Page 10 of Wait for Me

Marie was about to respond when Logan raised his hand, as if to tell her he would handle it.

“Son, let’s talk about onions,” Logan said.

“Onions?” Jonas frowned, looking terribly confused. “Dad, David threw stones, not onions.”

At this point, Marie felt a headache coming.

“Oh, look at the time.” Logan tapped his Tag Heuer watch. “We’re way past our fifteen-minute Bible study.”

Jonas stared at his dad, the way Marie would stare at Logan at every quarrel, every fight, every disagreement in their marriage.

Logan broke the stare, turned to Mrs. Ping. Mouthed something.

To Marie, it looked like “help.”

Mrs. Ping smiled calmly, as though she had been there, done that. “Since we’re on Alaskan time, we can take a few more minutes to answer Mister Jonas’s very good question.”

The dark cloud over Jonas’s face lifted. He looked like he was the most important person in the world.

“David obeyed God,” Mrs. Ping said. “When we obey God, we don’t always understand the details. They will be revealed to us by and by if God so allows.”

Revealed to us by and by?

Marie wondered if Mrs. Ping was speaking above Jonas’s head to her and Logan.

“God will tell us when we need to know.” Mrs. Ping looked at Jonas.

Jonas seemed satisfied with the answer.

“That’s what I was trying to get to,” Logan said. “It’s like peeling an onion. Layer by layer. We’ll find out more and more.”

“Well, that is, if you peel an onion all the way,” Marie said. “I usually peel the skin, and chop up the rest—”

Marie’s palm flew to her mouth.

Logan’s eyes met hers. He seemed to know what she had meant. Yet, neither of them wanted to argue in front of Jonas, though they had done plenty of that when Jonas had been a baby.

Mrs. Ping had seen it all.

Marie pursed her lips.

We can’t even agree on how to cut up an onion. How could we agree on marriage? On life?

“Children, let’s not get distracted,” Mrs. Ping broke the silence. “Jonas, what is the most important lesson we learn today from the story of David and Goliath?”

“Obey God no matter what,” Jonas said. “Now can we go get ice cream?”

Chapter Five

It had taken three adults to persuade little Jonas to postpone his cravings for ice cream until after lunch.

Does that mean I failed as a dad?

Logan wouldn’t admit that in front of his ex-wife, but inside, he felt like his parenting skills were below par.

How many times had he let Jonas get his way, if only to keep the peace between father and son? Too many.

How many times had he prayed to God—his heavenly Father—for help? Too few.

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