Marcus Redding is Attacked by a Lion

Marcus was feeling pretty good about himself. After months out of a job now he lived and worked on Mr. Johnson’s ranch. He was back to 100% after his heat stroke. He helped out at church when they needed an emergency sermon and he did a good job. Everything was going well with him and his family. Things were good. So Monday afternoon when he stopped by the in-store bank to deposit his paycheck, his guard was down.

After his business at the bank he walked across the front of the store, past the rows of checkstands. It was about three in the afternoon. A few lines were open. Mostly older people picking up a few items. Or so he thought. He saw a pile of newspapers and stopped to look at the headlines for a bit. Then he heard a familiar voice call his name, “Marcus!” and someone hugged him from behind. He knew who it was. He knew from her perfume and her voice. It was Kelly. This was not good.

In the years since he had repented and straightened out his life he had gained control over his drinking. One day at a time. Every now and then he was tempted, but he didn’t drink anymore. He could handle that. In the years since he had repented he had gained control over his temper. There was that time he lost his cool at work but that was resolved pretty quickly, and it didn’t happen again. By God’s grace he had made a lot of progress. These struggles were always in the back of his mind. So he was on guard. But this chance meeting with an old girlfriend caught him by surprise. And it threw him into the middle of a battle between the Spirit and the flesh.

And it was a battle. A flood of thoughts competed for his attention. On one hand: late nights and early mornings doing things with Kelly that he should not have done. On the other hand: scriptures, spiritual songs, and a heightened awareness of his cell phone, which he could pull out at any time to call Lauren and say he was on his way home and walk out of the store and leave Kelly and his past behind him. An image of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife ran through his mind. All within the span of about two seconds. How was he going to get out of this?

He turned around. He didn’t want to look at her. But she didn’t cooperate. She held his arm and looked closely at it. Then she looked up at him, “I remember when you got this tattoo.” She smiled and swished back her long black hair. She was still holding his arm. Marcus pulled back so he could put down the newspaper. Something told him to leave but something else told him to be polite. Kelly looked down at six plastic grocery sacks at her feet. “Can you help me carry this stuff?” She looked back up at him, “I haven’t seen you for three years. Where have you been?”

Marcus was thrown off. He stammered something about his new job as he picked up the grocery bags and walked with her out of the store. Two voices shouted back and forth in his mind. One said, “Put down the groceries and walk away!” The other said, “Be polite, maybe you can help her!” Marcus asked about one of their mutual friends and Kelly started talking about other people they used to know. The voices got louder. Kelly walked a little ahead of him. Marcus was trying not to look at her. She got to her car and opened the back door. Marcus put in the groceries. She took out her cell phone and said, “Give me your number so we can catch up. I didn’t know how much I missed you until I saw you.”

Marcus shut the door and there they stood. She had her cell phone out. Ready to punch in his number. She was pretty, but she was bad news. The shouting match hurt his ears: “Walk away!” versus “You can help her!” But he remembered a fragment of a scripture, “the way of escape.” It was a piece of 1 Corinthians 10:13. He remembered his cell phone. He got it out and called Lauren and told her he was on his way home and he turned around and walked away and left Kelly and his past behind him.

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