Stories

Steve glanced at his watch. Eight thirty. Where had the time gone?  He checked for leaks one more time and then closed the water heater closet. "All done!" he announced to the homeowner across the room, who smiled and reached for a check book. "Let me send you a bill. I have to get to my girl's little league game." He collected his tools and hurried out the door.

After weaving dangerously through traffic he bumped the pickup into the near empty parking and slid to a stop by the empty stands. Rachel ran up and threw are arms around his neck as soon as he got out. Then he saw her tear stained cheeks. "What's wrong?" 

“I didn’t get to play, because you didn’t come and run the snack bar.”

“What?” He strode over to the coach who was putting bats into his trunk. “Why didn’t you let Rachel play?” 

“You were supposed to run the snack bar today and didn't show. That’s league rules. I tried to call you.”

“That’s not fair. You can’t bench a kid because of the parent. What kind of a jerk does that?”

Rachel tugged at his sleeve. "Daddy, please, let's just go."

"Get in the truck!" 

“Steve, you need to calm down. These are not my rules."

“Forget the rules. You could have let her play.” Steve stepped forward to let his size emphasize his words. He put his red face within inches of Jason's. "Right?"

“Yes, I could have,” Jason took a step back. “But, that wouldn’t have been fair to all the parents that did show up on their week, even when it was hard, because they wanted their kid to play.”

“It wasn’t just hard for me. I had an emergency! I had a busted water heater and there was water all over the place. It could have cost me thousands of dollars in damages if I hadn’t stayed and cleaned it up. It could have put me out of business.” It wasn't the whole truth, but it made the point. “Do you understand that? Can you understand that some people aren’t as rich as you and have to work – work hard - to make a living? Come on! What kind of Christian charity is that? It’s not like you don’t know my situation! We go to the same church for Pete’s sake – you know how many times I’ve asked for prayer about my situation.”

Jason took a deep breath. “Steve I understand you’re upset, but you need to calm down. This is not the way brothers in Christ handle their differences.”

"Is that how 'Christian Brothers' treat each other's kids?" He turned around and went back to his truck before Jason could answer. Jason watched Rachel through the windshield of the pickup as Steve slammed the door and squealed the tires as they sped away.

Fred Johnson, who had witnessed the whole scene from the stands with is wife, Mable, turned to her and said, "see that?" She looked up at him. "That right there is why I don't go to church. It's all smiles and 'Jesus Loves You' on Sunday, but every other day of the week their just like everybody else - some of them worse. Hypocrites! They don't have anything I need."

Sunday in church, Steve saw Jason headed in his direction. He was a bit embarrassed about the interaction on Friday and ducked into the worship center. Finding a seat away from the door instead of going to his Sunday School class, he decided he would go to first service this week. He thought more about the events of Friday than the Pastor's sermon. After the service he picked his daughter up from her Sunday School class and headed to the parking lot. "Aren't we going to big church today?" Rachel asked.

"Uh, no honey. I thought we'd cut it short today. I'm tired." He saw Jason looking at him across the parking lot as he put the key in the car door. He looked away and pretended not to notice.

The phone was ringing as Steve turned the key in the lock of the little apartment they called home. “Hello?” he said into the handset.

“Hello, Steve? This is Mable Johnson, my grandson is on the little league team with your daughter.”

“Oh, hi. What can I do for you?” Steve said.

“I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was that your daughter didn’t get to play in the game on Friday. I only wish I would have known what was going on. I would have been happy to fill in for you at the snack bar and there would have been no problems.”

“Well that’s very kind of you, but it wasn’t your fault. I just don’t know why that coach couldn’t give Rachel a break.”

“He was just doing his job. It wouldn’t have been a very good witness if he had let your daughter get around the rules just because you two go to the same church” Mable said. “How would that have looked?”

He wondered how she knew that he and Jason went to the same church. She must have heard him blasting Jason on Friday. He hadn’t thought much about how his actions might have affected his witness.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He said. They said a few more things but Steve wasn’t really listening. Mable said good bye and Steve thanked her for calling. He hung up the phone and stood there for a long time, thinking. Maybe she was right. Jason had just been doing his job as a good unbiased coach. But, it really hurt Rachel and he didn’t like it when people hurt his princess. So many things had hurt Rachel in her young life already; really big things. It was wrong for him to hurt Rachel over a silly thing like the snack bar; what a hurtful rule. So, it was the league council’s fault more than Jason’s. Of course, it was probably done because people weren’t showing up and then just a few parents had to cover every week. That’s how ill-conceived rules like that usually end up getting made. So, it was really the fault of the other parents. But, he recognized that he was one of those parents that hadn’t shown up. Well, his was an emergency and no wife to cover for him. They were almost all two-parent families. If you really think about it, it was really his wife’s fault for leaving him to raise Rachel alone. Of course, he knew she was a flake before he married her. Perhaps it was his fault for marrying a flake. But, then he wouldn’t have this little angel, Rachel, if he hadn't. It was all mixed up. This person sinned against that person, who sinned against that person, and on and on it goes.

Then the words came floating into his head from a sermon he heard a long time ago. “Do not associate with a man of wrath.” He remembered letting Jason have it. He really lost his temper and he shouldn’t have. He should tell Jason he was sorry. He remembered seeing Jason in the foyer and again in the parking lot.

He reached for the church directory and found Jason’s listing.

“Hello?”

“Hi Jason, it’s Steve.”

“Hi Steve. Thanks for calling – I wanted to talk with you.”

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t want to talk to you this morning. I was kind of still mad.”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Can I come over? This would be a lot better in person.”

Steve looked around at his sloppy housekeeping. “Uh, not right now. The house is kind of a mess.”

“Well then, can you come over here?” Jason asked.

“No that’s OK. I just wanted to say I’m sorry for yelling at you Friday, that’s all.” There he got it out. “You were just doing your job as the coach and you had to be fair whether you agree with the rule or not.”

“Well, I appreciate that, Steve.” Jason hesitated. “But I’d like to talk to you more about this if we could get together maybe over a cup of coffee? Is there a coffee shop near you that we could meet at?”

“What? Look it’s not that big a deal. I said I’m sorry, what more is there to say?" Steve asked, and then teased, "Unless you’re refusing to forgive me.”

“Oh I forgive you.” Jason said quickly. “I just want to talk to you more about this anger problem and see if there is more I can do to help you overcome it.”

“Anger problem? I don’t have an anger ‘problem.’ I just lost my temper in a difficult situation. I’d had a hard day at work and my daughter had a bad day at Little League. I think it’s pretty understandable that it would make me lose my cool a bit. Don’t turn this into a bigger deal than it is, OK?” Who did this guy think he was?

“Well, I have just noticed that there have been several times that you have really lost your temper and it just seems like it’s a part of the flesh that, as Christian, you’ll want to put off.”

“Like when? Look, I said I was sorry. Don’t make this a bigger deal than it is – don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill, ok?”

“Well, like two weeks ago when your daughter got a strike call and you argued with the umpire that it was a ball. You kind of lost it then, too.” Jason said.

Steve had put that incident out of his mind minutes after it happened. “Look, I wasn’t really mad.” He lied. “You just have to speak with conviction and force or these guys will walk all over you. He did a better job of calling the balls and strikes when he knew I was sitting right behind him watching, too.”

“Well, you were raging, whether you were really mad or not, and, well, that’s a sin.”

“What?” This was getting ridiculous. “I called you because I wanted to clear the air over what happened between you and me. What happened between me and the ump was different. Let’s not get carried away here.”

“You remember at the beginning of the season, after the parents meeting, we came out to the parking lot and some boys were in the back of your truck? You yelled at them for a long time and accused them of stealing from you.”

Steve remembered. It had turned out they were just looking for a baseball they were tossing around that got away from them and landed in the bed of his truck.

“I thought I was being robbed. How would you have reacted?”

“I don’t know, but I would hope that I wouldn’t put my need for my possessions above my witness to those boys and their parents. I’m not saying I’m perfect. I got problems and I lose my temper from time to time. But you seem to lose it a lot.”

“A lot? That’s three times!” Steve could hear the tone of his own voice and it wasn’t really what he wanted to convey that he didn’t have a problem with anger.

“If you think about it, there have been a lot more times that you’ve raged. You’ve got a lot of anger and you’re not really dealing with it properly."

That was it. He had tried to be a nice guy. He had tried to say he’s sorry and Jason just put it in his face. “No. I don’t remember any other times and if I did they’re none of your business. Who do you think you are to judge me, anyway?” He hung up the phone abruptly. That didn’t go as well as he had hoped. Why couldn’t that guy just say ‘I forgive you’ and let it go?

“Daddy?” Rachel came into the room carrying a frozen dinner.

“What?!” Steve snapped at her.

“Nothing.” She walked timidly back to the kitchen. Jason made him mad and now here he was taking it out on his daughter.

“Honey, I’m sorry. Did you want me to make a dinner for you?” He followed her into the kitchen.

“It’s OK. I can have a sandwich.” She was already putting the frozen dinner package back in the freezer.

“No, it’s OK. You can have the dinner. I was just a little upset with someone on the phone, not with you. I’m sorry.” Rachel began to cry. “Don’t cry honey.” He realized that she had been doing that a lot lately. Women.

Monday was another rough day at work for Steve. Nothing seemed to go right and the harder he worked the more things went wrong. The stupid flange didn’t match up to the pipe like it was supposed to on the new water heater. He went to the store and bought a new flange only to find that it didn’t fit either. So, he bought a new reducer pipe and it didn’t fit the flange. His frustration grew and grew. Finally he started banging the pipe with a wrench, trying to get it into the reducer. After three swift bangs he missed the pipe and smacked himself in the face with the back of the wrench. Just then the customer’s 15 year old son had been walking by, seeing what he had done, burst out laughing.

“Why don’t you get over here and see if you can do better, funny man.” Steve yelled at him.

“Chilax man, it was just funny, OK? Not my fault you’re so uncoordinated.”

That night he came home to find two freshly heated dinners on the table and the house looking neater than it had in weeks. “Thank you, Rachel. You’re such a great helper.”

“You’re welcome, Daddy.” Finally Steve was able to get the pressure off and just relax a bit.

They were just finishing up their dinners when there was a knock at the door. Opening it, Steve saw Jason and Dan, one of the elders from his church, and Dan’s wife, Gwen, standing there. “Hi.”

“Hi, Steve. Can we come in and talk with you?” Dan extended his hand to shake. Taking his hand, Steve opened the door wider and the three entered the small living room. Dan and Jason were carrying Bibles.

“Just, uh, sit anywhere.” Steve offered. They took seats around the living room. Rachel came in and hellos were said all around.

Gwen got up, “Honey, why don’t you show me your bedroom, OK?” and leading her from behind they drifted down the hallway toward Rachel’s room. Rachel looked at her Dad. Steve gave his daughter a wink and a nod to assure her it was OK.

“Steve, I just first want to apologize for saying what I had to say over the phone…” Jason started.

“That’s OK. It takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong.” Steve replied. “You guys want something to drink?” Both men declined the offer.

“That’s not exactly what I meant.” Jason started again. “I mean I’m sorry I didn’t wait until we could talk in person.”

“Oh, that.” Steve laughed a bit. “I didn’t exactly let you did I?”

“Well, I felt like maybe I didn’t make myself as clear as I should have because we were on the phone.”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry, too.” Steve replied. “I shouldn’t have gotten all huffy like that. I’ve just been going through a lot of stuff lately and it’s been stressful at work. So, I guess I’m a bit more easily offended than usual. Sorry about that.”

Jason looked at Dan as if for assurance, opened his Bible to a place he had bookmarked and then continued. “Steve, in Ephesians 4:31 it says, ‘Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.’” He showed him the passage in the Bible. Then he turned to another bookmark. “And in Colossians 3:8, it says, ‘But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.’” Again, he showed him the Bible passage.

“Everyone gets angry now and then.” Steve said. “Do you mean to tell me you never lose your temper?”

“No. I do, occasionally lose my temper.” Jason admitted. “But, It’s not the pattern of my life.”

“Oh, but you think it is for me?”

“Steve, you get angry at the drop of a hat. You get angry about anything that doesn’t go your way. I’ve seen it for a long time. There are times when you rage more than other times, but it’s clear you are angry and snippy with people most of the time. You need to repent of your anger. You need to put it away and work hard to get it out of your life.”

Steve stood up. “Who are you talking about? You’re not talking about me. That’s not me. Yes, I get frustrated when things are difficult and I get snippy when people are being stupid, and I get angry when people make me angry. I’m not perfect, but no – it’s not a pattern of my life, anymore than it is for anyone else.”

Dan leaned forward in the chair, “Steve, now, just take it easy.” He motioned for him to sit down and Steve did so. “Are you familiar with what Jesus says in Matthew 18:15-16?” He opened his Bible and turned to the passage. “’If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.’ Jason has done that. ‘If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.’ I’m here, now, because you are not listening to your brother, here, Jason.”

“Are you kidding me?” Steve was up again. “I’m listening; he’s just not making sense. I don’t have an anger issue any more than the next guy.”

“Steve,” Dan leaned back in the chair now, “I’m confirming for you that I have seen that you have an anger issue. I also am calling you to repent of your anger, now. Turn your back on it. Now, ask God to help you to control this emotion and to put your wrath away from you.”

“I can’t repent of a problem I don’t have. I don’t know how to make you understand.” And so it went for more than an hour as Dan and Jason repeatedly called Steve to repent and Steve continued to deny the problem. Finally Steve said, “Look, we’re not getting anywhere. You continue to tell me I have a problem that I know I don’t have. There is no more use talking about it. Please leave so I can put my daughter to bed.”

Dan and Jason stood up. “Gwen” Dan called out. Gwen popped her head out of a door down the hallway. “We’re going now.”

“Ok, I’ll be right there.”

As Gwen was saying her goodbyes to Rachel and getting her things together, Dan turned to Steve and said, “I just want to go back to Matthew 18 again where it says, ‘If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.’ We have done that here tonight. The next line says, ‘If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.’ If you are absolutely resolute that you will not repent, then we have no choice but to tell it to the church.”

“You’re telling me you’re going to announce to the whole church that I’m in sin over anger?” Steve was incredulous. This couldn’t be happening.

“Yes. That’s what the Bible tells us to do.” Dan looked at him straight in the eye. “Repent.”

Steve hesitated. Was there really something to what they said? Was he really in need of repentance over this?

“You do and I’ll sue you” the thought was barely across his mind before it was out his mouth “for defamation of character.”

Jason got wide-eyed and Dan dropped his head in despair. “You have until Sunday morning to let me know you’ve repented. You have my number.” The three left in silence. Steve shut the door hard and locked it behind them.

Sitting down in his favorite chair he let out a long sigh. What was he going to do? They meant it. They would announce his name from the pulpit on Sunday. Maybe he would stop going to that church. Maybe it was time for a change anyway. But, Rachel had all her friends there; it wouldn’t be fair to her. Was an occasional justifiable outburst really so bad? What had he done that he hadn’t seen many other men who call themselves Christians do a thousand times? Nothing. He wasn’t abusing his daughter. He’d not been in a fist fight since college. What was so bad?

“Daddy?” Rachel’s voice lilted down the hallway as if a thousand miles away. He heard it, but he wasn’t quite ready to talk to her about the evening's events. She wasn’t giving up so easily, “Daddy? Can you tuck me in?” He knew she wanted him to come in so she could ask him what was going on.

“Yes, dear, I’ll be there in a minute.” He had to get his thoughts together first. An hour later he was still sitting there and Rachel was fast asleep.

Sunday morning came faster than any other before in his memory. Today was the day. Rachel was up and ready for church. Eating cereal the crunch was never so loud or so annoying. Getting to church there was so much traffic. They had to walk a long way from where they finally parked at the far end of the lot, in the heat. Rachel was off to Sunday School and he went into the worship service. He never heard what the preacher said in his sermon. The closing hymn at last. Oh, good; they aren’t going to do it after all. Then Dan made his way to the pulpit. Here it comes.

Steve’s thoughts raced, “What am I even doing here? Why did I come here to be humiliated? You’re a Christian – this is your church. You belong here no matter what they say. They can’t get away with this. They’ll see. I’ll own this building when I sue them. I’ll own every one of them. No. That’s wrong. I have to forgive them. I have to show them they’re wrong about me.”

Dan was reading from Matthew 18. Steve heard his name and in his peripheral vision saw people next to him turn and look at him. Something in his head began to feel like it was going to explode. He had to get out. He felt every eye on him as he stood up and walked down the aisle to the back door. He heard the whispers and saw couples leaning to each other’s ears. He made his way to Rachel’s Sunday School class. They were just letting out. He grabbed her by the hand. He had to get her out of here. He had to protect her from what people would say to her.

“Ow, Daddy. What’s wrong?” He loosened his grip a bit on her hand.

“We have to go sweetheart. We have to go right now.”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“Never mind, we have to go.”

He could see down the hallway people were coming to get their kids. People who had been in the service and had heard. They knew. They gave him sympathetic looks and pained smiles like people give you when you have a death in the family. Like when his wife had left him.

A lady who he didn’t know stood in his way. She smiled kindly and said, “I’ll pray for you.”

“Thank you.” He responded stiffly and moved past her.

An usher he had seen several times patted him on the shoulder and said, “I’m going to pray for you for an hour every day until you repent.” What was this? Was he sick? Was he dying? He had a little anger problem. That’s all. Why is everyone making such a big deal out of it?

“You don’t have to do that – I’m fine, really.” Then he dodged another person who looked like they wanted to talk to him.

“Daddy, what’s going on? What’s wrong?” He could hear Rachel’s voice as if it was somewhere far away.

They had made it back to the foyer; it was mobbed with people.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you, Steve.” It was Jerry from his Sunday School class.

“We’re here for you, Steve. We’ll help you lick this thing.” It was Bill from Bible Study. “You have my cell number – call me anytime.” He stopped acknowledging anyone and was now just gently pushing his way toward the parking lot door. It was like trying to escape from a maze with shifting walls.

“Daddy why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?” Rachel was getting more insistent. She wrenched her hand from her father’s grasp. “Daddy!” she screamed over the noise.

He turned on her and yelled, “I was named from the pulpit in front of the whole church this morning. OK? That’s what happened. You happy now? For the love of God, can we please just get to the car?!” The room had fallen silent and still and everyone was looking at him with a mix of horror and sympathy. People stepped back and made a path for them out the door. Taking her again by the hand he mustered the last bit of personal dignity he could find and walked out the door. In the parking lot there were more people who greeted him and promised to pray for him, assured him of their love, and offered their assistance if needed.

He was putting the key in his car door when he heard behind him, “Hey Steveo, what’s going on? I heard they said something about you having some anger thing this morning.” He turned and saw Ryan, his old friend from Sunday School. They used to go fishing together, but Ryan hadn’t been around too much since he was elected to office as the area’s Representative to Congress.

“Hey Ryan!” He was glad for a more understanding, rather than sympathetic face for a change. “Yeah.”

“What’s the deal? You need a little anger management class? I did that for awhile.” He pulled out a business card. “It’s really no big deal. Here’s my shrink’s card; give her a call sometime. She did wonders for me.”

“Thanks, but I really don’t have a problem. It was all a misunderstanding about a baseball game, really.” He chuckled. It was nice to finally find someone who understood.

“What happened?”

“Oh, I was late to the game and didn’t run the snack bar so Jason benched my kid, and …”

“What?!” Ryan exclaimed, “He benched your kid because you didn’t do the snack bar?”

“Yeah – anyone would have been upset about that. Don’t you think?”

“Of course!” He patted him on the back. “Oh my gosh. Take my advice. Don’t worry about it. Just lay low and the whole thing will blow over in a few weeks.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figure. Hey, it’s good to see you. I’m going to take the munchkin home and get her out of this environment for a bit. Really good to see you, though.” They shook hands and patted backs and went their separate ways.

“That was really good advice.” Steve said to no one in particular on the way home.

“what was?” Rachel asked.

“I think we’ll just take a break from church for a few weeks. OK?”

“Aw, dad. Can I still go? I’ll miss all my friends and I really like my teacher.”

“Yeah, OK. It has nothing to do with you so they should leave you alone. I hope. If anyone says anything mean to you, you let me know, OK?”

And so for three weeks Steve dropped Rachel off and went home and watched church on TV. He got to where he preferred watching church on TV rather than going. He liked the sermons better and he didn’t have to get out of his PJs. He stopped answering the phone as he got about five calls a day from people letting him know they were praying for him. And the letters! He must have had 100 letters a week from well meaning people in the church. But every letter just served to remind him what they had done to him and it just made him mad every time he went to the mailbox. He didn’t read any of them.

Then there came a certified letter from the church office. He brought it in after a particularly hard day at work. He had ruined someone’s stainless steel sink because he had hit it with a hammer when it wouldn’t go into place. He threw the letter on the table to decide what he was going to do with it later.

After dinner there was the letter again and he picked it up casually to decide what he should do with it. He decided to open it. It was on church letterhead. It was from the pastor and signed by all the elders. They said they loved him and expressed their desire to see him repent. They told him how they had prayed for him every day. They expressed their desire to serve him any way they could. They reminded him of what the scripture says about anger and wrath. Then they wrote again about church discipline. How he had been approached by a single individual. The sin had been witnessed and confirmed by witnesses. That he had been admonished from the pulpit. They told him that the next step in church discipline was that they would ask him to leave the church. They assured him that Rachel was still very welcome, but that he would be asked not to come into the church building or to associate or eat with any church members until he repented.

He couldn’t believe it. How dare they? They really weren’t going to let this go. They were going to hound him right out of the church. And for what?

“What’s it say, Daddy?”

“It says that if I don’t repent they’re going to kick me out of the church.”

“Oh.” Rachel took the letter and read it herself. “Daddy?”

“Yes, dear.”

“How come you don’t just repent?”

“I can’t. I don’t know how to repent for something that isn’t a problem.”

Rachel climbed up into his lap and snuggled into his arms. She hadn’t done that in years. She looked him square in the eyes. “Yes it is.” She said quietly. He just sat and stared down into her eyes.

“It is?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, Daddy.” Somehow when she said it, all of sudden he couldn’t deny it anymore. He saw himself for who he really was. A man of wrath, who wasn’t going to let anyone get anything over on him. No one made a fool of him without hearing his rage. No plumbing part was safe if it wouldn’t go into place. He hammered and banged and forced his way through life. That’s who he truly was. He hadn’t been able to deceive anyone -- not even Rachel -- except himself.

“How do I repent?” he asked the little girl.

“You ask God to forgive you and help you not do it anymore. You say your sorry to all the people you were mean to and you tell them to help you by praying for you – like they're already doing.”

“That’s it?” He already knew it was true. How had he been so blind? How could he have denied the truth for so long to so many people? Of course he was controlled by his anger and it needed to stop. “Dear God, help me to change." he prayed aloud. "Help me to want to change! Help me to love others and control my emotions. Please, dear God, please help me to be the man you want me to be. Please God, please.” They were both quiet for long time. Steve took a long slow breath.

“I have to call Jason and tell him I’m sorry.” He lifted Rachel off of his lap and began looking for the directory.

“He’s not home right now.” Rachel said.

“He’s not? How do you know that?” He found the directory and began turning to the page.

“He’s at the baseball game.”

“What baseball game?” He asked. And then it dawned on him. Her team’s baseball game. Today was Friday and she should have been at the weekly ballgame. He had been so absorbed in his own problems he had completely forgotten. He realized that she hadn’t been to a game in four weeks. Not since …

“Oh, baby, please forgive me.” He grabbed her and hugged her. “I’ve been so selfish. How could I have been so selfish?”

“It’s OK, Daddy. I forgive you.”

They got in the car and drove to the ball field. The game was in full swing, but Steve ran right up to the dugout and called out, “Jason, Jason.”

“What is it Steve?” Jason looked at him a little afraid since there was a wild look in his eye.

“I want to thank you Jason for caring enough about me to rebuke me when I was wrong. I wanted you to be the first to know I’ve repented and with God’s help I’m going to be a new man. Please, please – and I mean it this time – forgive me for the way I treated you.”

Jason came around the end of the dugout and grabbed Steve in a manly bear hug. “It’s great to have you back, brother!”

In the stands, Mable patted Fred's leg. When he looked at her she just smiled and said, "Jesus loves you - and so do I."