When I used to date before I got married, over 36 years ago, I only had two
rules. One-never date a friend’s sister, which I broke with Joe’s sister Cathy,
a long term relationship, and two-never date anyone you work with, which I broke
in a short term relationship with Doris. I met her at a company party, we both
worked in the same facility, just at opposite ends in departments that would
never cross. She was the kind of pretty that women hated, and men were afraid
of, yet we talked, and after a few minutes I asked her out, and I got her
number. Calling her after the three day cool off rule, we went to dinner, and I
found out I was on the date from hell. From the time I picked her up, to the
time the meal ended, she never shut up. One long, unabbreviated sentence, with
a magic touch of combining various unrelated subjects. I’m sure I must have
tired to say something, but it fell on deaf ears. And it went on, and on, and
on, and soon I had had it. No pretty face or great body was worth the pain, so
after hurriedly eating my steak, I got up and excused myself. “I’ll be right
back, wait here.” I think she heard me. And off to the men’s room I went.
Looking for an escape route. Without thinking I paid the bill, where she
couldn’t see me, and then off to the men’s room. I really had to go, in more
ways than one. What was I going to do, I had no way out, and then I saw the
window, the open window in the men’s room, and I had found the way out. Without
hesitation, I barely made it through the window, ran to my car, and soon was
heading home, she still in full sentence. I had accomplished the great escape.
I was Steve McQueen in the tunnel, and I was him later jumping the fence on my
Triumph. I had escaped....silence never sounded so good. And Monday morning at
work no one asked how our date was, and I never heard from her. As if it had
never happened....and I never went back to see.
When I tell people Theresa and I never dated they look at me amazed. With
over 800 miles between us it would have been difficult. But on our first night
out, I took her to the Louisiann, a steakhouse in Albuquerque, where I knew the
owner, who always fussed over my dates. We had talked all day, and I had told
her about the night of the living dead sentence, and we both laughed. It may
have sounded like an urban legend, but it was true. But when I had to go after
the meal, I said, “wait here, I’ll be right back.” But she told me “no way are
you leaving me here alone in a strange town. You can hold it until we get
home.” Was Doris’ sentence still going on? would it never come to an end? So
I held it, I had to, and although only a few miles away, I also proved the
theory that the traffic lights can conspire to keep you from your appointed
destination by all turning red on you. And yes seconds can magically turn to
minutes, and minutes to hours in such cases. It took forever, and a few more
minutes, and I barely made it. But I did somehow, and 36 years later we still
joke about it. And I keep coming back today.
Jesus had told His disciples to “wait, I’ll be right back,” but they didn’t
get it. And when He was crucified forgot what He had said. The empty tomb only
scared them more, and we find them hiding and scared in the upper room that
night, all except Thomas, who was probably still out looking for Him. What had
happened to His promise? It seemed they were in great danger, as the body was
missing, and they were suspects. When in comes Jesus, right through the locked
doors and windows, without opening them. Right through the wall. The three
days He was gone must have seemed like an eternity, but His message was one of
eternity. He had returned as He said He would, and empowered them to take His
life saving message to a dying world. And He appears to over 500 people in the
next 40 days. A message of salvation, backed up in scripture, a message that
someday He will be calling for His church, and coming to take us home with Him.
And unlike before where He told them the time frame, this time He doesn’t even
know when, but He spells out the times and the season in the Bible. We are told
to be ready, for He will return like a thief in the night. If we had been
ready, the thief would not have robbed us, and Satan still comes to rob and
destroy. We are told the parable of the Ten Virgins, to keep our lamps full and
our wicks trimmed, for any day now could be the day. And soon is always sooner
than we think. And for those who are left behind, there is no window to climb
through, as Jesus was and is the escape route. He saves us from the date from
hell, the date with hell, and when we are saved never will know hell, but go to
heaven. But we must wait patiently, even more patient than my ride home after
dinner with Theresa. Someday we will go, but until that day we must hold fast
to Jesus, knowing that relief from this world awaits us. And so we wait
anxiously, taking the same message of salvation that saved us to a dying world.
A world looking for hope, but not listening, as it has turned life into one
long, run on sentence that until you meet Jesus makes no sense. Keeping in mind
that Jesus told us “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If only Theresa
had that much faith in me that night.
And so we await the return of Jesus, called the rapture. Every day we are
one day closer than we were before. And after 36 years of marriage, we are
closer than ever. But she still reminds me when I have to go, that she rode her
own bike, and can find her own way home. Thankfully God has given us His love
and we have never left or forsaken each other. Just a trip to the men’s room
changed my life, you never know when God will change yours. Doris gave me a
sentence of death, Jesus a sentence of life. You choose, now you’ll have to
excuse me, I’ll be right back. Gotta go....time for breakfast with my wife.
After 36 years some things are still worth waiting for. “Do you want to take
two bikes or one?” But first I need to make a pit stop, to water a lemon tree.
And after all these years we have a bathroom with no windows, so I know she
feels safe. I’ll be right back. Soon and very soon, so will Jesus. Check
please.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com