The Braxtons of Miracle Springs (10 page)

Since Christopher was there and I wasn't, I'm going to let him tell you about the rest of his conversation with Mr. Jones in his own words.

“Alkali,” I said as he and I sat there, “tell me about the condition of your spiritual life.”

He just sat there, staring at me with a bewildered expression for a few seconds, not knowing what to think.

“I ain't sure there's anything much to tell,” he said finally. Then he laughed. You know how he laughs?

(Here I can't help intruding, because now
we
all laughed as we listened to Christopher.

“Hee, hee, hee!” laughed Tad, and it was a pretty good imitation.)

“I ain't even sure I got what you call a spiritual life,” Alkali added.

“Everyone's got both a physical life and a spiritual life, Alkali. Including you. It's just that some people's spiritual side is mostly asleep, so all they're aware of is the physical.”

“I reckon that's likely to be me,” he said.

“Then, let me ask you something,” I said. “Have you ever had any kind of personal spiritual experience?”

“How do ye mean?”

“Have you ever had an experience of salvation?”

“Ye mean at one o' them there revivalist meetin's—gone up t' the front cryin' and wailin'-like, an' fallin' down on yer knees?”

“I don't necessarily mean that,” I said.

“Good thing,” he replied, “'cause I ain't never done nothin' like that, that's fer sure. Not sure I want to, neither.”

“No, I meant something more personal than that. It might not have had anything to do with a church service at all.”

“Ye got me a mite confused there, Braxton. Ye talkin' about religion that ain't got t' do with church? Next thing I know, ye'll be tellin' me it ain't got t' do with heaven neither.”

I couldn't help chuckling. “Actually, Alkali, that's true,” I said. “If the Bible can be trusted, being a Christian doesn't have much to do with heaven. It's about how we live here and now.”

“Ye don't gotta be religious t' git t' heaven?”

“Not according to what Jesus said. All he spoke of was what we
do
, how we
live
—whether that spiritual part of us is awake and making a difference in how we live . . .
right now
.”

“Not sure I ever heard o' such kind o' religion.”

“I'm not talking about religion at all, Alkali, but about God and you . . . and whether the two of you've ever had dealings together.”

He just looked at me without saying a word, so I went on.

“Have you ever felt like God was talking to you?” I said. “Have you ever prayed when you were by yourself? Have you ever thought about whether God was up there or not and wondered what he might think about
you
, Alkali Jones?”

“I reckon I prayed a time or two.”

“Did God ever answer your prayers?”

“Guess not that I could tell. Reckon he coulda, but I just didn't know it.”

“You've never felt that God was talking personally to you?”

“Didn't figure he talked personally t' folks nowadays. Figured that was fer Moses and them long-time-ago fellers.”

“He speaks today, too,” I said, “though in different ways. You ever wondered about whether God was up there or not?”

“Sure, ain't ever'body?”

“I think so. You ever wondered what he thinks about
you?
”

That one caught him off guard, and he had to ponder it a while.

“I ain't sure,” he said finally. “I ain't exactly thought about it jist like yer sayin'. Though when a body does somethin' wrong, ye can't help wonderin' if the Lord's gonna strike ye down.”

“You think that's what God's like, waiting to strike folks down when they do things wrong?”

“I reckon. Ain't it?”

“Not if what the Bible says is true.”

“Huh . . . what about hell an' all that there brimstone stuff?”

“That's in the Bible, all right, but not when God's character is being described. The Bible says that God is loving and kind and good. Jesus says he's our Father, not some great monster who's waiting to pounce on us when we do something wrong.”

“But I know he don't like it when folks does bad.”

“Of course he doesn't. But not because he's waiting to punish them, but because he knows they'll be happier if they're good. Punishing people isn't the first thing on his mind.”

“So, what is?”

“God wants to
love
his creatures. That's what he wants to do more than anything. He made us, after all, for no other reason than that.”

“Than what?”

“To love him and to be loved by him. But if we keep the spiritual part of us asleep, there's no way he
can
show us that he loves us.”

“Well, how does a body wake it up?” he asked.

“That's the personal experience of salvation I asked you about before. You've heard about being born again, haven't you?”

“I reckon I heard about it. Don't reckon I know much what it is, though.”

“It's nothing more than waking up that part of you that's asleep, that spiritual part of you that God put inside every man and woman. When he made us, he put a little piece of himself way down inside us. The trouble is, most folks don't know he put it there. When most folks think of
life
, they think all it means is being physically alive. They don't realize there's an even more important part of life waiting down inside them to be awakened—be brought into life, just like being born.”

“Never heard nothin' about all that.”

“Most people haven't.”

“Why don't God just wake it up? Why does he put it inside folks, sleepin' like that? Don't seem t' make much sense. Seems like God'd know better'n that.”

I couldn't help laughing. It makes me chuckle again just to tell about it. Alkali was so honest about it that he took me off guard.

“I'm not exactly sure, Alkali,” I answered him, “but I think it's because he doesn't want to do the waking up himself. He wants to give us a share in the waking-up process. He wants us to wake
ourselves
up.”

Alkali didn't say anything for a minute or two, and I could tell he was thinking hard about everything I'd said. I just waited. Finally he spoke up again.

“All this time,” he said, “I been around plenty of folks that was religious enough. Even ol' Drum got religion hisself after his family come and after he got hisself hitched. There ain't no mistakin' that he's been a different feller since then. The whole town sees it and respects him fer it. So maybe that's what yer sayin' about wakin' up that religious side o' ye. An' I reckon, watching 'em all like that, I'd have t' say it looked kinda nice t' me, but no one ever told me how to get in on it myself.”

“I've seen you plenty of times in church,” I said. “What do you think when you sit there listening to talk of spiritual things?”

“Yeah, I been in church plenty o' times, and the Rev. is pretty good. I mostly like what he says, but I still always kinda thought o' myself as a visitor.”

“Why do you go, then?”

“Don't know. T' see folks, I reckon. Guess I figured ye was supposed to go t' church. Don't get me wrong, I like what I seen happ'nin' in Drum and Nick, though at first I weren't none too sure. I always hoped when the time came for me t' pass over t' the other side, I'd be right with the Lord and that he'd have favor on an ol' coot like me. But I wasn't never too sure.”

“Would you like to be?” I asked.

“Like to be what?'

“Sure that you are right with the Lord.”

“You bet I would. But I didn't know if ye could be sure o' them kinds o' things, and I reckon I was always a mite embarrassed to ask Drum.”

“Well, you
can
be sure of them, Alkali,” I said. “And it's not just a matter of the Lord's having favor on you when you pass over to the other side, like you say. The same thing that will help you there will also wake up the sleeping spiritual side of you now so that you can know what it is to live completely . . . right now.”

“So how can a feller be sure?”

“By saying to your spiritual side, that little piece of God that's inside of you:
Wake up!
It's what Jesus called being born again. It's so simple to do that it only takes a minute. After that, life begins all over again, with both your physical
and
your spiritual halves awake.

“Would you like me to help you wake up your spiritual side, like your friend Drum has done?”

“I'd be obliged to ye, young Braxton. Ye just tell me what t' do an' I'll do it.”

As Christopher spoke, I could not help glancing over out of the corner of my eye at Pa where he sat listening. His eyes were glistening and wet as we heard Christopher talk about his conversation with his old and dear friend. But I'll let Christopher continue on with the story.

“All right, Alkali,” I went on. “How do you feel about talking to God?”

“Ye mean prayin'?”

“Doesn't matter what you call it. Do you think you can talk to God?”

“Don't rightly know. . . . I reckon.”

“Some men can't. It takes a strong man, with guts and courage. It's not the kind of thing a weakling can do.”

“I reckon I oughta be able t' give it a try. But why's a feller gotta talk t' God t' wake that place in him up?”

“Because you need God's help to do it. Only God can wake it up, but he can't wake it up without your asking him to. You can't be born again all by yourself. You need God's help, but you have to ask him for it.”

“Wasn't you gonna tell me what t' do?”

“All right, just say to God—”

“I gotta close my eyes?”

“Doesn't matter.”

“I thought ye had t' close yer eyes when ye was prayin'.”

“You just have to talk to God. Imagine that he's sitting right here in this room with us. Would you close your eyes to talk to him?”

“Don't reckon. But he ain't in the room.”

“Of course he is. We just can't see him, that's all.”

“You're sayin' I should pray with my eyes
open?
” asked Alkali. It was such an incredible thought to him that God was right beside him and not way off in the sky somewhere.

(We all smiled at the thought of Mr. Jones trying to imagine God coming and sitting down in his messy little cabin. He had spun so many tall tales in his life, but I think he'd finally met his match in what Christopher was now telling him.

And everything Christopher was saying was true, unlike some of Mr. Jones' most outlandish stories!)

“It doesn't make any difference one way or another,” I went on. “Let's just begin talking to him, and you can do whatever you feel like. How's that?”

“Fair enough,” said Alkali. “Ye're gonna tell me what t' say?”

I nodded. “Now just tell him that you would like his help in waking up the spiritual side of you that's been asleep.”

He looked at me, eyes wide. There was no fear in his expression, just a childlike, innocent bewilderment. It was all so new to him.

“What do I call him?” he asked after a moment.

“You can call him
God
, or
Lord
, if you like. People pray to him using many of his names. What he mostly wants us to call him is
Father
, because that's what he is to us. That's what Jesus called him and what he told his disciples to call him.”

“So now I just say it to him, huh?”

I nodded.

“How?”

“In your own words—however it comes out.”

“All right, then, here goes. God . . . er, uh . . .
Father
,” he said, stumbling some at first, “I reckon it'd be good . . . uh, fer this other side of me t' get woke up. Braxton here says I can't . . . uh, do it without yer helpin' me, an' so I'm askin' ye t' do whatever it is ye do t' wake old men like me up when they ain't been in the habit o' thinkin' too much about religious things.”

“Good, Alkali,” I said to him, “that's just exactly right. God is listening, and he's heard everything you've said. He's very pleased. I'm sure he's smiling right now, just like a proud father would be when his little son is first learning to walk.”

“Ye really think so?”

“Of course he's pleased. That's what you're doing—you're just like a little boy, reaching up for your father's hand to learn how to walk on your
spiritual
legs. Now, tell him you want to be one of his children. Tell him that you want to be part of his family and that you want to be born again so that you can be his son forever.”

“God,” he said, “ever'thing Braxton said is right. I reckon I'd like t' be born again so I can be in yer family along with Drum an' his family an' the Rev. an' Braxton here an' all the rest of 'em. I don't know exactly what t' do, but I'd like t' be yer son, that is, if you'd have me.”

“That's excellent, Alkali!” I said. “Now, just tell your heavenly Father that you're giving yourself to him so that he can be in charge of your life from now on.”

“God, I'm givin' myself t' you, like he says.”

By now it was all I could do to keep the tears from gushing out my eyes, but I forced myself to remain calm.

As the rest of us listened to Christopher tell it, I think we all felt exactly the same way! I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.

Christopher stopped and looked around at all of us. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Pa was looking down, just kind of shaking his head.

“I . . . I just never realized,” Pa said. “I figured if Alkali wanted to know more, he'd ask. I didn't want to push it on him.”

“It's sometimes very difficult to tell what someone is thinking,” said Christopher. “Especially about spiritual things.”

“I just figured he was coming along with the rest of us,” said Pa. “I'm happy for him, and I'm indebted to you, Christopher, for leading the way for him like you done. I just can't help wondering if I should have done more earlier.”

“Put it out of your head, Drum,” replied Christopher with an encouraging tone. “The Lord makes use of many factors in a person's life to bring them to a point of readiness to say,
Wake up!
to their spiritual being. Your life has been a tremendous influence upon Alkali all through the years. He would not have been so eager to respond to the things I had to say had it not been for you.”

“I reckon you're right.”

“Another thing to remember, Drummond,” added Almeda, “is that oftentimes the Father will use someone other than those closest to us when that moment of decision actually comes. You and Agatha gave Corrie, for instance, all her early training and instruction, and you set her values and attitudes in a godly direction. Yet there came a time in her life when he chose to use me in a more direct way as well. And he brought Hawk along in Zack's life just at the right time. Such it is with Alkali and you and now Christopher. God makes use of us all, in distinctive ways, to carry out his purposes.”

“You're both right,” said Pa. “I just hope I didn't overlook Alkali and maybe take him for granted.”

“You didn't,” said Christopher. “He considers you his best friend. He's been watching you all these years, seeing the changes. Your life affected him in a thousand ways, whether you ever talked to him directly about God or not. I truly believe, Drum, that you are the chief reason for what happened today.”

“And the Lord wasn't overlooking him all this time,” said Almeda. “That's why he turned Christopher's prayers toward Alkali once the time was ripe to harvest the seed you had been silently sowing through the years.”

“Well, I want to know what happened next,” I finally said to Christopher. “Did you and Mr. Jones talk any more?”

Christopher laughed. “Did we ever! He was full of questions and just as eager to listen to what I had to say as a little child. It was wonderful.”

“Then, on with it!” boomed Pa. “We want to hear every word.”

Christopher drew in a deep breath, then continued on.