember. Have a seat.” He waved at the two chairs in front of his desk.
Marla and Dianne sat down.
“Pastor, Marla called me, and I felt led of the Spirit that you could help her better than I could. Marla, if you don’t mind, I’ll just wait outside.”
“Ok.”
Marla sat there and tried to gather her thoughts. Should she tell him all of it? Without the complete story, he might be misguided and not be able to help her. She began to relate to him all that had happened since she had quit going to his church. She was embarrassed, to say the least, but she was desperate for guidance. The pastor listened intently as she related to him her trouble with her marriage, and her confusion. She waited as the pastor sat there for a few moments, gazing at the bookshelf, deep in thought.
Finally, he looked up at her and said, “Marla, you realize that there are implications to this that make your case rather complicated. There is another church involved here, which makes it seem rather awkward for me. But the trouble seems to have started when you began attending the Seventh-day church. I know very little about them, but I believe I know someone who does. Would you be willing to wait outside while I make a phone call?”
“I’ll see if Dianne can wait.”
She found Dianne kneeling at a pew in the front row of the sanctuary. She gently tapped her on the shoulder and Dianne looked up.
“Can you wait with me? The pastor wants to make a phone call.”
“Yes, I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
Marla went back to the pastor’s office and told him they would wait outside while he made the call.
The pastor looked at his phone book, picked up the phone, and dialed his friend, Don Schuler. The phone rang three times, and Don answered.
“Don, this is Bud Thatcher.”
“Oh, Hi, Bud. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Don, the reason I am calling is that I have a lady here with several problems. A big part of them seems to be related to the Seventh-day church over by Burnside. She left here several months ago and started attending there, and now she is having complications in her marriage. I knew you worked with cult churches, and I wondered if you know anything about that particular organization.”
Don was silent for a minute.
“Bud, I am afraid your lady has fallen into a cult. They sound Christian, they use Christian jargon, but their beliefs are heretical and do not have sound doctrine. Moreover, they claim to have a prophet named Ellen White, but she was no prophet.”
Bud was shocked as, for fifteen minutes, he listened to his friend relate the peculiar beliefs of that church, explaining it to him more fully. When Don finished, the pastor walked across the hall and called Marla back to his office.
“Marla, I’m going to be on the up and up with you. I just called a friend who has spent 20 years studying the various cults out there. This is his bailiwick and his ministry. He informs me that you have fallen into a cultic organization. I should have been better informed about this particular organization, but I am just being truthful with you. This has never confronted me before today. Although I slightly know the pastor of the church you mention, I was not aware of all this.”
“Now, the problem is this. With what we term cultic organizations, they are not based on sound Bible doctrine. Any time a Christian gets away from sound Christian teachings and sound Biblical doctrine, they don’t know how to handle it, and confusion sets in. It may very well be different for someone who is raised in it, because they know nothing different. They don’t know that everything is not right.”
“But you were exposed to sound Bible doctrine, I know, because here at this church we are deeply committed to sound doctrine. If I make a boo-boo, I will hear about it real quick. Now then, the woman you met has not been exposed to sound doctrine. She may very well believe deeply in her church doctrine, and it may sound perfectly normal to her.”
“The problem is that it has caused a cognitive dissonance in you, and it has caused confusion to be introduced into your family. Your husband was not a church attendee, and when you changed, it changed the whole picture in your marriage. He had no way of knowing what was going on, and it has raised havoc in your relationship. He most likely feels betrayed by you; that you have placed other people before him, and it sounds like he is dealing with it the best way he knows how.”
“We men are peculiar creatures. We have to feel that we come before all others. We never say it, but it’s the truth, and it just is. There is a reason the marriage vows say ‘Forsaking all others,’ and when a man begins feeling as if this has been violated, he feels violated, and when that happens, anything can happen.”
“Gene is not dumb, and when the church got into the mix, what should have been a spat that would blow over, turned into something much more serious when you handed him that list of demands. When this happened he felt violated. The marriage vow, ‘Forsaking all others’ was broken in his sight, and he didn’t know how to handle it, most likely. I can’t speak for Gene, but I can speak as a general rule, you understand.”
Marla wiped the tears as she sat there nodding her head and listening to the pastor. It was as if he was revealing things she already knew deep down, but had not paid attention to.
The kind pastor went on, “Marla, this thing is not hopeless, but you have to be prepared to forgive as well as be forgiven, and that’s the business God is in. He knows our hearts and he knows our weaknesses. When the church told you to leave him that is strictly against sound biblical principles. Jesus is in the business of restoration, not tearing down marriages and instigating separation and divorce.”
“What I suggest is that we go to prayer and the three of us pray for your marriage. We will pray expressly for God to bring about healing for the both of you. Would you like to do that?”
Marla continued to wipe the tears. She nodded her head yes, and the pastor said, “Let’s go into the sanctuary and pray.”
When they got to the sanctuary, the pastor told Dianne, “I would like for us to pray expressly for God to heal Marla’s marriage, and then we will pray for Marla.”
Dianne nodded, and they laid their hands on Marla and began to pray. They prayed for about fifteen minutes that God would heal the marriage and that Marla would be able to make sound decisions when she faced Gene. They also prayed that there would be no long-term effects on the children.
When they were through with prayer they returned to the pastor’s office. Marla stood wiping her eyes; she had felt some of the load lift as they prayed.
“Pastor, would you be willing to call Gene? Ask him to meet us here if he will come.”
The pastor thought about it for a minute. “I would be willing to call him, although I am not sure how he would react to me at this point. Give me some time, and I will call you if I have anything.”
Marla and Dianne shook hands with the pastor and left.
Part 8
Gene closed the bar on Sunday night, but he did not return to Debbie’s apartment. Instead, he rented a clean motel room with a kitchenette, on the outskirts of San Antonio. He didn’t have his clothing with him, but his clothing was not what he was concerned about. He was concerned about Marla and the kids, and he did not know what to do. He slept fitfully that night on the uncomfortable motel bed, and he arose early on Monday. He made coffee in the coffee maker in the motel room, and settled into an uncomfortable chair by the bed.
He looked around at the little motel room with its one bed, a sink and small refrigerator. So, this is what my life has come to, he mused, no house, no kids, no wife, no Vegas, no nothing.
Gene knew he wouldn’t be going back to Debbie’s apartment. He didn’t care for her and never had. But he did love his wife dearly. He just did not know how to deal with her, or what had happened to her to make her turn against him like that. He was the same as when they had met and married. What had changed?
He had gotten through his second cup of coffee when his cell phone rang. He jumped at the sound, forgetting that he had even brought the phone in from the car last night. His heart skipped a little in the hopes that it would be Marla, but instead a man’s voice came over the phone, and his heart dropped.
“Is this Gene Hayden?”
“Yes.”
“Gene, I don’t think you know me, but this is Pastor Bud Thatcher at the Calvary Chapel church, where your wife used to attend. I wondered if you would give me a minute of your time.”
Gene hesitated. “What is this about?” he asked.
“Well…if you would want to give me some time, I would like to explain it to you, but I would rather do it face to face. Could I ask you to come here to the church?”
Gene thought about it. It is not that I have a full life of activity here, he reasoned. I can spend the day in this motel room, or I can talk to this man. I might find out something.
“Yes, I would agree to that. Could you give me a little while?”
“Sure, Gene. I will be in my office all day; get by when you can.”
Gene showered and then dressed in his jeans and shirt and headed out the door. The daylight nearly blinded him. It was almost 1 p.m., and by the time he got to the church it was 1:15.
He felt a little hesitant as he entered the church through the office entrance. A secretary was in the office running off copies on a large copier. “Can I help you?” She smiled at him.
“I’m here to see Pastor Bud Thatcher?”
“Oh, his office is right around the corner and down the hall.”
“Thank you.”
She smiled at him and nodded her head as she punched buttons on the copier.
He turned the corner and came to a door with a sign that said ‘PASTOR’ in large block letters. He knocked gently on the door; the pastor looked up and motioned him in. Gene walked into the room, and the pastor got up and came around his desk.
“I’m Bud Thatcher,” he said, proffering his hand. Bud shook Gene’s hand warmly. “Would you sit down? I talk better sitting down.”
Gene unwittingly sat down in the same seat Marla had chosen the previous day, and the pastor took the one next to it, rather than sitting behind his desk.
Gene appraised the pastor. He had a full head of gray hair, and he looked to be about sixty-five years old. Gene could see the years of wisdom in this man’s face. The gentle eyes behind the glasses looked at him kindly, and Gene instinctively liked the man.
The pastor started from the beginning, and told Gene the whole story, leaving nothing out. He explained to Gene about the cultic church that Marla had fallen into, and about Marla and Dianne bringing this to him. The pastor talked for about ten minutes. He laid the whole thing on the table, and Gene listened to the man intently.
When the pastor finished explaining, he said, “Gene, I would like to ask you a very personal question.”
For no particular reason Gene had begun to trust and respect this wise man, so he said, “Go ahead and ask your question.”
“Gene, do you love your wife? I know this is not a normal question I should be asking, but will you trust me that there is a reason?”
Gene hesitated then nodded his head, “Yes sir, I do love her very much.”
“Now I am going to ask you another very personal question. Will you bear with me?”
Again, Gene shook his head yes. “Has there been someone else involved with you?”
Gene could no longer look the pastor in the eye, but he answered truthfully. “Yes, there has been, but it’s over.”
“Gene, this can be fixed, but it’s going to take forgiveness on both your parts. It’s going to take a laying aside of the past. But I tell you the truth, we are all responsible to God for our actions, and we have all fallen short of the glory and truth of God. We all need to repent of our faults and failings to him first, before we can expect to get things straight. Repentance is absolutely necessary before we can expect God’s blessing on our lives, our homes, and our marriages, mine no different than yours.”
“If we are willing to repent, he will bless us and forgive us, but we must be willing to do this. Would you be willing to give this a try?”
Gene thought about it for a moment, and he felt the pastor’s words were logical, right, and true. He looked back at his own mistakes: his refusal to attend church with his wife and his weakness in letting Debbie manipulate him into doing something he was ashamed of now. His whole wretched life seemed to be all wrong, as he considered this man’s words.
“Yes sir, I am.”
“Why don’t we move into the sanctuary? We can pray anywhere, but I feel that it is a more fitting place for this,” the pastor said.
Gene nodded his head, and the pastor led him into the sanctuary. On the back wall hung a stained wooden cross, with backlighting positioned behind it. On a large, low stage was the pulpit, and in front of the pulpit was a stand with a large open Bible. Velvet-covered altar benches sat on either side of the Bible stand, and the chandeliers overhead gave off a soft light.
Gene felt warmth in the large auditorium, even though it was empty except for the two of them. It had been a long time since Gene had been in a church, but he found this place to be welcoming and inviting. Though no words were exchanged, he felt pulled to kneel down at one of the altars. The pastor laid his hand on his shoulder and began to pray for him. Gene felt warmth spread throughout his body as the tears of repentance and sorrow came.
Gene Hayden left the sanctuary that day full of hope and renewal.
Back in the office, the pastor said, “Gene, I want to impose on you another question. Would you be willing to meet Marla at those altars?”
Gene wiped his eyes, but the tears wouldn’t stop coming. All he could do was shake his head yes. The pastor again laid his hand on Gene’s shoulder and prayed earnestly for his marriage.
“Would you be willing to let me set up a meeting between you two here tomorrow, around ten?”
“I was hoping you would say that, Pastor.”
“Until tomorrow, then.” The pastor shook his hand, and Gene went to his car to drive back to the motel room. He glanced at his watch and was shocked to see that it was already four thirty in the afternoon.
Bud Thatcher walked into his secretary’s office; she looked up and smiled at him. “I held all your calls. I hope you don’t mind. I just felt that you needed to not be disturbed while that man was here.”
“Dorothy, I don’t know what I would do without you. I thank God for your being here.” He smiled as he took the batch of callbacks and walked slowly back to his office. It was 9 p.m. when he locked the doors of the church that night.
Part 9
Marla’s phone rang about six o’clock on Monday evening. She had been moping around the house all day, and had barely been able to focus enough to do her work. But somehow she had finished it and gotten through the day.
It was the pastor of Calvary Chapel.
“Hi, Marla. This is Pastor Thatcher. I talked with your husband this afternoon, and he wants to meet you here tomorrow at ten. Would you be willing to do that?”
“Would I? Oh, Pastor, I can’t wait to meet him, wherever he is!” Tears flooded her eyes and relief flooded her heart after the long days without her husband.
“Tomorrow, then. I’ll see you then, ok?”
“Tomorrow,” she said, and hung up the phone.
That night Marla prayed for her marriage, and she repented of her sin before God. She asked God to forgive her for her faults and failures.
The next day she pulled into the parking lot of the church and there was Gene’s car. She opened the doors of the church, and she and Gene flew into one another’s arms. Pastor Bud Thatcher stood there watching the sight as they feverishly kissed one another. He felt pretty sure he had two more to add to his once-a-month prayer meeting.
When he failed to come back to her apartment that night, Debbie Sorenson knew in her heart that she would never possess Gene Hayden, no matter what tricks she used. He belonged to Marla Hayden, and Marla belonged to him.
Two weeks later Gene and Marla stood in front of the church by a spray of flowers, and repeated their marriage vows. This time it took real root in their hearts, especially the part that said: “Forsaking all others.”
The End