Story #28 in the Covenant series
Before reading this story you should read “The Advent of Steven” from last week.

I don’t know how the Kramers found our church. We’re off the beaten path and we don’t advertise. Maybe it was God; I don’t know. Jennifer was only 19 and David was 20, but they already looked beaten, worn, and creased. They were rough in speech and manner. He worked construction and she worked off and on at the 7-11. David Jr. was three and little Stacy was 7 weeks old. It was like meeting the people you see on “COPS”. One night Jennifer punched her mother in the nose. David was outraged because she was holding the baby at the time. He felt that any decent mother would have put the child down first. David was having his own troubles as he maintained a shaky sobriety. The last time Jim Beam got the best of him, he fought the police officer who responded to the neighbor’s call. They had to pry David Jr. off his leg before they could take him away to jail.

About a month after the Kramers started coming to church we were gathered together for our Wednesday night meal. Everyone was sitting around the tables chatting after supper when we heard a terrible scream down the hall. The first thing I saw was Lyle and Cathy running toward JoAnn, one of our deacons, who was carrying Steven into the kitchen. Steven was screaming in pain, and there was something in the scream that made every parent stop talking. We knew it was something serious....

READ MORE at the High Calling Blogs website.

Archive of my High Calling Writing.

The High Calling is a site about Work and God.