Another whip cracked, ripping my back open some more. I couldn’t hold back the groan. Number four hurt even more.
I closed my eyes.Lord, give me the strength to endure this like You endured it. Protect Harley. Protect the baby.
Whack.
More pain. I growled. Gritted my teeth. Breathed through the excruciating torment and rising nausea.
I opened my eyes again, searching Harley. Agony was written all over her beautiful face.It’s okay, Sweetheart. Everything will be all right. I promise.
Another whip cut into my flesh, and I arched my back. The movement turned me around.
Harley gasped when she saw my back. “Craig, please stop it! You’ll kill him!”
“You think? He’s a pretty tough cookie, if you ask me.”
“What is wrong with you?” Her tone sounded level, but disbelief clung to her words.
Fuller’s gorilla grabbed my shoulder and turned me back around. Harley’s lower lip quivered when she looked at me.
“You have a spider on your head,” I said between labored breaths.
“Liar.” But she laughed.
I gave her a smile.There you go, Sweetheart.
Another whip cut into my flesh. My vision grayed. What number were we on? I’d lost count.
“Wait.” Fuller held up a hand. “We forgot something crucial.” He stalked to one of the trees and picked something up. Came sauntering back to me with a crown of thorns. He lifted it like he was crowning a king, then pressed it onto my head.
The thorns bit into my scalp. I welcomed the different kind of pain, the distraction from my burning back. I was really getting the Jesus treatment. Was crucifixion on the menu, too?
Fuller took a step back and regarded his work like a painter admiring his masterpiece. He smiled. “Perfect. Keep going.”
The next whip elicited a strangled roar from me. I could feel the blood running down my back.Lord, I can’t . . .I let out a growl.Give me the strength to endure this.
Here I had my desert thorns and briar treatment. The punishment I’d thought I deserved. Yet it changed nothing. It didn’t erase my sins or make me feel better. Neither did my self-imposed proverbial flagellation—
Hold up. I almost laughed out loud at the revelation that had just hit me. It was a shaky analogy at best, but the truth finally hit home. The reason I got this whipping was because of Harley. Her actions had me hanging here. At least that’s what she was saying, even though I didn’t quite agree. Either way I gladly took the whipping upon me because I loved her and our baby, and I would volunteer to do it again and again and again, no matter how many times Harley got us into this situation. That’s exactly what Jesus had done for us. He’d taken the humiliation and excruciating pain on Him so we could have eternal life, even though we didn’t deserve it. After the flagellation He’d carried the heavy cross, then been nailed to it. All that because He loved us so much and wanted to pay for our sins.
Rejecting His forgiveness by not forgiving myself meant He’d gone through all of this torment for nothing. How arrogant and idiotic I’d been.
I lowered my chin to my chest.Lord, please forgive me for being so blind. For not appreciating what You’ve done for me. Despite knowing that I couldn’t earn my salvation, my heart couldn’t grasp it. It does now. Thank You for Your sacrifice. Thank You for the high price You paid for me.
My hearing hollowed more with every merciless whip. Darkness crowded out consciousness until I teetered along the abyss.
Not much more was needed, and blackness would swallow me whole.
Chapter 33
Harley
“Why are you doing this?” My voice shook with anger as I leveled a stare at Craig.
Each time Kingsley got whipped, I flinched. His head was lowered, blood trickling down his forehead and temples where the crown of thorns had penetrated his skin. He’d stopped moving a while ago. I hoped with all my heart that he was unconscious and didn’t have to feel the excruciating pain any longer. My goodness, his back had looked like carnage. Each whip ripped into his flesh, leaving deep gashes. I’d had no idea that just one whip could do so much damage. What state would his back be in once they were done?
I didn’t want to know.
Instead of continuing to beg Craig to stop, I’d started praying like a madwoman. And now I needed answers, because our time was coming to an end.
