by T. M. Meek
Alex Opalstone
and the
Window of Heaven's View: Life 101
Part 2
By T.M. Meek
Copyright 2010-2014 T. M. Meek
License Notes
Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.
Author's Note: If your heart yearns to know all of God's most important answers to the most important questions of life then pray with sincerity of heart for His answers. Pray to the Lord to send you his messengers, missionaries who will teach you scriptural, biblical truths you still may not yet know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray to be able to recognize the difference between those who have only some of God's truths and those others who have all of God's most vital saving truths to teach you in their purity for your happiness in eternal salvation.
Pray with faith and believe that God hears and answers prayers. You can pray vocally in the privacy of your home or silently with the privacy of just the thoughts and feelings of your heart and the Lord will answer your prayers. You may find the view of life God has to teach you is spectacular as you finally find a vital spiritual element to your life that may currently be missing without such glorious truths. - T. M. Meek
Table of Contents
Chapter 13: A Dangerous Mistake with Alex Behind the Wheel
Chapter 14: A Very Different Kind of Carnival Ride
Chapter 15: Surprising Answers about What Heaven is Really Like
Chapter 16: Heaven’s Many Mansions and Hell’s Place of Torment
Chapter 17: Innocent Trouble for Alex and Leena
Chapter 18: Counting the Cost of Lots and Lots of Cereal
Chapter 19: The Woes of Halloween Trick or Treating for Julio
Chapter 20: Julio Accidentally Goofs… Something Important
Chapter 21: Making New Enemies
Chapter 22: The Dream of Heavenly Lights Tells More
Chapter 23: Heaven’s View of the Future
Dictionary
Faith Terms
Financial Terms
Social Terms
Appendix A: Divinely Inspired Prosperity
Appendix B: The Financial Math of Hope vs. Despair (As included in the original article entitled, “Why Are So Many So-called Expert Financial Advisors Broke?”
Appendix C: Lewis Perry’s Presentation Transcript for “Sexual IQ vs. Sexual EQ”
Appendix D: The Power of Our Youth Today: Everyone’s Hope for a Brighter Future
Chapter 13: A Dangerous Mistake with Alex Behind the Wheel
As the last several minutes of sunlight cascaded across the tree tops giving their last warm rays of light for the day, Meredith stood close to a nearby stream where a variety of flowers in vibrant colors have been beautifully incorporated into the surrounding landscape. Her beauty shined through as her disposition radiated of a happy and content spirit. She smiled as she watched Alex dip her toe in the stream several feet away.
"You're so cute, Alex," Meredith said. She simply adored her.
Alex took a bite of her ice cream and smiled. "Getting ice cream and coming to the park was a great idea!" she said cheerfully to Meredith.
"I totally agree," Meredith replied before spooning up a bite of her own ice cream. As Alex ran back over to Meredith, Meredith asked, "Are you warm enough out here?"
"I'm okay," she answered. She then took another bite of ice cream. The two began walking side by side while enjoying the beautiful scenery of nature all around them. Samuel approached with a smile. He then held out some carnations.
"I saw these beautiful flowers and I thought of you two beautiful ladies." He handed a lovely carnation first to Meredith and then to Alex.
"Thank you so much," Meredith said before she kissed him. He then took the last bite of his own ice cream.
"Yeah. Thanks Uncle Samuel," Alex said kindly.
"I'm going to throw my ice cream trash away. Can I throw yours away too?" Samuel politely offered.
"Sure. Thank you," Meredith said as she and Alex handed him their trash. He then walked over to a nearby trash dispenser and threw it away. He then returned and began holding Meredith's hand as they walked.
"May I hold your flower?" Alex asked Meredith.
"Yes you may," Meredith answered. Alex held onto both hers and Meredith's flowers with one hand and then held Meredith's hand with the other as the three walked together.
"So how do you like North Ivy?" Meredith asked Alex curiously.
"It's not that bad. Their lunches are pretty healthy so I don't think I'll need to bring lunches from home as often since lunch is already paid for."
"How's work coming on the Triple-C?" Samuel smiled.
"I like it. Leena does a really good job with the art and images. She's even putting together a website. But Julio on the other hand...he's not as reliable as I thought he'd be," she said with some disappointment.
"Be patient with him. Maybe he just has too much work of his own right now. Like in his classes," Meredith gently suggested.
"How about what you’re responsible for? How is your own work for the Triple-C coming along?" Samuel asked.
"Most of it's done already. I already have a rough draft of what I'll say and a basic outline of the points I'll cover in the presentation. But I'll have more work to do soon if Julio doesn't get his stuff done in time," Alex replied frankly The three of them walked along in silence enjoying a gentle breeze for a few moments. Meredith looked thoughtfully at Alex.
"Alex, how's Glade? Has he called or texted you lately?"
"He texted me a few days ago. He said he likes being at Uncle Lee's. When will I be able to see Glade again? I miss him," Alex said sadly.
Samuel sighed. "Well, I don't know. Glade is over a thousand miles away and it would be up to your dad and Uncle Lee if Glade took any trips away."
"What if we all went to go see Glade? Can we take a trip to go see Glade?" Alex asked with eager optimism.
"It's possible. I just don't know how soon we could do it," Meredith responded while looking at Samuel for any clues.
"Although it is possible, it would take some coordinating of schedules since I work, your aunt Meredith works and you're in school. It would be at least three or four months, maybe more, before we could do it. But that's only as a 'maybe.' We’d also have to check with Uncle Lee’s schedule. I'm afraid I can't offer you any guarantees right now," Samuel replied.
"We'd also have to get permission from your dad but that shouldn't be a problem. But let's consider that in a few months, okay?" Meredith said. "We want you to see Glade. We really do," Meredith added as Samuel nodded in sincere agreement. "In fact, we'd like to see him again too," she added with truthful optimism.
"Absolutely," Samuel agreed.
"We just have to consider the cost of us taking off from work and getting you out of school for a day or two and how much the trip will cost and things like that," Meredith sighed.
"What if I earn the money for it? Can we go then?" Alex asked hopeful.
Samuel looked baffled. "What if you pay for the trip?" he repeated in shock. "Did I hear you correctly?" he asked as he looked over to Alex.
"Yeah. If I can pay for it, then why not?" Alex politely challenged.
"Wait, wait, wait," Meredith said in a peaceful effort to stifle what she saw as a pending debate. "Alex, let's compromis
e. Uncle Samuel and I will go over how much the trip might cost. Then we'll all sit down together and discuss ways we can all contribute to paying for it and when we might take the trip based on how soon we can each contribute our part if we can. Okay?"
"How soon can we discuss it?" Alex asked eagerly. "Because if we're all going to pitch in together, we'll need to discuss it sooner than three months so we each know what we're working towards and have enough time to make our own contributions ready to go in three months or so. Maybe sooner, right? If we've got the money sooner, we can take the trip sooner."
"Well, let's wait to talk about it another time. Just not tonight," Samuel said reserved. "We'll let you know when we're ready to discuss it further."
"Okay," Alex sighed heavily expressing clearly her disappointment over not knowing exactly how soon they could begin making more concrete plans.
"Has your dad called you lately?" Samuel asked Alex with sincere concern.
"No. The last time I talked with him was on the phone for just a few minutes on my second day of school. He called me during lunch. Don't worry. I don't expect him to really keep in touch much. I hardly ever saw him or spoke to him when I lived back home. Why would my living with you be any different?" Alex replied apathetically.
Both Meredith and Samuel were at a loss for words over her response. They understood why Alex would feel that way and they were not impressed with the results Francis had shown as a father. But Meredith felt the silence was becoming too much. "Look. Alex, I really wish things were better with you and your parents," Meredith said sympathetically. "And I don't blame you at all if you feel disappointed or angry or let down over everything that happened recently with Dex and Glade and you."
"We'd understand if you feel hurt or upset because this has been going on with Dex for so long now," Samuel chimed in. Alex remained silent as they walked.
Meredith shrugged. "You don't have to talk about any of that right now if you don't want to. Just keep in mind that both Uncle Samuel and I really care about you. In fact, we love you. And if you don't hear me ask you about how you feel about your dad or your mom or about Glade or Dex, or even Twinkles and Bubbles it's not because I don't care but it's more about how I'm worried that I might ask or say something wrong. I also don’t want to make you talk about something when you really don't want to. Does that make any sense, Alex?"
Alex nodded halfheartedly. "Yeah. It makes sense."
"Good. I just want you to know that I really care about you and so does your uncle Samuel. Usually I prefer to talk with someone I like and trust about things that bother me. For most people, it's a good thing to talk to someone you trust about a problem since it can cause too much stress to keep problems private and not share the burden of sorrow with a friend. I'm always here for you if you want to talk to me. But you don't have to open up until you're ready," Meredith added.
"We definitely care about you, Alex. Or else we wouldn't have taken you in to live with us like we did," Samuel smiled compassionately.
"It's okay for you to ask sometimes. I'd rather you ask how I feel about something then not ask because maybe one day I'll want to talk after you've asked again," Alex said.
"Then I'll keep asking from time to time. But just remember. If I haven't asked you and you want to talk about your family or school or your friends or anything at all, you can come to me and we'll talk about it. Okay?" Meredith added as she lovingly smiled at Alex and put her arm around her giving her an affectionate squeeze.
"You can talk to me too," Samuel said. "Especially about boys. If any boys ever bother you, you just come to me and I'll protect you with the kind of fierce protection that will bear a strong resemblance to the wrath of God," he said with a look in his eyes of serious intent. "No one's going to harm any female I love that's living under my roof. Not on my watch," he added in a determined tone.
Alex liked feeling safe and protected by Samuel. She knew he meant what he said as he always locked the door behind him whenever he arrived home from work and as soon as anyone got into his car or left his car. He was especially careful to make sure that everyone at home was in the habit of keeping the doors locked. There were alarms for the cars and for their house. Just before going to bed, he made it a habit to make sure the doors were locked and the alarms were on.
Everyone who lived in his home took personal responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others who lived there so everyone who lived under his roof had a key to the house. He believed it was irresponsible for someone to say that they didn't want to have to carry their house key with them because this would cause others to feel obligated to leave the house unlocked for the one lazy person who didn't mind putting those at home in danger by leaving the house unlocked. He realized there's really no place in the world that's so small or perfect that crime can't or doesn't occur. Such a belief was dangerously naive. He was right. Alex knew he cared for the safety of everyone in his home because he showed it. Samuel's credible assurance caused Alex to smile warmly at both Meredith and Samuel as they walked.
"Hey! Let's go see a movie!" Alex suggested excitedly.
"No. It's getting late," Samuel and Meredith said in near unison.
"Well then let's go to England!" Alex said optimistically even though she was only kidding.
"Yeah, right," Meredith said unexcitedly.
"If we left now, by the time we got there, it wouldn't be late anymore. In fact, it would be early as in early morning," Alex jested.
"Okay. You come up with the money within the next sixty seconds and we'll go there right now," Samuel challenged. Meredith tried to hide her smile over what might happen next because she knew Alex might actually have enough money in her own bank account to pay for it. Samuel put his arm around Meredith and saw her facial expression. He wondered if his suggestion might have been a mistake.
"How much?" Alex asked.
Samuel thought deeply for a moment as he crunched some numbers in his head. "Three round trip tickets, hotel, food and transportation for a two week trip, that would be about eight thousand dollars," he said in a businesslike tone.
"Never mind," Alex smiled a bit embarrassed. That was more money than she was comfortable spending. Samuel simply gave her a look that showed he expected her response. Alex smiled still embarrassed.
“Alex, would you mind if I spoke with Meredith alone for a minute?”
“That’s fine.” She had no idea why he wanted privacy but she actually had a good feeling about it. Samuel and Meredith stepped just a few feet away. He spoke with Meredith in whispers briefly and then made a phone call. As Alex waited she could see Samuel smiling as he talked and Meredith occasionally suggested things for him to tell to the person he was speaking with. After another few minutes of Samuel laughing and Meredith looking over to see if Alex could overhear, he set the phone against his chest and walked over to Alex.
“Someone wants to say ‘hi’ to you,” He said as he handed Alex his phone.
“Hello?”
“Would you mind if I came out to see you in a few days? Uncle Samuel offered to fly me out.” Glade smiled enthusiastically over the phone.
“Glade!” Alex was thrilled to hear her favorite brother’s voice on the other end of the line.
“My schedule is more flexible than Uncle Samuel’s so he wondered if I’d like to come see you sooner than waiting for his busy schedule to lighten up. I think it’s a great idea! How about you?”
“I love it! I love it! Yes! Please come see me!” Alex instantly began hopping up and down in excitement and Glade laughed lovingly as he was excited for a chance to see Alex too. “How soon will you be here?”
“This weekend. Okay kiddo?” Glade smiled. Alex was so happy. They spoke together for several more minutes and her joy was overflowing as she smiled and laughed and was ecstatic to hear the sound of Glade’s voice. He couldn’t believe Uncle Samuel would be so generous with such a spur of the moment gift and Alex was already planning getting the right ingredients for
Glade’s famous homemade cheese ball. Finally they would be together again as brother and sister. Even though it was just for a few days neither of them could hardly wait. Their goodbyes were cheerful before she hung up the phone.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Alex hugged Samuel.
“You are so very welcome.” He winked at Meredith who was smiling and crying tears of joy.
“We love you so much Alex,” Meredith smiled as Alex hugged her too. “We love both you and Glade more than you probably know.”
“You guys are the best Uncle and Aunt ever! I can’t wait to see him!”
