The Boaz Scorekeeper, written in 2017, is my second novel. I'll post it, a chapter a day, over the next few weeks.
As often happens in life, or it seems to me, the nudge I needed to turn left or right, or jump up or down onto a different path, came totally out of the blue, and from a source I could never have imagined.
In early April 2017 Karla asked me to go with her to Williamstown, Kentucky to see Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter. It was a last-minute request. She and twelve of her middle-school-age Sunday School students, along with thirty or so senior adults, were leaving Monday on a three-day field trip. Karla’s co-teacher, Joan Headrick, who had planned on going and assisting, had left yesterday on an emergency trip to Orlando, Florida. Karla had solicited help from everyone she could think of including her friend, Sandra, a cashier at Eaglemart. I reluctantly agreed.
For Karla, teaching was her life. If spending eight or more hours per day with a room full of 13-year-old eighth graders was not enough, she had taught The Young Seekers Sunday School class at First Baptist Church of Christ since shortly after we moved back from Atlanta. Karla, unlike me, has remained loyal to her faith in Christ. She is a true Christian fundamentalist. She believes every word of the Bible. To her, it is wholly without error. It is Holy correct, God’s Word.
Not only did Karla supervise twelve boisterous middle-schoolers, she had promised Kaden he could come along. After Susan died in 2015, Karla and I had just about raised Kaden. Not long after she passed away, Lewis’ truck driving job started keeping him out of town for two to three weeks at a time and two-year-old Kaden moved in with Karla and me. Kaden was now approaching the age of four and had an infatuation with dinosaurs. Karla simply could not say no. And neither could I.
Monday morning came way too soon. Karla, Kaden, and I pulled into the church parking lot at 6:00 a.m. The church had hired a plush tour bus to haul all 55 of us. It was already there and half-filled with people and luggage. Karla had failed to tell me that John Ericson and James Adams, and eight high school Juniors and Seniors, were also going on our little field trip. By 7:00 a.m. we were rolling, and by the time we turned north on Highway 431, I learned that ten of Karla’s students and all eight of the high school students with John and James were part of the Upward Bound basketball program. For nearly twenty years, the Flaming Five had grown this basketball and Bible program into a youth program that drew student-players from a five-county area. Upward Bound had transformed First Baptist Church of Christ into a mega church in a minor town.
Ark Encounter was not only the nudge I needed to, as Christians often say, ‘put legs on my prayers,’ it was a violent push. Just seeing the giant ark from the parking lot, before ever even taking one step inside, told me I was about to experience an ‘encounter’ unlike anything Ken Ham would have ever desired. One could simply look at the enormity of the wooden vessel and easily and reasonably conclude that it would never survive the boisterous waves of a worldwide flood. I wasn’t the only one who thought this. I had spent most of the weekend reading, and a lot of that time reading what scientists and other experts said about Noah’s Ark. This wasn’t the first time I had reviewed this material. After the deaths of Bill and Nellie, and after my revelation of sorts, what I called ‘My Awakening,’ I had invested about as much time reading secular materials as I had in practicing law. My whole experience with the Murrays had caused me to flee Christianity. Not that I quit going to church with Karla but I did start learning something outside what preachers and Sunday School teachers were spouting.
In short, the Noah’s Ark story is fiction. It is wholly imaginary. One doesn’t have to be a scientist to reach this conclusion, but to me, a reading of the science materials makes it more interesting. The sea-worthiness of the vessel itself is not the only problem. The ark wasn’t big enough to hold the thousands of species alive at the time. And, the word ‘time’ is a big problem itself. Ken Ham, and millions of other Christians, believe the earth is around 6,000 years old. They also believe dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time. This belief is clearly depicted throughout the Ark Encounter exhibit. Scientists know the earth is around 4.6 billion years old, with the universe some 13 billion years old. Also, they know that dinosaurs lived around 65 million years ago, with modern humans existing, at most, only 200,000 years. And, I shouldn’t fail to say that there is absolutely no evidence that there was ever a worldwide flood. That’s because, such thing is scientifically impossible.
As we purchased our tickets, we were divided into groups and assigned a guide. Karla, her twelve students, Kaden, and myself were in one group. Before we started the tour, John had the idea of keeping all the Upward Bound students together in one group. The combined group of 20 was too large for one guide but the Encounter wanted to be accommodating so we were assigned a second guide. It was wonderful. I had to tag along with John Ericson.
I choose to keep my mouth shut and wandered along behind our large group. But, I did keep my ears and eyes open. The students, and Kaden, were quickly immersed into another world. The two guides were patient, stopping and spending extra time at most every exhibit. They spouted out their version of ‘truth,’ extolling their scientists for clear but controversial explanations for how Noah and his eight-member family fed and watered hundreds of animals. I noticed how the guides skipped over how the workers handled the impossible problem posed by animal waste and a sufficient supply of fresh water. I also noted how the guides didn’t mention that the scientists who worked for Ken Ham’s organization were in the minor minority of scientists who held to these controversial stories. In fact, the truth is, Ham’s scientists are not truly scientists at all. But, the theory that triumphed today for these young undeveloped minds was the old catchall: when we don’t know, clearly God did it.
As the day ended and we exited the Ark, John called our group aside and gave the young people his heartfelt message. “Before we load back on the bus and head to our hotel I wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed today with each of you. We have had a great day and a rich experience of learning how God works, how He takes care of His children. For me, this giant ship, the Ark, just confirms the truth of the Bible. Please allow your experience today to strengthen your commitment to God and your belief that God’s Word is perfectly true. Each of you students, whether you are involved in our Upward Bound program or not, are facing great temptations ahead. The world will try to tell you that the Bible is not true, that there was no Noah’s Ark. But, you are blessed to have seen an exact replica of that vessel that saved mankind. I urge you to put your trust in God and His Word and build your life on the truth. Never forget that God is faithful, He is merciful, and that He is near to each of us, just a prayer away. You can depend on God.”
As Karla, Kaden, and I walked back to the bus I couldn’t contain myself. “I think I am about to throw up. I think I’ve caught the plague.” Karla looked at me with puzzled eyes but finally understood I was referring to John’s speech. Kaden was too young to absorb my meaning but did ask, “Papa, what’s a plague?” After explaining to Kaden, we rode in silence back to our hotel.
I gathered our luggage and told Karla and Kaden I needed to skip dinner and stay in our room. The hotel had agreed to provide soup and sandwiches for our group in one of its banquet rooms. I rode the elevator to our room on the third floor and laid down across one of the beds.
I couldn’t think of anything but John and his stupid little speech. Even according to his version of the truth, why wouldn’t someone ask why God had to kill thousands or millions of people? Were they all sinners? Weren’t there any children living at the time? Did they all deserve to die? I knew that John’s truth didn’t sell as well if God’s merciless side was brought up.
The students were just like me. They were at the early stages of being brainwashed, just like I was when I was a child being forced to listen to these lies. From the time I was born, my mother had made sure I was beside her on a pew at Clear Creek Baptist Church. I grew up hearing about Noah’s Ark, the parting of the Red Sea, and of course all the miracles Jesus performed in the New Testament. My favorite of all time was the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead four days and ‘stinketh.’
John surely didn’t believe what he had told these young boys and girls. But, did he? Maybe he did. John is not stupid. I had never thought any of my fellow church members were stupid, but I did grow to believe they were very ignorant. Why wouldn’t they be? Just like me up until 1998 when I had my awakening, they had been brought up hearing only the Bible stories. I had never in my life heard a preacher or a Sunday School teacher say, “today, class, we are going to fully explore the truth about evolution.” Or, Noah’s Ark for that matter. This approach to teaching would never work in Christian churches. One-sided explanations were mandated.
The biggest problem I was having with John’s speech was how neatly it fit with injustice. John believed that a person, a Christ believer, can escape punishment. All sinners can be saved no matter what they have done. Embedded in John’s statements was his belief that one can live like the devil and still receive God’s mercy. John didn’t say it exactly this way but that’s what he meant. How could he believe anything else? John had firsthand experience of lying, deceiving, and manipulating the justice system. He knew for a fact that one can rape and murder and avoid punishment from the criminal justice system. And, he knew from his Christian teaching, from the mouths of Pastor Walter and all the Sunday School teachers he had listened to all his life at First Baptist Church of Christ, that God loves His children and is faithful to take care of them, always forgiving their sins, and always answering their prayers.
Am I the only one who sees John’s hypocrisy? No doubt John had fully escaped accountability from mankind’s laws. Yet, he was truly a rapist and a murderer. I knew the Bible was completely man-made but even assuming it was true, John would never be held accountable for his crimes by God’s laws. I was wrong in telling Karla and Kaden that I had caught the plague. It was John who had the plague and he was doing his best to spread his infection to every young person who joined and participated in the Upward Bound basketball and Bible program. Plagues were historically one of the most horrendous killers of mankind. I was just one man, wholly without skills and resources to stop the spread of the Christian plague, but I could stop this one man, John Ericson, from continuing to infect these twenty-young people, and hundreds more in the future.
Nineteen years ago, I had an awakening as I watched the construction of our home at Hickory Hollow. It was revealed to me that if Wendi and Cindi, and their parents, were to ever get justice, it was up to me. Yet, I had done nothing for all those years even though my mind never changed. Now, here at the Ark Encounter, I had been vividly reminded that my slothfulness in pursuing my purpose not only continued to delay justice for the Murrays, it also was allowing the Flaming Five to continue to spread injustice. Not one of these precious young people deserved a daily dose of this plague.
I can only do what one man can do. But, I will do that. I can only focus on one of the Flames at a time. John Ericson, justice is coming your way.
The Pencil-Driven Life 