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Dalton File #4

I arrived at Sunday service about fifteen minutes early and was warmly greeted by people who were obviously glad when they saw new people coming to church.

I sat toward the back, trying not to draw too much attention to myself. A few people came over to greet me, and invited me to fellowship. I introduced myself and told them I would be there after the service. I was looking forward to talking with them.

The sermon that day was given by a guest speaker, Steve Dennis. It’s not often you run into a guy with two first names, I remember things like this. They seem small, but sometimes they come back.

Mr. Dennis took to the podium and I could see he was a little nervous. I could tell by his body movements he was uncomfortable. He started by introducing himself and acknowledging his nervousness. He was a regular at the church so he knew many of the people and asked them to be patient with him.

“Today we are going to talk about the road to redemption. We all have different paths we follow before we get onto the road to redemption. For myself, I drank too much, and I was without God or direction. I was going nowhere and I was on the path of destruction.”

Okay, now I was the one who was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. I squirmed in my seat a little.

“One day I realized I needed help, I had nowhere else to go, and I walked into this church. I started listening to the messages and I felt my heart begin to change. Eventually I accepted God into my heart and I was at peace for the first time in a long time. I was no longer on the path of destruction, but turned on to the path of redemption.”

This was pretty similar to my story, not exact, but close. God, you have my attention now.

“Because we all take different paths, and we don’t know the struggles others are facing in their lives, we must be careful how we treat others. We all know the golden rule, but it’s much easier to recite it than it is to live by it.”

Isn’t that the truth…

This led Mr. Dennis into Matthew 7 and I started to get that uncomfortable feeling again. I shifted in my seat. Sermons sometimes make me uncomfortable. And they should. Sermons sometimes should hit a nerve. I was starting to feel like this was one of those sermons.

Mr. Dennis continued, “That’s how it was for me. It was a long, hard road, but God was waiting there for me, and He forgave me. He will forgive you too.”

Amen to that!

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged. With the measure you use it will be measured to you. Jesus goes on to say we must first take the log out of our own eye before judging others. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t supposed to judge others at all, there is still right and wrong and we need to correct people when they are wrong. But it does mean we need to look at ourselves before we attempt to help or correct others. Only then can we help others righteously and not hypocritically.”

My mind drifted to Hank again. Can’t I even be rid of him here? Then I realized the log was firmly implanted in my eye. I judge others at first sight. I mean, look, I just filed Steve Dennis away in my head because he has two first names. It’s the private eye in me, I’ve been trained to look at people with suspicion. At least that’s how I rationalize it now.

But God, on the other hand, wants us to see people as he sees them. This has been the hardest part for me. Swearing off the hootch was nothing compared to this.

The sermon went on and then Mr. Dennis concluded, “The one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be open. So I am urging you today, if you have not accepted Christ, that you will keep on seeking. Knock on the door. God has promised us that if you seek you will find. You can start today.”

It was the second part of the sermon that really caught my attention. It was the part about seeking God, and how if you were truly looking for the truth you would eventually find it. God wants you to come to him and knock on the door. When you do, He will open it to you. It doesn’t matter what you did in the past, he loves you and is waiting for you.

This sermon hit me on two levels. First, it led my mind back to that night I met Mary, and the next morning when I entered the church for the first time, not knowing if I could be saved. I remembered thinking that somebody like me couldn’t walk through those doors. But then I knocked and He answered.

I’m still in awe over this.

And it hit me on a second level, because it gave me the encouragement I needed for the search I was now on. I know that wasn’t the intent of the sermon, but still I think God was working there. He was letting me know not to give up.

After the service, on my way to fellowship, I stopped to talk to Mr. Dennis about his sermon. I told him it was just what I needed to hear that day and I thanked him. I also admitted to him that I still had a lot of self-reflection and improvement to work on. He said he was glad it resonated, God sometimes works like that. A person can walk into a new church and just “by chance” hear what they needed to hear. Mr. Dennis said he hoped to see me there again.

I headed to the fellowship hour, hoping against all odds somebody would know something about Mary Dolen. I wasn’t hopeful, if anybody knew anything they would have told somebody by now. All I could hope for was a breadcrumb. I grabbed a black coffee and a small donut and started talking to people. Or, I should say, they started talking to me.

The problem is, whenever a new person goes to fellowship everybody wants to find out more about that person; what is their name, why did they come here, what do they do for a living, do they have a regular church, and so on.

I spent most of the time talking with other Christians and explaining who I was. But I was there to find out about somebody else, and I was having a hard time finding an opening.

“Oh, and by the way, do you know a Mary Dolen?” I didn’t have many opportunities to throw that question out there, and when I did I wasn’t getting any answers. I needed to connect with someone a little older that might have been there when Mary was still attending.

I saw an older lady sitting alone reading her Bible and eating something. I know I shouldn’t have interrupted her but this could be my last chance. People were starting to leave. I walked over, saw a crumpled up Charleston Chew wrapper on the floor and picked it up. I put it on the table and said, “Excuse me, I’m sorry, my name is Mr. Dalton.” She looked up and said, “You look like a fine young man, sit down, my name is Gertrude but people call me Mimi. I have a bit of a sweet tooth, hehe, thank you for picking up the wrapper for me. I have a hard time getting down that low now. Hehe.”

“You’re welcome, I have a bit of a sweet tooth myself, you can call me Jeremiah,” I cracked to break the ice. Mimi replied, “Well, that’s a nice biblical name. Would you like a Charleston Chew?”

Mimi was so nice and so sweet, I couldn’t help but love her immediately. “No Thank you.” I replied.

We talked for a little while before I got to my question. It turns out she knew Mary but didn’t know what happened to her. She pointed me to two other people who knew Mary better than she did, so I thanked her and left to talk to them. “God bless you Mimi!”

One of them, her name was Lydia, said that Mary had met a man and had fallen hard for him. Lydia had met the man once and she felt he was a little shady. He seemed like a smooth talker, but he was very good looking. She understood how Mary could fall for him. If she were a few years younger, she said, she could have fallen for him herself. The woman with her, Carol, said, “Oh, Lydia,” blushing.

Mary started meeting the guy after fellowship on Sundays, but eventually she was skipping fellowship to meet him, and then one day she was gone from the church altogether.

I asked her, “Would you recognize his photo if you saw it?”

“Yes, he was good looking, I would remember that face. I’ve never forgotten it. I was hoping to see both of them walk through that door one day.”

My long shot got a little bit closer so I asked her, “will you be willing to go to the police station and look at some mug shots tomorrow?”

“If you think it could possibly help…I’d do just about anything to find Mary again. We were so close, and I was a little hurt when she left without a word.” Then she threw this out there, “You know, I usually come to the later service, but a little birdie told me I should come to the early service today.”

Mrs. Stapleton, that little rapscallion, had made good!

It looks like I have to make another trip to the police station to see my old buddy at the front desk. Perhaps he’ll have the day off. Please, God, let him have the day off…

Coming July 18th: The Dalton Files: Handsome Dan Donovan