Up at the College (12 page)

“Now, ever since we started our Friday-night services, one thing we decided to do was help someone out. Coach Curtis Parker
and Coach Maurice Fountain have been called to lead our beloved Fighting Panthers to a mighty victory this season. I believe
that they have a chance to make it into the SNAC play-offs, and at some point make a bid for an invitation to the NCAA dance.”

There were a lot of Panthers in the congregation, and they started cheering, “Gooooooo Panthers!!!!”

“In the name of Jesus,” Denzelle said, laughing, “we are going to the dance. But to get there takes faith, perseverance, and
preparation. Our coaches need our help and we prayed as a congregation, and God led us to give you all this.” Denzelle reached
inside of his breast pocket and then put two checks in Curtis’s hand. The first was for the expected $18,776. The second,
from Charles Robinson, was for an additional ten grand. It was a miracle.

Hours ago, Curtis had walked out of the president’s office facing deep slices into his budget. And now the Lord had made up
for the deficit and given them far more than he ever expected to carry the team through. The Lord had truly supplied their
every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Curtis felt himself tear up, and prayed that he wouldn’t punk
out and cry. He glanced over at Maurice and saw that Maurice was fighting that exact same battle. They both laughed through
the tears, thankful that the good Lord didn’t let one fall.

At that moment, Trina was so happy she was a female and could cry shamelessly. Yvonne, who didn’t cry as easily as most folks,
felt her eyes watering. She stood up and said, “Praise the Lord,” only to be followed by the rest of the congregation. She
looked at Curtis struggling to man up and not cry, and her heart was touched. This was the kind of man she would love to have
in her life.

A twinge of sadness swept across Yvonne’s heart when it occurred to her that Regina Young was a part of Curtis Parker’s life.
She gave that sorrow over to the Lord and was encouraged with Holy Ghost–anointed joy when God reminded her that He was her
true source of joy and contentment, and that she was not to worry because He had everything in control. All she had to do
was trust Him and be patient because her blessings were on the way.

Denzelle gave both of the coaches that good old black boy hug, where they leaned toward one another, grasped hands, and parted
with a firm pat on the back. He went and sat back down, now ready to hear the choir throw down on the Mississippi Mass Choir’s
“
I’m Not Tired Yet”:
I’ve been runnin’ for Jesus a long time … and I’m not tired yet.

Maurice liked this song, too. He loved that earthy, warrior-for-Jesus-sounding voice of the soloist on the CD. That lady sounded
like she’d really been runnin’ for Jesus since she put on her first pair of walking shoes. He turned around to see who the
soloist was, and was a bit disappointed to discover that it was the woman with the bodunkadunk booty in the lobby. He couldn’t
help but wonder if a sister so bent on swinging that thing in full view of the pastor could really throw down on a song that
required a good dose of the Holy Ghost to make the delivery just right.

The musicians gave a robust and hot run of the introduction of the song, getting folks up off their feet before anyone sang
one note. Denzelle stood up and turned around, grinning, just ready to be blessed with this song. The musicians played the
introduction one more time, wondering if the soloist had missed her cue. She didn’t open her mouth, so they played the intro
one extra time for good measure, silently lifting the girl up in prayer.

The choir director started clapping on that third cue, and glanced over to the musicians, indicating that they should give
the song intro one more run to make it look as if they were doing this on purpose. She didn’t know what was wrong with the
soloist this evening. She’d picked this song because it was on the pastor’s list of favorites, and the pastor was like her
brother. She’d also picked this song because she knew the soloist, who loved to get attention, would show out for the company,
or all of the visitors in the audience. She also knew Miss Lady had a crush on the pastor and would work extra hard to work
that song.

But Bodunkadunk would not open her mouth. She put her hand on her hip and then curled up her lips when they started the song
a fifth time. Miss Thing was mad, and she’d been mad ever since she saw her pastor dodging those two heifers during the meet-and-greet,
making it clear they were trying to be his woman. She thought she’d made it clear to all of the pastor’s wannabe boos that
she was the Head Wannabe Boo In Charge at this church. Pastor Flowers needed to quit ducking and dodging heifers and make
a choice. She knew she had the biggest booty of all the women chasing after the pastor. He was a black man, and what black
man didn’t like a big booty, especially when it was attached to a woman who could sing?

By now the choir director and the musicians were done with fooling around with this girl and her tantrum. She nodded for the
musicians to change the song and gave a signal to one of the tenors to come up and sing another one of the pastor’s favorites,
Marvin Sapp’s “Never Would Have Made It.” But they couldn’t get past the first chords before Bodunkadunk sucked on her teeth
real loud into the microphone, breathed out like she was too through, and then leaned down and popped Reverend Flowers upside
the head.

Charles and Pierre were in the back of the church all under the pews, they were laughing so hard. Charles said, “I saw it
coming, man … I saw it coming. When Big Booty wouldn’t sing after the second long intro to the song, I knew something
was up. I don’t know why Denzelle won’t check these heifers in his church.”

“He can’t do that, boss—not unless he is clear that he is not going to try and hit on that. You know that is the only way
a brother can brush off a sister with a bodunkadunk hanging off the back of her like that, who also knows the power of a big
butt.”

“You ain’t never lied, playah,” Charles said, and sat up straight to see what else was going to happen. Maybe he did need
to join church if all of this was happening in here. He’d wait on the saved thing, though. Getting saved required a bit too
much from a brother.

Denzelle was stunned. Yarborough had told him about flirting with that girl, said she was crazy and a mess waiting to happen.
He massaged the back of his head and gave that girl a look that clearly said, “Hit me again and I’m gone forget I’m a preacher
and a gentleman.”

Miss Thang had been around before coming back to church. She didn’t miss one word of that unspoken message and made to leave
the sanctuary. But she wasn’t the only one mad at Reverend Flowers for not paying attention to her. The two women he had jumped
away from now got bold and walked down to the front of the church and stood there, feet apart, hands on hips, with “What you
gone do now, Pastor?” expressions on their faces. As if that wasn’t enough trouble, one of the woman ushers came off from
the side, picked up a collection plate and tossed it, Frisbee-style, into the pulpit. All three men jumped up as if they were
intercepting a pass to catch the plate. It slid past Denzelle’s hand, and Curtis reached out and caught it.

“Thanks, Coach,” Denzelle mumbled and went up to the podium, praying for God to help him out of this mess. He whispered, “I’m
sorry, Jesus. You’ve been trying to tell me to straighten up and fly right. This is my deathly wages for my many sins. Lord,
I confess this sin of lust and selfishness and fornication. I repent, Lord, in the name of Jesus. And I ask to be forgiven,
delivered, and set free.”

“Amen!” “Amen!” “Amen!” came from all around the church, which had heard this prayer clearly over their very high-tech and
sophisticated sound system. “Hallelujah!” was shouted everywhere. Folks stood on their feet and began praising God. Despite
all of his wayward ways, New Jerusalem loved their pastor. A whole lot of them had been praying for him, and they’d been praying
for their church to be set free from that Jezebel spirit on those women who kept trying to run and ruin their beloved church.

The musicians took their cue from the congregation and started playing “Never Would Have Made It” until the soloist could
get to the microphone. The choir director was crying. She had been praying so hard for her play brother, and was blessed beyond
measure to see him repent and be set free. What a powerful testimony to the entire church to see their pastor freed from this
yoke of sin.

Tears were streaming down Denzelle’s cheeks. For the second time this evening, the Book of Malachi was on his heart. This
time, Malachi 2:5–8 sliced through him, convicting Denzelle Flowers down to the bone when he thought of what God had to say
to him with this scripture, which read:

“‘The purpose of my covenant with the Levites was to bring life and peace, and this is what I gave them. This called for reverence
from them, and they greatly revered me and stood in awe of my name. They passed on to the people all the truth they received
from me. They did not lie or cheat; they walked with me, living good and righteous lives, and they turned many from lives
of sin. The priests’ lips should guard knowledge, and people should go to them for instruction, for the priests are the messengers
of the Lord Almighty. But not you! You have left God’s paths. Your “guidance” has caused many to stumble into sin. You have
corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Denzelle’s shoulders shook from the sorrow and sobs tearing through him. He always knew folks in his congregation loved him.
But he never knew how hard they’d been praying for him until right now. He didn’t understand and truthfully didn’t want to
understand how his sin had hurt and injured them so deeply. He didn’t know that they had seen it all and they loved him in
spite of himself. And he was in awe of God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness to a sinner like himself. He walked out of that
pulpit and went down to the altar to rededicate his life to Christ.

Maurice went to stand next to him. Curtis remained in the pulpit, feet feeling like lead, as he resisted the urging of the
Holy Ghost to go and join Denzelle at that altar. He wasn’t ready. He hoped the Rapture wasn’t on the horizon because today
he wasn’t ready.

Charles’s heart was convicted, and he grabbed the back of the pew to stop himself from going down to that altar and getting
saved. This was the first time in his life that he’d ever wanted to get saved. Watching Denzelle be transformed in front of
his very eyes was a testimony to the power of the Lord he’d never forget. He took a step and then sat down when he remembered
all the money he stood to lose if he went down to that altar.

Curtis had sat down and was gripping his chair, so convicted he thought he’d explode. But he’d have to deal with that conviction
because he was hardheaded and wasn’t going down to that altar—not today.

C
urtis, Maurice, Trina, and Yvonne took their time walking to their cars. They were silent because nobody knew what to say
about this evening’s service.
Memorable
came to mind but even that word was just a tad bit too tame for what had transpired in the sanctuary of New Jerusalem Gospel
United Church. The four of them had belonged to the Gospel United Church all their lives, and they had either seen or heard
about some wild and crazy stuff happening behind the scenes in the denomination over the years. But they couldn’t recollect
witnessing a showdown with the pastor’s wannabe boos that had brought the man to his knees with a truly repentant and contrite
heart before the Lord. It was something to see.

Maurice grabbed Trina’s hand in his. He needed to feel the comfort of her touch. What a blessing it was to have the privilege
of touching Trina’s hand. What a blessing it was to be so in love with his babies’ mama. So many men had wonderful children
who were being raised by good women.
But those women were not bone of their bones and flesh of their flesh.

Now, Maurice wasn’t blaming anybody for anything. He knew that things didn’t always work out. He also knew that far too many
folk entered into holy matrimony without ever giving a single thought to asking God, the one who created such a holy union,
for His opinion on their choice of a spouse. If they did, the divorce rate would plummet. But when folks fancied themselves
in love, they didn’t want to hear from God; they wanted things to be the way they wanted them to be, and that was that.

Unfortunately, that was not that. Because good people like Veronica Washington were entering marriages that had not been sanctioned
by God, only to wake up one day and discover that they had erred seriously in their judgment. He remembered Trina telling
him that when she asked Veronica what happened, and how did she miss so many red flags in Robert, all Veronica said was, “I
never asked God. If I had asked God, I would have known to wait for God to reveal to me all the reasons why I should have
given Robert Washington his walking papers before there were any papers drawn up to give.”

Maurice thought that Veronica was right. If she had gone to God, He would have blessed her with a peace that would have enabled
her to be patient and wait for Him to reveal qualities about Robert that would have sent her running as fast and as far from
him as possible. But folks didn’t always know how to do that. Sometimes, it was only after going through that a righteous
person got it and learned the true value and blessing of trusting and obeying the Lord.

To obey God was a privilege, and far too many Christians missed that point. They always acted as if obedience were an imposition
to be endured, rather than a way for God to keep them safe and able to receive the many blessings He had set aside for them.
They didn’t understand that God’s call for obedience was a tremendous act of love on His part.

Maurice glanced over at Curtis trying to act like he wasn’t absolutely delighted to have Yvonne walking next to him on this
beautiful fall night. The boy was just happy and content, and too dumb and stupid to figure that out. He wondered how much
Curtis had been touched by what had transpired this evening. How much longer was Curtis going to be bound and determined to
keep running from the Lord?