“Where would we live?” That was Lauren’s question. She was almost eight months pregnant and thinking “home.” Marcus had no questions. He was eight months unemployed and thinking “job.” Before, Marcus was hesitant and Lauren was excited. Now they had reversed roles.
Mr. Johnson wanted Marcus to be his right hand man. He would show Marcus how to run his ranch. Lauren, sharp as a tack when it came to numbers, would have part-time work keeping his books. They could live in the 1500 square-foot ranch house on his property out in
But Lauren had questions. “We’re putting all our eggs in Mr. Johnson’s basket. How do we know his business will keep going strong? What do we know about his character? Larue is way out there. I’ll have the baby in a month or so. The timing is inconvenient.”
She wasn’t protesting as much as thinking out loud. Marcus knew in the back of his mind he should be cautious but he was ready to get to work. He countered her concern, “Or is the timing perfect? We could get all moved in in just a couple weeks and be all ready for the baby.”
Marcus saw a green light, but Lauren saw yellow. “There’s the sentimentality factor here. Mr. Johnson’s connection with your grandfather. I wonder if that will keep us from making a clear decision.” Now Marcus was getting frustrated. He stopped and looked at Lauren. She raised her eyebrows and looked right back at him as if to say, “I have a point, don’t I?” Marcus took a deep breath. He went over to the printer and got out a clean sheet of paper. He got a pen out of the drawer in the kitchen and sat down at the table. He drew a line down the middle of the paper.
On one side he wrote “pros” and they made a list: start making money now, get settled before the baby is born, house instead of apartment, long term place to live, Lauren can stay at home, Lauren has part time work, we can work together (Lauren said, “Is that a pro or a con?”)
On the other side he wrote “cons”: isolated, farther from family and stores, etc., is there a good church out there?, long-term stability of job, Marcus has to learn something new, don’t really know Mr. Johnson, snakes (Lauren hated snakes.)
It turned out to be a symmetrical list: seven items on each side. They looked at the paper for a while hoping it would make the decision for them.
Marcus broke the silence. “What scripture can help us here?” Lauren thought for a second. Then she said, “James
Marcus said, “Well that’s me. I lack wisdom.” He took another deep breath and said, with some resolve, “Let’s pray about it for one week. In the meantime we’ll get advice from people we trust: your mom, my dad, people at church. One week from today we’ll meet right back here and make a decision.”
Lauren was proud of Marcus. She said, “Okay, let’s pray now.” And they did.
More about Marcus Redding’s journey of faith next week.
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