This morning's Bible study brought to mind something that happened many years ago in Hawaii. Bob was not a Christian then and I was surprised he agreed to go with the boys and me to see a Christian illusionist. It was even more surprising that he was enjoying himself thoroughly. He roared with laughter when the illusionist took his life in his hands by turning my purse upside down and several silver dollars "fell out." Bob knew there was so much more in my purse that could have fallen out on the man's head.
I was not done being surprised when Bob continued to sit through intermission even though the illusionist announced the second act would be a presentation of the Gospel. I was sure Bob would leave, but he didn't.
The biggest shock of all was yet to come. We were sitting on the end of the aisle that stretched almost all the way across the auditorium and most of the chairs were empty due to intermission. A plump woman, probably in her fifties, came past all those empty seats (She could have gone around since we were in about the 3rd of 4th row from the front.) Her long hair was rolled up on the nape of her neck the way my mother wore her hair in the 40's and 50's. This was the late 70's. Her dress, as I remember, was a dark blue print with 3/4 length sleeves as well as modest hem and neck lines. A dear saint of God. Since it was Sunday, she probably hadn't changed out of what she wore to church. In the tropics, the first thing believers do after church is change into comfortable clothes and sandals. Not her. She even had on her pantyhose and pumps.
Bob and I hadn't noticed that there was a young man sitting in front of Bob. He, too, stayed in his seat during intermission. That dear saint continued to march past all those empty seats. We were expecting her to excuse herself and move into the aisle, wondering why she didn't go the other direction. She was sitting on the opposite aisle and her trek would have been much easier. Instead, on she came.
Her voyage across the sea of seats halted in front of Bob. She bent over, and began whispering in the ear of the young man sitting in front of us! At that time, Bob was contemptuous of overweight people and here was one whose backside was literally inches from his face. His eyes grew wide with horror as he scrambled to his feet. Still, he didn't leave, just stood in the aisle by his chair for what seemed to be an eternity. Still she didn't move. Why didn't she sit in the empty seat next to or in front of the young man? She could have stepped into the aisle and stood beside him. Why did she have to bend over so rudely right in front of the man whose chapel had been praying for ever since they knew he'd be attending the performance?
Finally, tired of waiting for her to leave, Bob said, "I'm going to the car." I was crushed. Others in the audience who saw what was going on were in as big a state of shock as we were. That week, in Bible study, the chaplain said, "Mary, the only thing I can think of to say is that sometimes the devil uses Christians, too." It was no comfort, but it was the truth.
However, the good news is that while the devil won that battle he lost the war. God is so good.
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