WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Courtesy photobucket.com

 

In order to place this question within the proper framework we must go back a few years to a youth revival meeting, where many of the present church family became Christians.  Actually the new converts were adults as well as young people during the three weeks the meetings ran.

After the meeting was over the youth pastor began to teach some rights and wrongs of the Christian faith.  He covered outright sin, things that were questionable, and things that were more in the weight class, such as things that could harm your testimony.

Then one day he divided the class into two groups and his wife took the girls and the boys stayed with the youth pastor.

He then went into things sexual and laid out GOD'S plan for men and women. He emphasized abstinence before marriage and then opened it up for questions.  At first no one asked anything but at the pastors urging they finally opened up and some of the questions caused the pastor to redden a bit but it was an open and frank discussion.

The pastor's wife did about the same thing with more emphasis on the girls keeping their virginity until marriage, and entering into a one flesh relationship with her husband, and not some one who would be here today and gone tomorrow.

The pastor hoped that understanding GOD'S plan for marriage would help them to say no to Satan's plan.  He thought that getting into a premarital bed for sex was getting into bed for sex with the Devil.

Now we come upon a young man, shall we call him Harry? In any case Harry took what was taught seriously and abided by GOD'S rules as laid out by the pastor.

There was a young lady named Jenny and kept herself pure as Harry did. When they were sixteen they became interested in each other and for the next two years dated often.

They wanted to get married but Harry felt he needed more education in some specialize field in order to provide for them and a family. The only problem

was his folks couldn't front the money for his college education.  He applied for scholarships all to no avail and racked his brain as how to accomplish his goals.

Finally he decided to enter the military for one term of duty and then go to college on their dime.

This meant postponing their marriage for a few years time but since it seemed to be the only solution they pledged themselves to do it that way.

Harry decided that he should sign up for three years and that would obligate him to five extra years in the reserves.

 

Hopefully he could get into a field that he could go into when he got through with his tour of duty. He further figured Jenny could get two years of Junior college and then work for one year till he got out of the Army.

Things didn't work as Harry wanted for he was immediately sent to combat duty and there he remained for most of his time in the service.  He went into many fire fights where he fought for his life, and had it not been for a battle harden sergeant leader he would not have made it through virtually unscathed.

So much of his action was fought at long range but the occupation of territories was where the most danger lay.  Snipers and booby traps accounted for most of their losses in his platoon while patrolling captured areas.

His tour was finally over and he was looking forward to being mustered out and getting on with his life.

Meanwhile Jenny was getting on with life also.  She went to junior college for one term and then accepted a job offer.  She did well enough and had moved up a couple of pay raises in the last two years.  Her letter writing had tapered of in the last year, and that bothered Harry somewhat but he figured that when he got home everything would be all right.

At the office where Jenny worked there was a lot of flirting going on and considerable dating within the company.  Guys were often asking Jenny for a date both single and married men.  She eventually found this flattering especially from one of the more handsome guys.

 

The girls were always saying that they would like to be with him.  Of course he had the reputation of being a womanizer, but each new woman he took out was sure she could change that and he would be satisfied with only them. At best the most they experienced was three one night stands with him.

In spite of knowing his entire history, Jenny found that she also wanted to date him, and was just waiting for an opportunity to do so.  All this time she still attended church but learned how to separate her church life from her business and social life.

She began innocently enough going out after work with the other girls, and having a glass of white wine.  Being in that environment had its effect on her, for the main topic of conversation was men they had been with, men they would like to be intimate with and who they are with now.  

After a couple of drinks Jenny would join in on the wish list, and found herself making her own list of men she would like to be with.

When she would receive a phone call from Harry she would reaffirm her love for him, and for a few days she didn't mingle with the loose-goosey women but gradually she would gravitate back toward them.

Struggling within her was the battle of her faith against enjoying the pleasures of sin for awhile.  In the midst of this battle along came the guy all the girls wanted to date, and he invited her out for a weekend at his cabin. She put him off till later that day, and she told the girls that he invited her out and they all agreed she should go and have fun.

They left Friday night after work and in about three hours they pulled up to a very nice place in the woods. Their plans were to go out on the lake for some water skiing with his other friends and hiking and generally have fun. There was a Lodge with good food nearby, what could be better.  

Jenny began to think that all those stories told about him weren't true for he was a perfect gentleman. They had stopped to eat on the way to his cabin and were planning a full day tomorrow so he suggested they have a glass of wine and go to bed.

The next morning Jenny got up, put on a robe and went downstairs where her date was only wearing a pajama top that didn't completely cover him. She tried to not look at him but he caught her staring him sitting in a chair while exposed.  He just laughed and told her there was just the two of them and no one could see them, and they should go up on the sundeck after breakfast and get rid of any tan lines. She understood he meant to sunbathe in the nude.

He suggested they do several things she didn't want to do but he was always cordial and friendly when she declined.  The day was fun out on the water riding in the boat, and skiing and having good food in between.

The other couples seemed very nice although the girls removed their tops and insisted Jenny do the same.  Something she never dreamed she would do but did when they remarked; “When in Rome do as the Romans do,” and several of glasses of wine it made it easier to follow, and after all no one she knew would ever know she did it.  

That evening the guests left them alone and returned to their lodging. Her date came close to her and began to place his hands on her in a way Harry never had.  

Her head was dizzy from the drinking during the day although she was aware what was happening.  When he started removing her clothes she resisted, but he forcefully took them off.  She found that saying NO had no effect on him and the harder she struggled the more he became aroused.

The morning came and she knew that her life had changed. Harry would be home in a few days and she would have to tell him what she had done. She felt life with him could never be after this.   

She knew that the girls she worked with it would mean nothing if it happened to them just something to brag about, but not to her.  She could not face them knowing she had allowed herself to be taken advantage of.  

She knew as soon as her date arrived at work the guys would want to know how he made out and of course he would tell them all the details.  Shortly after this all the girls would also know for this was how it worked in the office.

What little of her testimony for Christ she had left was gone. She was suppose to give two weeks notice before quitting her job but when she called her supervisor (who knew the whole story of the weekend) and said she was quitting the supervisor said she understood and she called the paymaster and had her send Jenny's final check.

Jenny prayed a lot the next few days but no matter how hard she prayed she couldn't change what had happened. She tried to remember scriptures she had known but the one that kept coming to mind was (1 Corinthians 15:33) Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.

Jenny knew in her heart she had played a large part in what had happened and couldn't wholly blame someone else for it when she had willed it to take place.

She knew when Harry was coming home but was ashamed and didn't go to meet him for she felt they needed to be alone when she told him what had occurred.

Of course he was disappointed when she didn't meet him and when he asked his folks about it they said; you will have plenty of time to see her from now on. They had heard things but didn't want to say anything to him about it.

When he arrived home and got settled he called Jenny and said he couldn't wait any longer to see her and wanted to come over right now. She was shaking as she said, “Sure come on over.”

Since she had been working she had her own apartment, so she gave him the address.  He was there in about fifteen minutes, and he grabbed her and kissed her with his longing lips. She responded for she had missed him so, regardless of what had happened.

She asked him about his time in the service and he just said it was over and didn't wish to talk about it. She could tell that something had changed him and she hoped he was still the same in the ways that counted. He told her that he had been offered a job before he was released from the service and he was going to see about it tomorrow and then said he wanted to get married as soon as possible.

She stopped him and slowly and hesitatingly told him the whole story about her friends at work and going out drinking.  Then the worse part about going out on the date, and how she had been taken advantaged of.  She told him she had put herself in the position for it to happen and how she wasn't able to stop him when she wanted to. This was the last thing he expected to hear for he had been so sure of Jenny's faithfulness and to hear what he just heard was worse than anything he experienced in the war.  

She said she understood him not wanting to marry her now for while she could blame others she was also at fault for what happened.  He continued to hold her for awhile and kissed her again, with a lot less passion than when he came in.  Harry just said, “We'll see what can be worked out.”

This was about the only thing he had not faced since going overseas; he had seen men dying on every hand and unbelievable suffering.  Having to deal with everything that goes with the politics and suffering of war had put toughness in him that can endure almost anything.

While he was getting over the shock of what she had told him, he didn't want to see or talk to her until he was ready to deal with it.  Contacting one of her friends, he found out who it was that had forced himself upon Jenny and everything about him, including his habits, his handling of other women and what he had done to them. He then had a fuller understanding of what must have occurred.

It was important to check on the job offer and he was pleased to be hired at a good salary to start with.  

Next he visited the pastor to find out when he would be prepared to conduct a simple marriage ceremony without a lot of trimmings. Then he went to pick up Jenny and told her what his wishes were and wanted to know if she was in agreement with any or all of them.

She hesitated for a moment but then said; “What about - - ” - - he stopped her in mid-sentence and said, “Not to worry for its being taken care of.”

Not knowing what his words meant but she happily agreed. 

 

She was overcome with joy because she had been sure their life together would never 

be.  To her it was a miracle, for him to move beyond what had happened without castigating her.  She knew that his was a true love.

The wedding was scheduled for the next Saturday.  Due to the gossip that might accompany a large wedding it seemed best to have a small celebration.  It was to be a small private affair with mostly family and close friends.

Everything went off without a hitch and the honeymoon bonded them together for life, they never spoke of the time from when he went into the service until when he came home and they were married. Harry had matured and was able to see the big picture of life instead of a small event.

He thought of the hundreds of times they would enjoy each other and he wasn't going to let one small issue spoil all of that.

To answer the question "What would you do?" Harry answered it in the way that suited him best, as for you - - - only you can answer that.

courtesy photobucket

P.S. Harry had a broken piece of a baseball bat he kept in a bookcase and when asked about it he would just say it has to do with fond memories.

The girls Jenny worked with went on with their lives dating and drinking and the men kept on flirting as usual except for the one Jenny had dated. It seems that someone had beaten him almost to death with a baseball bat part of which was found at the scene of the beating.

The end