Michael left this Tuesday morning briefing with a feeling of importance. First of all they had informed him that he had been promoted to an E-four. They also informed him that the saucer would be kept in the hanger behind his building. Lots of new people as well as the aliens, which they called Graze, would be using the building K entrance to get into the underground complex. The actual name of the aliens was said to be too difficult for earth people to pronounce.
This was more information than he had been given in the entire year he had been there. Michael was not supposed to talk about things he saw that were not already public knowledge. He was still not allowed to ask questions of the people going through. At least now he felt like a part of what was going on, instead of an outsider that could get in trouble for seeing too much.
Michael was aware that they were not telling the public the whole truth. He was sure that they must have had a good reason for keeping things a secret. Those noises the Graze made, for one thing. It may have taken quite a while to establish communications with them.
Over the next few weeks Michael was able to pick up bits and pieces of additional information. The people passing through building K were not so tight lipped now that the “Big” secret was out. He had learned that the saucer worked just fine in our atmosphere and could even make trips to the moon, but the main drive that let them go from solar system to solar system required a special fuel.
Making the equipment to refine the fuel necessary for the Graze ship was taxing the best efforts of our technology. In addition, the Graze had gone to great lengths to warn the scientists working on the project that the process was extremely dangerous. It was even rumored that one of the planets that the Graze had colonized had literally blown up while they were trying to refine additional fuel.
Michael wasn’t sure what rumors to believe. He was sure that he was in the right place and at the right time. If he was able to play his cards right he might be able to move up, who knows where it could lead.
Of coarse there were the things that Jim had told Michael over the last year or so. But why should Michael pay attention to all of that? Jim would come up with some crazy new theory for every little thing. Michael felt that Jim was just blindly following the things that he believed, and was not being open minded about any of this stuff. If we all woke up tomorrow and the sun turned purple, Jim would come up with some story as to how this was related to God and the end times.
Michael had to be more realistic than all of that. It wasn’t turning his back on God to look at things with an open mind. To weigh the things belonging to religion on the one hand, and to look at the real world and what was going on in the other hand. God hadn’t been here for two thousand years. What made this time so special? For all Michael knew Christ might not come back for another 2,000 years.
With a new baby and a wife to take care of, Michael needed to worry about his future and how he could best take care of his responsibilities. He didn’t need to get caught up in a lot of other nonsense.
Jamie didn’t like the position that Michael had taken. She tried to tell him that having an open mind included staying open to the Lord. Jamie had even won her mother over to her side. He felt like he was getting preached at from all sides when he went home at night.
Michael started stopping off at the club after work again. He wasn’t doing it to get drunk, but he usually had a few beers. He really did it to unwind after work. That’s where he had gotten a lot of the information about what was going on around here. Besides, he could only take so much of that preaching. Karen was supposed to go back to Denver soon, hopefully things would get better after that.
Jamie, on the other hand was coming to the end of her rope. Jimmy was only a few weeks old and his father was out drinking again. Why couldn’t he see that he was being pulled away from everything that was important. Didn’t he know how much this was hurting Jamie? On top of all of that, Michael had started doing this stuff while Jamie’s mom was still here. How was Jamie to explain all of this to her? That evening when Michael didn’t come straight home, Jamie couldn’t hold it in any longer and just started crying.
“I want to come home with you, Mom,” said Jamie. “I just don’t know what else to do. I have a baby to take care of, and I can’t do that and fight with Michael about his drinking at the same time. What type of an example does he think he’s setting for his son?”
“Michael is under a lot of pressure, too,” answered Karen. “He hasn’t had to be responsible for anyone but himself before this. Even after you two first got married, he still didn’t have to worry about you so much. You got a job right away, and took care of your own needs. Now all of that has changed. Michael could be just a little frightened by all of this. Don’t forget, he also has a lot of things going on at work. That has to be causing quite a bit of pressure too.”
“I know all of that,” said Jamie, sounding somewhat irritated. “But what really bothers me is that he seems to be pushing further and further away from God. How am I supposed to live with a husband who isn’t willing to follow the Lord? I have to worry about Jimmy, and make sure that he is brought up knowing Jesus.”
“You need to trust the Lord, Jamie,” answered Karen. “He knows what you are going through right now. He also knows Michael's heart, not just what he is saying or showing. This isn’t just a matter of who is right and who is wrong, or who is following the Lord. God brought the two of you together, that's one thing I am sure of. Your father and I have prayed for you since you were a little girl. First, that you would find the Lord and then as you got older, that you would meet the right man. One that really loved God, and would follow His will.
When you met Michael, we couldn’t have been happier. Your father and I had known his mom and step father for several years. Your dad even had Michael in his Sunday school class one year. I have no doubt that Michael loves the Lord, and has given his life to Him. That doesn’t mean that there is a guarantee that Michael will never have problems, and he might even appear to be turning his back on God.
One thing I do know is that God is bigger than we are. No matter how bad we mess up, He is right there, ready to take us on. In some cases He has to let us get into some trouble, in order to expose a problem area in our lives. Then we can realize that we are imperfect and that we need to rely on the Lord.
Sometimes He has to show us that it doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong. God wants us to trust Him and not stand on the fact that ‘I am right,’ and so on and so on. Sometimes He wants us to drop all of that garbage and just trust Him. To turn to the other person and show them the same kind of love that Jesus showed us when He gave His life for us.
Look at the example laid out for us in the Bible. After man had sinned, God showed that He still loved us. He didn’t require that we fix ourselves first and become perfect. All the Lord requires is that we trust and believe in Him. At that point, He takes on the job of changing us because we could never do it ourselves.
I’m not trying to tell you how you should handle the situation with Michael. The main thing you need to be sure of is, if Michael is truly seeking the Lord, then the Lord will
finish the good work that He has started. It’s not up to you or me, either for ourselves, or for the ones we love. We can’t get ourselves to heaven, let alone someone else. But God, in His good time, and in His way, will bring Michael to Himself. You can trust God to do it.”
After this conversation, Jamie felt a lot better. It hadn’t changed what was going on, but it did get her focus back on the Lord where it needed to be. She needed to trust God and be in prayer constantly about all of this. Jamie also needed to keep asking the Lord to grow in her own life. She didn’t want to be thrown here and there by every new wind that blew.
