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Galen had his head under an F150 hood when his garage phone rang. Wiping his hands along the way, he walked into his small office to sit down and take the call.
“G’s Automotives?” he answered.
“Hey, G? This is Pete.”
“Hey, Pete, how’s it going?”
“Not good, as a matter of fact. Hey listen, I was supposed to do Bible study tonight, but Pastor Chris says I can’t. He says us residents can’t teach anymore. I really wasn’t planning on teaching or anything, just reading and praying, but whatever. Can you fill in for me?”
Galen paused.
“You there?”
“Yeah ... um ... did Chris say he wanted me to do it?”
“No, but who else is there? You’re the only non-homeless person who does Bible study, except for Pastor Dan, and I doubt he’s available.”
“Yeah, sure. I can do it tonight, but I’m not sure how this is going to pan out. I don’t want to do Bible study every night, and I don’t think you guys want to listen to me that often either.”
“Hey, man, now that we get to listen to Pastor Chris, we’ll take anything else.”
Galen stifled a laugh. “OK then, thanks for the call. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
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Galen went to church early to fill Maggie in.
He peeked into the office. No Maggie. He followed the winding hallways to the other end of the building, to the church’s hair salon.
His sons—who always got off the bus at the church, along with Daniel and any other child who happened to be staying there at the time—were playing with tablets in the hallway outside of the salon. “Hey, kids. Is your mom in here?”
Without looking up from his game, Isaiah nodded.
Galen walked into the salon and found his wife happily snipping away at someone’s hair.
She looked up when he walked in. “Good afternoon. I’m a bit busy right now, sir, but if you’ll have a seat in the waiting area, I’ll see if I can fit you in.”
Galen smiled. “Don’t need a trim. Just wanted to tell you that I’m doing Bible study tonight. You and the boys don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to, but I wanted to keep you in the loop.” As he spoke, he did have a seat in the waiting area, which was just a well-worn couch against the wall. He propped his feet up on the also-well-worn coffee table, which was adorned with several magazines.
Maggie frowned. “Yeah, I heard about that. Well, not about you doing it. But about the new rule.”
“What new rule?” the woman in the chair asked.
Maggie said, “Well, the new pastor doesn’t want people who are staying here to lead Bible study. I guess he wants them to be ministered to more than to be ministering.”
“Oh, well, that’s stupid. I like it when Pete does Bible study.”
“I think you’re done,” Maggie said. She removed the cape and shook it off.
The woman stood up and stretched. She looked in the mirror and fluffed her hair. “Thank you. It looks so much better!”
“You bet,” Maggie said.
The woman dropped a few coins into Maggie’s tip jar and then bounced out of the salon.
“Another happy customer, I see,” Galen said.
“Yeah, that’s Brandy. She comes in about once a week.” Maggie chuckled. “But I don’t mind. She’s nice. I think she just wants someone to talk to. So, you going to do Bible study every night now?”
“No. I was thinking about asking some of the others to take a night or two. I’m assuming you don’t want to do it. But I could ask Roger or Mike.”
Maggie grimaced.
“What?” Galen asked.
“Sadie told me today that she and Roger are thinking about leaving the church.” She picked up a broom and started sweeping up hair.
“Already? It’s only been one Sunday. Let’s give the guy a chance.”
“It’s not him,” Maggie said. She glanced at the door. “I don’t mean to gossip, but apparently they know Phil somehow, and they said they want to stay far away from him. They advised us to do the same.”
“Well, isn’t that handy?” Galen got up to leave.
“We’ll stay for Bible study,” Maggie said as Galen left the room and made his way back to the sanctuary. He met several people along the way and greeted each of them with a smile, calling them by name.
Tiny took one look at him and asked, “You OK, G?”
Galen’s mouth smiled, but his eyes didn’t. “Sure am. God is good!” he said and continued on.
Before he could turn into the sanctuary, Pastor Chris spotted him and called out, “Could I speak to you for a minute, Mr. Turney?”
Galen groaned quietly and then obliged.
Chris nodded at the door. “Go ahead and shut it, would you?”
Galen did.
“Thanks. Have a seat.”
Galen sat. “Already got some new furniture, I see?”
“Well, yes. Truth be told, I was scared to sit in some of the old stuff. Afraid it would crumble beneath me. Don’t have time for a broken tailbone!” Chris laughed loudly.
Galen’s mouth smiled again.
“So, I have a proposition for you,” Chris said. “Thank you for volunteering to cover Bible study tonight. The elders and I have talked, and we don’t think we should have residents doing the teaching. They are here to get back on their feet and don’t need to be spending their energy trying to lead others when they’re not even able to lead themselves. We also don’t think anyone who isn’t a church member should be teaching—”
“I’m not a church member,” Galen interrupted.
“Yes, well, we’re hoping you’ll consider that. I have an application right here for you.” Chris patted a manila folder on his desk. “It’s just a few questions. Just a formality really.”
“A formality.” Galen rubbed his jaw with one hand, as if he was processing something complicated. “So then what, the elders vote on whether or not I’m good enough to be a member?”
Chris laughed. “No, no, nothing like that. We vote, yes, but not about whether or not you’re good enough. We just vote on whether you’re someone we want to be part of the body here, which I’m sure you are.”
Galen was quiet, still rubbing his jaw.
“So the proposition is this. If you will become a member, we would like to offer you a paying position of Bible study leader. You would lead Bible study every weeknight, and I would take care of Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.”
Galen didn’t answer.
Pastor Chris gave him about three seconds and then asked, “Well?”
“I’ll have to pray about it,” Galen said, standing up. He turned to leave the office.
“Don’t forget your paperwork,” the pastor said, holding out the manila folder.
Galen turned back and took the outstretched folder. He nodded, but even his mouth didn’t smile this time.
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Late that night, Galen sat alone at his kitchen table, his head in his hands, his eyes staring down at his Bible, which was open to Revelation.
Maggie soundlessly came into the kitchen and laid a hand on his back. “Doing some light reading, I see. Are you ever going to come to bed?”
“Yeah, I’m just trying to make up my mind or I’ll never fall asleep.”
Maggie sat down across from him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Galen shook his head, not looking up. “No, thanks. I just wish God would make it clear to me what I’m supposed to do.”
“I understand. OK then.” She got back up, kissed him on top of his head and said, “I love you. Whatever you and God decide, I am sure it will be right.”
He looked up then. “What if I did it but said no to the paycheck?”
“Yeah, OK.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Are you sure? I mean, it would be every night. That’s a lot of time away from home.”
“So we’ll go to Bible study too. The kids will love it. If you remember, there was a time when I went to an Open Door Bible study every night.”
Galen smiled then, with both his mouth and his eyes. He gave his wife a long kiss. “I do remember. OK then. Let’s do it for a while and see how it goes. But I’m not filling out any membership forms and I’m not taking any money from a homeless shelter.”
