This is purely fictional. No reference is made or intended to anyone.
No Greater Love
Rights Reserved No copying w/o permission by author.
My darling Rachel,
I can never express my love for you and our unborn daughter. Please do not grieve for I will be with my Saviour and I will have no worries or trouble. Turn the love which you have for me towards Nicole, my sister. Come to love her as your sister, Stephanie.
My Rachel, Nicole and I started our voyage with the desire to deepen our relationship and to have God unite our family despite my past failure and horrible treatment of her. On our trip we were becalmed 2 weeks out, the radio won’t work and we have food for only one. We can’t both make it back. Don’t weep for me dearest. Only remember the first time we met.
I saw you across the room with this monstrous box that dwarfed you, my love. I offered my assistance, but we didn’t talk. You were flustered from busily preparing for your children’s program. Dearest, what attracted me from the very start was the light in your eyes, the air that possessed you, the air of one who was purely living for God. I had met many young ladies that were beautiful, yet, from your countenance shined your heart.
That was it for me. I had to get to know you better. I didn’t even know your name! I went and I searched for your name. That was easy. The hard part was finding your address and your dad’s phone number. You wouldn’t have believed the hours I spent talking to your father and soon to be mine as well. When at last your dad gave me his consent and I came to court you, you had no idea. You thought I was a starving employee of your fathers. I don’t blame you, considering the way I put away the meals. I thought you would have at least remembered me. That didn’t dissuade me; I kept it up until the day.
You remember that?? We were in your living room when your mom and dad happened to “disappear”. You looked like the princess of my dreams. I dropped to one knee… and slipped. I smacked my head against the fireplace hearth. I passed out. When I came to, your whole family had “reappeared” again. They were standing over me checking to see if I could count to ten. Everything was fine, well except that I was bleeding onto your mom’s angora rug. As soon as I cleaned up, and your family “re-disappeared” I asked you to marry me.
For me the next four months flew past seemed like an eternity. I could not believe God’s blessing on me. I had the prizes above all prizes. We had both kept ourselves chaste so we were innocents. We were in love and devoted to pursue God in our relationship. The courtship then seemed to fly by. As we studied 1 Corinthians our relationship grew deeper with each other and with God.
I remember our wedding day. As I stood next to our pastor and my best man and good friend Michael, I watched your father escort you up the aisle. Your purity alone was whiter than your dress. Right then I was hit again with the knowledge that I was not fit to be your husband. We have had our rocky bumps and troubled times but they just helped us get closer together and grow in the Lord.
For my sister Nicole, Treat her well, she doesn’t know what I am doing and she will be in pain. I have kept her in the dark about our current distress. Lean on her, she is strong and lovely in heart. I regret how badly I treated her when we were younger. She needed me and I pushed her away, when I could have just been there for her. God has done wonders for our relationship in the last five years. He has shown me how much Nicole really means to me.
I can never say that I love you too much. Rachel, I am sorry that I will not hold our little daughter, see her grow into a young lady that is just like her sweet mother, or spend time with her. I love you so much and will see you in a twinkling of an eye. God bless you and keep you.
Your loving husband,
Jake
Lost at sea aboard the yacht, The Flying Duchess one Jake Montez. It is believed he slipped overboard to save another life. He is survived by his parents, John and Stacy, His sister Nicole, and his Wife Rachel. Memorial services are at First Baptist of Spurville this Monday.
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Interesting piece. I'd only question why a husband and father would devote almost the entirety of his deathbed letter to his pre-marriage experience and hardly a word about the joys and sorrows of his marriage. That seems unrealistic to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jenny's point, and think that since he knows the unborn child is a daughter, he's got to have spent at least some time in her company. Long enough to have had meaningful experiences with her. To build on what Jenny said, I think it impossible that he'd not at least mention the times of intimacy.
ReplyDeleteI also find it rather strange that he's flying around the world with his sister in a bathtub. :P
I think he is just trying to stress, how precious she is to him. Reminding her of all he felt the day he laid eyes on her.....
ReplyDeleteHe is trying to get her focus on how pure their love is and was for each other..
I think it is a beautiful story.
That may be, Temple, and I'm not trying to say that the story has no merit - it does. Yet I still think that seeing "through a glass darkly" is nothing in comparison to seeing "face to face". The emotional, intellectual and physical intimacy shared in a marital relationship is something that is rarely understood by anyone who has not been married yet. Fortunately, there are many authors who have cared to bare their souls. Though it isn't necessary for an author to have experienced something in real life to be able to write about it, be sure you actually know what you're talking about when writing something. :) Certain things require a level of maturity to be able to write about them. It takes maturity to be able to play Hamlet - younger actors generally can't do it convincingly.
ReplyDeleteWell said and thought out, Thesaur.
ReplyDeleteBen, you have a great storyline there. Lots of potential! :-)
Thanks for your analogy Thesaur, and I agree somewhat, but I think even when you are married you may have a one sided view of what an earthly marriage is, with all of the lovely attributes you gave it. Being single but betrothed spiritually to our heavenly husband, gives us all, married and unmarried, an advantage in seeing our lover "face to face" as we will when we actually on a lower level, marry the one for us here on this earth. I think anyone who has the experience of being wooed and won(betrothed) by the Holy Spirit of God, may understand a lot better than you know, esp. a man after God's own heart. This profound love and spiritual revelation would make an earthly marriage, as beautiful as it is, pale in the eyes of any beholder, writer or not, married or not! Although it does take maturity to write well on either level, spiritual or physical, let us remember that it is God who knows the heart of "this man", and in God's kingdom we aren't judged according to our age, experience, maturity level or even how well we could or couldn't convincingly play Hamlet. Selah
ReplyDeleteTemple, you've inadvertently made my point for me. It is indeed true that marriage on this earth pales in comparison to the heavenly marriage that awaits believers. Yet you yourself are inconsistently comparing "betrothal" with marriage. Our walk with Christ on this earth will be entirely forgotten for the joy and rapture that awaits us when we enter into the marriage of the Lamb.
ReplyDeleteI think this story is beautiful! I love how his fondest memories of Rachel is when he had to win her heart. You never get to hear about how the man feels because men are supposed to be strong, but I love how transparent his love is for Rachel!
ReplyDeleteTruly a beautiful story!
Manda
The Daily Planet
Klaus, a long time in responding but one that was definitely needful. I see that you misunderstood and are mistaken that I "made your point" for you. If you look through the eyes of the Spirit at our betrothal while on this earth, to our heavenly bridegroom, then the fulfillment of the marriage in heaven will be the culmination of all that we anticipated and were promised as we walked daily in holiness and purity for our heavenly lover. I think you thought I compared spiritual betrothal with an earthly marriage or walk when instead I was referring to spiritual betrothal being so much more powerful and fulfilling and on a much higher plane that any physical marriage could be. Spiritual things can only be discerned by those who walk in the Spirit so maybe what you saw as my inconsistency was in fact your own. No offense but I have to "speak the truth in love only" my brother.
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