"I just never thought a defrocked pastor would help me find my path so well. I mean I thought for what they said you did you’d be bad through and through."
Father Farmer closed his eyes and nodded as if he got that a lot.
“Anyway,” the skinny, tank-topped, heavily tattooed woman said, “It's like you're not trying to convert me or anything. It's like you're confident this unusual path of mine will lead me to truth.”
She hesitated and then gave him a hug as if her question of its propriety was overcome by the amount of appreciation she felt for this man. The door to the diner clanged shut after her and a moment later he pushed through the door as well. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back in the sunshine.
He had met with a lesbian named Samantha on Monday, a 60-year old man named Gerald who was dabbling in hinduism and buddhism on Wednesday, and now Kerri, the bipolar woman who had brought home-made crackers and broccoli into the greasy diner because her body's energy was imbalanced today.
Most had been hurt by the church, and were now searching for truth elsewhere. But he recognize something in all of them. Something was drawing them toward itself. It had taken a long circuitous route, but God had brought him back. It had involved 30 years of pursuing other things like these and learning to forgive himself and the church, and realizing it was only always Jesus that wanted all of him and was calling him back.
He pulled out his phone and saw a twitter notification he was tagged in. "My partner Samantha lost her bout with depression today. Despite the support of good people around her she gave up. Keep us all in your prayers."
Father Farmer caught his breath and groaned in despair. Samantha was his coffee date on Monday. He closed his eyes, gathered his strength and whispered, "Lord, how could you let her go when she was so close to finding you again?"
Slowly a realization wiped a blank stare across his face. Then he opened up a tweet of his own and typed, “Maybe God is drawing people into heaven, though some will not realize the name of who they search for until they find Jesus there."
Raw Spoon, 8-26-19
Comentarios