Prelude:
In the wake of hearing about too many relationships devastated by immorality and its cover-ups, I couldn’t handle it any longer.
“If we have truly been redeemed and forgiven at the cross by the creator of the universe, why are we hiding our stories?” I asked myself and my family.
Frustrated to the point of anger upon hearing of men who cower in the shadows of their past (which is supposedly redeemed), I suddenly had an idea. It was one of the scariest things I had ever done. Apart from my family and a handful of friends, I had never shared it with anyone. I was sure people would reject me, that no girl would ever accept me after this, that I would lose face—but I knew I had to do it.
So on March 21, 2013 I put into practice what I had learned two months before in “Grieving” and shared one of my darkest secrets. To my surprise, it dramatically changed my life for he better and very well might have saved my faith.
It was this story that caught the attention of Brett Harris and gave him the nudge to ask if I’d write for TheRebelution.com, which has, in itself, changed my life.
I thought I was sharing my story, but in reality, it isn’t mine at all…
Story
“[Not] an Accident” Revisited
Prelude:
In the fall of 2012, four days before my brother’s wedding, my mother, sister, and I were in a car accident. The incident dramatically affected not only the course of my life, but my very identity.
In the proceeding months, blogging, journaling, and writing poetry became one of the primary ways I processed the accident and aftermath.
Looking through my old blog, Fraction, I was recently amazed at how quickly this process began for me. My first post after the accident was only two weeks later. It was titled “Hope.”
Over the next several months, I want to revisit some of these pivotal pieces as well as publish some of the poetry and other prose I had written during that time, but never published. My hope is that it will not only be healing for me to remember what God has brought me through, but also healing for those of you who have gone or are going through a similar experience.
If that’s you, please know: You are not alone.
I’m beginning with a piece which describes—in details I had since forgotten—what it was like for me to wake up that day. Although some of my theology has matured since I originally wrote it, I do hope you find it encouraging and inspiring.
Without further ado:
A Simple Story
Well, so, this is just a little story I thought I would share with all of you.
It is not a story of magnificence, nor one of life threatening situation. It is not a story with a hero or a villain. It is not a story set in another world.
It is a story set in another time, and another place. It is a story of God pulling through for a young lad.
It was not very important, but it was frustrating, for the young lad. You see, this young lad was about…mm, 9 or so. He grew up a PK.
What is a ‘PK’? It is a ‘Preacher’s Kid’, or a ‘Pastor’s Kid’. What is the significance of being a PK? Well, to tell the truth, it varies for every PK. Each has a different life. Some have hard, troubling lives. Others have easy, popular lives. And some, have middle lives, not to bad, not extremely swell. I think this particular PK could fall in all three of those categories.
Something you must remember before we go on. Every PK is, normal. They make mistakes too. They are human, in need of God’s grace.
Back to the story.
This lad not only grew up a PK, but he also grew up a CK, now a CK is less known. In fact, I do not think I have heard Ck ever used before, so I shall explain to you what a CK is.
A CK is a ‘Contractors Kid’ or, ‘Carpenters Kid’. And an interesting fact is, Jesus was also a CK. But like PK’s, CK’s are not perfect either.
This young lad of about 9 had a special Bible that his father had given to him when he was younger, about 7, I believe.
Now this Bible was very Important to–uh, Caleb, we shall call the lad Caleb. Caleb Dale Washington. Not only was the Bible special but the things inside were special. Now I know that the artifacts inside a Bible should not be more important then the Bible itself, though I am not saying they were, but you must understand that Caleb grew up in a country where you could just go buy another Bible at the local bookshop. We shall call Caleb’s local book shop Town Medicine, for you could also pick up medicine there. (The bookshop was not the only place to buy Bibles, there were many other places to buy Bibles, but we shall omit them for sake of time.) But, this bookshop does not pertain to the story I am telling.
As I was saying, this Bible was an all around important Bible, both because his father had given it to him, and because of the pictures and drawings he had inside it.
But one day, to the horror and astonishment of Caleb, the Bible disappeared!! What should he do? Caleb immediately shifted into search and rescue mode.
He looked all over his house, but he could not find this Bible–anywhere.
It was not long before Caleb became a very sad lad. His mother tried and tried to find the Bible, but it had disappeared. Vanished. Caleb tried to think very hard. “Where could of it gone to? Where did I lay it down?” He thought.
Over time, Caleb began to forget about his Bible. He stopped looking for it every time his family went to church, and Caleb became positively angry at God for taking away something so special. He tried to tell himself it was just a Bible and the things inside were, merely things….but, they were, merely..special, things.
Little did little Caleb know that God was teaching him many different lessons. He was teaching Caleb, Patience. He was also teaching Caleb that He [God] is more important then ‘things’.
Caleb would pray that his Bible would come back. But he never expected it to. He began to blame his poor brothers and sisters for ‘stealing’ it. But of course, they had not.
His mother would ask around at different churches when they would visit, to see if maybe Caleb had left it there on a prior visit, but it never was there.
And then one day, when Caleb was older his family decided they were going to move. Caleb did not want to. He did not want to leave his friends, but God was telling his family to move, to a far far away land.
So now they had to pack up and move. But before they could pack up, they had to sort through their boxes and sift out what they did not need.
And as they were working their way through the boxes in storage closets and such like, they came across a box that belonged to Caleb. What was inside it? he opened it up–and there were a few random odds and ends that he had to sort through and get rid of the stuff he did not want, or need.
But then, as he pulled out the things, his hand pulled out a green thick book. And there, in his hand was a–Bible. The Bible, the one that had caused him so much turmoil! The one that God ‘supposedly’ had taken away unjustly.
So, this was one of God’s reasons for the move? He wanted to prove himself to Caleb. And it was not God’s fault, nor anyone else’s. The Bible had merely been misplaced. And how, when and who did it remains a mystery to this day. But it was an obvious mistake.
Caleb also found many other long lost possessions because of that move. And little did young Caleb know, but that move would change his life–forever. And a change, for the good.
C.D.