Whispers in the Wind (12 page)

The rest of the week went good for Dane on his job. During the daytime he stayed busy enough at the pharmacy, and later on the street corner he begged with his friends, so the sermon he heard on Sunday didn’t bother him. However, when lying in his cardboard box he couldn’t get the sermon out of his mind, until finally sleep came to relieve him.

After work on Friday, he begged with the others on the street corner until three o’clock in the afternoon. At that time, he went to the Baxter home to see Todd and explained to him and his
mother about his job at the pharmacy. They were happy to see him making a go out of his hard lot in life. Todd said he would pass the word on to Dane’s old friends at school. Mona made sure Dane understood that he was welcome to come and have a meal with them whenever he could. He assured her he would be back.

On Saturday, Dr. Harris came to the alley late in the afternoon to check on Nettie and to take the stitches out of Billy’s lip. He was glad to see Nettie feeling completely well again. After he had removed Billy’s stitches, he commended Dane for doing such a good job of keeping the cut clean and administering the ointment as directed.

It was late enough when Dr. Harris was through with Billy that he took Dane home for supper.

When they entered the apartment, the aroma was tantalizing. Dane said, “Sure smells good, Doctor. Mrs. Harris is an excellent cook.”

“Can’t argue with that, son,” said the doctor. “Her cooking has kept me satisfied and healthy for fifty-six years.”

At that moment, they heard Maude’s voice coming from the bedroom. She was trying to soothe Lawanda about Dane’s presence in the apartment.

“Dr. Harris, maybe it would be better if I didn’t come here. I sure don’t want to upset your daughter.”

Harris shook his head. “No, no, Dane. Lawanda has been this way since she was very small. We’ve had to learn that we must go on with our lives in spite of her problem and live as normally as possible. She’ll settle down in a minute or two. Whenever we have other guests the same thing happens, but it only takes Maude a few minutes to calm her down and get her on the bed for a nap.”

Dane nodded. “All right, sir. I just don’t want to be a problem.”

Harris laid a hand on his shoulder as they saw Maude coming toward them. “A problem you could never be, my boy.”

Maude welcomed Dane, and when the three of them sat down
at the kitchen table, Dane looked at the fried chicken and all that went with it. “Wow, Mrs. Harris! That sure looks good.”

While they were eating, Dane surprised the Harrises by saying, “This week, when I’ve been in my cardboard bed at night, I’ve thought a lot about last Sunday’s sermon. I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”

Pleased at this obvious answer to prayer, the Harrises smiled at each other, and the doctor said, “Of course. You enjoy your meal right now and after supper, we’ll answer your questions.”

When supper was finished, Maude left the dishes till later and sat down with her husband and Dane in the small parlor. The doctor and the boy sat on the sofa together, and Maude sat in an overstuffed chair, facing them.

The Bible Dane had seen on the small table next to the sofa was still there, within the doctor’s reach.

Dr. Harris said, “Dane, are your questions about hell?”

“No, sir. Though I was shocked to learn some of the things the pastor preached about, I have it straight in my mind. I believe hell is exactly what the Bible says it is. My questions are about being saved.”

The Harrises exchanged smiles, then the doctor said, “Ask away, son.”

Dane brought up the picture frames with Scripture verses that hung on the walls of the office and the examining room downstairs, and the one right there in the kitchen. “I’ve thought a lot about them, sir, especially the one in the examining room about being born again. I can quote it for you. ‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Dr. Harris, I don’t understand. How can a person be born a second time? Since this is what it takes to go to heaven, how can I be born again?”

Dr. Harris smiled as he picked his Bible up off the table next to the sofa. “Let me show you first, Dane,
why
you have to be born
again. Then we’ll deal with
how
.”

“All right, sir.”

Maude was in silent prayer as she watched her husband open his Bible.

Dr. Harris took Dane to Genesis chapter 1 and showed him God’s great work of creation, having the boy read certain verses aloud. After all the animal kingdom had been created according to verse 25, Harris had Dane look at verse 26, and showed him that the triune God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” He pointed out the use of the plural words “us” and “our,” making sure the boy understood that the Godhead is triune: Father, Son, and Spirit.

When he was satisfied that Dane had grasped this, he showed him verse 27, which states that God created man in his own image—a triune being of body, soul, and spirit. He pointed out that the body is the house a human being lives in here on earth, the soul is the person, and that the spirit is the God-contact. He used John 4:23–24 to show him that in order to truly worship God, man must have a spirit because God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in
spirit
and in truth.

Dr. Harris then took Dane to Genesis chapter 2, where God took Adam into the Garden of Eden and showed him all the trees, saying he could freely eat of every tree in the garden but one, that being the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The doctor showed him God’s warning in verse 17 that “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” He emphasized the fact that
the very day
he ate of that tree, Adam would surely die.

The doctor went on to show the boy in Genesis chapter 3 that the serpent (Satan) caused Adam and Eve to disobey God’s command. They ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. He then asked Dane if God held their funeral and buried them that day.

When Dane said He did not, Harris pointed out that the death that day was spiritual death. Adam and Eve became
depraved beings of only body and soul, but were dead spiritually. They later died physically, but on the very day they ate the forbidden fruit they died spiritually.

Harris then took him to Ephesians chapter 2 and pointed out that the Apostle Paul was addressing born-again people: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” He explained that to “quicken” is to
give life to
. These people had been dead spiritually—which they inherited from our father Adam—but God had given them spiritual life when they were born again. He then showed him Romans 5:12, pointing out that sin and death entered the world by Adam.

“You see, Dane,” said the doctor, “we have to be born again because we were born wrong the first time. We must have a
spiritual
birth.”

He then took him to 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Paul was writing to people who had been born again and showed him that those people had spirit, soul, and body. The new birth made them complete beings in the image of God.

When Dane understood this, Harris took him to John 3:3 where Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He then showed him that Nicodemus had asked a question similar to Dane’s: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”

Dane smiled at the similarity to his own question. “I understand why I need to be born again, Doctor. I am dead spiritually. Now show me
how
to be born again.”

Harris then showed him John 1:12, where it speaks of Jesus Christ and says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

He then took him to Ephesians 3:17 and showed him that he must receive Jesus into his heart.

Once Dane had grasped this, Harris showed him that Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” He explained that he must repent of his sin, believe that Jesus died for his sins and shed His blood on the cross, was buried, and rose again the third day. He explained that repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of direction. He must turn the opposite direction from the path that he was walking toward hell as a lost sinner, put his faith totally and only in Jesus to save him, then do as Romans 10:13 says: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

When Dane said he understood all of this, the doctor took the time to go over the verses that were in his picture frames. Dane now totally grasped their message. “Dr. Harris, I am ready to repent of my sin and receive the Lord Jesus into my heart as my Saviour.”

Harris smiled. “Then call on Him right now, Dane, and ask Him to come into your heart and save you. I’ll help you.”

The doctor put his arm around Dane’s shoulders as they bowed their heads, and Maude wiped tears while her husband had the joy of leading young Dane Weston to the Lord.

All three were wiping tears. Dane thanked the doctor for answering his questions and for leading him to the Lord. “You and Mrs. Harris have been so good to me. I can see that the Lord brought you into my life.”

Maude dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. “Dane, the Lord brought you into our lives too and made you very special to us. Lee and I talked about it late last night. We both wish we could just take you into our home and be your foster parents, but the way things are, it just is not possible. We have only one bedroom. It’s our bed that Lawanda takes her naps on while you’re here. At night, she sleeps here on the sofa. We would have nowhere for you to sleep.”

“And even if you would agree to sleep on the floor,” said the
doctor, “there is still the problem with Lawanda being afraid of other people. The only other people she isn’t afraid of are her brother and his family. So there isn’t any way we can take you into our home.”

Dane smiled thinly. “Dr. and Mrs. Harris, you don’t know what it means to me that you would even want to be my foster parents. I understand your situation completely. But anyhow, thank you for wanting me.”

“And thank
you
for understanding, son,” said Harris. “There’s one other thing I need to show you in the Bible, now that you’re saved.”

Opening his Bible again, Dr. Harris showed Dane that his next step of obedience to the Lord was to be baptized. Dane understood it immediately and said he wanted to be baptized as soon as possible.

The next morning in the invitation at the close of the sermon, Dane walked the aisle, gave his testimony of salvation, and told the pastor he wanted to be baptized. The whole congregation rejoiced to see him go into the baptismal waters. Dr. Harris was wishing that Maude could be there to see it.

When Lawanda had been fed and was lying down on her parents’ bed, the Harrises and Dane sat down at the kitchen table for Sunday dinner. When the doctor said his amen at the close of his prayer over the food, Dane added his own amen.

This time, with his sins forgiven and washed away in Jesus’ blood, Dane found himself ravenous. He ate everything on his plate and reached for seconds.

With a twinkle in his kindly eyes, Dr. Harris smiled “My, honey, doesn’t it make a difference in one’s appetite when you’re a
new creature in Christ Jesus and know you’re going to heaven?”

Maude nodded, her own eyes shining. “It sure does, dear. He’s not just picking at his food now.”

Dane swallowed a mouthful of cornbread. He grinned. “It sure does make a difference, Dr. Harris. It sure does!”

The Harrises laughed, and Dane quickly returned to eating again.

When the meal was over, Dr. Harris left the room for a moment, and when he returned, he had a Bible in his hand. Dane could tell it was not the same Bible that the doctor had used to lead him to the Lord. It was a bit smaller.

Harris laid the Bible in front of Dane. “This is a spare Bible we’ve had around the apartment for a while. We want you to have it.”

Dane’s eyes brightened as he picked up the Bible and looked at it. “Oh, boy! A Bible all my own! I’ll read it every day! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

On Saturday morning May 6, Dane arrived at the Clarkson Pharmacy at five minutes before eight and began his work by mopping the floor. Bryce Clarkson was behind the counter filling prescriptions that his customers had brought in and left with him late in the afternoon the day before.

Soon Dane was behind the counter wiping dust off the shelves and the medicine bottles with a damp cloth.

Almost reverently, Dane picked up each bottle of medicine and carefully wiped away every speck of dust. While doing so, he read each label and tried to pronounce the name of the medication aloud.

Still filling prescriptions, Bryce heard his attempts to wrap his tongue around some of the words and chuckled.

Dane heard him and turned around with a perplexed look on his earnest face. “Mr. Clarkson, why do they use such big words
that are so hard to pronounce?”

“Most of them come from the Latin, Dane. At first it seems like an impossible task to ever keep them straight and pronounce any of them correctly, but believe me, with a lot of practice it gets easier and simply becomes a part of your vocabulary.”

Dane was holding a bottle in his hand. He nodded. “Okay, sir. If you say so.” He looked at the label on the bottle in hand, studied it a moment, then shook his head. Wiping it clear of dust, he set it back on the shelf, picked up another one, glanced at the label trying to figure it out, and went on with his work.

When Dane had finished dusting the shelves and bottles, he turned to the pharmacist, who was just finishing his last prescription. “Mr. Clarkson, I hope you don’t mind me talking to you about medicine and all.”

“Of course not. Since you’re going to be a doctor, it will help you to understand all you can about medicine and pharmacies.”

“Pharmacies. That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Sure.”

“If memory serves me right, one of my medical books said that until late in the eighteenth century, medication was prepared and dispensed by the physicians themselves. In about 1790, the practice of pharmacy began to be separated from the practice of medicine. Am I remembering correctly?”