With surprisingly steady hands, he pulled the single piece of paper from the envelope. It took seconds to read it, much longer to digest what it said. Then he had to process what she said about it. “Wait. You’re upset because he’s become a Christian? Do you think this is sincere?”
“Oh, I absolutely believe it. I have no reason to doubt it.” She paced to the dining room table and back again. “It’s infuriating to think that with everything he did to me, he can just,” she held up her fingers and snapped them, “be redeemed.”
Maybe he understood. “Valerie—”
“It’s. Not. Fair.” She enunciated every word.
“Maybe not to your human mind and heart. But God is a just God, and He makes it clear that—”
“Is that what you think I need to hear? More platitudes from Sunday school?” She interrupted him with a growl.
Standing, he crossed to her and made her stop her pacing by standing in her path. He put his hands on her shoulders and gently massaged the tense muscles. “Here’s some truth. When I saw the scars on your back and shoulders that first time we went swimming, I was overcome with a desire to kill Tyrone. It was an overwhelming reaction and if he’d been anywhere near me, I probably wouldn’t have been in control of my actions. I had to excuse myself.”
Valerie’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. “I asked you what had happened. You never said.”
“I wasn’t ready to discuss the things that happened to me because of what happened to you. That wasn’t your burden to bear. I talked about it with my dad a few times and seriously prayed about it. I had to come to a place where I could forgive him.” He ran his hands from his shoulders to her upper arms and back up to her shoulders. She tensed up but he kept rubbing. “You know, the apostle Paul was a pretty hardcore anti-Christian man. He persecuted Christians and was even present and complicit in the stoning death of the disciple Stephen.”
She looked up at him with tears burning in her eyes. He could feel the tension in her body radiating through his hands. He continued. “When Paul had the encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, he tried to join the Christians and they didn’t trust him. They thought he was just pretending so he could infiltrate their ranks.”
“So?”
“So, Valerie, there is nothing new under the sun. You are not the only person to feel this way about a once personal enemy coming into the fold of Christ. From our perspective, it doesn’t seem fair that someone who perpetrated a heinous crime against us would be allowed the same grace as what is available to us. But what we don’t see, with our limited perspective, is that we are as undeserving of God’s grace as anyone else. Christ died for Tyrone’s sins as much as He died for yours.”
She shrugged his hands off and stepped away from him. “He ruined my life.”
Brad nodded. “I get why you would say that. But I don’t think you’re ruined forever and ever. I think if you can forgive him, you’ll start to move on.”
She whirled around and lifted her chin in a regal manner. “Forgive him?” She spat out. “Forgive him? How dare you—”
“I don’t dare. I’m simply repeating what Christ said. ‘Forgive one another, as I have forgiven you.’ It’s up to you to forgive Tyrone for what he did to you. It’s not up to you to cling to the past and use it to justify letting memories and thoughts of him continue to dig a pit in your heart.”
The tears fell down her face. The anger left her expression and a mask of hurt settled over her features. “Why are you taking his side?”
“Valerie, baby, I am only on your side. You are the most important person on the earth to me and I want so desperately to help you, to see you healed. But I’m not going to nurture your negative thoughts. I’m only ever going to tell you the truth.”
“The truth, huh?” Throwing herself back into her chair, she pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Here’s some truth for you. Tyrone Baker deserves death. He does not deserve eternal life.”
Brad slipped his hands into his pockets and closed his eyes, praying silently that God would give him some brilliant divine guidance into how to handle this conversation in a way that neither destroyed Valerie’s faith nor their brand-new relationship.
“Do you remember the story of Jonah?” He asked quietly.
“I was raised in the same church as you.”
“Do you know what kind of city Nineveh was?”
She raised her head and glared at him, finally speaking in a very sarcastic tone. “Evil?”
He nodded. “Very much so.” He sat down again. “Evil as in there are historical passages that talk about the military rulers cutting off the heads of hundreds of people and stacking them into a pyramid. Forced incest. Demon worship. The works.”
She waited a few heartbeats before replying. “And?”
“And God sent Jonah there to pass judgment on the city as a whole, a city of about 120,000 people, to give them a deadline for repentance. If they did not repent and turn from their evil ways, God would destroy their city as He had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. If they did repent, He would not destroy them.”
“I told you I know the story, Brad.”
“Yes, I know you do. Do you remember how it ended?”
The tears had dried on her face. “I can barely wait for you to enlighten me.”
