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My Name Is Jennifer

MY NAME IS JENNIFER
Mike Cunningham
February 9, 2014, revised March 5th, 2014

The long seemingly never-ending dreary nights were always the worse. The lights were turned down low. Visiting hours ended and the anxious visitors, some of whom were crying hysterically, make their way towards a designated waiting room, where they would either spend the night, or head toward a hospital exit and go home. Loneliness, discouragement, and fear often gripped the patient.

The old man in this story had been admitted to the ICU three days prior. The doctors were in hopes of getting him stabilized before moving him to a regular room for a couple of days. If all went well, he would be discharged on Friday the 14th, which happened to be Valentine’s Day. The Lord had other plans for him.

At the moment in which this story begins, the old man is listening to the sound of the whispering hospital personnel in and out of his room, and the slow steady beep, beep, beep, of the seemingly amplified electronic medical devices inside it. They remind him of his own beating heart and, at 88 years of age, he wonders how many beeps he has left.

Before falling asleep each night, his thoughts always wandered back to when he met Betsy-Lou. They were first grade classmates. He remembered her as being a very pretty, chubby, blue eyed little girl with red hair. She was the shortest kid in the class, and, would you believe, she was a stutterer AND a chatterbox? It was love at first sight. He fell head over heels in love with Betsy-Lou. Through the course of time, they became childhood sweethearts. They were married when each of them were 18 years old (Frank was one month older), and they raised four children.

Throughout the 63 years of their marriage, and whenever he had an opportunity, Frank delighted in telling folks how fortunate he was that God had blessed him with the perfect woman. The mother of their four children, with whom together had sixteen grandchildren, followed by nine great grandchildren. Those were wonderful happy days. Betsy-Lou gained weight during each pregnancy, something quite normal for pregnant women, but, try as she might, she had a hard time dropping those pounds and keeping them off. In other words, she became overweight. It didn’t matter to Frank. She was his woman and he was her man.”

Then Betsy-Lou had a terrible accident. As she was flipping burgers on the back yard barbeque grill, the fire suddenly went out. She bent down to check the gauge to see if there was enough propane in the tank, and the flames suddenly shot up and scorched her face badly. She was rushed to the hospital, where she picked up an infection, which was complicated by her other pre-existing medical conditions. His childhood sweetheart went home to be with the Lord on the day after her 81st birthday. Although Frank missed her greatly and wanted to be with her, he knew the Lord wouldn’t bring him home until he had completed every good work the Lord had planned for him to accomplish back in eternity past.

The old man’s thoughts were interrupted whenever a member of the ICU team did something to him. He hated these impersonal medical interruptions, but knew that they were necessary. He wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible and go back to his own home.

Frank enjoyed reminiscing about all the wonderful times he and Betsy-Lou had enjoyed; Thanksgiving dinner at their home, as well as the Christmas and Easter celebrations, weddings, births, first day of school, and graduations, some of the most wonderful occasions.

As the old sayings go, “All good things come to an end,” and, “Into each life, some rain must fall,” both facts that Frank can attest to.  If it were possible, he would have deleted those painful memories from his mind.  He hated them with a passion.  For example, one of their children, and two of their grandchildren were killed instantly when the car in which they were riding was broadsided by a tractor-trailer driven by a man who was under the influence of alcohol and drugs.  Another one of their children died of cancer at the age of thirty-two, and their youngest great grandson drowned when he slipped and fell off a fishing pier. You can imagine the impact this had on Betsy-Lou and Frank and the rest of their family. Frank missed them dearly and longed to be reunited with Betsy-Lou and the rest of their loved ones.

Fast forward back to today, Valentine’s Day. The old man’s visitors had left for the night. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a flashback and he saw her again. The old man couldn’t believe his eyes. It wasn’t Betsy-Lou, but, another woman, whom he had seen in the not too distant past. The following is an account of that amazing event:

“He had been slowly driving down the hill on his way out of the senior citizen living facility in which he lived, when another car approached from the opposite direction. As the cars passed, he saw that a pleasant looking brunette,  appearing to be in her early forties, driving the other vehicle. She momentarily looked at him through the open window on the driver’s side, briefly locked her green eyes on his, before giving the old man the warmest, most mischievous smile he had ever seen. They each continued on their separate ways.”

“As inexplicable as it may seem, the at moment the old man looked into the eyes of the young woman and saw that impish smile, got a powerful impression which convinced him that he could always allow himself to be completely transparent with her if he ever had the pleasure of having a conversation. He knew that she was someone he could trust with his innermost thoughts.”

George Eliot described Frank’s sentiments about being transparent with another person when he wrote, “Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person.  Having neither to weigh words nor measure thoughts, but pouring them all out like chaff and grain together-certain that a faithful hand will keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

Please don’t think that Frank’s marriage was all peaches and cream, because it wasn’t. No marriage is. They all have their ups and downs. For instance, there were a couple things about Betsy-Lou that bothered Frank. Early in their marriage, he learned that he had to weigh his words carefully. She kept a record of his wrongs and used them later to throw in his face. Wisdom dictated that he should always be very careful of everything he said during a conversation with this good woman.

Another disappointment was that Betsy-Lou would never engage in a conversation about God, which was something that Frank loved to do.  It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in God, because she did, but she refused to talk about God and religion. It wasn’t until after she died and he was going through her dresser that he discovered the newspaper clipping. Frank understood the reason why she was this way. It happened when she was a teenager, standing on a subway platform, when two men got into an argument about God and religion. It became so heated that one of them pushed the other off the platform and onto the tracks below, seconds before the train arrived. She never forgot those horrible screams that weren’t silenced, until the train ran over him.

Returning to his flashback: “But now here he was longing to have a brief conversation with this total stranger, a person he had never even met, and whom he believed with all his heart would have the same eagerness to be just as transparent with him about herself.  As he pondered that possibility, the old man became convinced that such a relationship would only be possible if he died and went to Heaven. There, total strangers who had finally been conformed into the image of Jesus would be completely relaxed in each others company, enjoying the serenity that always accompanies trusting one another completely and delighting in being their true Christ-like selves. Then he put her out of his mind and focused on the things he had to do that day.”

“Months later, as he was sitting in his apartment, a cramp gripped the old man’s foot, causing it to produce sharp pain. He bolted out of his rocking chair, and started hopping all over the place. He looked at his clock and saw that it was ten o’clock on Christmas morning. Despite being in pain, He hopped happily right out his apartment door. One by one, the other apartment doors flung open, and his neighbors saw a sight they would long remember; the old man was doing a jig while shouting: “Joy to the world! The Lord has come.”

“What no one saw however, was a tall, slim, rather pleasant looking green-eyed young woman with brunette hair. She was brandishing the warmest, most impish smile he had ever seen. She was slowly walking towards the end of the hall and then continued straight through the wall and out of the building.”

That was how his flashback ended. Now the old man was in the ICU on Valentine’s Day when the woman suddenly reappeared. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Although there was a doctor and nurse unhitching the old man from all the stuff he was attached to, they were oblivious of the woman’s presence. Frank asked the woman, “Who are you?”

With that impish smile on her face she answered, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“What are you doing here? Visiting hours won’t be until 11 tomorrow morning?”

“I know they aren’t, Frank.” She smiled.

“How did you get past security? Frank asked.

“I’m special!” The woman triumphantly puffed out her chest with achievement.

“Then you must be from Pastoral Care?”

Wrong again, Frank.”

“Are you one of those volunteers that transport patients to other areas in the hospital to have some kind of test? Why am I the only one talking to you? These people are ignoring you completely. That’s very rude.”

“Of course they aren’t being rude, Frank. They don’t even know that I’m here.”

“How can they possibly not know?”

“They can’t see me, Frank. You’re the only person who can.”

“I must be hallucinating from all the stuff they’ve been putting into me? Wait a minute, are, are, you an angel? You must be an angel. That’s it!”

“Wrong again, Frank.” She looked out the window for a moment, as though to plan her next words.

“If you aren’t an angel than what are you?” Frank was very confused.

“I’m a resurrected human being just like you are Frank. I’m clothed in my new immortal, invisible, spiritual body.”

“Oh? Why are you here?”

“I’m your escort, Frank. It’s time for you to leave.” She sighed.

“Leave? Where are we going?”

“You’re going home. Are you ready?”

“Home! I can’t go home. I’m not up to it. I feel crummy and I’m still very weak.” Frank was bewildered.

“I’m talking about your real home, Frank. Have you forgotten that you’re an alien passing through this dark sin infested world on your way to your eternal dwelling place?”

“Oh wow! That’s music to my ears.” Frank sighed a breath of relief.

“Are you ready? Just give the word.”

“Ready!”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve been ready for quite some time now. I want to see Betsy-Lou and the rest of them who went home before me. I miss them very, very much. Let’s go!”

At that exact moment the ICU was suddenly filled with a joyous host of glorious angels. The mysterious stranger flew over to Frank, giving him a great big hug. They all zoomed out of his room and through the hospital roof. Up into the sky they flew while his dead body was being transported to the hospital morgue.

With one hand, the mysterious woman Jennifer clasped Frank’s, and put her other one around his shoulder. She held him close to her. She couldn’t stop talking about God and all the wonderful things that people couldn’t even begin to imagine that He had prepared for the folks who followed Jesus. To say that she was happy was an understatement. The woman Jennifer was ecstatic! When he was able to, Frank asked her tons of questions about God that she was eager to answer. She loved talking about God. Then Jennifer said that they were going to a place that has been described as being “The Celestial City” and “The City Of Light,” a place where the moon doesn’t shine or is there any darkness. It is a place where there isn’t a need for things such as wheelchairs or prosthetics or crutches and canes, braces or Medtronic Mini Pump’s for folks whose diabetes was out of control, or any of the annoying electronic medical equipment going beep, beep beep.”

Frank pondered those thoughts carefully and wanted to savor each of them slowly. They were wonderful! Once again on this Valentine’s Day, his thoughts were interrupted. Not by the sounds of all the beep, beep, beeps coming from the electronic devices in his ICU room, but by Jennifer, accompanied by the angelic host. Jennifer sang the most heavenly rendition of one of Frank’s favorite Hymn’s. It’s called In His Time

IN HIS TIME

In His time (in His time), in His time (in His time);

He makes all things beautiful in his time (in His time),

Lord please show me every day As you’re teaching me your way,

That you do just what you say in Your time (in your time).

In Your time (in Your time), in Your time (in Your time),

Lord, my life to you I bring; May each song I have to sing

Be to You a lovely thing in Your time (in Your time).

Frank was thrilled by the sound of Jennifer’s voice, and the way she sang that song. Her voice was beautiful and he complimented her over and over again. She gave him another hug and kissed him on the cheek. This time she held his hand tighter and pulled Frank closer to her side. There was no way that she would let him go. Actually, he didn’t want her to. That posed a dilemma for Frank. Here he was looking forward to being reunited with his childhood sweetheart, Betsy-Lou, but now he had fallen in love with a woman named Jennifer-and he told her so. He said he was absolutely certain that she was the woman he wanted to spend eternity with. But how could he possibly explain it to Betsy-Lou without breaking her heart? And how about the rest of their family, the ones who had already gone home to be with the Lord, and all the ones destined to follow them later?

“Something’s very wrong here,” he said to Jennifer. “I feel like crying. The Bible says that in Heaven there won’t be any more crying or pain. Jesus will personally wipe every tear from my face…but I know myself. I won’t be able to stop feeling sad and crying – forever. For me Heaven will be like being in Hell. What am I going to do? I’m very confused? I don’t understand!”

“I know you don’t.” Jennifer said. “After all, I’ve been a guide in the Lord’s escort service for several years now. That’s the reason that you and I are now going to The Boulevard of Mirrors. We have to stop there before I usher you into the Lord’s presence.”

“And what will I see there?”

“You will see images of the resurrected Frank. Once you see yourself, you will be able to solve this Valentine’s Day Mystery.”

“Oh-I’m still confused, Jennifer.”

“You will also be able to see the resurrected Betsy-Lou.”

“Now I’m really confused! “Where is she?”

Jennifer smiled. “You’re looking at her, Frank. You knew me as Betsy-Lou, but the Lord gave me a new name. Now my name Is Jennifer. Let’s go, Frank. I can hardly wait to find out what YOUR new name will be.”

Frank finally got it! With open arms, he zoomed over to those of Jennifer and kissed her, and kissed her, again and again to the thundering applause of the heavenly host. They all zoomed out of The Boulevard of Mirrors, joyously singing:

IN HIS TIME

In His time (in His time), in His time (in His time);

He makes all things beautiful in his time (in His time),

Lord please show me every day As you’re teaching me your way,

That you do just what you say in Your time (in your time).

In Your time (in Your time), in Your time (in Your time),

Lord, my life to you I bring; May each song I have to sing

Be to You a lovely thing in Your time (in Your time).

“What’s next on the agenda, Jennifer?”

“You’re going to be reunited with the rest of our family, and watch everyone’s facial expression as they look at the new you and you look at the new them.”

”Where are we going from there?”

“I’ll escort you into the presence of the Lord. Among many other wonderful things, He will tell you what YOUR new name will be.”

Lord willing, next week ….

 

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February 9, 2014 Posted by Categories: Stories Tagged with:
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