Marcus Redding Feels The Heat

It was 3:45 p.m. on a Thursday in the middle of June. No clouds. Just sun. The heat index had to be over 100. And there was no shade where they were working.

All three of them were in a waist deep hole, tossing muddy dirt up and to the side. Justin was used to working outside in the hot weather plus he was 18 years old. Mr. Johnson, he’d been doing things like this all his life. He had on jeans and long sleeves and a cowboy hat and it didn’t seem to bother him any. But Marcus wasn’t used to this kind of work. He was a hard worker all right, he didn’t know any other way, but he didn’t know how to pace himself, and the 20 ounce Gatorade he brought with him wasn’t quite enough.

That morning Marcus had checked one of the bed-and-breakfast cabins on the ranch, getting it ready for some folks who would be staying the weekend. When he turned on the faucet, there was no water pressure. He called Mr. Johnson who said they replaced a leaky pipe a couple weeks ago outside that cabin, that must be the problem. They needed to fix it now because the cabin had to be ready by Friday morning. So Mr. Johnson brought the tools and the pipe and met Justin and Marcus at the cabin.

They almost had the pipe dug up when Mr. Johnson got a call on his cell. He answered and then jumped up out of the hole and walked away a few steps. He listened for a while and then sighed and closed the phone. “I’ve got to take care of something at the bank. Can you boys finish this up?” Justin said, “Sure, we’ll have it done in a half hour.” Marcus wasn’t so sure, he was starting get a little dizzy and he had a headache, but he didn’t want Justin to know that, so he reassured Mr. Johnson they could take care of it.

Marcus and Justin kept digging. After a while they found the leak and laid the new section of pipe. Marcus needed to walk over to the cabin to turn on the faucet but he barely made it. He was so hot. He turned on the faucet and everything was good. He stuck his head under the water for a while and that helped a little, but then he went back out to help Justin replace the dirt. Marcus was shaking and unsteady by the time they got done. When they got back into Marcus’s pickup, Justin offered him a Pepsi and he guzzled it down. Marcus dropped Justin off at the office then headed back to his ranch house. His calf muscles were all cramped up and it seemed like his heart was racing. He parked the truck and kicked his boots off on the garage floor and kind of stumbled inside the kitchen. Lauren was getting dinner together and Micah was in his little swing. When she saw him she said, “Your face is red as a beet! Are you okay?” Marcus whispered, “Ah juff nee a coo vergotz” and with that he lost his balance and almost fell. Lauren caught him and got him to sit down. His skin was hot and dry and his eyes weren’t really focusing.

Lauren grabbed Micah’s thermometer and put it into Marcus’s ear…104.6! “Marcus, you’ve got heat stroke.” She flew into emergency mode. She took off his shirt and ran to turn down the air conditioning to 60. She tried to get him to drink a glass of cool water but he spit it up after a few gulps. “I’m taking you to the hospital.” In seconds she grabbed her cell phone, grabbed two ice packs out of the freezer, and got Micah into his car seat in the car. She half dragged Marcus to the car and put the ice packs under his armpits. She started the car and sped down the driveway, kicking up a rooster tail of gravel. In her hurry she didn’t remember the pot of water boiling on the stove.

But what hospital? They were closer to Athens than Tyler. But where was the hospital in Athens? She’d never been there before. But she knew exactly how to get to the hospitals in Tyler. She turned and headed west. Micah was crying, her cell phone was ringing, and Marcus was muttering something that didn’t make sense. She was trying not to panic. As she flew down the highway at 85 miles per hour she kept repeating Psalm 86:7 “In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me.”

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

Marcus Redding: Tired But Happy

Micah was crying and Marcus heard Lauren mumble something that sounded like, “So tired…” He fumbled in the dark for his cell phone and pushed a couple buttons to light it up. 2:41 a.m. Marcus leaned over and said, “I’ll take him.” Lauren mumbled more clearly now, “No, you need to rest too, you are exhausted.” Marcus said, “Yeah, but I’m not recovering from major surgery. Let me take him, 1 Peter 3:7 you know.” Lauren relented, “I feel that scripture right now,” and she turned over and went back to sleep. Marcus wrapped up Micah and took him out of the bedroom to walk him back to sleep. Back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, down the hall, around the extra bedroom, back up the hall. He didn’t mind at all.

He was tired enough to sleep through the night. Mr. Johnson might have been in his seventies but he could outwork Marcus. Just today they cut down a couple pine trees, repaired the a/c unit on one of the cabins, baled hay, and doctored a hurt calf. It was a new kind of work for him and his body was still adjusting.

They couldn’t have made it without Ruth’s help the first week. Marcus took the first few days off then Ruth came and stayed at the ranch house and cooked and watched Micah some so Lauren could rest. Sometimes Mr. Johnson would come in a check on everyone. He met Ruth and they started to talk. Mr. Johnson even called her during the week. When Ruth got off the phone with him she saw Lauren looking at her, “I know what that look means. The man is twenty years older than me. So don’t get any ideas.” Lauren laughed but the laughter hurt her stomach, “Ouch…it’s his ideas I’m worried about, mom.” Lauren laughed some more, “C-section…ha-ha…ow…ha-ha…ouch…”

But now Ruth had gone back home to screen Mr. Johnson’s calls and Marcus and Lauren were on their own. Just the three of them. And they felt like they were really on their own for the first time. It was exciting, even though they were busy and both of them were exhausted. They had a new house, a new baby, a new start…and they were going to a new church.

They didn’t go with the crowd on this one. So many people would drive farther to a bigger church instead of going to a smaller church close by. But Marcus knew the value of a fresh start and even before they moved out to the ranch he told Lauren he was thinking about the little church in Rayville. She wasn’t too sure. She was thinking young families and support and friends their age. They visited a few times before Micah was born. There were only a few people their age, part of three generation families. But the folks were friendly, the preaching was good, they had a couple elders and some deacons. It seemed to be a well-organized and busy group of folks. Maybe they wouldn’t stay there forever, but it was good for now. Marcus had been reading Romans and told Lauren about this verse, “’Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.’ So maybe it’s not about what we can get out of it, but what we can do to help the church.”

Lauren wanted to keep Micah in for the first few weeks so the first Sunday after Micah was born a few of the ladies met Marcus at the door and told him they had food for them in the refrigerator. A nice surprise. But he was more surprised after services when they brought it out to his truck: broccoli and cheese casserole, brisket, big pot of chili, chicken pot pie, sweet potato pie, three kinds of salad, homegrown fruit. And there was a note from a few of the ladies in which they offered to come by and watch Micah for a while so Lauren could get some rest.

Marcus got home and brought in the food and showed Lauren the note. She looked at the food, she looked down at Micah, she looked around the house, and she looked at her husband. “Jehovah Jireh,” she said. “The Lord will provide.”

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