Family
Growing Up Christian - - - Or Not!
Chapter 2
Jess Whitson was a city born and raised individual but he had always wanted to be a farmer. He wanted to live away from the hustle, bustle, the filth and the crime of the city. He was making a pretty good living as an electronics repair technician but the work was beginning to wear heavily on his nerves. It was a “dog eat dog” business and he felt as if every one of his competitors and customers thought he was made of horse meat. The price of consumer electronic equipment had continued to fall over the years but the cost of parts and the time it took to repair the more complicated equipment continued to rise. Many of his customers just bought new equipment, rather than pay a fair price to get their old equipment repaired.
Jess could see ‘the hand writing on the wall’; there was little chance of continuing to make a decent living in the electronics repair business. He and his wife Carol prayed together each night for the Lord to help them find a better way to make a living and a better place to raise their two boys, who were eight and ten years old. The boys were in a school which didn’t appear to be safe, to say the least. Some of the other children were bring guns and drugs to school. There had been a couple of shootings during school hours. Many of the kids were on drugs and some were selling drugs. Most of the kids had never had any religious training and their parents were raising their children like little savages. Many of the parents were living like savages themselves - on alcohol and other drugs - carousing ‘till dawn - stealing - beating each other and using foul language every time they spoke. They always used foul language.
The saying goes, “If you have to use profanity when you speak, you have a weak mind” and man, did they ever have a weak mind! Jess was a subscriber to the theory, ‘If you lay down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas’ and Jess was getting tired of fighting fleas!
The local School Board had voted to distribute free condoms to the grade school children and put on demonstrations, showing how to use them. Jess thought it would be fine to teach kids about sexually transmitted diseases but he thought pre-marital sex should not be encouraged and approved by the school system.
Jess had been a Christian since he was a teenager and He believed what the Bible said about the way to live was the right way to go. Other people might call the Bible ‘old fashioned’ but Jess had seen that those people who lived in a way that was contrary to God’s Word were eventually in big trouble. Even if they eventually came to their senses and came back to God, they still had to bear the consequences of their previous loose living. It took years to get back to serving God as they once had done (if ever).
As was her habit, Carol had gone up town on Wednesday afternoon to window shop. (The family didn’t have enough money to do much more than window shop.) She normally went to window shop with a lady friend but today her friend was ill. Carol drove her car into the big ten story parking garage and proceeded up the ramp to the third level before she found an empty parking space.
She didn’t know this, but a man was hiding in the shadows of one of the support columns near where she had to park. He had been one of the towns’ most prominent business men but the spirit of ‘one-ups-man-ship’ had wreaked havoc in his life. He considered himself to be the best but foreign competition, government regulations and taxes had wiped him out. He was left an empty shell of his former self. He could have jumped from a tall building, as many of his counter parts had done during the great depression but he just didn’t have the nerve. Emotionally, he had been driven into a shell, while at the same time, still considered himself to be the greatest. Because of his actions and attitude, he had lost his home, his wife and family and had been forced to live on the streets. He was a bitter man who blamed the world and everyone in it for all his troubles. He was going to make them pay.
He huddled behind the pillar, waiting for a victim (who he thought he could handle) to come within his reach. He was quite pleased to see a young woman driving his way. “Is anyone in sight? - No! Good.” This could make up for a lot that had happened to him! At last, he would have his way with her and maybe get enough money from her to buy a couple of fifths of whiskey!
Carol carefully drove her car into the vacant parking space, checked her appearance in the rear view mirror and gathered her purse as she slid out of the car and locked the car door behind her. She strolled past the column where the man was hiding and as she did so, he grabbed her from behind. The man held Carol around the neck while he grabbed her blouse and bra, ripping both from her body in one motion, leaving her creamy white breasts exposed for all the world to see - - but no one was there to see - - or to help. Carol was so surprised, she didn’t have a chance to scream or do anything. She just stood there with her mouth open, trying to form a scream, but nothing came out. The man reached down and ripped off Carol’s skirt, leaving her clad only in her panties. Now Carol found her voice and let out a blood curdling scream which could be heard for blocks but those who heard just paused for a moment - then went on about their business. They were used to hearing screams and gun shots in this part of town, nothing to be concerned about. (It’s better not to get involved. Don’t risk being sued or shot if you try to help someone.)
Carol fought with all her might but her attacker was just too big. He out weighed her by fifty pounds and he easily wrestled her to the pavement. He was just about to commit the sinful deed, when his attention was suddenly drawn away from his victim.
Blows were being expertly directed upon his head and rib cage - - this was not supposed to be happening! He looked up just in time to receive a smashing blow to the nose. What was going on?
Two young ‘feminists’ were coming back to their parked car from their ‘Tae Kwon Do’ classes and were just hoped to find a man who was out of line, to try the things they had just learned in class - any man. It just so happened that Carol and the rapist were on the pavement near these ladies’ car. The young ladies didn’t care about what was happening to Carol but they had found what they had been hoping for - - a member of that hated sub-species (a man) who was out of line.
The poor man didn’t have a chance. The angry young ladies jumped on him like two ducks on a June bug. One of the ladies kicked him in the head, while the other kicked him repeatedly (faster than you could count) in the groin. The man jumped up and ran down the ramp as fast as his shaky legs would carry him with the two martial artists following along, delivering blows in places especially chosen to inflect great pain without causing unconsciousness or death.
I won’t bore you with the details of the rest of the things they did to him. Let’s just say he’ll be walking funny for a long time to come. Maybe it’ll be a long time before his lust for power drives him to attack another woman. (At least we can hope so.)
With all the commotion fading into the distance, Carol picked herself up, gathered her tattered clothes around her as best she could, retrieved her purse and headed for her car. She unlocked the car door, got in and drove down the ramp and out on to the street and toward home, trembling all the way. No shopping today! She had come close to being raped and maybe murdered today. Only by God’s providence had she survived.
When she got home she slipped into her apartment, unnoticed and cleaned herself up. She knew Jess would blame himself for the attack so she put makeup on her bruises to hide them from him, so he wouldn’t find out what had happened and try to go after the man himself.
Now, I think you can understand why Jess and Carol were trying so desperately to move out of the city.
Jess had been looking for land in near-by communities but all the land cost far more than the family could afford. Jess had done his homework and knew a person couldn’t make enough in the profession of farming, these days, to pay for a farm and also make a living. He had to find land which was low enough in price so that he could buy it with his savings, which the family had so laboriously saved from his meager income.
His search continued in ever wider circles, until on the day of the attack on his wife, he came upon an advertisement in a monthly newspaper from a small town in eastern Kentucky. The ad read:
----------------------------------------------
FOR SALE CHEAP
500 ACRES m/l, 50 acres tillable
200 acres pasture - the rest in rocks
and trees. Early American farm house.
Needs some repair. $25 an acre.
-----------------------------------------------
Jess thought to himself, ‘I can’t pass up a deal like this. I can afford twelve thousand, five hundred dollars and still have enough left over to buy some livestock. It’s pretty far out in the sticks but that kind of location is just what I’ve been looking for. Now, if Carol will only agree to move that far.’
As soon as Jess got home, he found Carol and excitedly told her about the land he had found. Jess didn’t notice that Carol was still trembling slightly. She had decided not to tell Jess what had happened to her. She didn’t want to upset him and she wasn’t sure what his reaction might be. She knew Jess would be devastated by what had occurred and would blame him self for not being there to protect her. Carol would have moved about anywhere, after her experience today!
“Let’s go to the Lord in prayer, said Carol, and ask for His guidance.” The two of them knelt down and prayed together.
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