ONE YEAR EARLIER – When Court and Sandy Shullo moved to town, and Court joined Richard's law firm in criminal litigation, they also joined the Church of Faith, a relatively new and growing church near their home. The Church of Faith had a dynamic young pastor, Stephen Edwards. Court and Sandy had both grown up in homes where the Christian faith was an active part of their families’ lives; they were pleased to find a strong and growing church of their denomination, just like Morningside was on the other side of town.
Richard and Janet had been looking for a reason to take the young associate and his wife out to dinner, but their four schedules always seemed to be in conflict. Then Court and Sandy invited the Sullivans to a Friday evening dinner preceded by “Praise the Lord,” a joint musical production by their church's young adult forum and their youth group. At first Richard and Janet hesitated, thinking the show would be pretty silly. But Court finally prevailed, and the younger couple drove the Sullivans to the private school where their church had leased production facilities for four performances in one weekend.
Richard was frankly astonished by the quality of the production, both in its original songs, its casting, and its staging. Several of the city's better actors and actresses were interested enough in the event to volunteer their time to the show.
The story line was about a modern family in disarray, with the husband and working wife spending too much time away from the family. Lives were changed, and a tragic near-death was averted because the teenagers in the family learned about the power of the Holy Spirit, and brought faith to their family.
Several of the songs were quite moving, and in the final scene the packed auditorium joined the cast in singing and clapping to the title song, a rousing spiritual.
Immediately after the performance, Stephen Edwards appeared on the darkened stage in a single spotlight, describing how any family or any individual in trouble could call upon the power portrayed in their show by sincerely submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Clearly many of the people in the audience were moved, either by the show, or by Reverend Edwards’ short talk, or by both, because Richard noticed that several people near them were using handkerchiefs as the houselights came up.
Richard was also moved by the performance. He identified with the husband who was feeling jealous of his working wife's time. The husband in the play finally turned to the Lord and began praying with his wife. It reminded Richard of the story Sally Coker had told them three years earlier. Janet shared many of Richard's feelings. But for both of them it remained an intellectual question, almost a curiosity. After all, how could people really find everyday power in their lives from the supernatural?
Seated in a Texas-style restaurant after the show, Richard and Janet were surprised to learn that Court and Sandy prayed about all major issues which faced their family and their business lives.
Richard was astonished to find that Court actually prayed every morning in his office and asked for God's involvement in each of his cases.
“You see,” Court smiled at Janet and Richard as he cut his steak, “Sandy and I believe that if God is going to be in your life, then He must be in your whole life. Otherwise, it's like I'm telling Him that I can still be in charge of certain parts of my life, which I don't believe I can be.”
“And of course,” added Sandy, “we gave the raising of our children to Him years ago. In fact, we tell our children that they are His children, and we have simply been given the blessing by Him of raising them as best we can, with His help. They are still young now, but we trust Him to guide them and to protect them.”
“But Sandy,” Janet asked, “do you really believe that God is involved in your life every day? I mean in your life, individually? Doesn't He have a lot more important things to do than to be concerned about a single family?”
“Oh I very much believe He is involved in our individual lives. I know. I feel His presence and see His work changing me, changing Court, growing our children. I see answers to specific prayers. It's very real and very much what He says in His Word that He will do,” Sandy smiled.
After their evening with the Shullos, as Richard and Janet were undressing in their bedroom, Nepravel, who had been spending more time with the Sullivans since Richard and Janet were growing into positions of authority in their firms, turned up the voice of Pride, when he realized to whom and to what Richard and Janet had been exposed that evening.
“Court and Sandy are certainly interesting people, you have to admit,” Richard said to Janet as he unlaced his shoes. “I mean, you look at our friends the Petersons, say, or even the Cokers. Both have told us stories over the years about their strong faith. In both of those cases, there was something powerful like Vietnam or Henry's arrest, which you can say explains why those two couples suddenly acquired their new faith. But Court and Sandy are so normal! I mean, he's a lawyer, just like me. And here they are praying about everything, and he's in there in his office praying every morning! He seems like such a regular person. And they do appear to be awfully happy, and awfully…well…I don't know, I guess the word is together. But can you imagine us…” And here the voice of Pride really kicked in. “Getting on our knees together here at night and praying to God about Tommy's baseball games?” He laughed.
“It's very strange,” Janet agreed, as she hung up her dress in their walk-in closet. “All the people we know who really talk about being Christians—I don't mean the people who just go to church—always tell us about the ‘power’ in their lives, about how they have been changed. That certainly was never talked about—at least that I remember—in the Catholic schools I went to. All we ever focused on was doing good and confessing our sins and praying that somehow we would wind up in heaven when we died. But these people—and you're right, the Shullos do seem awfully normal otherwise—really seem to feel some inner power, and to have some type of inner peace. I just find it hard to believe it's possible,” she concluded, with Nepravel right there helping her to that conclusion.
Ten minutes later they climbed into bed and read for a while. Janet turned out the light on her side of the bed and rolled over with her back to Richard. He finished two more pages in his book, turned out his light and moved up close behind her, putting his arm around her and brushing his lips on her ear.
Her body tensed up and she pulled her elbows into her side. “Not tonight, Richard.” Janet exhaled in a voice dripping with fatigue. “It's been a very long week and a very long night. Let's just get some sleep, and maybe tomorrow night we can.”
Richard rolled onto his stomach and said, “OK, OK. Good night.” But, frustrated, he thought to himself as he tried to go to sleep, You didn't used to be so tired all the time, when you weren't working. That's all I ever hear from you now. Maybe I need to find somebody who's not so tired!
Nepravel finally left, pleased that Richard and Janet were learning so well the lines he and the other demons were feeding them. “If we can keep this up and nothing interferes,” Nepravel congratulated himself as he moved through the bay window toward the Bryants’ home, “it shouldn't be too long before one or both of them starts having an affair. Humans, left on their own, are so wonderfully predictable.”