“Ryan?” Jessica was incredulous. Annie was with him with tears in her eyes. “Ryan what are you doing here?”
He turned to walk towards her full of longing and love in his eyes. “Well, an hour after you left, I knew I was making a big mistake letting you walk out of my life. Jess, I begged Annie to tell me the address here, and I convinced her to bring me here.”
“Well, it’s amazing what one will do when they are given a donation of one hundred thousand dollars. Besides I was planning to come back here tomorrow, so now I’m a day early,” Annie said with a twinkle in her eye.
Luke looked a little upset and taken aback, but gracefully accepted what was happening in front of him. “Well, I guess the best man wins. Ryan, I would never have let her go if I was you, either. Thank you for your very generous donation, and I guess congratulations are in order. God does work in mysterious ways, but there is a good reason for everything.”
“Luke, thank you for your kindness and understanding. But Jessica still hasn’t given me, or us, an answer. And I guess it’s ultimately up to her who she chooses to marry. I stopped by at the air-port jewelers in New York, Jessica, and if you are choosing to say yes to me then I guess you’ll have to wear this ring.”
Ryan pulled out a small box from his pocket. Jessica gasped as he opened it to reveal a large diamond with smaller ones surrounding it.
“You once said to me that every girl likes diamonds, so I am hoping you will accept this.”
Jessica burst into tears of joy, overwhelmed by the emotions of the moment. Ryan had followed her to Uganda, donated to the orphanage and was now proposing.
“Yes, Ryan, yes, I’ll marry you. But there is one thing I want to do more than anything. I want us to sell everything and move here to Uganda to help these children and adopt Joyce. We have been so blessed with money, Ryan, and none of it made us happy back home. My heart is here now with these children and with this school.”
“Jessica, there is nothing I would love more than being here in Uganda as your husband, and yes, we will adopt Joyce, and maybe some more children. I made the mistake of not listening once before. From now on I will be here for you as you have been for me all these past months.”
“Well,” said Luke, accepting Jessica’s decision with graciousness. “I guess we’ve got a wedding to arrange.”
“Yes,” Jessica said, putting on her shiny new ring. “We do have a wedding to arrange.”
THE END
Bonus Story 12 of 20
From the Prison to the Palace
It was another very warm August day in Portland as Esther White drove her brand new BMW over the bridge that crossed the glassy Willamette River and headed in the direction of the office of Jensen Accountants. At twenty-five, she was lucky to have found such a lucrative job as financial assistant to Ronald Jensen, one of Portland’s most respected accountants. Pulling into her own private parking spot, Esther checked her make-up in the mirror before locking the car. She ran a comb through her long, wavy auburn colored hair, and re-applied her dark crimson lipstick. Grabbing her large designer label handbag and smoothing out the creases in her dark blue suit pants, she made her way to the elevators and pressed the button for the twentieth floor. Her office overlooked the river bordered by a beautiful array of flowering magnolia and maple trees. As soon as she arrived at reception, the new young junior auditor, Tom Reynolds, cheekily winked at her, admiring her firm shapely figure as she walked past.
“Tom, you know that flirting with staff is not appropriate here,” Esther said aware that Tom had been dying to take her out for coffee ever since he’d found out she was twenty-five and single. “But, if you behave yourself, I might let you take me out for coffee after work.”
Tom laughed as she flashed a smile at him. “Well, this must be my lucky day,” he said, looking forward to the end of the day already. “Oh, by the way, there is an important staff meeting this morning at ten. Ronald Jensen wants all staff to attend as apparently there is a serious problem with some missing money, or that’s the whispered rumor that was going around this morning before you got here.”
“Missing money? Tom, that’s impossible. I’m responsible for handling all the money that goes through this office, and I would have noticed something like that.”
“Well, I overheard the senior auditor talking to Matt this morning and they were very concerned.”
“There must be some kind of mistake, that’s all. I’m sure that this will be cleared up at the meeting.”
“Most probably, Esther. If money was missing, you would have known about it.”
A worried look crossed Esther’s face. “I would definitely know about it, unless someone else has messed with the accounts.”
“Anyway, the meeting starts in twenty minutes, so I guess we’ll all know what’s going on when the time comes. But, as for you and me, Esther, I’m looking forward to our coffee date this afternoon.”
“Me too, Tom. Me too.”
*****
“But I’m innocent!” Esther screamed as two armed police guards led her away sobbing to the Oregon Women’s Correctional Center. It had taken the jury less than three hours to reach a unanimous verdict of GUILTY for the theft of three hundred thousand dollars from her workplace. The judge had subsequently sentenced her to ten years in prison as punishment for her fraudulent crime.
Esther went pale as she heard the word Guilty, and for a moment thought she would pass out. Her legs had turned to jelly as her brain swam around in confusion and disbelief. How can this be? This can’t be happening to me! Her best friend Ellen Blake let out a gasp of desperation. No! She hurriedly gave Esther a last minute hug before she was whisked away quickly out of sight.
“I’ll visit you Esther! As soon as I can. Be strong! I love you!” Ellen screamed after her before collapsing in a sea of tears.
Ten years! Ten years! Esther felt hysteria rising up in her soul as the realization sank in that this was real. All her future hopes and dreams came tumbling down around her. Marriage! Children! A home of her own! All gone! And what about Tom?
Tom, where were you? Why weren’t you in court for the hearing?
It seemed strange that this man who had appeared to be so enamored by her was nowhere to be seen in the last few days.
“In fact,” Ellen had told her, in the days prior to end of the trial, “Nita, the receptionist, told me that Tom has now left the firm and moved interstate with no forwarding address. I think that is rather weird considering he was flirting with you every day. He seemed so interested in you. Otherwise why was he asking you out for coffee and then dinner after work?’
“Well, we didn’t really get to know each other that well, Ellen. It was just a frivolous work flirtation. I think Tom probably just got a better work offer elsewhere and took it.”
“But if you didn’t steal the money, then who did? And I sure as hell know it wasn’t you! Tom’s behavior just seems suspicious that’s all!” Ellen protested. “And besides he may have wanted to get close to you for other reasons. Did he ever get a chance to access your work computer?”
The possibility of that happening had crossed Esther’s mind. “I don’t know, Ellen. It’s possible. But all I do know for sure is that someone set me up, and I have no idea who.”
“Well, I think I know who. And that is Tom.”
“But he seemed so nice, so harmless, and so carefree. I felt he was just interested in enjoying some time with me. I doubt he would want to set me up. I think romance and fun is what Tom is all about.”
“That’s how all con men appear to be, my dear. Tom was charming, and maybe he was using that charm to distract you from your work for a reason.”
“But, we can’t prove that Tom did it Ellen, and all the evidence points towards me as being the culprit. It’s too late now to do anything.”
“It seems very weird that Tom only came to the court case on the first day and then bang, all of a sudden he does a magic disappearing act.”
“Ye
s, I know, it is rather strange. But if he got a better job offer why would he stick around? We’d only been flirting for a few weeks. And we were not really that involved. It was nothing serious.”
“Well, if the worst case scenario happens and you do end up in prison, I will find that man and extract the truth out of him!”
Now the worst case scenario had happened, and Esther found herself in a small prison cell sharing the tiny space with another female inmate, a rather cynical woman called Janis.
“So, what are you in here for?” Janis had asked as Esther arrived trying to control the tears that had fallen non-stop since she left court.
“I was charged with theft from my work place,” said Esther in a flat monotone voice. “But I’m innocent.”
“Oh, sure, love. You know we’re all innocent in here!”
Esther suddenly realized with a jolt that the next ten years of her life would be mostly unbearable.
***
The only things that prevented Esther from losing her mind in that prison were the regular visits from Ellen, and her new and growing friendship with the prison chaplain, Jane Bennett. Jane was a mature motherly figure full of love and compassion. She immediately took Esther under her wing.
There was a small chapel in the prison courtyard surrounded by ash trees and a colorful garden. Esther found comfort in weeding the garden, and watching her newly planted roses and petunias grow. Being outside for a few hours a day with the fresh air on her face was the only sense of freedom she had. At least she could lie down on the grassy lawn for a while and watch the clouds drift over her when the days were warm and sunny. Otherwise all she faced were the stark grey walls of a cold looking prison. Time went by so slowly as she counted how many months, days, minutes she had left before she would be released. There were times when all she wanted to do was sit in the chapel and pray alone, or on Sunday mornings attend the hour long church service.
“Here’s a Bible for you to keep and read when you need to find some inner strength. God will never forsake you, Esther,” Jane had said one day a few months before Esther’s release. “You know you are a child of God and He loves all of His children. He also forgives all our sins. You also know that He loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His only Son, to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven and saved. He promises us eternal life with Him in His Kingdom.”
“His Kingdom seems like such a wonderful place,” Esther had said after reading the text, In my Father’s house there are many mansions If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
“Yes, that’s a lovely text, isn’t it?” Jane had said as she placed a comforting hand on Esther’s arm. “It’s John 14:2 and it fills us with so much hope. God’s Kingdom is just like a palace.”
“Well, hope is all I have left in this hopeless place,” Esther had said, imagining what God’s Kingdom must look like. “And I guess it will be such a nice experience going from the prison to the palace.”
“Stay faithful to God, Esther, and you surely will be in God’s Palace when the time comes.”
“Thank you Jane,” she said, giving the prison chaplain a sisterly hug. “If it wasn’t for you I would have lived here in despair all these years. But thanks to your inspiring sermons and your kindness towards me I have found a little slice of peace despite the trouble in my life. I will never forget you.”
“It isn’t me Esther that you have to thank. It is God. He is the one who stops us from despairing because to despair means you have no faith. Use your faith to grow in relationship with the Lord and continue to love and worship Him. He has a plan and a purpose for all of us. Go to Him in prayer and ask Him what he wants you to do when you get out of here. You know you only have a few months left now before they release you.”
“I know Jane. I’ve been here almost ten years and it has seemed like forever. I have no idea what I will do with myself when I am released. Nobody in finance or accounting will ever give me a job. I don’t know if anyone will want to employ a convicted thief for that matter. So I don’t have a clue what I should do.”
“Follow the Lord and follow your heart, Esther. In the time you have been here you have studied the Word of God every day. And now you have your own personal Bible to take with you when you leave here. You know that God will never abandon you, and that He will provide for you. Trust in Him always. You know I have a feeling that you will be fine. Actually, I have been waiting for a chance to talk to you about a friend of mine who may be able to help you get started again on the outside. His name is Jesse Johnson. Jesse is a Christian philanthropist who helps find employment for women who are leaving prison. He has been blessed with money which he inherited from his billionaire father’s estate. But because he has always been a Christian, he is using his wealth to help those in need. He has a huge mansion down in Florida on the coast where he employs staff to tend the gardens, do some cooking for the homeless, or clean the house. In return he provides accommodations and pays a small wage. Then, at the end of the year, he buys each of his workers a Winnebago as a thank you for helping out. All he asks in return asks that they go forth and travel, and spread the Gospel which he teaches there. So basically that is his ministry. He helps the women to integrate back into society, and become useful in their own ministry of teaching the Gospel to others. Jesse feels that this method is working, and it is helping many ex-prisoners start a new and productive life.”
“Oh, my goodness, that sounds amazing,” said Esther wide eyed and wondrous. “I can’t even imagine how freedom feels anymore. Having a Winnebago of my own to travel around America and teach the Gospel sounds like a dream come true.”
“Yes there is freedom in Christ, Esther. Even in this prison you have found some kind of freedom through His Word. But once you leave this place you can use the angel wings God gives you, and fly away, free as a bird.”
*****
It was a sunny blue-sky day when Ellen arrived at Oregon Women’s Correction Center to finally pick up Esther and take her to the airport. Jesse Johnson had agreed to take her for a year on his rehabilitation program. He had even paid for the airfare for the four-and-a-half-hour plane trip.
“Now,” said Ellen, who had previously organized things by liaising between Jane and Jesse. “Jesse has organized for one of his staff to pick you up from Daytona Beach Airport. You’ll have to watch out for a person with a sign with your name on it when you land. That person will be your driver to your new home. Oh, I am so excited for you, Esther, and I will keep in touch and visit as often as I can.”
“Thanks Ellen, you’ve always been there for me. I couldn’t have got through a week in that prison if I didn’t have you visiting me every single weekend.”
“That’s what friends are for. I’m just so sorry that I never managed to find that Tom Reynolds while you were in there. I was hoping to somehow make him confess and get you out of there, but he has apparently disappeared into thin air.”
“Don’t worry, Ellen. You did all you could, I know. Somehow I feel so confident that God will reveal the truth one day. I have a positive feeling about going to Florida. It’s as if I instinctively know that my life will soon fall back into place. Only this time I feel like I’m a free-spirited pilgrim about to embark on a spiritual journey, and not a prisoner locked in a cage.”
“That is so encouraging to hear, Esther. I know how much you gave in to despair in that first week in prison before you met Jane. I know that as Christians we are blessed because we have hope in Christ. We also have a desire to serve God. So we really need to surrender fully to Him so that He can reveal His plans for us.”
“I think that meeting Jane was part of God’s plan. Look how it changed both our lives, Ellen. Neither one of us was really committed to God before. I mean we hardly ever went to church or prayed. Now look at how much God has changed our hearts and our spirits and our minds.”
“I know, Esther. God has transformed both of us. We are both different and stronger people than w
e were ten years ago. I guess that is because He is the potter and we are the clay.”
“Well, it takes total surrender to Him to become the clay that He, as the potter, can transform. Jane said that God always has the victory over suffering if we surrender to Him and trust Him. She told me the story of Paul and how when he was in prison God used that experience to convert and transform the Philippian jailer. Paul had been formerly converted to Christ on the road to Damascus. That experience transformed him. And now he was converting thousands to Christ, even his jailer who never believed in Christ until he saw Paul’s true character inside that jail.”
“Yes, it’s true, Esther. God has the power to turn a bad situation around and use it for a good purpose. And it isn’t just Paul’s story that is inspiring and shows us that. Look at Joseph in Egypt. He was thrown into jail, but then he was made Governor of Egypt because God gave him the gift of interpreting the Pharoah’s dreams. And now look at your life. God has blessed you and taken you out of that prison to a new life in a palace. I know He has great plans for you.”
Esther sighed. “I think this is the beginning of a whole new journey for me. One in which God is in control. I am just the passenger.”
“Exactly,” Ellen said as they pulled up at the airport carpark. “Well we’re here. And soon you’ll be on that plane to Florida and a whole new and exciting life. Oh, I think I’m going to cry with happiness for you.”
“Please don’t, Ellen. If you start crying I will too, and I probably won’t stop until I arrive in Daytona. I don’t want to look all red and puffy eyed when I land. Jesse will think I’m unhappy to be there.”
“No, he’ll know that they are tears of joy!”
***
A tall, thin woman with a sign saying, Esther White, was waiting patiently at the Daytona Beach Airport. She appeared to be in her early thirties. Dressed in a wispy thin floral cotton sun dress and sporting huge sunglasses and a large summery hat, she smiled as Esther approached.
Sunlight and Shadows Page 38
