Margaret (5)

A couple of days after my visit with Margaret I was in Winchester shopping at a big-box pet supply store. After leaving the store I pushed my shopping cart over to my pick-up truck and began loading dog food into the truck bed when I noticed a man walking toward me, it was Frank Sr., Margaret’s father-in-law. I didn’t really know Frank Sr., having only seen him in passing at the Cat Mountain General Store or the Cat Mountain post office - we had always politely acknowledged each other but had never had a conversation.

Extending my hand I said, “Well hi Frank,how are you?”

As we shook hands he replied, “I’m fine Bob. Fran told me that you were over to visit Margaret.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well, I thought I’d mention that she isn’t going to buy any of your religious merchandise. She’s too smart for that - you’re wasting your time.”

“Thanks for your insight Frank.”

“If she wants to get out of the house and go down to the church once a week that’s probably good for her, good for her to be around people, but beyond that she isn’t going to fall for using a religious crutch during her illness, religion is for weak people, weak-minded, and weak-willed.”

“Well again Frank, thank you for your insight. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Help me? I don’t need any help. Just thought I’d tell you the way things are.”

“Thanks for coming over to talk Frank, have a great afternoon.”

With that I finished loading the dog food and headed home, back to Cat Mountain. Well, at least Frank Sr. was upfront about where he stood with his thinking. I hadn’t detected such an attitude with his wife Fran, but then again I hadn’t really talked much to her during my visit to Margaret’s - just pleasantries.

I wondered why Frank Sr. would want to deprive Margaret of any possible comfort she might derive from considering the Gospel, from hearing that “God so loved the world…” I knew that he was retired from the faculty of the regional community college, but beyond that I didn’t know anything about Frank.

If death is the end of the line then why does it matter what we believe? It wouldn’t make any difference to Margaret either way - whether Frank was right nor not it wouldn’t matter if the grave is the last stop. If Margaret could derive comfort from believing something not true why the big deal?

On the other hand, if what Jesus says about Himself is true, if He is not a liar or a lunatic, but if He really is the Son of God, then it does matter; it matters what Margaret believes and it matters what Frank Sr. believes - for when we believe in Jesus and trust Him something happens inside us, it’s a miracle, we come into a relationship with the Living God. C.S. Lewis pondered how this could be, how could the death of someone 2,000 years ago affect us today? While I don’t know that Lewis fully answered the question, he did discover that it could indeed affect our lives today, in fact it could change our lives today - for the Man who suffered and died and rose again comes into the lives of those who desire a relationship with Him today and, mystery of mysteries, He gives them new life, His very own Divine life.

I don’t know why Frank Sr. was so opposed to Margaret hearing the Gospel. My own father was like that for most of his life - vehemently opposed to any discussion of religion, of church, of God, of Jesus. Is the Gospel a threat? Does it represent the possibility that we’ve been wrong all of our lives about there being no purpose in life, no existence beyond death? Perhaps the idea of not being the center of the universe is too much, of surrendering life to God and truly worshipping Him as God and dedicating life to Him?

Maybe some have only seen darkness in the church; charlatans, cheats, liars, adulterers? Margaret had little use for the church in any form when I met her - she had seen too much religious ugliness in the clergy and in congregations while growing up. Perhaps still others have had their minds poisoned by prejudiced teachers and professors who have done their best to close the minds of their students to eternal truth - academic pressure can be difficult to resist.

As I drove home from Winchester I pondered my brief encounter with Frank Sr. I wondered what Frank Jr. thought about spiritual things. I wondered where Margaret’s mother-in-law, Fran, stood in all of this, what did she think? I wondered if Margaret would come to the next ALPHA evening.