Marcus Redding in the Break Room

“Did you get a little love note in your lunch Marcus? Come on, what does it say...let’s see it.” He could have told Ron to mind his own business but then the guys would have teased him more, so he went on the offensive. “Here you go.” He handed Ron the note that Lauren left in his lunch--the one that had the happy face, the letters “SHMILY,” and the scripture Acts 11:24a.

Ron scoffed, “S-H-M-I-L-Y...Schmilly? What is that? Acts? Is that something from the Bible?” Rather than get defensive, Marcus just said, “It stands for ‘See how much I love you.’ The scripture says ‘he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.’ She’s trying to convince me I’m a good man. I wish I was as good to her as she is to me.”

With that Marcus took his tupperware full of lentils and rice out of the old 1985-model break room microwave. The other three guys passed around the note but didn’t say anything, just went on chewing their sandwiches, reading the sports page, and spitting tobacco juice into styrofoam cups. After a long minute Ron said, “When I was a kid my mom used to leave a note in my lunch when I would go to school.”

This was not typical lunch room conversation. Right then it happened that Marcus picked up the community salt shaker and gave it a couple shakes over his lunch. That triggered another scripture in his mind. Another scripture that Lauren always threw into conversation when they got home at night and talked about their day: Matthew 5:13.

Marcus sat down across from Ron. “How is your mom doing?”

“She’s doing about as well as you can do for having cancer and Alzheimers at the same time.”
“Have you talked to your sister lately?”
“She called last week, Thursday I think it was. She said mom recognized her. But mom was mad they had to poke her with another IV. I don’t know why they are still giving her chemo. She’s not going to beat the cancer. It makes her weak and seems like it makes the Alzheimers worse.”
“When was the last time you saw your mom?”

Ron’s face hardened. He looked out the window. Not at anything. One of those long looks into the past. “It’s been a while. Haven’t got a chance between work and...” He words trailed off into a grim sigh.

“Your mom lives in Arlington, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Lauren got four tickets to a Rangers game from somebody at work. The game is next weekend. Come with us. We’ll leave early and we’ll take you by the nursing home so you can see your mom.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Can I pray for your mom?”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, right now.”
“Okay, I guess”

Ron awkwardly took off his hat. Marcus prayed. When he finished, he looked up and saw Ron had tears in his eyes. Ron looked down at his newspaper and said, “Your lunch is getting cold.”

More about Marcus Redding’s journey of faith next week.