Ray of Hope

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  “Amen to that,” Aaron said as he stood up and stretched.

  Ma Ray watched as Aaron tried hugging Crystal on the sly. She couldn’t hold back her smile. She could see that boy was crazy about her granddaughter. And he was a nice young man. She didn’t have a problem with Aaron liking Crystal.

  Andre stood up. He went over, took Sahara’s hand, and squeezed it. Sahara tried to smile. She continued to stare out into nothing, almost like a zombie.

  Aaron and Andre left. Crystal went to see Aaron off. Ma Ray went outside as well, arm in arm with Tootsie. Ma Ray and Tootsie hugged. Tootsie was still shaking.

  “You get some rest now, Tootsie, you hear?” Ma Ray said. “I’m going to check on you first thing in the morning. Okay?”

  Tootsie merely nodded, then got in the car with Aaron driving.

  Ma Ray went back inside, checking once again on Sahara. Kyle and Nia had left. Sahara was now sitting on the couch, still staring into nothingness.

  “You want to talk?” Ma Ray asked Sahara.

  Sahara shrugged.

  “You don’t have to now. But if you want to, I’m here. It’s entirely up to you. I know you told the police everything already. That had to be difficult for you … having to recant every single detail of what happened with Junebug. They say they’d like to talk with you again later, maybe in a few days.”

  “Ma Ray, I’m just thankful that you happened to come back when you did. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t. I wanted to be brave and help Andre, but I didn’t know what I was doing. And I was scared! I was so scared. There’s no way I could have held that shotgun and convinced Junebug that I was serious about using it. Not like you were able to do. What am I saying? I didn’t even know how to load the thing.”

  “You really didn’t need to be in that position. Honestly, I’d prefer that you never touch a gun, of any kind, ever again,” Ma Ray said. “Ever.”

  “You and me both. I don’t know how people do it. It’s scary. Guns are terrifying.”

  Ma Ray hugged Sahara. “How do you think Andre is holding up? I mean, really.”

  Sahara sat up. “He’s quiet. He didn’t have much to say after things calmed down. I think he’s probably in shock somewhat, like I am. But he’s trying to be a man about it and get through it.”

  “I understand that,” Ma Ray said. “From what you said, he was literally wrestling with someone who had a loaded gun in his hand. That would mess with anyone’s mind.”

  Sahara twisted her mouth. “The other thing: Andre heard Junebug talking to me about me possibly having exposed him to the AIDS virus.” She looked at Ma Ray and began to cry. “Oh, Ma Ray, Junebug was awful. He was so awful to me!” Sahara laid her head on Ma Ray’s shoulder. Ma Ray caressed her face as she tried to quiet her. “Junebug was cruel, and there was no reason for him to have talked to or treated me the way that he did. No reason.”

  Ma Ray began to rock Sahara in her arms. “You don’t have to do this again if you don’t want to.”

  Sahara lifted her head up. “I hate thinking about what Junebug was trying to force me and Andre to do. It was horrible, Ma Ray! He was being uncivilized. He was barbaric. And I hope he rots in prison after he’s convicted!”

  “No, baby girl. You can’t hold hate like that in your heart. It will only hurt you. Do you know what I want you to do? I want you to pray for Junebug. That’s right. I want you to pray for him. Pray that he gives his life to Christ. Pray that his heart and life changes. Will you do that for me? Do that for me, but even more so, do it for you?”

  “I don’t know, Ma Ray. You weren’t there when he called Andre all those names, then tried to force him, at gunpoint, to—”

  “Shhh. Don’t do this to yourself.” Ma Ray pulled Sahara to her.

  Sahara jerked back and looked at Ma Ray with a loving smile. “But, Ma Ray, Andre was truly wonderful. He’s really a great guy. I don’t know why I couldn’t see how great he was earlier. And you know what? Whatever woman is fortunate enough to become his wife is going to be a blessed woman,” Sahara said. “She really is.”

  “Well, you never know,” Ma Ray said. “You may very well end up being that woman.”

  Sahara quickly shook her head. “I doubt that’s ever going to happen—not me and him. Not after he heard those terrible things Junebug said about me.”

  Ma Ray patted Sahara’s hand as she held it in hers. “Well, you never know.”

  “Oh, I know. You see, he told me about the special gift he plans to give his wife on their wedding night. And honestly, Ma Ray, I don’t have anything that will ever be able to match his gift,” Sahara said. “Not now.”

  Ma Ray patted her hand again, then squeezed it lovingly. “Baby, you never know.”

  “Oh, I know, Ma Ray. I’ve given that gift away already. You know? And I can’t ever get it back. I messed up, and I don’t have a way to go back and make it right. I can’t get back my precious gift to give to him in return. Nothing like the gift he plans on giving his bride on their wedding night.”

  “Look at me,” Ma Ray said, turning Sahara squarely toward her as she held both her hands in hers. “I don’t care what your past has been. I ended up marrying the most amazing man, and if you’d looked at my resume at the time, which you have, I didn’t look like the one who would have ended up with Sal, a detective who would later become a preacher. But you know what? I did. And it just lets you know that with God, all things are possible.”

  “But I’m not a virgin, Ma Ray. Do you understand what I’m trying to say? And I can never be a virgin again. So I can’t give him that special something in exchange.”

  Ma Ray smiled. “Is that what this is all about?”

  Sahara twisted her mouth again. She gently pulled her hands out of Ma Ray’s and looked down at her now-opened palms. Tears began to fall into them. “I can’t get mine back,” Sahara said, almost in a whisper. “I can’t.”

  “Well, I can’t say what’s going to happen for you and Andre. But what you can offer him, or whomever you end up marrying, is an even greater gift. And that’s to keep yourself from here on out until your wedding night. So you can’t give your very best gift. Then you give your next best. And what a gift in being able to say that you recognize how special what you have is now. And although you may have messed up early on in casting your pearls to the swine, from here on out, you know your value. And you’re saving your pearls, protecting your pearls from here on out, for that special someone God has just for you. That you’re worth it, and your husband-to-be is worth you keeping your pearls safe and sound, just for him.”

  Sahara cocked her head to one side and grinned. “You’re something else. Do you know that? How did I end up so blessed to get you for a grandmother?”

  Ma Ray laughed. She grabbed Sahara and squeezed her tight with a hugging sound effect to go along with it, then let go. “I suppose the same way I was blessed to have all of you in my life. I guess: we’re just blessed like that!”

  Chapter 54

  By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

  —Hebrews 11:31

  Sahara was excited to hear Pastor Weldon preach again. Having been with Ma Ray for those six weeks had impacted her life. She was on the right track now, and she knew it. She had made up her mind that she wasn’t going to let anything turn her around. The youth conference had also made a tremendous difference. She’d met other young people struggling with the same issues she struggled with. But many of them refused to give in to things that went against God’s principles. That’s the way she decided she was going to live the rest of her days on earth—uncompromisingly steadfast to the Lord, His Will, and His Way. That’s one of the reasons she loved Pastor Weldon’s preaching and teaching. He brought the Word of God where people live—right smack-dab in their real lives.

  Pastor Weldon had even converted Ma Ray. Ma Ray hadn’t officially left her church, but she regularly attended there now. “It’
s hard to leave somewhere you’ve been for ages,” Ma Ray had said to both Crystal and Sahara when she told them she’d been going there, even after they’d gone back home. “But I know this is where God is leading me to be. So I believe a church membership change is coming.”

  “Today,” Pastor Weldon began, “I’d like you to turn your Bibles to Hebrews, the eleventh chapter. While you’re turning, many of you are familiar with these passages of scripture. This chapter is the one most refer to as the ‘Hall of Faith.’ We see that most of the scriptures begin with the intro words ‘By faith.’ In these passages, we are reminded of some things, men, and two women of God who did great things by faith. It begins with things happening in the book of Genesis and, in some ways, goes to Revelation. We find familiar names such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph the dreamer, and of course Moses. In fact, the scriptures in this chapter that refer to Moses and the children of Israel begin at verse twenty-three and continue down through verse twenty-nine. We see, ‘By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.’ And then we make our way to verse thirty.” Pastor Weldon started grinning and shaking his head.

  “In verse thirty, we see the children of Israel finally reaching the Promised Land. In this verse, we see the obstacle that was keeping the children of Israel separated from God’s promise to them literally falling to the ground without a single shot being fired. There was a great shout now, but not a shot or one stick of dynamite used. ‘By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.’

  “What you have to understand about this wall is that it was so thick, and so wide, that chariots rode around on the top. This wall was so thick that houses were up on it. I know you’re likely asking yourself, ‘Why is Pastor Weldon telling us how wide the walls of Jericho were?’ Well, it’s because I want to talk to you today from the thirty-first verse.” Pastor Weldon picked up his Bible and took one step forward.

  “Hebrews 11:31 reads, ‘By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.’ Today, I want to talk about a woman named Rahab. And I’d like to use as a title for this message: Don’t tell me what God can’t do.”

  Pastor Weldon stepped backward and put the Bible down on the clear, Lucite lectern. “Now, I can hear some of you saying, ‘What kind of a title is that?’ I know you’re saying that, because that was exactly what I said to God when He gave the title to me. Don’t worry: I’m not going to be long today. But I want us to look at this woman named Rahab. We’re first introduced to Rahab in the book of Joshua. Now, Joshua was the one whom the mantle was passed on to after Moses died and was not permitted to go into the Promised Land. Moses was allowed to go up to the mountaintop and see the Promised Land. But he was not permitted to go into the Promised Land. Joshua was the one who would lead the people into the land that God had promised. You see, sometimes, you may not be the one, per se, who gets to the Promised Land. But when your children or your children’s children get there, it’s just like you getting there. Now you see … some of you completely missed that.” Pastor Weldon bounced and grinned.

  “But Rahab was not one of the children of Israel. Rahab wasn’t part of the Jewish clan. In fact, what you discover about Miss Rahab is that she already resides in Jericho, in a house, on the wall. See, I told you that knowing about this wall and its size was important to this message. The other thing about Rahab is that she is a harlot. Okay, a prostitute.” He paused. “All right, let me break it down further for my young folk: a 304. Yes, I said it, up in here, in this church, with your holier-than-thou selves. But it’s in the Bible. Rahab was a lady of the night. She was what some of you would call a ‘good sinner.’ And by that I mean, some of you have your degrees of sin, and this is one that you put up there at the top when you’re ranking levels of sins. Rahab’s house was on the wall of Jericho. Now, my man Joshua sent two men to spy out the land. Two spies. Allow me to take a slight detour right here.” Pastor Weldon stepped to the edge of the pulpit.

  “Back when Moses sent out twelve spies before they ever reached this land, Joshua was one of the twelve that Moses sent. Ten of those spies came back in a panic, telling Moses that they were pretty much defeated, despite what God may have said on the subject. In fact, they told Moses that they were, and I quote, ‘like grasshoppers,’ unquote, in the eyes of the people there. In other words, the ten spies saw themselves defeated before they ever began. Am I stepping on anybody’s toes right now? If I am, then instead of saying ouch, maybe you just need to shout hallelujah, pick your feet off the ground from where you are now, and come on up a little higher.”

  A host of the congregation stood and clapped as some shouted out, “Hallelujah!” “Go ‘head, preacher.” “You’d better preach this thing!”

  One man yelled out, “I got on my steel-toe shoes. So go on and take care of business.”

  Everybody laughed.

  “Did that man just say he has on his steel-toe shoes?” Pastor Weldon said as he laughed. “Well, praise the Lord for those who have come prepared today. Okay, back to the message. I told you about the ten who saw them as defeated. But there were two other spies, Caleb and Joshua, and those two had a totally different report. Those two saw what the other ten had seen with their natural eyes. But with their spiritual eyes, Caleb and Joshua saw what God saw. And what they saw was that, in their estimation, they were well able to take the land. Well able. And yet the children of Israel didn’t do anything toward that end. We know this because of what I just told you earlier regarding Moses never physically going into the Promised Land.

  “So here we have Joshua sending out two spies. You see, sometimes you only need two. The Bible says where two—”

  “Or three!” the congregation yelled out, interrupting him.

  “I see I have some Bible readers here,” Pastor Weldon said. “The Bible tells us that God says, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I’ll be in the midst of them.’ And we know about the power of at least two that touch and agree. So Joshua sent the two spies out. And in their course of doing their jobs, they somehow ended up at a prostitute’s house. Stop. Stop.” Pastor Weldon scratched his head, then shook it.

  “What are these guys doing at a prostitute’s house? Don’t they know they should have searched out a saint? There had to be some good person somewhere around there. But these two jokers are at a sin house, a den of sin, essentially. And they’re hiding from those who want nothing more than to snuff them out for good. But I submit to you today: you don’t know who God can and will use to get His work done.”

  The congregation shouted.

  “You see, people have looked at some of you and determined that you’re not worth them even speaking to, because as far as they’re concerned, you ain’t nothing. Yes, I meant to say it like that. I’m well aware of how to speak good English, and I know I just violated a whole host of rules. But I’m going to say it again. As far as some folks are concerned, when it comes to you, you ain’t nothing! But God—”

  Shouts rang out through the audience as some even began to wail and cry out loud.

  “But God,” Pastor Weldon continued, “says differently. God says, ‘I can use you, if you’ll let Me.’ Oh, man! Oh, man! I’m sorry, I just have to give God some praise right here, right now. Forgive me, but God has been too good to me! I know where God pulled me from, what He pulled me up out of. So, you can say what you want about me. You can sit here looking all prim and proper, too snooty to open your mouth, but as for me? I have to give God praise right now!” Pastor Weldon started dancing a quickstep jig.

  Almost everybody was on their feet now shouting and giving God praises.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Pastor Weldon said, calming the crowd after two minutes. “Got to move on; I’ve got to move on. Now, somebody was watching Rahab’s house and let the king know that men of the children of Israel were there searching out the country. S
o the king sent word to Rahab for her to bring forth the men that had come to her, that had entered her house, because they were up to no good. They were spies. But Rahab had taken those two men and hidden them. Then she told those at her door, looking for them, that they had been there, but she didn’t know where they were from. Then Miss Rahab said, ‘When it was about the time of shutting the gate, when it was dark, and I really couldn’t see, the men had left. And as far as which way they went, I don’t have a clue. But if you hurry, I believe you can catch them.’ Okay, that was Theodore T. Weldon’s translation. But y’all are feeling me, right?”

  People laughed. “Go on and teach that thing, Pastor!” someone yelled.

  “I’m doing the best that I can,” Pastor Weldon yelled back.

  People laughed again.

  “Okay, let me finish, let me finish,” Pastor Weldon said. “Rahab had the spies hidden on the roof under stalks of flax. But Rahab was a smart woman. She’d told those two spies that she knew the Lord had given them the land … that the folks inside of the walls were terrified of them. You see, word had reached all of them of what God had done on behalf of the children of Israel. How God had dried up the waters of the Red Sea. I said, God dried it up when they came out of Egypt. They’d heard about what God did to the two kings of the Amorites who were utterly destroyed. But this is what Rahab said that let’s you know she was a smart woman. She said, ‘For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.’ That’s in the Bible. If you want to look at it for yourself, it’s found in Joshua, 2:11, the last half of that scripture. She then got them to swear to her by the Lord that since she had shown them kindness, they would show her kindness, and her family, including in her father’s house. That they would be saved and their lives delivered from death.” Pastor Weldon thrust his fist into the air.

  “My God, my God. I wish you could see what I saw when I read those passages of scripture. Rahab was essentially saying, ‘Save us, and deliver us from death. I have heard about your God, and guess what? I believe your God. So I’m walking by faith on what I’ve heard, I’m showing that I believe, by acting like what I believe is so.’ Church, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Rahab said, ‘I believe your God is going to deliver this land into your hand. And because I believe that, I want to be on the right side. So, I’m going to do what I need to do, to be on the Lord’s side.’”