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Topic: Insulted (11/01/04)
TITLE: I’ll Pray for You By Kathleen Shelton 11/04/04 |
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His mind wandered back to his younger days when as a youth he had confronted one of those Christian people. Actually, there was no fight to it. No matter what he said or did to provoke the young boy, his response was always the same. “I’ll pray for you”. The worst, most insulting thing is that even then, he believed that the boy actually did. He could picture him in his minds’ eye, down on his knees, praying to some unknown, nonexistent force, to save his soul. “Humph” he muttered to himself, now, his own flesh and blood was preaching this God.
Eventually, he gave up taunting and beating up on that boy. Something about the way that kid would look at him with pity and say “I’ll pray for you” unnerved him. He remembered the last time he saw the boy. He was in the hospital, gravely ill and awoke to this kid standing by his bedside, and praying! Angrily, he demanded that the kid leave and not return. Then he almost choked when he remembered what the boy said upon departing. “Someday, your own children and their children will pray for you. Until then, I’ll pray for you”
He was glad that the kid could not see the twist of fate that befell him. Goodness gracious, but, wouldn’t he get a good laugh if he knew that his own son and now grandson did indeed worship the same so called God.
The sound of a car pulling up in the drive brought him back to the present. Someone was in the car with his grandson, a pretty young gal. “Grandpa, I want you to meet my future wife”, his grandson beamed. Something seemed vaguely familiar about that girl, but, he couldn’t quite put his finger upon what it was.
The girl was nice enough, but something about her demeanor that unsettled him. Something about her reminded him of that kid so many years ago. Maybe it was just because of his thoughts earlier. The afternoon passed swiftly, and soon it was time for the two young kids to leave. Upon leaving, the young girl bent over, kissed the old man on his cheek and whispered in his ear, “I’ll pray for you”.
Kathleen Ann Shelton