“You’re right,” he said as he grasped both of her hands in his. “Will you pray with me?”
“Of course.” She smiled at him before bowing her head.
He bowed his head and prayed. “Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for this wonderful Christian woman that you’ve sent into my life. I know that she is here for me. She has taught me so much and reminded me of so much. She’s reminded me that I am a sinner and that I need you in my life. I know that you came down out of heaven and died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. I know that I have to accept that gift from you, and I accept it now. Please forgive me of my sins, Jesus. I know that I can’t do it without you. I know that without you I’ll be separated from you in hell forever. I don’t want that, Father. I want to spend eternity in heaven with you. Forgive me, and cleanse me, Lord. I give everything that I have and everything that I am to you. I start my life over right now. Lord, please be with me every minute of every day. And Lord, if it is your will, please let this beautiful, wonderful, perfect woman stay in my life. I want to grow with her. I want her to continue to teach me more and more. I love you, Father. Thank you again for everything. Amen.”
When he had finished, they looked up at each other and smiled. They both had tears in their eyes. “How do you feel?” she asked him.
He answered as he squeezed her hands. “I feel lighter. It’s almost like I’ve had a race car sitting on my chest for a long time, and it has been removed. I can breathe. I have a peace that I haven’t felt in a long time.”
“Oh, Jeremiah!” she said. It was hard to speak because of the way she was feeling. She wanted to shout. Instead, she grabbed him and hugged him. “That’s God. He has already entered your heart and has begun working. He’s doing what you asked him to do. He’s cleansing you, taking all that dirty sin away and replacing it with his love and peace and grace.”
“I know. I never want this feeling to end. I feel so innocent and free! I can’t wait to tell Dad. Mom is going to cry.”
“Tell them. Tell as many people as you can about what happened to you today. You need to tell those who will support you in this. You need people who will pray with you and that will be able to answer any questions you may have. You also need to tell those who may not support you. There will be some who will ridicule you and try to get you back on the old path. It won’t be easy. You may find out that they weren’t really your friends. Be prepared to lose those friends.”
“Okay,” he said. “Any more advice?”
“Yeah. Keep reading your Bible. Finish Matthew, and then read the rest of the gospels. These will give you a first-person view of Jesus’s life. Get to know him. Read your Bible, and pray every day. Pray before you read and as you read. Pray that God will help you understand his Word. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask questions if you don’t understand. I’ll be more than happy to help you in any way that I can. Do you understand?”
“I do. Thanks again for everything. There is no way to express how I really feel. There’s no way to pay you back for everything that you’ve done for me.”
They went inside so that Jeremiah could call his parents. He called his mom first, and she sobbed uncontrollably. She said that she was so happy. She couldn’t wait to see Jeremiah in person so that she could hug him. She also said she wanted to meet this woman who had brought along the answer to a mother’s prayer. Jeremiah tried to hand the phone to Dawn, but she wouldn’t take it. Dawn said there would be time for that later. This time was for mother and son. Then Jeremiah called his dad. He did shout. His dad admitted that he never should have let his teenage son drift away from God, but he couldn’t exactly make Jeremiah go to church when he wasn’t going himself. He had been praying for this day ever since he had gotten back into a right relationship with God several years ago.
When Jeremiah hung up with his dad, he led Dawn back into the kitchen. Together, they opened every beer that Jeremiah had in the fridge and poured them down the sink. Jeremiah vowed to never drink again. From there, they went into the entertainment room and got every dirty movie off the shelves and put them in a box. Dawn waited as Jeremiah ran upstairs. He came back with a stack of girlie magazines and threw them in the box with the movies. He told Dawn where in the pantry to find the matches and charcoal starter. He carried the box out to the deck and to the BBQ pit. They sat for a long time and watched those items burn. Then they went inside for Bible study. They decided to start with Matthew and read the New Testament together. Dawn finally left around midnight. After all, they both had to go to work in the morning.
Bryan was waiting for Dawn when she arrived at work on Tuesday. She told him everything, and when she was done, he shouted “Hallelujah!” Then he grabbed her into one of the tightest bear hugs she had ever felt. He let her go when she told him that she couldn’t breathe. She laughed. “This is fantastic!” he exclaimed. “I was sitting here hoping you would tell me that you two were officially dating. I never expected this. This is great. Wait until I tell Valerie. She’s going to scream.” Dawn laughed again as Bryan walked toward his office. “Wahoo!” she heard right before his door closed.
Dawn couldn’t wait to call her mom to tell her what had happened. She wanted to call last night but knew that her mom went to bed early. Dawn sat at her desk and dialed home. She thought her mom wasn’t going to answer, but she picked up right before Dawn hung up.
“Hello,” was her mom’s breathless answer.
“Hi, Mom. I know this is a bad time ’cause you’re running your daycare right now, but I just had to call you.”
“It’s okay. You know that you can call me anytime. We were outside playing, and I had to run inside to get the phone. That’s why I sound like I’m out of breath.” Dawn could tell that her mom was walking back outside with the cordless phone. She heard the back door open, and she could hear kids playing in the background. Once she knew that her mom was sitting down, Dawn told her the whole story. “Praise the Lord!” her mother said when Dawn finished. “I am so happy that you are doing the Lord’s work where you are. I worried so much when you moved away because you were still hurting so badly. But I knew that you loved the Lord and wouldn’t let anything turn you from him. I have prayed every day for your safety and for the Lord’s will in your life. This is an answer to prayer.” Dawn could hear the emotion in her mother’s voice.
“I know, Mom. I know that it is. And you know what else? I think that Jeremiah may be the one. I know what you are going to say, I thought Kevin was the one, and look what happened. But I really think God caused all that to happen so that I would move here and find Jeremiah. He even has a biblical name.”
“Maybe you are right. I’ll keep praying for you and Jeremiah. Kevin called again last night. He said he was close to giving up on you. Now you call me with this news. Maybe it’s a sign.”
“It could be because for the first time the news that he called looking for me doesn’t hurt. I can honestly say that I feel nothing anymore.” Dawn wanted to talk to her mom more, but the sound of a fight in the background told her that the call was about to end.
“I’m sorry, Dawn, but Cole and Jesse just started fighting over a bicycle. I gotta go settle this. I love you. Bye,” her mom said in a rush.
“Bye,” Dawn said, but she didn’t think she heard her. “There is no way in the world that I could do what that woman does for a living.” Dawn laughed as she hung up the phone.
The next race was in Fontana, California, just outside of Los Angeles. Jeremiah won that race last year and left for California two days early to do publicity for the race. He sent Dawn flowers on Wednesday and called her at least once every day. She missed him. It hadn’t even been two days, and she missed him so much. She had it bad. The first thing she did when she got to the track on Thursday afternoon was look for Jeremiah at his garage stall. He wasn’t there, and she was so disappointed. She tried him on his cell phone, a
nd he didn’t answer. He never answered his cell phone. She would have to ask him why he even had one. She went to Bryan’s garage stall and read a book while she watched the guys work. Dawn was so engrossed in the story of her book that she didn’t even know when Jeremiah got there. He snuck up behind her and goosed her. She threw her book and screamed. Jeremiah, Bryan, and all the crew who had been watching hooted with laughter. Dawn blushed then laughed with everyone else. She got up to give Jeremiah a hug, but he had something else in mind. He pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. Instead of pulling away like she had done so many times in the past, she stepped into his embrace. They enjoyed their first long kiss. They had been so excited about Jeremiah’s salvation decision on Monday night that they hadn’t kissed before Dawn left. They hadn’t seen each other since, because Jeremiah left early the next morning. He had joked about it Tuesday afternoon when he called her and told her that she had better be ready when he saw her again. She was not disappointed. She blushed when the kiss was over and saw that Bryan and all the crew were still watching.
“Do you have any plans for this afternoon?” Jeremiah asked her.
“No. I was going to sit here and read until it was time to order supper for the crew. Why?”
“I have to go back into the city to do a TV interview. I was hoping that you’d come with me.”
“Can I go, Bryan?” Dawn asked her boss.
“Yeah. I guess we can use the phone for ourselves later. Go and have fun.”
“Thanks,” Dawn said.
“Yeah. Thanks, man.”
“No problem.”
Jeremiah linked fingers with Dawn’s as they walked out of the garage stall. “I need to go by my hotel room to get my purse. Do we have time?”
“Yeah, and grab your camera.” They drove into LA, and once again, Dawn was excited. “Is this your first time in LA?”
“Yes. Can we do some sightseeing after your interview?”
“You bet. That’s one of the reasons that I wanted you to come with me.”
“One of the reasons? What are the others?”
“Those would be surprises,” he teased.
“No hints?”
“No hints.”
“Okay. If it has to be that way.” They stopped in front of the TV studios. “What show are you doing?”
“That is surprise number one. I’m doing The Daily Wrap-up.”
“With Todd Graham?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, my. I can’t believe that I’m going to meet Todd Graham. He is so funny.”
Jeremiah started to answer, but a valet approached the truck. Jeremiah got out and handed the young man the keys. “It’s a rental. Be careful.” Then he walked around to help Dawn out of the vehicle.
“Don’t they provide you with a car and driver?” she asked as they walked toward the building.
“They offered, but I said no,” he answered.
“Why?” she asked, but he didn’t answer while he held the door open for her. He put his hand on the small of her back as she passed. He was such a gentleman. Once they were both inside, she pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head so that she could look at him. “Why?” she asked again.
“Isn’t it obvious? I like to drive,” he told her and gave her a quick peck. He started to kiss her again, but they were greeted by a member of the staff who introduced herself as Becky. Becky escorted them down the hall to an elevator. Dawn listened as Becky filled Jeremiah in on what was going to happen. Once out of the elevator, Becky led them to makeup. “This is the worst part,” Jeremiah said as he took a seat in the chair.
“All you big, tough guys say the same thing,” the makeup artist told him. “My name is Bobby, and this won’t hurt a bit.”
Dawn grabbed her camera and snapped a couple of pictures while the makeup was being applied to Jeremiah’s face. He didn’t say anything but gave Dawn a dirty look. “They won’t end up on the Internet or anything. I won’t even print them, but I bet Wes and the guys will get a kick out of these,” Dawn teased.
“No way,” Jeremiah said. “I’ll pay you good money to delete those before anybody sees them.”
“We’ll talk later.” After makeup, they went to wardrobe.
“Is what you’re wearing now what you want to wear on the show?” the older lady asked. Jeremiah was wearing a royal blue polo with his major sponsor’s logo on the front. With it, he wore black slacks and black dress shoes. Dawn thought that he looked really nice.
“Is there anything wrong with it? I’m contractually obligated to wear something with my sponsor’s logo when I do TV.”
“It that case, I guess it’ll work.”
“Thanks,” Jeremiah said, but the woman had already returned to the garment she was repairing and didn’t reply.
Then they were taken to a dressing room that had Jeremiah’s name on the door. “I hope I can have that when we’re done. My mom would love to have it.” They went inside to wait until they were called. There was a table and chairs with a fruit basket and snacks. There was also a small refrigerator with assorted beverages. They had been told to help themselves to whatever they wanted.
“Do you want anything?” he asked her.
“Just a bottle of water,” she told him as she took a seat on the sofa. Jeremiah got himself a package of crackers and a soda. He then took a seat beside her.
“I found something in the Bible last night that I didn’t understand,” he said as he handed her the bottle of water.
“What?” she asked, but the door opened before he could continue, and Todd Graham walked in.
“Hey,” he said. “I’m on my way to start taping, but I wanted to drop by first,” he said as he crossed the room to where Jeremiah and Dawn sat. Jeremiah stood, and the men shook hands. Then Todd shook hands with Dawn. “Is everything okay?” Todd asked. “Is everybody treating you okay?”
“Yes. Everything’s great,” Jeremiah answered.
“Great. Becky is at your disposal. Let her know if you need anything, and she’ll take care of it for you.” Todd had just enough time to pose for pictures with Dawn and Jeremiah before he had to leave. They watched the monologue on a TV monitor in the dressing room before they were taken to the green room. It’s a room right beside the actual studio where guests wait for their turn. From there, they watched Todd interview his first guest, a big-time actress who was promoting her latest movie. When they went to commercial, Becky came to get Jeremiah to take him to the studio. He waited behind a wall while Todd introduced him. Then Jeremiah walked around the wall to greet Todd and shake his hand again. Then the two walked the short distance to the interview area.
“Now, you were involved in quite a crash last week, weren’t you?” was Todd’s first question when they were both seated.
“Yeah. It was the worst of my career,” Jeremiah answered.
“I think we have footage of that,” Todd said. “Can we show that?” Dawn looked away from the monitor while they showed the wreck. She couldn’t watch it again. “So what were you thinking during that?” Todd asked when the footage stopped.
Jeremiah said, “I can’t repeat that on TV, Todd.” The audience laughed at Jeremiah’s joke.
Todd said, “I understand that. But seriously, you walked away from that. How?”
“The cars are that safe. When I get in the car, I am strapped in to the point that I can barely move. The major cause of injury in an accident like that is the bouncing around, but when you’re secure like that, you’re going to be okay. I mean, I was sore the next day, but that was nothing compared to how bad it could have been.”
“So you’re racing at Fontana this weekend. You won that race last year. What are your chances of winning again on Sunday?”
“Pretty good. We brought a car that is almost identical to the car that we
won with last year. We came out here and tested with the #91 Dodge before Christmas, and it ran a little better than last year. If we can keep that up, we should be able to add another trophy to the case on Monday.”
“So have you gotten to enjoy any of this warm Southern California weather?”
“No. I’ve been in town since Tuesday, but I’ve been busy with race stuff. I’m free this afternoon, and I’m going to take a friend to see all the sights.”
“I met your friend backstage. She is very pretty. Are you just friends, or is there more going on?”
“I like her a lot, and she likes me. At this point we’re seeing if there is anything more to our relationship than friendship.” There was a groan from the women of the audience.
“Sorry, ladies, but it sounds like Jeremiah Jones is no longer on the market,” Todd said, and the women groaned again. “Well, I’ll let you go so that you can continue with your date. The NASCAR race at Fontana is Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Thank you for joining us, Jeremiah.”
“Anytime, Todd.” They went to commercial, and Jeremiah shook Todd’s hand one last time while a stagehand removed the microphone that Jeremiah was wearing. Then he went into the green room to get Dawn.
“How did I do?” he asked as he took her hand.
“Great,” she answered.
“I didn’t know he was going to ask about you. Was that okay?”
“Yes. It was neat to be the subject of celebrity gossip.”
“You are such a good sport,” he said as he gave her a hug. “Now let’s go to surprise number two.”
Dawn waited in the truck while Jeremiah went back inside to change into the jean shorts and tennis shoes that he had brought with him. He told her that he didn’t want to do a lot of walking while wearing dress clothes. When Jeremiah returned, they only drove for a few minutes before Dawn saw what she hoped was his next surprise. “That’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where they have the handprints of all the movie stars. Is that where we’re going?”
Revved Up Hearts Page 15
