SUNDAY DECEMBER 29, 2019

My girlfriend and I have been seeing each other religiously since the last time I wrote.

We are falling more and more each day.

Since Christmas Day, she has consistently stated that she wants to marry me and I couldn’t agree more.

I just woke up to her text, “Good morning baby. I can’t wait to see you at church. Love you!”

So, I reply, “Here is a good morning kiss from me to you. I love you too and I will start getting ready.”

She then replies with a kissy face emoji and a blushing face emoji.

I look outside my window and see that the weather is very dreary, somewhat damp, and slightly cool.

I select my favorite clothes from my closet: some sturdy black pants, a dark grey Oxford shirt, a white tee shirt white crew socks, a brown belt, and brown work boots. I hang the clothes from my bedroom door knob and place the boots and socks on the floor.

With that, I step into my bathtub and draw some hot water.

After relaxing for a few minutes, I scrub my body with Dial Soap and my hair with Tresseme`.

Afterward, I let the water drain out, then crack the valve, strike a match, and light my bathroom heater.

After I am completely dry, I shave until I have a baby face once again. I splash some Aqua Velva on my face then get dressed.

I clip my Leatherman Style PS to my front right belt loop, my Streamlight Jr. in my right side pocket, my SwissGear wallet and my Motorola e5 Play Smart Phone in my left side pocket.

Finally, I grab my SwissGear backpack along with my keys, then exit my front door, locking and deadbolting it behind me.

While waiting for my church neighbors to arrive, I sit on the front steps of my house and put on my Wayfarer reading glasses, and read my Bible.

My next-door neighbor is picking up pecans in his yard. He keeps giving me dirty looks, to which I try to ignore him, then turn my Bible to the latter parts of Ephesians Chapter 6.

I start thinking about my girlfriend and then begin to read the Song of Solomon, with a smile from ear to ear.

My neighbor shouts at me, “What the hell are you so happy about?”

Calmly I reply, “I see something in the Bible that makes me think of my girlfriend.”

“You’re a total hypocrite, reading the Bible and going to church, but I saw you and your girlfriend go inside your house alone together and not come out for several hours. Y’all were making babies in there and my taxes are going to support them because you’re too lazy to work and she is too fat.”

I pull out my Motorola Smartphone, activate the camcorder feature, and say, “Just keep harassing me, I’m recording you and turning over everything you say to the police.”

“You’re just a punk. How dare you! I served my country. All you do is live off the government and screw your girlfriend while my taxes have to pay for you and her lifestyle. Those tax dollars could instead go to giving me better benefits than having to use the VA.”

“We both have significant mental illnesses that require expensive medications. And my girlfriend has sustained lots of trauma so it’s pretty low of you to comment about her weight.”

“What trauma did the snowflake sustain, did her parents spank her or something?” My neighbor sarcastically asks.

“No, it’s much worse than that, but it’s none of your business.”

“Well, she only wants you because she is fat and no one else would pay attention to her.”

“I think she is beautiful and that she also has a heart of gold. Furthermore, I am recording everything you say.”

“You don’t scare me. I have connections.”

“This is going on YouTube as well so everyone can see what a jerk you are!”

“You’re lucky I don’t come over there and beat your butt.”

“You’ll be assaulting a disabled individual, and that is a felony.”

The couple from church pulls up in their van and sees me arguing with my neighbor.

“What’s going on here?” The man asks.

“My neighbor is being a jerk, as usual.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” The lady asks my neighbor.

“I don’t know why you’re even bringing him to church. Between Christmas and now he and his girlfriend were alone in his house several times. I don’t need to paint you a picture of what they were doing in there.”

“Then they need to be in church even more, as do you,” The lady tells him

“Don’t preach to me, woman, I served my country. All you do is social work or as I call it ‘socialist’ work. People like you are the reason why so many young people are so soft these days.”

“Hey. Don’t talk to my wife like that?”

My neighbor spits on the ground waving his rake, and says “Or what?!”

The man looks at me and asks, “Are you still recording?”

I nod.

“Well you’re intimidating government workers and we have a recording of it. You need to stop right now.”

“As I told your punk friend, I have connections.”

“So do we and they have a much more clout than your good ole boys.” The lady says.

“I suggest you quit, or you will be arrested and charged.” The man finally says.

“This isn’t over.” My neighbor shouts.

I keep recording him.

The man then says, “If you’re looking for trouble you will find more than you bargained for.”

My neighbor starts cussing at us and I get it all on video.

“We’re going to be late for church,” The lady says.

“Let’s go then,” Her husband says.

I grab my SwissGear backpack and enter the right rear passenger side of the van.

The man gets in on the front passenger side and the lady gets in on the driver’s side.

We then head to church.

“Please share that video to both of our phones through Bluetooth,” The lady says.

“Will do,” I reply.

I send it to both of them and I also back it up in several clouds.

“We are going to talk to some higher-ups in the police department as well as the D. A. He has been making too many people miserable for too long and it needs to stop now,” The man says.

“He’s such a pig. I don’t care whether he is a veteran or not, he has no right to mistreat you or anyone else.”

We arrive at church. My girlfriend is waiting for me at the entrance. She is wearing a red Courdoroy jumper that goes just below her knees, with a black and white checkered shirt underneath, some black knee-length socks, and clog shoes.

We share a hug and a kiss, then walk to the sanctuary together.

We sit next to each other in the pew, holding hands as the service begins to start.

We praise God together during the worship service, The first song is “Open the Eyes of my heart, Lord” and we both sing out loud with arms raised high. The second song is El Shadai and we close our eyes in contemplative worship. The final song is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and we sing along with joy.

Then the main pastor walks up on stage and begins preaching. His sermon entails how we must seek God not only when we need or want something from Him, but also seek Him when our needs and desires are fully met and everywhere in between.

My girlfriend rests her head on my chest until the main pastor gives us a stern look, then continues preaching.

Finally, there is an altar call and we both go down to pray, for ourselves and each other. We also recommit ourselves to Jesus Christ.

Afterward the main service, we go to Sunday School in the special needs class.

Our teacher asks if there are any prayer requests, to which I answer, I have some praise that God put me and this lovely young lady together and I just pray that he blesses our relationship.

“I’m in total agreement on that!” My girlfriend says as she holds my hand.

The young man from the other couple then says, “For my wife.”

The young woman from the other couple adds, “For my husband.”

Our teacher then leads us in prayer then we get started on the lesson.

Soon afterward, we get off the topic and the other couple starts talking about the flaws in the marriage.

The young man says that his wife listens to everyone but him.

The young woman says how he is thoughtful to everyone but her.

The teacher looks at my girlfriend and me and asks, “What do y’all think?”

“I have prayed that God would send me someone special for some time now. I intend to marry her in time and love her as Christ loves the church,” I tell our teacher.

My girlfriend then says, “I have had a hard time trusting a man let alone submitting to one until I met my boyfriend. He is so sweet to me and I honestly thought I would never meet like him. And just for the record, I also want to marry him and I wish I could right this moment.”

The young man then remarks, “Y’all just have that new relationship feeling, it will wear off in time,”

His wife gives him a pair of eyes then I say, “How dare you even speak that into existence.”

“Oh, so you’re one of those Christians?” He asks in an arrogant tone.

“What do you mean?”

“Speaking stuff into existence. We don’t talk about that Pentecostal garbage in this church.”

The young man’s wife elbows him.

“It’s in the Bible though,” I reply, then continue, “I only want to speak life and good things about me and my girlfriend’s relationship.”

My girlfriend holds my hands and puckers her lips at me.

We then rub our noses.

“That’s inappropriate for church,” The young man says.

“Leave them alone, they are a cute couple. We could learn something from them.”

“When they have been married as long as we have, then I will listen.”

“Sometimes I don’t know why I married you.”

“I married you because I am committed to you and I made that commitment before God. Maybe I could be more affectionate if you listened to me.”

“Maybe I would listen if you were more kind like you are to everyone else.”

“Y’all are already headed towards the relationship death spiral. It happened with me and my ex-wife.” I tell them.

“Oh, looks whose speaking things into existence now. You’re a hypocrite and an adulterer as well.”

“You don’t know me or my past. I think you’re miserable and you want everyone else to be. And that fact that my girlfriend and I make each other happy fills you with envy.”

“All right, settle down.” Our teacher says with authority.

“Sorry sir, I was already on edge because my neighbor is making more trouble with me.”

“That man is scary and he is such a jerk,” My girlfriend adds.

“Well the couple that invited me to church is turning him in and we have video evidence of his bad behavior.”

“Good. I didn’t want to upset you, but I was so afraid when he gave us the death stare the first time you brought me to your house.”

The young man then says, “You need to confront him over his bad behavior,”

“No. He’s a veteran and he likely has guns. I don’t want my man hurt.” My girlfriend then looks at me and says, “Promise me you will avoid him at all costs, I prayed for a future spouse for a long time and I don’t want to lose you.”

“Don’t worry baby, I will let the authorities handle it. I promise you.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.”

We then share another very brief kiss.

The bell then rings and we are dismissed.

“After you get home and rest a little while, come to my place and have dinner with me and my roommates.”

“Will do baby.”

With that, we hold hands until we are at the exit.

We share a long passionate kiss and then those three little words, then she gets in the car with her roommates and I get in the van with the couple who invited me to church…

Back to “Second Chances”