Part One
Meet Joe and Jane Anderson.
They were close in age, and the oldest of five siblings. They and their siblings were raised in a home in which godly parents taught them, by word, example, and discipline, right from wrong, according to generally accepted standards of moral behavior.
Attending the local assembly (chosen by their parents) on Sunday mornings for worship service and Sunday School was not an option.
It was a period in history when this is what most people in their local community did on a regular basis. For some it was as much as a social and family event and expectation, as it was religious.
As children, it never entered their minds that they would, should, or could be anywhere else on a Sunday morning.
Compliance with the rituals and denominational requirements of the local assembly was not an option either. Again, it never entered their minds that they would, could, or should have done anything else.
As Joe and Jane got old enough to start school, and otherwise interact with classmates and friends in their rural community, they learned soon enough that not everyone held the same beliefs, and not everyone had the same commitment to following a code of acceptable good behavior.
As they got older, Joe was more willing to compromise with his upbringing than Jane, but both would, from time to time, give in to peer pressure, and engage in negative behaviors in order to fit in.
Other times, they would give in to the pressure within that comes from the fallen sin nature, and dabble with activities that risked the wrath of their parents and the scorn of the elders in the local assembly, if they had been found out.
By the grace of God, both Joe and Jane came through their own separate forms of teenage rebellion and strive for independence with minimum damage.
As young adults, Joe and Jane took their separate paths, but would stay in contact with each other, sharing their secrets of their good, bad, and ugly feelings and experiences.
Jane married young, and would have several children.
Joe enlisted in the military, and chose to make it a career. There was no room for marriage in his plans or agenda. Jane remained to be his closest human contact and confidant.
Upon returning home on a leave, before being deployed overseas again, Joe and Jane, at the persistent urging of their mother, sat down as a family to watch a television broadcast of a popular evangelist.
The evangelist began his presentation with the unadulterated Gospel Message, reiterating the need (John 3: 7) to be born-again, and the consequences that anyone whose name was not written down in the book of life would face.
Before ending his presentation, the evangelist spoke of the need for born again believers to take in the Word of God on a daily basis, throughout the course of their post salvation spiritual lives.
This was nothing new to the Andersons. They had heard it being reiterated many times before, coming from the pulpit of the local assembly.
Joe suspected that this “family” event was planned by Jane and their mother for his benefit. His suspicions were confirmed during the broadcast, when he caught a glimpse of Jane and his mother looking over at him, to see what impression the presentation might be having on this combat-hardened, soldier.
Respecting his privacy, inquiries were not made. Joe would be leaving in the morning, and no one wanted to end Joe’s leave with a heated discussion.
Jane had continued with the family tradition of attending the weekly services at the local assembly, and insisted that her children do the same. In her private life, the daily reading and application of the Word of God was as important to her as was her daily food. She was one who walked the walk as well as talked the talk.
Joe, being greatly influenced by military life, would in occasionally attend Chapel services on base, but found a lack of edification coming from the pulpit. His appearances at the local tavern would soon out number his appearances at the Chapel. Joe was becoming just as combative socially, as he was in his military actions.
His interest in reading the Bible had slowly diminished. After all (he thought), what was he going to read that he had not read hundreds of times before, growing up.
He knew he was saved and Heaven bound, so why be bothered with the daily challenges that Biblical discipleship would certainly bring into his life.
He did concede, however, that he wished he had the peace and contentment that Jane exhibited, and her indisputable ability to handle the challenges that life brought to her.
She had become a breast-cancer survivor, had several miscarriages, and divorced from an unfaithful, abusive, alcoholic, husband. Child support vanished, as did he, never to be seen or heard from again.
Yet in spite of these hardships, she never waivered in her faith or in her commitment to Biblical discipleship.
Truly, in Joe’s eyes, she was one who exhibited the peace that surpasses all human reasoning.
Joe had acquired his own form of self-confidence that the military instilled in him. He had been deployed and survived intense combat before, and was about to return shortly.
Following a tearful send-off, the train that took Joe back to the base was out of sight. Joe would soon deploy and be in a war-zone environment.
Upon returning from a patrol, Joe was ordered to get cleaned up and promptly report to his commanding officer’s tent.
Perhaps, Joe thought, word had gotten back about a recent, off duty, bar brawl in which he and some of to his comrades had been involved. There were injured civilians and extensive property damage. They got out and had driven off before the arrival of the military and local police; hopefully unidentified.
Upon entering the commanding officer’s tent, there standing on the side of the captain, was a military chaplain with a somber look on his face.
Joe was informed that he was to return home on an emergency personal, leave.
There had been a serious accident back home. A drunk driver crossed the center line, and crashed head on into an oncoming car being driven by his father. The drunk driver walked away with minor injuries, but his father sustained serious injuries to his back and both legs.
Jane, who was a passenger in her father’s vehicle, was killed instantaneously.
For the first time in a long time, Joe, a combat-hardened, aggressive soldier, who fearlessly took on any military or personal adversary, stood there shocked, frozen in time, unable to move or to speak.
End of Part One