The Tarp: Part 2

continued from The Tarp

This has to come from You, Lord, because there is nothing in me that can deal with this.

Liya began to chat with Rohiza while Jackie concentrated on understanding the slurred speech coming from Rohiza's toothy (or was it toothless?) mouth. Children sporadically entered the open front door and sat, then hopped up and ran back outside to play. The teen moms came and went. One of them stayed in the room, bouncing the baby with the cleft lip in an old baby bouncer chair.

Suddenly, the back door darkened as a new figure filled the space. The lady eyed Jackie and Liya curiously as she removed her headscarf and entered the room.

"Hello. I'm Liya and this is my friend Jackie."

"I'm Intan," said the lady. She was the sister of Rohiza and, Jackie mused, had definitely inherited the same tooth problems as her older sibling.

Intan shared more about the family. Death and sickness and misfortune seemed to be the running theme, though Intan shared in a matter-of-fact tone, as if talking about the weather.

Conversation fluctuated from family woes to life in general.

"Life can be so difficult. Were you here during the tsunami?" asked Liya.

"We were in a different house back then," replied Intan. "It was a terrible time. We all thought it was the end of the world."

"Yes," Liya said. "Many people did. But, as terrible as it was, it wasn't really the end. The end hasn't come yet."

"Yes, Judgement day hasn't come yet."

"Hey, what do you think? Will you be ready on that day? Do you think you'll go to heaven?"

"If God wills."

"So, how do you know if He wills it? Are you doing things now to make sure?"

"Yes, I try to do good things."

"Oh, like helping people or being kind?"

"Yes. By telling the truth and being good."

"Oh, I see. It's hard though. It's hard to always do the right thing."

Intan laughed knowingly. "Yes, it's hard. Especially when life is hard. My husband died in an accident on his way home from work a few years ago. Now I have to help my mother and my kids and we have no way to make money. We have relatives, but they don't help us."

Rohiza returned from the kitchen. She'd quietly slipped away and now brought two small cups of rose syrup juice.

"Oh Rohiza, we didn't mean to cause you any trouble," Liya said, "And now you've brought us drinks like we are special guests, when we are the ones who asked if we could come in!"

"It's no trouble," Rohiza replied. "You are like a blessing that has come to us today."

"You know," said Liya, "we talked about the tsunami, when so many of us thought it was the end of the world. Do you know about the beginning of the world?"

"Not really," said Intan.

"Well, back when God created the world, it was beautiful and there was nothing bad and no problems..." Liya launched into the story of Adam and Eve.

Jackie listened and prayed for Rohiza and Intan. Intan was delighted to hear the story and so Liya kept going with more stories. A movement caught Jackie's eye. Behind Liya she saw the blind man's head move. He turned toward Intan so he could hear.

Oh Lord, help this man hear the stories.

Liya continued right on to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The TV droned on, the teen moms came and went, children toddled by, even Rohiza fussed about the house. But Intan and the blind man continued to listen. Shower time came. Naked children running about, one of the moms walking by in a bath towel, water splashing in the background, a random man arriving home from work (perhaps one of the husbands?): Life and Bible Stories, all rolled into one.

That's how it should be Lord, shouldn't it? The Gospel is not to be secretly whispered at a set time of day and it doesn't necessarily have to be printed nice and neatly on a piece of paper and presented in a perfect way. The Bible doesn't have to be preached from the pulpit only. The Gospel can be shared with the blind, the toothless, the poor, the discouraged. It can be talked about over the crackle of the television, the yells of children, the splash of bath water, the gurgles of a baby. The stories can be told on a dirty floor to people who have never heard them. Because the Gospel is for people and that's the life of people. We are dirty, we are smelly, we are poor, we are sick, we are the very ones that You sent Your Son to die for.

"We have to go," said Liya.

"Will you come again?" asked Intan.

"You were a blessing," Rohiza said.

"Thank you for your kindess," Jackie offered.

Then Liya and Jackie stepped out of the dark house and into the sunshine of the road outside: out from under the tarp.

Thank You Lord for giving us the words to say. They heard the Truth. I wonder if they really will let us come back?