Page 34 of In This Moment
Wendell repeated the words to himself.You will not have to fight this battle The Lord will deliver you.Which meant one thing. If Wendell was going to stop the spinning and find some sort of steady ground, he couldn’t just sit here.
He lowered himself to the floor. Slowly, and with the greatest certainty, he took his position, preparing himself for the battle ahead. And he did so from the only place he knew how to fight.
On his knees.
And there Wendell remembered the name of the person he had determined to contact if he ever wound up in this situation, his back against the wall: Luke Baxter. As soon as he finished praying, Wendell sat back at his desk and made the call to a man he’d never met before. And then he said one more prayer.
That Luke would know what to do next.
11
Luke Baxter jumped as high as he could and snagged the Frisbee from the air—just before his brother-in-law Ryan had a chance to grab it. “Mine!” Luke laughed as he ran with the Frisbee. “Who’s on my team?”
A handful of voices called out from the other side of the yard. Luke spotted his son Tommy, also on his team, and wound up for the throw. But instead of making it to Tommy, the Frisbee soared up and off the field—like it had a mind of its own.
“Out of bounds!” Dayne ran to get the Frisbee while everyone laughed and caught their breath.
Luke loved days like this. He had never been busier at work, and he knew the reason why. He was one of a few dozen attorneys battling for religious freedom in the United States, and very clearly the battle was getting worse.
But no matter how busy things got, no matter how many cases came his way, Luke had always been determined to have one thing on the weekends: time with his family. Recently, though, his resolve had given way to the pressure of the cases he was handling, the importance of the religious freedoms at stake.
It had been far too long since he’d made the trip to Bloomington. But this week God had seemed to make it very clear. He needed family time. Now. And so Luke and Reagan had driven their kids an hour west to Bloomington to hang out with their cousins at Ashley and Landon’s house.
The Baxter house—the place where Luke and his siblings had been raised. Ashley and Landon owned the place now, and they hosted get-togethers here as often as they could. The kids loved playing kickball out front or running through the backyard and splashing in the creek and pond that made up part of the ten-acre property.
Today it was a game of Ultimate Frisbee, and Luke was right in the thick of the action. Only Ashley, Kari and the youngest kids weren’t playing. Otherwise everyone was caught up in the game. His dad and Elaine were sipping iced tea from the porch, watching the action. Taking in every moment.
The next hour flew by as each team won a game, and in the final minutes, Dayne’s group took the last match. Exhausted, both teams dragged themselves to the front porch for water bottles. When he could breathe normally again, Luke raised his water to the sky. “I call rematch. Next time we’re together.”
Ryan laughed. He had been on Dayne’s team today. “You’re on.”
Everyone headed inside, where John and Elaine had joined Ashley and Kari in making dinner. The whole house smelled like pulled pork and baked sweet potatoes. Luke approached his dad and put his arm around his shoulders. “I’m telling you, Dad. You and Elaine could open your own restaurant.”
“From doctor to manager of a restaurant.” His dad chuckled. “I think I’ll stick to days like this.”
“Good idea.” Ashley grinned at Luke. She was working on a salad across the counter. “Otherwise they’d be too busy to cook for us.”
Elaine held up a plate of fresh sliced red peppers. “The secret is the local vegetables. Anyone can make a good dinner with the food we get at the farmers’ market.”
Half an hour later everyone was seated around two large tables in the dining room. Ashley and Landon used the old wooden table the Baxters had eaten at when they were growing up, and on days when the extended family was together, they brought in a second one.
So they could all be together. The way they loved best.
Luke’s dad led the prayer, and once the meal was under way, they went around the room and talked about what was new, how God had been working in their lives or how they needed prayer. Dayne and Katy and their kids were well. “We still haven’t found the story we want to develop for our investor. But we’re thinking it’ll be about religious freedom.”
Luke used his napkin and set it back on his lap. “I have a dozen cases I could tell you about.” He hesitated, thinking about his workload. “Nothing really sensational, though. I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”
“Thanks.” Dayne looked pensive. “It’s so troubling. How commonplace attacks on religious freedom have become.”
Luke remembered the case that had dominated the media the past few days. “You heard about the principal in Indianapolis? The one being sued because of his after-school program?” He shook his head. “Poor guy doesn’t stand a chance, from what I can tell. He’ll lose his job and the program... and unless I’m missing something, he’ll lose the lawsuit.” Luke looked around. “That’s just the way things are now.”
Everyone agreed.
Next Brooke and Peter talked about a new program they were developing at their medical clinic. “It’ll be in conjunction with the initiative put out by the city of Bloomington earlier this year. Training people about the connection between physical fitness and mental health.” Brooke looked excited about the new opportunity. “It’s always something.”
Peter nodded, and Dayne looked around the table. “I forgot to ask... while we look for the right movie, if you all could pray about the one we’re working on. It’s a love story.”
“Yes, it’s beautiful.” Katy nodded. “Centered around the Oklahoma City bombing.” She looked around. “Remember that? Like twenty-some years ago?”
