Page 216 of Sing with Me

“Dad, I’m not a teenager.”

“I’m trying to assess how strongly you feel about her.”

“I want to marry her, but I can’t. I have no record to show for. I failed in my first marriage. How can I love again?”

“Oh, I see. You are afraid your past will mess up your future.”

“I guess that sums it up.”

Dad was quiet for what felt like a long second. “When you got saved last month, what did you think God did with your heart?”

“I have a new heart, a new life in Christ.”

“So love her with your new heart,” Dad said. “You’re a new man in Christ now.”

“How?”

“Did you hear what I said? New man in Christ. Not in yourself, but in Christ.” Dad logged into his phone. “Let me read a verse to you that Argo Perry read to me after he led me to the Lord. ‘Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”’ Revelation 21:5a.”

Diehl nodded. “I believe it, but I don’t feel it.”

“Walk by faith, Son, not by feelings.”

“I still feel drawn to Skye, but I can’t go to her. I can’t call her. I can’t reply to her text. I feel so inadequate.”

“I just read to you Revelation 21:5a. Didn’t you hear me? You’re not the old self you used to be. Skye does not have to put up with the old unsaved self that you were. That life is gone. She can love the new you.”

Diehl’s eyes stung. It wasn’t the ceiling lights.

“I want to be the best man for her,” Diehl mumbled.

“You’re farther along than I was the first year I got saved.”

“Were you in a Bible study right away?” Diehl asked.

“I went to Argo’s Sunday school class. And yes, we read the Bible, but I didn’t go to his midweek prayer group or to even to the Wednesday night outdoor service.”

“The Fire Pit Service?” Diehl remembered holding Skye’s hand in one of those.

“Yeah. I guess that’s what they call it.”

“Ivan got me in the men’s group, and we meet every Monday morning. I miss that, being here.”

“Only ten more months, Son, and we’ll both be back on St. Simon’s,” Dad said. “Look ahead.”

“In ten months, Skye might be gone.”

“Gone where?” Dad asked.

“I mean she might have found another person.”

“Or she could be married to you.”

“So soon?”

Dad nodded solemnly. “Love is love. You can’t hurry it. You can’t stop it. You just have to let it flow like a river.”

“I don’t know where this river flows,” Diehl said.

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