Jasmine
is stunned by Davie’s choice of words, ‘thinking at odds,' the very phrase her
family used to berate her. Just like his
response to her Noah question, he seems to be hinting to her that what she’s
been ashamed of, she should instead be proud of.
Further, she had never known Davie had been born in India, nor had it hit her that he, like her, was barely not-Capricorn. While Davie had missed Capricorn with a birth one day beyond it, Jasmine had missed Capricorn with a birth one day prior to it, making her a Sagittarian. Does any of this mean anything? Jasmine wondered. That they are exactly one year and one month apart, straddling the same sign by a single day on both sides of it? Are they drawn together to embrace their Capricorn tension?
Jasmine shakes her head, mocking herself for superstitious silliness. Even still, Davie is getting more interesting moment by moment. Jubilant he had offered her a ride, Jasmine sent up a thank you prayer that God had helped her forget to gas up her car. How did she get so lucky to have him all to herself for those two fifteen minute drives to and from Glendale and TGIFs?
Further, she had never known Davie had been born in India, nor had it hit her that he, like her, was barely not-Capricorn. While Davie had missed Capricorn with a birth one day beyond it, Jasmine had missed Capricorn with a birth one day prior to it, making her a Sagittarian. Does any of this mean anything? Jasmine wondered. That they are exactly one year and one month apart, straddling the same sign by a single day on both sides of it? Are they drawn together to embrace their Capricorn tension?
Jasmine shakes her head, mocking herself for superstitious silliness. Even still, Davie is getting more interesting moment by moment. Jubilant he had offered her a ride, Jasmine sent up a thank you prayer that God had helped her forget to gas up her car. How did she get so lucky to have him all to herself for those two fifteen minute drives to and from Glendale and TGIFs?
The
last to leave the party, Davie and Jasmine picked up the cake, cards, and the
group gift package: three sets each of tennis balls, replacement grips, and,
most notably, the natural gut tennis strings Davie loves. It was Jasmine’s idea to have the group pool
funds together for three sets of each, one for each decade of Davie’s life,
with the tennis strings as the highlight.
Natural gut’s not cheap, but a youth pastor’s salary is, so Jasmine knew
Davie couldn’t get afford this luxury too much.
“Did
you let Pam know you’d be late?” Jasmine feels a pang in her heart as she speaks
the name of Davie’s wife. “Yeah, I
texted her and she replied to have fun, so she’s cool with it.”
Once
in Davie’s car, Jasmine wonders if she can ask another, related forbidden
question she learned never to ask in Sunday school. By now, she’s almost convinced he, like her,
is a closet progressive and, today, he revealed he’s also been “thinking at
odds.” Why not take the plunge and ask
him the big question? Jasmine takes a
deep breath. Davie looks at her, smiles,
raises his up his eyebrows twice, and asks, “What’s on your mind?”
“Here’s
what I really want to know,” Jasmine begins, slowly.
“Go
on.”
“OK
here goes. Why do we worship a God who
drowns the world?”
Davie
smiles and winks at Jasmine. “Your heart
fits better with Abraham.” Jasmine gives Davie a curious look. “And Moses.” Go on. You’ve got my attention. “And even Jacob.” I’m
listening.
“OK,”
Davie says, “Let’s start with Abraham.
God wants to destroy the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Every man, woman, and child. God’s ticked.
They’ve been wicked, perverse, evil, disgusting. God wants them all gone. He tells Abraham.” Jasmine nods, entranced. Little does Davie know he has just brought up
another of her favorite stories – another one she almost got in trouble for.
“Abraham
thinks God’s gone over the top. He even
tells him so. ‘Far be it from you to do
such a thing!’ he cries out to God. He
starts to bargain with God. Would God
spare the cities if fifty good men could be found? God agrees and said He’d spare the
cities. Abraham takes it down to forty,
thirty, twenty, and then Abraham really gets bold and asks if God would spare
the cities if even ten good men could be found.
God agrees. Abraham wins.”
Still
quiet, Jasmine nods. Davie
continues. “Then there’s Moses. Remember it was God who had called Moses to
free His people. Moses: an old man with
a bad temper and poor speech. Moses
thinks God is crazy for sending him to free the Hebrew people from the hand of
the Egyptian King, but Moses does what God asks. He fights with Pharaoh, he performs miracles
before Pharaoh, and he leads the people on a very dangerous journey out of
Egypt. After crossing the Red Sea,
escaping Egypt, wandering through the desert, and going hungry and thirsty, the
people were grumbling. They’d had
enough. Where was this supposed
‘Promised Land’ and when would they finally arrive? To them, this was one promise broken. Then Moses goes up a mountain and doesn’t come
back. At least not soon enough for the
Israelites. Now they’re really mad. So they carve out a calf from their
gold. This makes God mad, so God tells
Moses He’ll destroy them. Moses, himself
fed up with the people he’s been commissioned to lead, nevertheless appeals on
their behalf to God. Once again, God
relents.”
Jasmine
smiles. She’s getting more captivated by
Davie with each statement. She can hear the pastor in his voice, but he’s not
like any pastor she’s grown up with.
Davie
flicks his turn signal into the Glendale
parking lot. “And Jacob?”
Jasmine asks.
“Now
Jacob’s different,” Davie says, with suspense in his voice. He seems to want to keep Jasmine glued to the
conversation. Will they keep talking in
his car for a while? “He doesn’t bargain
with God on behalf of anyone else. He
just doesn’t let up with God until he gets what he wants.” Jasmine nods.
“The story of Jacob’s encounter with God is truly mysterious, and to
some, the most mysterious encounter in the Bible.”
Davie
pulls next to Jasmine’s car, then whispers, “Actually, the Bible is filled with mysterious encounters; it’s loaded with them, but people don’t see
them. I think there are many encounters
more mysterious than this one with Jacob, but since most people don’t see those
ones, this is the encounter that many consider to be the most mysterious.”
I’m listening. Go on.
“Jacob’s on this journey. He’s
alone – again. When Jacob is alone,
something mysterious is likely to happen.
The last time Jacob had been alone, he came to a spot the Bible calls ‘a
certain place.’ I think that phrase, ‘a
certain place’ is a clue. It’s
purposefully ambiguous, but also a hint: this is a special place with special
energy. God doesn’t come to just any
place, only certain ones. That’s where Jacob had his dream of the
ladder.
“Now Jacob is alone again in another ambiguous,
mysterious place, and he encounters what
the Bible says is a ‘man,’ and he wrestles this man. All
night long he wrestles him.
Apparently, he loses because when they’re done, Jacob is limping, but
Jacob considers it a victory, because he doesn’t die. The whole story is weird. Ordinary wrestling matches don’t last more than
a few minutes – maybe ten minutes for an extra long one. But this one lasts all night long. And Jacob is happy that he did not die. Whoever this man is who Jacob wrestled is no
ordinary man. That’s the mystery
part. Who is this ‘man’? If this ‘man’
were just a man, then why, after Jacob wrestled him, would he have called him
‘God’?”
“Yeah, curious.”
“I find Jacob’s wrestling match both mysterious and a
sign that Jacob is a true biblical hero.”
“OK, I’m following you.
How does he differ from Noah?”
“He doesn’t give in.
Can you imagine an all-night-long wrestling match?”
Jasmine
shakes her head.
“You
think you might give up sometime around 2 am?”
Jasmine
nods.
“How
about 3 am? 4 am? 5 am? When do you think Noah would have given in?”
“Right
away.”
“Precisely.”
Jasmine
smiles. Now she’s really entranced by
this athletic, thoughtful youth pastor who thinks at odds like she does.
“So you think if Noah had tried to wrestle God or bargain
with Him, God might not have flooded the whole planet?”
“Maybe not.”
“OK,” Jasmine nods, thinking it through. “I still don’t like Noah. But at least that makes God look a little
better.”
Davie
grins. At the expense of Noah, he’s made
a small victory for God.
“But
for many Noah is still considered a hero,” Davie continues, “because they
remain in the spiritual evolution of obedience.
Some people catch early in life the essence of what is good, learn
obedience quickly, and can move onto lessons of love. You’re one of them. But those people can sometimes annoy the
people who have to learn obedience.”
Jasmine
is marveling. Does he ever get her and
her life story. Why had they not met
before they were both married?
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