Burst Into Flames: A Parable

Burst Into Flames

  A Parable

  By Richard McInteer

  Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered...

  1 Peter 5:10

  Copyright 2011, Crossways Concepts

  This free ebook may be copied, distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it.

  Quoted scripture is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible unless otherwise specified. The HCSB is copyrighted by Holman Bible Publishers.

  CHAPTER 1

  “I am faint and severely crushed; I groan because of the anguish of my heart.”

  Psalm 38:8

  “It was like a long nightmare. I kept hoping I would wake up. I'm still wishing I would wake up and find out it was all a terrible dream.”

  Blake silently stared into his coffee for a long time, then continued, “Twenty-six days, that was all we had. The day it all started, I was at work. Everything seemed so normal...then I got the call. From that moment, nothing was normal.”

  The two men fell back into silence, one lost in his thoughts, the other waiting patiently. The coffee shop was full of activity on this spring evening, but both men were unaware of their surroundings.

  Blake spoke quietly, “Did I ever tell you how we met?”

  Mark, stroking his beard and undisturbed by the shift in the conversation, said, “No, I don't think so.”

  Blake began speaking, “Back when I was still living in Richmond, there was a little sandwich place around the corner from my office. I had run down there to grab a bite of lunch. As I left the restaurant, I saw Elaine for the first time. She was picking up lunch for her office and she had just a bit more than one person can carry. She was making a good effort, but she dropped a bag of sandwiches just as I was about to walk past her. She tried to get the dropped bag and almost lost everything else.

  “I picked up the bag from the sidewalk and tried to hand it to her. She thanked me for the help and gave me one of her amazing smiles. As I got this good look at her, I suddenly decided I wasn't in such a big hurry to get back to the office. I offered to help this pretty, slim red-head carry her load. While she didn't want to be a burden, she knew that she really needed some help.

  “We divided the load between us and I walked with this lovely creature, wondering at how I could ever get so lucky. Her office was in the building right next to where my office was located. As we walked we talked. She was so easy to talk to. I found myself being disappointed when we reached her office. We set everything down and her office-mates descended on the food like a bunch of piranha. Elaine thanked me as she walked with me back to the elevator.

  “While I knew she was out of my league, I knew that luck had served me well that day, so I asked her if she would like to go to dinner or something. She really startled me by asking me, 'Are you a Christian?'”

  “The first of several possible answers that popped into my head was, 'Well, sort of' but I ended up answering her with a simple 'Yes'. She looked at me for a long moment, as if she was weighing my answer or waiting for somebody to tell her what to do, then she replied with, 'Let's meet for lunch...at the sandwich shop...tomorrow, OK?'

  “I was hooked. I would have met her on the moon in 5 minutes if that had been the plan. Even though I had only known her for a few minutes, I could tell that she was nothing like any of the other girls I had ever known. I virtually danced back to work. Back at the office, Andy asked me, 'What's come over you? You couldn't have won the lottery because you wouldn't have come back here.' I told him, 'You're close. I just met the most amazing girl. I hardly know her, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one.'”

  Blake slipped into silence as he relived the feelings.

  Now curious, Mark prompted Blake, “So, did you meet her the next day?”

  “I sure did, after acting like a schoolboy in anticipation. I actually put on 3 different shirts that morning before work. I remember thinking that noon was never going to roll around. I was at the sandwich shop 20 minutes early, feeling really awkward. It didn't help that Andy 'just happened' to come by the sandwich shop about 10 minutes behind me, hoping to catch a look at the gal that had such an effect on me. She showed up about 5 minutes before our planned time. I guess this meeting might have been awkward, but you know how Elaine is, it is impossible to be awkward around her...”

  Suddenly Blake stopped when he heard himself using present-tense to describe Elaine. It was as if he was a balloon with the air being let out.

  After a moment, Mark said, “So, how did the lunch date go?”

  “It was pretty good, I guess” Blake replied absently.

  Mark pushed a little harder, “So, what do you remember about that lunch.”

  Blake responded, “I don't know...well, I do remember being surprised when she ordered jalapeños on her sandwich, just like I always did.

  “It threw me a bit when we got our sandwiches, because she didn't pick hers up. Instead she waited for a pause in the conversation, bowed her head and prayed silently over her meal. Then, I also remember feeling a little on-the-spot when she asked more about my Christian faith. Most of my real Christian experience came from high school youth group. My current attempts to maintain Christianity consisted of going to church once-in-a-while, so to portray my faith positively to her was a huge challenge. While I wanted to make a good impression on her, I felt like I had to be completely honest with her.

  “Her Christian faith was always the most important thing to her. Her faith was so big, I had never met anybody that lived their faith like she did. I remember once when we were planning to go hiking the following weekend, but the weatherman said that it was going to rain. She said with 100% confidence, that she and God had talked and it was not going to rain on our hike. We kept our plans, even though the weather forecast never changed. It was perfectly dry for our hike, but 5 minutes after we got back to the car, it started to downpour.

  “She really did have amazing faith,” Blake paused, then said, “but I guess her faith still wasn't much of a match for lymphatic cancer.”

  Mark said, “From what I saw, her faith really did sustain her well through the illness. I know the hospital staff was all impressed by her.”

  Blake replied, “She's still dead. She could pray for the healing of others and see God answer in miraculous ways, but it didn't help her.”

  Mark spoke gently saying, “I wish I could give you an explanation that would make sense, but there are so many things about life and death that we will just never understand.”

  “I guess,” Blake answered flatly.

  “Blake, I really don't know how you are making it, but I'm going to have to get on home or I'll never be able to get up for work in the morning. You know, that the offer to come stay with us as long as you need, is still available or if there is anything Beth or I can do for you, all you have to do is ask.”

  “I do appreciate what you've been doing. I think I'd go crazy if I didn't have somebody to talk to.”

  Mark asked, “So what about you, have you been thinking about going back to work yet?”

  “I don't know, while I think it would be good to have something to keep my mind busy, I just don't think I can cope with the people yet,” Blake said as he shook the hands of his older friend and they got up to go their separate ways.