The Truth Is the Light (15 page)

Chapter 30

T
hat Sunday morning when it was their normal custom to be in somebody's church, the Jordans, Greenes, and Memory (who didn't regularly attend church now) decided to visit Followers of Jesus Faith Worship Center with Pastor George Landris. Bishop Jordan was excited about hearing Pastor Landris preach once again. It had been such a long time. And Ransom would be able to visit, thus fulfilling a type of promise he'd made to the preacher who had allowed his home to be the meeting place for him and his family. Zenobia decided she would go to church with them as well.

As usual, Pastor Landris spoke on a subject that blessed those in attendance. His sermon topic was “Nevertheless, with God, Is Always More Than Enough.” He took it from Luke, the fifth chapter, verses one through eleven.

Pastor Landris began by saying, “Luke 5:5 reads, ‘And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.' How many of you are doing something today that you know God told you to do? How many of you look at what you've been told to do and wonder if you're crazy to either do it or keep doing it when it doesn't look like it's working out the way you envisioned when you began it? Don't look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language. Many of you know
exactly
what I'm talking about. I want you to look at the word
nevertheless
. If you were to break that word down, you will see three words:
never the less
.” Pastor Landris put emphasis on each word. “But
never the less
with God is always
more than enough
.” Pastor Landris paused as the congregation first got it, then erupted with sporadic moments of praise.

“Yes, God told you to do something. You were excited because He showed you the end at the beginning. You saw where God was going with it. You put your hand to the plow. You set out on your God-ordained journey. You stepped out on faith. And the next thing you know—nothing seems to be working out quite the way you envisioned it would. Those folks you thought would be excited about what God called you to do don't show up or support you when you're doing what you were instructed to do. Then there are the obstacles that seem to pop up on every corner, one thing after another. Obstacles, honestly, you thought God would have cleared from your path before you ever got there, or at least
when
you got there. But they're there, rearing their ugly heads, sticking their tongue out at you.” Pastor Landris rubbed his chin, then released a curt laugh.

“Listen, people of God, nobody said that your road was going to be easy. But sometimes you can't help but to look up toward Heaven and say, ‘Come on, God. Can I get a break down here right about now?' Oh, somebody here knows exactly what I'm talking about. You've worked hard at this thing. You've been faithful. You learned your craft. You've toiled at it. You're tired now. You're ready to put away your net. But
nevertheless,
God
still
has use for what you have.” Pastor Landris nodded as some stood to their feet, clapping and shouting, while others merely nodded.

“As in this passage of scripture in Luke 5, Simon, whom we know as Peter, was a fisherman. Simon knew his craft. He and his crew had worked all night long. They knew the best time to fish. They knew the places where you would more likely catch fish. Jesus asked Simon if He could use his boat to teach the people from. After Jesus finished speaking to the people, He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.' Can't you just see Simon Peter who knew what he was doing . . . Simon who knew that the best time to fish was at night as they'd already done? It definitely wasn't in the heat of the day. And definitely not at that particular place Jesus was telling him—not if he wanted to catch anything. He'd tried it already and had come up empty-handed. And now to be told by someone who wasn't even a fisherman by trade how to do his job.” Pastor Landris nodded and bit down on his bottom lip as he grinned.

“But we have to take note that this was Jesus telling him to do something. Simon explained to Jesus that they had toiled all night and had nothing to show for their efforts. But then Simon said something that would prove to be to his benefit. He said, ‘Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.' Right where Simon was, he decided to be obedient to the Word. And Luke 5:6–7 says, ‘And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: that their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.' When it comes to God,
nevertheless
is always, always,
more than enough!
” Pastor Landris swung his fist upward.

“God has told you things to do. It looks like you have less to work with. You have less help, less resources, and had less results in the past. But you need to continue to be obedient to the Word even though it may look like you're losing. Do what God is telling you to do merely because God is telling you to do it. That's all you need to know: that God is telling you to do it. Nevertheless, with God, is always more than enough.”

Pastor Landris began to point to his Bible. “It's here in the scriptures. Simon was obedient to what Jesus told him to do. And there was so much, it filled two ships to the point where they both began to sink. That sounds like abundance to me. That doesn't sound like never the less; that sounds like more than enough! When you're obedient to God and His Word, church, I'm telling you, there won't be room enough for you to receive all that God has in store for you! Continue to be faithful. Don't stop. Continue.”

The congregation was on its feet now. Ransom was sitting between Memory and Zenobia. They all stood to praise God. Later, he put his arms around his daughters and hugged them. “Nevertheless, with God, is always more than enough,” he said. “Yes, Lord. I'm a living witness. You are a God of More Than Enough.”

“God's Word is truth,” Pastor Landris said. “And the Truth is the Light. Jesus is the Truth, and He is the Light. Therefore, the Truth, that's a capital T, is the Light, a capital L.”

Ransom wiped his eyes and looked up as he lifted both of his hands. “Thank You, Jesus,” he said. “Thank You, Jesus. The Truth is the Light.”

Chapter 31

“Z
achary, I'm going to be honest with you,” Leslie said as they sat on his bed in his old bedroom. “I think Gabrielle is a nice young lady. She's probably going to be great for someone and even possibly a great wife and mother. But, honey, she's not the right woman for you.”

“Why are we having this discussion?” Zachary asked.

“Because you brought her here, which means that she means more to you than you're leading on. You can't fool me, Z. You know I can read you like a Toni Morrison novel or a Shakespearean play. I'm your mother. I knew you before you stepped foot on this earth.”

He laughed. “You really should look into writing a book. You certainly have a flare for words,” Zachary said.

“Don't be getting smart with me.” She primped her mouth. “I love you. No matter what you do or have done, I've always loved you. That time you used up all the sugar when I told you not to make any Kool-Aid because I needed the sugar. Then you decided to fix your disobedience by replacing the sugar with salt. Who was the one who taught you not to do anything like that ever again? Me.”

“Yeah, by making me eat one of those horrible cookies you'd made,” Zachary said.

“They wouldn't have been horrible if you hadn't caused me to put a cup of salt in the mix instead of the cup of sugar it called for.” She shook her head slowly as she grinned at him and playfully hit him.

“Mom, you have to admit. That
was
funny, and a bit of genius working there.”

“Yeah, okay. I'll admit it . . . now, anyway. It was funny, okay. But what wasn't funny was when you almost ruined your life when you were plotting revenge against Xenia's murdering boyfriend.” She stood up. “I hated him as much, if not more, than you did. That was my baby he killed.” She spun back around toward him. “But you were wrong to even think about what you wanted to do. Wrong.”

“I know, Mom. And I thank God that I didn't go through with it,” Zachary said.

“But at what expense? If your aunt hadn't come and ended up almost dead from that horrific accident, would you have gone through with your plans?” She sat back down. “Can you even imagine how difficult a time that was already for me? I had lost my child . . . my baby, and here you were putting yourself practically on a silver platter for me to lose you, too. It wasn't enough that that reprobate took one of my children. You were actually plotting to assist him in being responsible for taking yet another one.”

“Mama, we've had this discussion. I told you I was wrong and that I was sorry. I turned my life around. I decided to become a doctor because of all that. I'm a specialist in burn victims now, so maybe I can help save people the way the doctors were unable to save my sister.” Zachary put his arm around his now-crying mother and hugged her.

“
Now
you seem to be on the right track. And I am proud of you, Zachary. I'm proud of how hard you've worked to make something of yourself. We're all proud of you. You sacrificed a great deal. Your aunt Esther has said you've more than made up for what you did. And that monster didn't get away with what he did to my baby.” She rolled her tongue against the inside of the top of her lip. “Vengeance is the Lord's. And someone ended up taking
him
out. We can only pray that he repented and gave his life to Christ before he died. You can't do people the way he did my child and think you're not going to pay before you leave this earth. Not if you don't repent. No matter how bad a person believes himself to be, there's always someone else out there who's badder.”

“Yeah, I know. I'm older now. And with age, comes wisdom. I was nineteen and stupid back then. Dad was trying to talk to me. You were crying and being hysterical. And Aunt Esther was going to come up here and stomp some sense into my foolish self. I get that I made some mistakes. But that's what life's all about. You remember what you did when you helped us as we learned how to walk.”

“Like you remember what I did,” Leslie said, pulling back and gazing at him.

“I remember watching you with some of your younger nieces and nephews. How you would tell their mothers to let them fall. That it wasn't going to hurt them, and they would eventually get it. Well, that's how real life is. When we try things in life, sometimes we fall. But just like you and the others encouraged those babies who fell to get back up and keep at it, that's how we have to do in life.” Zachary pulled his mother closer and hugged her some more. “We get back up, and we keep at it.”

Leslie pulled away after a few moments. “I don't think you should continue with Gabrielle.” She stood up, refusing to look at Zachary now. “She told me what she used to do. She strip-danced for other men, which I know is not a crime. And there
are
worse things she could have been doing for a living, although that's pretty close to down there in my book.” Leslie turned back and looked him straight in his eye. “I'm not a prude or anything, but I don't know why a woman would subject herself to something like that. There's something morally lacking, in my opinion, with a person who chooses to do things like that. Maybe it's just me.” She tried to force a smile at Zachary.

“Now, she did tell me of her conversion to Christ this year,” Leslie continued, “which I admit is admirable. I rejoice with her and the angels about that. And contrary to what I know you're thinking right now, I'm not holding her past against her. I'm not. She's a sister in the Lord, and I acknowledge that. I promise you; I'm not judging her.”

Zachary pulled back, a puzzled look on his face.

“Well, I'm not,” she said with inflection. “I don't have a problem with her being in my house. I don't have a problem with her being around your father . . . alone, which is what they're doing right now while we're in here talking. Queen is taking a nap, so it's just him and her. That doesn't concern me, just so you can see I'm sincere in what I'm saying. Gabrielle also told me she worked as a maid, and that she was your housekeeper at one point.” Leslie looked at him for confirmation, and if true, then an explanation.

Zachary nodded and rocked his upper body to keep up with his nod. “Gabrielle told you the truth. Everything . . . it's the truth.”

She stared at him hard. “You hired her as your housekeeper? Was this before or after you decided to start dating her?”

Zachary chuckled. “Technically, it was before.”

“Zachary!” she said with disgust.

“Let me explain, since apparently you and Gabrielle didn't cover everything when you grilled her,” Zachary said. He pulled his right ankle on top of his left knee and began picking at the hem of his pants leg, as he had a habit of doing.

“I'm listening.”

“Queen hired her through an agency. I knew Gabrielle. She and I had gone out to dinner, in fact. But since Queen was handling everything, I didn't know she had hired Gabrielle until after Gabrielle asked to be reassigned because she thought I was cheating on my pregnant wife.”

Leslie's eyes widened. “Your pregnant wife?! What pregnant wife? What
wife
?”

He chuckled. “Queen. Gabrielle thought that Queen was my wife.”

“How on earth could she possibly manage to come to that conclusion? Your last name is Morgan and hers is Mabry. What did she think? That the two of you had some kind of marriage where she didn't even believe in a hyphenated last name?”

“She thought when she arrived at the house that the woman she met was married and pregnant. She later thought that the woman she met named Queen was the wife of the doctor who owned the house she was assigned to work for. So when she learned I was, first of all, a doctor and, second, the doctor whose house she was cleaning, she wanted nothing more to do with me. Personally, I think that speaks volumes about her character.”

“I agree. But Zachary, that's my point. You
are
a doctor. And you're respected now because of your position. I know you have a good heart and you're a good person, but people judge folks by the people around them. What happens should it get out that your wife, if you continue on the path I see you're headed on, used to be a stripper or that she used to be a maid? Forget about how it would look if it got out that she used to clean your house and now the two of you are married. People will wonder if they can trust you, if they can trust your judgment.”

“Mom, you really do need to write books so you can channel your imagination into something worthwhile. You could be rich with the tales that spin out of that head of yours.” He tapped her on the forehead.

“I don't think you should continue with Gabrielle. I think you need to walk away while you can and before you get in too deep.”

“Mama, it's already too late, and I'm already in too deep,” Zachary said. “Gabrielle is a wonderful person, and I love her. She's full of life; she's honest, caring, and giving. She is loyal . . . someone I can trust. And most important of all, Gabrielle
loves
the Lord.”

“So, have you two . . . you know?”

He grinned and put his foot down on the floor. “I could mess with you for daring to go there, but I don't want to play with you on this or mislead you in any way. Gabrielle and I have agreed to keep ourselves until we get married. And that's whether it's married to each other or married to someone else.”

“Easy for her to say. I don't think it's as easy for you male species.”

“Why not?”

“Because you men have a men thing going where it's not cool to keep yourselves until marriage. You get more kudos for the number of women you conquer than for how long you can keep yourself.”

“You know, I don't think that ration flies with our Father in Heaven. There are no separate rules for women than for men when it comes to doing what's right in the Lord's sight. God is an equal opportunity God. When the Bible says to abstain from fornication, it isn't just speaking to women. We men are going to have to answer for a lot of things the world tells us is cool.”

“So, I can't talk you into dropping Gabrielle?”

He shook his head. “No. And I hope you'll really give her a chance.”

“I told you. I like her just fine. I mean, she even fixed your plate when I suggested I thought she should.”

“You were merely testing her to see if she would go militant on you, weren't you?”

“You know me like a book,” Leslie said. “One more question. Are you planning on asking her to marry you anytime soon? I'm just asking because if the rule is that you two are planning to keep yourselves until marriage, I can see this is going to be a really short courtship. You and that woman have love sparks flying all over the place. Some of your sparks have been so strong that when I took your father his plate earlier today, he rubbed my hand and grinned. Dirty old man.” She burst into a smile.

“Mom, TMI. TMI.”

“TMI?” she said. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Too much information. I'm still your child. That's entirely
too much information
.”

They both laughed.