Angels of Humility: A Novel (29 page)

“Yes, that’s too bad.”

“And….”

“And, what?”

“Well, you’re her pastor. Aren’t you going to go visit her?”

“She hasn’t been attending here for a long time. She’s probably with the Baptists or somewhere else.”

The look that Kathy shot him made him squirm. It was like she could prod his conscience through telepathy or something.

“Maybe I’ll stop and see her; that’s the best I can say right now. Ever since she came by the church and tried to tell me….” He stopped abruptly. He’d forgotten he purposely didn’t share that story with Kathy.

“What?”

“Nothing. Forget I mentioned it. I’m late. Gotta go,” he said as he ran out the door, grimacing at his error.

He felt like a creep for ducking out, and he felt bad for not telling Kathy about Sarah stopping by the church. It’s just that he knew she would take it seriously enough to pray about it, and he really didn’t want that.

He passed the hospital on his way to the church but had no intention of stopping.
The farther away I get from Sarah the better I feel
.

You could be a blessing to her today
, whispered Saldu.

“No way,”
screeched Unforgiveness.
“Keep your distance.”

He put his leather folder down on his desk and plopped into his chair.
How could the day start out so good and in a matter of seconds turn bad? If only I would have left one minute earlier, before Kathy read that paragraph in the paper
.

He picked up the phone to check his voice mail. He flinched.
How can I have 27 messages?
That’s more than he usually received in a month. What he didn’t know was that the older adults had also organized the “Call the Pastor Phone Protest.” The messages ranged from cordial and polite with people leaving their names, to several anonymous, angry callers who even used profanity. Larry McBride rambled on for a full three minutes, or there probably would have been a few more callers before the mailbox had filled up.

His day was taking a fast nosedive.
What else can go wrong?

Kathy had split her thoughts between Sarah being stuck in the hospital with a broken hip and her curiosity over what sounded like a confrontation she had with Paul. She felt bad for Sarah. She perceived her as a kind of crazy old loner who probably didn’t have much of a support group. Kathy toyed with the thought of visiting Sarah herself. Then she dismissed the idea because she felt her ulterior motive might be to try to get information on Sarah’s meeting with Paul. All morning she wrestled with whether she should go. Finally she felt like she heard a yes from the Lord.
Lord
, she prayed,
Help me to go with Sarah’s best interest at heart and not to satisfy some curiosity of my own
.

She dropped Jordan off at Mary’s and then headed to the hospital. She prayed for Sarah all the way. When she entered the hospital room, the first thing she noticed was Sarah reading the Bible and various devotional guides and religious books stacked beside the bed. The second thing she noticed was that there were no flowers. She made a mental note to call the church secretary and have her order some.

“Hello,” she said, approaching Sarah’s bed. “I’m Kathy Reynolds, Pastor Paul’s wife.”

Sarah’s face brightened immediately. She had prayed for them so much that there was a special place for them in her heart, almost like they were family members she never saw.

“Hello. Please sit down.”

“Thanks,” said Kathy, scooting the chair toward the front of the bed. “Well, what happened?”

“I’m afraid the details are too embarrassing. Let’s just say I fell and broke my hip and leave it at that,” said Sarah with a chagrined look.

Kathy relaxed. She immediately felt drawn to Sarah and she had no idea why.

They talked chitchat for a while: therapy, hospital food, hospital gowns, and pain medicine.

Kathy was at first pleased when Sarah asked about Jordan, but then she remembered that Paul had been concerned. I
can’t believe she has some kind of fixation on Jordan; she just seems like the grandmotherly type
. Kathy considered herself fairly discerning when it came to people, and she had been immediately at ease around Sarah so she dismissed the thought.

“I notice you have a lot of reading material. I hope the days go fast for you.”

“I’m looking forward to catching up on my praying. Especially my prayer walking.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. It doesn’t look like you’ll be walking, at least for a while.”

“I can prayer walk in my mind. I’ve done it so much that I can visualize every house. It’s even better this way. I used to be worn out after I walked four blocks, but now, when I finish, I can go around again,” she said with a smile, pointing to her head.

“Ask her ‘How long she’s been prayer walking,’” said Valoe.

“I started just about the time that you moved here,” replied Sarah. Valoe dropped the revelation into Kathy’s mind.

“Did you pray for us, in front of our house?”

“Yes, you were on my regular route. Sometimes I walked morning and evening, and some times just morning. On days that I didn’t walk, I always
prayed for your family. I received a specific word from the Lord that I was supposed to do that.”

Kathy could feel her eyes watering. She was deeply touched and equally grieved by the way Paul had accused Sarah of being a lunatic.
All the time she was fervently praying for us
.

“Sarah, may I pray for you before I go?” She reached out and took her hand.

Paul was shuffling papers on his desk just to have something to do so he could avoid going home. The secretary was gone; so was the janitor; it was almost 7:30. “I guess if I don’t go home soon, she’ll have two things to be mad about.” He collected his papers and lumbered toward the door.

He pulled up in front of the house and sat in the car for a while. He felt like a kid who had crayoned the walls and now mom had seen it. Why hadn’t he just told Kathy about Sarah’s word? He already had Sarah pegged as crazy so maybe Kathy wouldn’t have taken it too seriously. He was kicking himself now. He slouched into the house and tried to pretend nothing was wrong.
Let her make the first move
.

Kathy had been upset all day that Paul had purposely concealed some sort of information from her. She had been praying that she could share her hurt and frustration in a way that he could understand. She was also praying
that she wouldn’t fly off the handle. She felt like she was pretty much under control—until she heard the key in the lock, and then she wanted to run to the doorway and unload. She took a few deep breaths and decided to let him make the first move. After all, he was the one who needed to apologize.

“Hi, Hon, sorry I’m a little late.”

“No problem. Dinner in five minutes. Get Jordan.”

“OK.”

Paul was thinking,
She didn’t say anything about Sarah, and she seems to be in an OK mood. Maybe I’m off the hook
.

Kathy was thinking,
He didn’t say anything about Sarah; he’s such a weasel
.

They sat down to dinner, said an obligatory prayer, and started eating. The silverware against the plates was the only noise. Finally Paul broke the silence, “What did you do today honey?”

“Not much,” she said nonchalantly, “some laundry, fixed dinner, played with Jordan. Oh, I almost forgot,” her tone turned sarcastic, “I visited Sarah in the hospital.” That stopped Paul in mid-bite. His defensiveness overtook him, “I can’t believe you went all the way to the hospital and pretended to care about a complete stranger, someone you don’t even know, just to try to milk information out of her. That’s pretty low, disguising your fact-finding trip under the guise of ministry.”

Kathy thought,
Ha, I’ve got him now. S
he paused for a moment to compose herself. “For your information, I didn’t go to the hospital to try to get information out of Sarah. I went because she is a church member and I doubted that
you
would visit her. I didn’t even bring up whatever happened between you two.” She was trying not to, but she was feeling smug.

“What happened anyway?”

“She tried to give me a prophetic word,” mumbled Paul. “And what was the word she gave you?”

Paul shrugged, “Nothing really,” he said, trying to sound laid-back. “She came to my office one day and tried to tell me that God had shown her that
I was supposed to take a part-time job as chaplain at the new jail and that we were supposed to minister there together.” He paused briefly. “See, it’s a ridiculous word; the woman is half crazy. She has this fixation about me anyway; she just wants me to go to the jail so I can be with her. I saw through her word immediately.”

“Well, I don’t think she’s crazy, but I can’t speak to whether the word is accurate or not. I guess you could always just make a fleece. Ask God to have them offer you the job if it’s His will.”

“Well, I think she’s crazy and,” he mumbled the next words, “they already offered me the job.”

She jumped to her feet, “THEY WHAT? And you didn’t tell me that, either?”

“Hold on. It’s not like it seems. They offered me the job before Sarah gave me the word. I didn’t even consider it. It would have taken up more family time. It didn’t seem like it was from the Lord at all. I didn’t purposely hide it from you; it was just a nonissue. I immediately forgot about it.”

“Well, now what do you think?”

“The same thing I thought then. I don’t take words from crazy ladies about my employment. That I got offered the job was merely a coincidence. I’m one of the local pastors. They probably were calling off a list, and when I said no, they called the next pastor. I’m sure they have someone by now. Can we just give it a rest?”

“No, we can’t give it a rest. I have more to say. I visited with Sarah, and I don’t think she’s crazy at all.”

“Oh really? How do you explain her stalking our house—?”

“Will you stop saying that! She wasn’t stalking! She was prayer walking. She prayer walks the neighborhood at least once a day, if not twice. She prays for us a lot. She said the Lord put it on her heart when we moved here.”

“Right, you can say that the Lord put us on her heart. I still call it an unhealthy fixation.”

“I’m telling you, she prayer walks, and that’s why she was pacing up and down in front of our house.”

“OK, so she was prayer walking. She’s still done lots of other crazy things. She sold her land to the jail instead of the church.”

“That’s her prerogative, and I don’t see that that makes her crazy. Maybe they offered her a very good price. I think you should at least see if the job at the jail is still available.”

“No, I’m called to the church. I’m not going to go chasing other jobs.”

“But can’t you at least call and see if it’s available? If it’s not, then at least you won’t have to wonder if you missed God.”

“I’m not the one who is wondering,” he said in a sarcastic tone.

“Well if you call then maybe I won’t be wondering.”

“You don’t have a right to tell me how to run my ministry. I’m not calling and that’s final.”

“But we used to be partners—”

“I said no, and that’s final.”

“You’re so controlling. Who died and made you king?”

“I’m not controlling. I’m just right. Why aren’t you submissive?” At that verbal jab, Valoe rested his hands on Kathy’s shoulders. “Don’t return evil for evil.”

She took a deep breath to control herself. “When you come home, you don’t even communicate with me any more. We’re like two people living single in the same house. We just don’t connect. You don’t even have time for Jordan. Where are you, physically and emotionally?”

“I resent it that I have to come home to your badgering cross examinations. Who do you think you are? I need to be able to relax in my own home, and I need to be able to run my ministry the way God tells me.”