Chapter 43

            "Guess who!" boomed the male voice of the man whose hands had been placed over her eyes as she sat at a table alone in the university union building.

            "Let's see, could it be Mr. King?" She said knowingly.

            "You're right!" He said with a smile on his face as he let go and moved around to sit in the seat opposite her.

            "And guess whose grant came through after all?" He said with a grin.

            "Yours!"  Shawanda responded delightedly not giving the least hint that she knew how it had happened.

            "Oh, girl, one more year and we'll be out of here.  With a Master's degree I'll be able to get me a good job, some threads, a set of wheels, and..."  He was about to go on but Shawanda interrupted him with a question of her own.

            "And what about us?"  She asked.

            "What do you mean?  We'll be the same."  He replied.

            "Well, what about marriage?"  She was more pointed now.

            "Hey, babe, let's not rush into things. Besides babe, if you won't let me try the goods, how do I know I want to marry you?"  He said softly in an enticing manner.

            "James King!  I told you a thousand times, I promised my mother I'd be a virgin when I married and I meant it.  So if you don't want to buy the cow, you don't get to drink the milk.  If you get my meaning."

            Jesse's eyes narrowed and his grin tightened.  "Well lady, I'm a man and I got needs.  If you won't satisfy those needs, then I'll find somebody who will!"  With that he stood up, turned his back, and walked away.

            Shawanda who had learned to be hard over the years blinked her eyes to make sure not a tear would run down her cheekds.

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            "Charles, are you down there?"  Aaron asked.  "You took over the meeting and went right into that polygamy stuff again.  You know my wife doesn't want to hear anymore about the stuff."  He said in exasperation.

            "Well, I thought we were forming a group to meet people's real needs not just a group to preach pretty sounding theories to" Charles said.

            "Loving God is not a theory" Aaron retorted.

            "No! Not when you bring it down to the reality of being a doer of the word and not just a hearer."  Charles replied.

            "Yeah, well why does everything have to go back to this plural wives stuff?"  Aaron questioned.

            "Because I was answering the question being asked.  I was meeting the need."  Charles responded.

            "You've got a widow who is concerned about whether she can ever be married again and a young lady who may be considering marrying an unsaved man because he is of the same race she is."  Charles went on.  "Do you want them to be lost in making wrong decisions while you tip toe around hard issues to stay with more safe ones."

            Aaron paused, bit his lower lip and turned away from Charles for a moment.  He knew it was difficult to beat Charles in an argument.  He took a deep breath and decided to spill his soul out to his friend.

            "Look, man." he began.  "I'm living on my savings.  That's not going to hold out forever.  I've got to support me and my wife."

            "Oh, if it's money you want, why not get a job?"  Charles said.

            "I had a job and a very nice one thank you, before you got us involved in this whole polygamy mess."  Aaron said angrily. 

            "You were a hireling," Charles responded.  "And it sounds like you want to be one again. Why don't you just get a job driving a truck?"  He suggested.

            "Why...I...uh...was trained to be a minister."  Aaron retorted.

            "The fact is you were trained to be a hireling, and you don't want to work a real job where you might have to get your hands dirty.  You don't want to face the humiliation of not being a paid professional preacher.  Face the fact, Aaron, I know the truth and you know it too, if you're willing to face it!"  Charles concluded.

            Aaron paced a few steps away, placed his hands on his hips, then turned his head from side to side.  He then turned ninety degrees, crossed his arms across his chest and glanced at Charles out the corners of his eyes.  He wondered how could this black man from Kenya see through his heart so clearly as if it was a pure glass windowpane.

            He paused and thought for a long time.  Finally, he turned to Charles, stretched his hands to the side and said, "Okay, help me.  What should I do?"

            "Well first of all, forget about being a pastor for a while.  Get a job.  Have some kids.  Natural children will help you learn how to train spiritual children.  Then your charge is not to preach sermonettes on Sundays and counsel them when they need it.  Your function is to raise sons and daughters to maturity.  When you really do that the financial support will be there although it may be a while.  Be a father to a family of people not just a paid preacher."

            Aaron thought about what Charles had said.  It made sense.  Abraham was a father to his children and a whole clan of people.  Israel was a father to twelve sons and then to their wives and families.  Moses in a similar way was a father figure to the children of Israel.

            In the New Testament, Paul had said “though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet ye have not many fathers.”  John the apostle had spoken to children, to young men, and to fathers.

            He and Cheryl had purposely avoided having children.  Why, he asked himself.  Had his potential children, so far been sacrificed on the altar of self or selfishness not wanting to have the pain, trouble, and the expense of children? 

            It wasn't a pleasant thought, but was it his own or was God revealing an important truth to him?  Charles and Aaron's talk was revealing, but so would be Cheryl's and Shawanda's.