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DUSTI SCOVEL |
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Published Summer 2000 “I Will Follow Christ” Jack Countryman Books, a Division of Thomas Nelson Inc.
He was bent over the sink, gazing out the kitchen window in a trance. “Something wrong?” I asked. “I think I know why Jesus cried,” my husband replied. “It wasn’t because his friend Lazarus died. I mean, give me a break. This is God here. I think he felt defeated. After all he’d done for them, they still didn’t get it. All the teaching and preaching and miracles and these most faithful of followers still wanted more from Him, to prove his position. And I think he was just so frustrated he finally wept at the realization.” I think He still weeps because we don’t always get it either,” Mike continued. I stared at my husband in disbelief and maybe a little envy. This man who had spent more time in bars and dancehalls than in church was explaining to me why Jesus cried. I could recite the books of the Bible in order, knew what “covet” meant in the ten commandments and considered myself a God fearing, serious Christian and Mike thought he knew what was going on inside Christ’s’ head? I mean, give me a break! I’m the one who first told Mike that Jesus was real and not just a mythical character in some ancient book. I’ve always been somewhat envious of Mike’s relationship with Christ. It’s like introducing an old friend to a special new friend and realizing later that they have a great relationship, whether you’re with them or not. Mike was baptized the year after we met, thanks to a couple of Christian businessmen who recognized the hunger in Mike’s questions. And though we both made a decision to follow Christ, our feet didn’t always stay on the path. We had good times and bad times, nearly losing our marriage from the financial stresses that often plague young couples. One of the most significant moments in our lives was in the early eighties. A Native American couple passing through town on their way to the Yukon Territory stopped in my shop to trade some beadwork for gas and food money. We didn’t have any money but invited them to our house for dinner and to spend the night. It turned out they had been told the anti-Christ was about to emerge in America and they were trying to escape the dire predictions of Revelations. After several hours, we showed the couple to our bedroom and we bedded down on the floor in an empty room next door to them. The conversation had frightened us terribly. Were they right? Should we gather our children and go with them? Mike prayed more earnestly than ever before, he says, pleading with God that he needed to know what to do. Then a blinding white light filled the doorway to the bedroom and an unmistakable voice said simply, “Just follow me.” Mike couldn’t believe I didn’t wake up and when he told me about it later, I couldn’t either. That was years ago but Mike never forgot the message. He waited for over twenty years for the Card Company to offer him his own “line of cards”. In 1999, they finally did but he turned them down. At about the same time last year, Mike also felt called on by Jesus to produce an entire outdoor sculpture park on the campus of a children’s home with life size bronzes depicting Christ’s life. It had become impossible to do both and Mike knew he had been told what to do years ago. When I get worried about how we’ll get by during this mission we’ve taken on, I sit in the first sculpture garden dedicated last month, look into Christ’s weeping face and ask forgiveness. Mike really did get a better offer and I’m so proud he had the good sense to take it.
Dusti Scovel
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