Family
After the initial hiccups of the married life, Justin and Pearl were settling down very well, projecting an image of an exemplary couple in their social circle. On social occasions, they generated the vibes of a very happy family, and all admired them for their made-for-each other image.
Justin and Pearl, with their young son in tow, had become regular members of the worship services. The fiery messages sprinkled with some light references always started a murmur in Justin’s heart. By nature, and now more so because of being a banker for so many years, Justin responded to many of life’s questions with logic and reasoning and, as such, his mind got the better of his heart whenever he felt a tug at it during altar calls.
On many occasions, he invited Brother Eric to his home. There he would have long sessions in the night seeking clarifications and would discuss all those aspects of the Bible, which he blindly believed, because of the childhood teachings of his mother, but could not comprehend for lack of references and a teacher on the subject.
Justin found that this man had detailed, relevant and acceptable explanations to most of his questions, whether they were intelligent, crafty or just plain stupid.
The Main Line Church that Justin used to attend on Sundays had its church building in the old city of Delhi and was a prominent landmark in the area. Its steeple rose majestically high above the surrounding buildings. The structure of the building was taken after the pattern designed for Delhi by Edwin Lutyen, the great British architect known for building a section of the metropolis of Delhi during the British Raj.
Inside the main sanctuary, the wall of the altar had a huge stained-glass mosaic pattern depicting resurrected Jesus held in awe by his disciples. The church boasted of one of the finest musical organs in the sanctuary, played by a young organist of great talent and repute. This church where Justin’s mother had brought him up and imparted some very important lessons of life was rather dear to him. After attending the Saturday evening worship services, conducted by Brother Eric in the auditorium of the Community Hall, Justin realised that his bond with the Main Line church was more because of the majestic structure of the sanctuary, rather than the spiritual food that he ever received from its pulpit. The serving pastors could never impress Justin beyond their flowing cassocks and pageantry. They lacked the necessary depth when preaching from the Bible, a depth that was evident in messages delivered by Brother Eric.
Each passing day convinced Justin that it was the preaching that made spiritual sense and was instrumental in convicting the spirit. It was after a long time since his teen years that preaching by someone had quickened his heart. However, in spite of this great tug on his heart he held back from responding to any altar call by Brother Eric.
Family Weekends
The first day of the weekend was always a good family day. Justin would take his son Rahul to the nearby playground where they would play badminton or cricket. Meanwhile back at home, Pearl would prepare an elaborate breakfast for the family.
That morning, the dew still lying thick on the grass, the sun glowing like a big red ball, unable to penetrate the mist which hung over the atmosphere, and the birds still hesitant to leave their nests to soar above in the blue sky—Justin had already set up the cricket practice session with Rahul at the play field.
Justin being an over-zealous father wanted his eight-year old son, Rahul, to excel in sports at the school level so he encouraged him to practice with a regular five-and-a-half ounce cricket ball. By now, Rahul had learnt to play some great strokes with straight bat technique. He was learning to attack the ball by quickly stepping out of the crease and at the same time being quick on his back foot to recover his position in the crease. Within an hour of running between the crease and fielding the ball from all over the ground, both Rahul and Justin started sweating when right at that moment, Rahul mistimed a shot and the ball hit his left arm. Doubling up in pain, Rahul threw the bat on the ground while Justin rushed to his side and started rubbing his arm gently. The injury seemed grave and the pain looked excruciating with the skin around the area quickly turning blue. Tears welling up in the eyes of the young boy, they packed up the gear in a huff and rushed towards the house.
The moment they entered the house, Rahul started wailing and the two women in the family, Rahul’s mother and grandmother, came running to the child with their motherly instinct writ large on their faces, much to the chagrin of Justin.
Babu, as Rahul was fondly called by everyone at home, did not miss this opportunity to put the blame squarely upon Justin for throwing the ball too fast. Justin with his mouth wide open, due to the sudden accusation by his son in front of his wife and mother, found he was unable to defend himself from the onslaughts of the petite and the fair, who pitched against Justin in favour of Rahul.
Petite in stature was Rahul’s grandmother, called Dadi, who immediately went running to the kitchen to prepare a homemade remedy called poultice, made by turmeric paste and few other ingredients spread on a cotton bandage. This she applied on Rahul’s arm who was cuddling in the lap of his mother and resisting any advances of reconciliation made by Justin to appease him. The day went by taking care of Rahul, and all the other weekend errands such as laundry, grocery shopping, etc., were put on hold. The afternoon siesta, which was a weekly luxury for Justin, became a taboo that day. By the evening, Justin was in no mood to go and attend the worship meeting and made known his intentions to Pearl of staying home and watching sitcoms.
Pearl, otherwise a mild and non-aggressive person by nature, was always quick to resist any plans to miss the Saturday worship meetings. When Justin tried to be difficult, she announced her intentions of going to the meeting all by herself by hiring a three-wheeler scooter. She played this time-tested trick on Justin for she knew that it was against his nature to let his woman travel alone. There were a few things Justin never felt comfortable for his women folk to do by themselves such as travelling alone, going to a meat shop, taking their son to a barber shop or lifting heavy objects while doing household chores. He was a ladies first man and these were not pretensions but were inherent in his nature.
That day, the threat by Pearl to travel by herself had its intended effect. Justin soon got up, and they were on their way to attend the worship meeting. Once at the worship venue, there was no way anyone could sulk or feel withdrawn, as Brother Eric always sprinkled the atmosphere with such genuine happiness and excitement that everyone would become completely involved.
That evening, an elderly man from California, who associated in faith with the Fellowship group, had accompanied Brother Eric. The worship service started and soon built up to a crescendo, which was never a made up thing but something deeper than words could explain.
In between the worship, the man from California stepped up to Justin laid his hands on him and spoke words of wisdom. In his deep voice he said, ‘Thus saith the Lord, you are curious to know me and understand me, and you are trying to do this with your carnal mind; behold, now I do one thing that I open your eyes of understanding and you would know me by faith, and I would use you for my glory’.
Justin felt overwhelmed as well as awkward at the same time—‘overwhelmed’ because he always felt his body and spirit warring against each other during worship meetings; ‘awkward’ for he felt many eyes upon him. But that day, the preacher, who did not know him from before, had touched his inner-self.
The sermon that evening was entitled, ‘For the Word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit’.
Pierced, Justin did get both in soul and in spirit. That evening the trio drove quietly to their home with an occasional interjection of Rahul’s childish chatter. That whole week Justin woke up early in the morning to study the Bible in his small makeshift study room. Not knowing as much as where to start reading, he would set the Bible with its spine on the table and randomly read a couple of chapters before getting ready for work. However, he did not seem to com
prehend much by reading the Bible in that manner and uneasiness started to build up inside him. By the middle of the week, Justin was not able to take it anymore, so he called Brother Eric and shared his feelings. Brother Eric advised him to start reading the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible simultaneously from the beginning. Justin followed the advice and by the time he had finished reading six chapters from the New and the Old Testament of the Bible, Justin felt quickening of his spirit by the word. He kept up his reading for the rest of the week and waited eagerly for the next Saturday meeting.
Justin and his wife were the first to reach the venue and thus helped set up the auditorium of the Community Hall for the worship meeting.
The meeting started with praise and worship songs, and then came the time when Brother Eric invited people for open sharing. At the time when people hesitatingly prepared themselves to come forward and share their testimony, Brother Eric would sing small chorus to fill the void. That day, before Brother Eric could reach the second line of the chorus, Justin felt a strong prompting to go forward with his Bible and share the thoughts he had come to understand during the week.
He stood up and, with a steady stride, reached the podium. Once there, he looked around at the congregation that seemed way different from the participants he had faced many-a-times while attending bank conferences. These were the people not with frowns on their foreheads or raised eyebrows but rather people with expectant and mellow expressions on their faces. They had not come armed with laws and by-laws from the bank’s manual, ready to pounce at the slightest opportunity but were people ready to exhort you with Hallelujahs and Amens.
Justin ended his five-minute sharing with a resounding ‘Praise the Lord’ from everyone. By the time he sat down, he was shaking from head to toe; whether it was apprehension or excitement, he did not know.
Once the meeting was over, Brother Eric excitedly came to Justin and said, ‘You brought a very good thought, brother’.
Pearl, who was beaming with joy, suggested that on the way home they should go and eat kabab and roti at the nearby drive-in, and then they could drop Brother Eric to the train station.