Blessed Trinity

by Vanessa Davis Griggs

  “We understand. I just pray this works out,” Virginia said. “Otherwise, if this is not approved and done by Friday, on Saturday it’s over anyway. It will truly be in God’s hands then.”

  Late Friday afternoon, Pastor Landris and his mother got a call from the courthouse. It hadn’t been rejected, but it hadn’t been approved, either. It would probably be the first of next week.

  “That will be too late,” Pastor Landris said to her.

  “I’m sorry. We did the best we could do. I’ll leave it in the system, and if you’re really a praying man, you might want to start now,” the woman said.

  Pastor Landris looked at his mother. She leaned over and started to cry.

  She’d seen Thomas on Friday, just missing his fiancée by an hour. He hadn’t shaved or showered. He’d reluctantly allowed her in the house because she needed to use the bathroom. That’s when she saw all the mess everywhere.

  She was so hoping to hear some good news by that afternoon. That’s why they had called every thirty minutes for an update. It had gotten down to the wire, and the verdict was still out as to whether her son would get the help he needed in time.

  “She said if you were a praying man, you should start now,” Virginia said.

  “I have been praying. I’ve been praying since Thomas left my house and our church earlier this year. And when I knew he had really serious problems, I stepped up my prayers.”

  “Well, don’t stop now,” she said. “Don’t stop now. Right now your prayer is our only hope.”

  “I have to get ready for Sunday,” Pastor Landris said. “It has been so crazy, getting the final touches done on the building and the sound system, which is state of the art, up and running. The department heads have taken care of the details along with Sherry, who has become my right arm. Angel and Brent, who don’t even realize they’re actually dating the biblical way, have worked nonstop for the past three weeks coordinating everything.”

  “Are you preaching on Sunday, or will it just be praises, worshipping, drama, dance, all those things large churches generally do the first time they march into the Promised Land?”

  “I have a short Word. It’s actually in answer to a question Johnnie Mae asked me once. I never answered her. I’ll speak for about twenty minutes. But at the beginning of next year, I’m starting a series on Strongholds. In light of Thomas and Faith, a.k.a. ‘Trinity,’ dealing with their strongholds, this is going to be a powerful series, I believe. I’m planning to touch on lots of things. I’ve already started praying for people to be delivered. There are so many things people don’t even think of as strongholds.”

  “You’ll have to send me the tape series of that one.”

  “But I’m praying, Mom, for Thomas and for Johnnie Mae and Charity and for you. Whatever is going on with you medically, I’m praying about it right now.”

  His mother smiled. “Let’s pray your brother out of his situation first. Then we can work on mine. Deal?”

  “It doesn’t have to be either/or. We can pray for both of you.”

  “Yeah, but you know what? Sometimes dealing with something that may or may not be…can be draining. So for now, we’ll work on those things that definitely are.”

  “Okay. Thomas first. Then you’re going to tell me what’s going on with you.”

  “Oh, me? I’m going to get my praise on. Come Sunday, I’m going to have a lot to shout about. You taught me that. Trust in the Lord. I’m trusting in Him on this one.” She smiled, then looked up toward heaven. “I’m trusting You totally on this one, God. I’ve done all I can—now I’m standing on Your promises! I’m letting my yea be yea. Yes, I know somehow, You’re going to handle all of this!”

  “Amen,” Pastor Landris said. “What a powerful prayer, Mom.”

  “Hey, I was just having a little talk with Jesus. And He has already worked it out.”

  “Already worked it out,” Pastor Landris said.

  “Already worked it out!”

  Chapter 54

  God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.

  (Psalm 53:2)

  “In Isaiah, Chapter 53, verse 1, it reads,” Pastor Landris said, “‘Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’” Pastor Landris looked out over the crowd that filled the sanctuary. There was an overflow, so much so that people were standing along the walls and sitting down on the floor.

  Praise & Worship went to a new level. The dance team blessed everybody with precision and grace. The drama team performed a skit that touched on believing during unbelief. It was so real and so fitting. Pastor Landris had faced that very thing on Saturday as he watched the minutes tick toward his brother’s wedding hour.

  Pastor Landris had driven his mother to the wedding. Thomas had invited her, but not him or his wife. Johnnie Mae went along for the ride or, in truth, to give her husband moral support. If nothing else, they could sit in the Denali and pray while the ceremony was taking place. Maybe the newlyweds would seek help after they were married. This was still God’s business, and no one can ever dictate how, in the end, God will handle things.

  “How do you think your mother’s holding up in there?” Johnnie Mae asked as thirty minutes passed after the wedding was scheduled to begin.

  “I don’t know, but I know she’s a strong woman. She’ll do what she has to.”

  “Do you think she’ll object, you know, when the preacher comes to the part about if anyone there can show just cause?”

  Pastor Landris looked at her as he took his hand off the steering wheel and laid his arm on the armrest. “She’s not going to do anything like that. One thing about my mother—she’ll voice her opinion strongly from the beginning, but if you still insist on butting your head against a brick wall, she’ll just get the bandage and alcohol ready and wait.”

  “Would you have objected had you been in there?”

  “No. If I was going to do something that bold and disruptive, I would have just taken Thomas out before the wedding began and beat him up,” Pastor Landris said.

  She looked at her watch. “Ready for tomorrow?”

  “I’m a little excited. You?”

  “I’m so pumped. Isn’t it something to see how far God has brought us? Three years ago, minus three months, we were having church in our house. It sort of reminds me of when that guy had the ark in his house…”

  “Obed-edom the Gittite. Second Samuel 6:10–12,” Pastor Landris said.

  “Yeah, okay…him. He had the ark in his house for three months and his whole household started getting all these blessings. Then David showed up and asked for the ark back after he realized exactly how they were receiving God’s blessings. We were having services in our home, and we ended up being blessed with a bigger and better house, and now we’re about to move into a bigger and better church sanctuary.”

  Pastor Landris smiled. “You like our new house, I take it?”

  “I love it. Absolutely love it. And getting out from under Rachel and those children? I had no idea how much I needed to do that.”

  “That’s how God works. He begins a thing, and we have no idea how it will work out. He wants us to trust Him and move when He says move, without asking Him why and how is He going to make it work for our good. That’s scripture.” Pastor Landris reclined his seat a little. “When we moved from Atlanta, He didn’t tell me we’d be buying 40 acres of prime property, building an $18-million church facility, partnering with the people who owned the property to build subdivisions, a shopping mall, a business district—”

  “And the college you want to build that they want to be part of,” Johnnie Mae said.

  “See, that’s what I mean. Some things look bad when they’re happening, but you just have to trust God and know that He sees what’s going on farther down the road,” Pastor Landris said. “I hate to see Thomas marry Faith. I hate Charity needing help and we don’t seem to be able to do anything to help h
er. All we can do is pray that God will do what we can’t do, or for Him to tell us what to do next.”

  “Yeah.” Johnnie Mae opened a bag of onion rings, offering the bag to Pastor Landris. “Want some?”

  “No, thanks.” He looked at the bag again. “I don’t know how you eat those things. The thought of them makes me sick.”

  “They don’t bother me. I can eat a whole bag.”

  Pastor Landris looked at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s been forty-five minutes. It’s not like they were having a full production or anything. According to Mom, it was going to be a few people and the minister. How long does it take to say, ‘I do’?”

  “It didn’t take us long to say ‘I do’, but we had a production leading up to it and afterward, that’s for sure.”

  “Our wedding wasn’t that big.”

  “Maybe not the wedding party, but the things we read and said to each other from the Song of Solomon—that took a while. They’re probably doing something similar. Or maybe the pastor is doing that covenant reenactment. You know, how the man takes some salt from his bag and the woman takes salt from her bag and the preacher asks them to drop their individual salt into the one big bag that represents their new life together. Then the preacher shakes the salt up, and tells them they can’t take back their individually owned salt because it would be impossible to separate it.”

  “Where did you see that?” Pastor Landris asked. She really is going to eat that whole bag by herself in one sitting.

  “That wedding I went to back in October. The minister did that during the ceremony, and I thought it was so neat. I wish we had known about it—we could have done it at our wedding or, at least, at the seminar celebration.” She had a funny look on her face. “Yuck,” she said.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. All of a sudden, I’m not feeling so well. I must have eaten a bad one or something. I feel like I have to throw up.”

  “Well, open the door and step outside if you really have to.”

  “You’re so cute. I think I’ll go find a rest room.” She opened the door and got out.

  As tempted as she was, she didn’t veer toward the sanctuary to look for the wedding ceremony. It was probably over by now, anyway. She found the rest room, and just in time. She was really nauseated. She’d never reacted that way to a bag of onion rings before.

  After she finished, she went over to the sink and wiped her face with a wet paper towel. She wasn’t feeling well at all. The cool water from the towel helped. The door opened, and someone slowly stepped inside. Johnnie Mae glanced to see who it was. She was shocked to see the bride standing before her—hair perfect, as always.

  “Faith,” Johnnie Mae said. She didn’t know what else to say. Congratulations was out, since she wouldn’t really mean it.

  As Johnnie Mae looked closer, she saw how messed up Faith’s face was. She’d been crying, and from the looks of it, it was one of those messy cries—the ones that leave mascara trails and foundation meltdown.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?” Johnnie Mae walked toward her.

  Faith just stood there.

  “Are you okay?”

  Silence.

  Johnnie Mae reached out and pulled her close. “Come over here. Let’s get your face cleaned up.” She wet a paper towel and gently wiped Faith’s face.

  “Where is Thomas? Is he okay?”

  Nothing.

  “I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me.”

  She looked up into Johnnie Mae’s eyes as Johnnie Mae continued to gently but firmly wipe the remaining makeup off her face.

  “It’s Charity,” Faith said.

  “Charity, huh? Well, I sure miss her myself. I bet you miss her, too.”

  “I’m Charity,” she said and bowed her head down.

  “Charity. You’re Charity? Oh, Charity!” Johnnie Mae hugged her tightly.

  “Please, Johnnie Mae, will you please take me out of here,” Charity said.

  “Where do you want to go? Do you want to go to my house?”

  She nodded blankly. “Anywhere but here. Your house would be fine.”

  Johnnie Mae kept her arm around her as they walked out and back to the SUV.

  Pastor Landris saw Johnnie Mae coming, and she wasn’t alone. He jumped out to meet them.

  “Johnnie Mae, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind? You can’t kidnap a person like that,” Pastor Landris said.

  “Hush, and help me get her in the SUV. Hurry,” Johnnie Mae said.

  He did as she said, but only because he didn’t want them to be seen while he talked some sense into his wife. She obviously needed some kind of help herself.

  Johnnie Mae got in and sat with Charity. Pastor Landris was in the driver’s seat. Once they were safely inside the SUV, he turned around and looked at them. “Johnnie Mae, you can’t do this. I know you love me, and you think you’re doing this to help Thomas. Oh, Johnnie Mae girl, what have you done? We’ll have our first service in our new sanctuary tomorrow, and I won’t be there because we’ll either be in jail or on the run. What were you thinking?”

  “Landris, stop that,” Johnnie Mae said.

  “I don’t want this. I get to choose, and I don’t want this. You can’t make me, and I’m not doing it,” Charity said.

  “See, she’s going to press charges against us. She knows who we are. I can’t believe you did this, Johnnie Mae. I should have left you at home and none of this would be happening. Or I should have made you stay in the SUV—”

  “Landris, stop! This is Charity.”

  “What?”

  Charity looked up. “Pastor Landris, can you pray for me? I really need someone to pray for me. I’ve got to get away from here. I need help. Please help me. Sapphire said she’d help.” She turned to Johnnie Mae. “How is Mama Gates? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to let her down like that.”

  Johnnie Mae held her. “We’ll get you some help, Charity. I promise.”

  “I prayed God would help me. Faith was supposed to help me as well as protect me. Something went wrong. She didn’t want to let me come back. It’s not right what she was doing to Sapphire. Sapphire is a good person. She’s been wonderful to me. She’s so good with your mother, Johnnie Mae. And Thomas…Thomas needs help. Faith was not going to help him, either. It was up to me to stop her. I had to stop her.”

  “Landris, can you call your mother on the cell and see if you can get her to come on out so we can leave?”

  “Thomas’s mother was there,” Charity said. “She came for the wedding. Thomas looked really nice and all, but none of this was right. That preacher knew that. There is something evil about him. How could he not help Thomas when he sees how bad he is? Thomas’s mother got sick. They laid her down on a pew. I thought she was dead. It freaked Faith out—just like back with Motherphelia. His mother asked to be taken to the hospital, but Reverend Walker wanted to finish the ceremony first.”

  Pastor Landris clicked off his cell phone. “She’s not answering.” He turned to Charity. “Charity, is my mother all right now?”

  “She wasn’t doing so well when I left and ran to the rest room. Faith and I got to fighting right there in front of everybody, including your mother. Faith didn’t want to let me back, and I began to pray with all that was within me. What she was about to do was not right. I couldn’t let her hurt anybody else anymore. She did it one time—I couldn’t let her do it again. I called on the name of Jesus. You said there’s power in Jesus’ name.”

  Johnnie Mae shook her head to tell Pastor Landris not to pressure her. “Landris, go in there and see about your mother. I’ll stay here with Charity.”

  “Turn your cell phone on, Johnnie Mae.” Pastor Landris knew Johnnie Mae rarely had it on. “If I need you, I’ll call. I’m going to leave the key in the ignition. If something is not right, and if you feel you have to, leave without me.”

  She nodded.

  Just then Pastor Landris saw Thomas and his mother coming t
oward them. She was leaning heavily on him as he helped her to walk. Pastor Landris jumped out and ran to meet them. He and Thomas got her in the SUV.

  “Mom, what happened?” Pastor Landris asked, after she was safely inside.

  “Let me catch my breath. I’m all right, though. Just let me catch my breath.”

  “Thomas, what happened to her?”

  “She needs to go to the hospital,” Thomas said. “Don’t listen to her talking about she’s all right. She wouldn’t let me call the ambulance. She said you were out here waiting, and she wanted to get back to you. She needs to go to the hospital, George.”

  “I said I’m all right. Now quit making a fuss over me, you two.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “Can we please get away from this place? I’m so tired,” Charity said, laying her head on Johnnie Mae’s shoulder. “I just need a little rest.”

  “This girl’s got a point,” Virginia said. “Let’s go to your house so I can get my heart medicine, and I’ll be fine. I can’t believe I didn’t have it in my purse. It felt like I was going to die in there.”

  “Heart medicine?” Pastor Landris said.

  “Yes, heart medicine. I told you we’d talk about it another time. This was not the time I envisioned, but I have heart problems. The doctor gave me some medicine that Friday after Thanksgiving, right before I came here.”

  “Mom, I’m sorry,” Thomas said. “George, you should have seen her. Mom had me so scared. She passed out, and we had to lay her on a pew. She wasn’t out but a minute.” He looked at Charity. “You really are Charity? My goodness. Landris, I’ll get my car later. Let’s just hurry and get Mom to your house to get her medicine.” He shook his head. “Charity.”

  Pastor Landris drove out of the parking lot.

  Chapter 55

  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.