Savage Love (28 page)

     “That sounds like a good plan for the summer. You enjoy it out there don’t
you?”

     “I do. It isn’t just the mountains and the peacefulness at Mountain Home, but Seanna and I have become a part of a family there. I know I have told you about Daffyd’s two employees that have adopted him
. Between them and the two college kids…well, it feels like home,” she tried to explain.

     “We aren’t always born into a family. There are plenty of people who live in the same household
, and share the same blood, who live completely separate lives. Then there are people that God brings together, and binds them in love, and they become a family. It sounds like that is what you are experiencing. Have you thought about what you will be doing once the summer is over, Samantha?” he asked.

     “Well, that brings me to the second reason I’m here. Daffyd and I haven’t discussed any long range plans right now. I guess we both wanted to wait and see how this all plays out.
But I don’t intend to come back here. As you know, Seanna and I don’t have any family here, other than our Church family of course. And to be completely honest, if it wasn’t for God’s strength and grace I would have left the classroom years ago. I really want to write. That has been something on my heart since I was a child. Life just got away with me and it got put on hold. But now Seanna is grown up…and I don’t have any more excuses not to try.”

     “Sometimes God has us do something for a season. I think your season here with us is coming to an end. You are not the same person that you were when you and Richard first joined us. I think that everything you’ve been through has made you stronger,” said Pastor Shane.

     “Sometimes it feels that way, other times it scares the daylights out of me! So you don’t think I’m crazy?” she asked.

     “No,” he laughed. “I would be concerned about your moving to Montana without being married if it was just you and Daffyd. But I trust you to live right until that day comes. And I expect an invitation to the big day when it happens.”

     “Just keep believing with us for a complete healing for Daffyd,” she asked.

     “Samantha, I fully believe God will heal Daffyd…” he began.

     “But…I know what you are going to say, Pastor. We have talked about this a lot, Daffyd and I. We believe his healing can come two ways. Here on earth, or in heaven. We are content with either, but so hoping that we can live a long and happy life here together.”

     “Well, I wish you the best. If there is anything we can do to help you make the transition, just let us know. I think it
’s best if you don’t mention this to your students until the end of the year. Even though a few of them will be advancing to the next class, most will be sad to know that you are leaving.”

     “
Thanks for making this easy. I feel like a weight has been lifted. I plan on enjoying the last few months of school and will be able to look forward to a new start without feeling like I didn’t finish up well.”

          Daffyd closed his Bible and knelt down next to his bed.
Father, I thank you for finding me, for having the patience to wait for me, and for loving me despite my stubborn selfishness. Help me Lord, to put others first and to not think about my happiness first. I ask you to show me how to live for you instead of for myself. I am ready now to come home to you if that is what you want, but if not, if there is something else you have for me to do here, then I ask that I can live long enough to marry the woman I love. Let me be the man she deserves. Help me to be a true ‘new creation’. And please help me to do what you want me to do, no matter how hard it might be.

    
Though Daffyd missed Samantha more than he had ever thought possible, and though he missed them all, his Mom and Dad, Bryce and Seanna, and even Trisha and Leal, he was content to wait on God. He felt stronger every day not just physically but spiritually. He wanted to grow as much as he could while he was here so that he could go home a new man. Through much soul searching, he came to realize that most of his weakness had nothing to do with a disease. His flesh was weak, not his physical flesh alone, but his heart and mind. The only answer to the problem was to feed his spirit by filling up on scripture and to practice listening to His voice.

     The stronger he became in his spirit, the more he came to know God, the stronger he felt and it was reflecting in his health. He was learning so much through his independent study as well as the group Bible study he attended twice a week. Sunday service was mostly praise and worship, which he loved, with some simple preaching by several local pastors. For the first time in his life, he felt like he really
knew
God, not just knew of him. What a difference that made.

     “Daffyd,” said a tall young man at his open door.

     “Max, come in. I was just finished praying,” invited Daffyd.

    
Max came in and sat in the only chair in the simple room. He was one of the young helpers that volunteered at the clinic. Daffyd had become friends with the earnest young man over the past few months.

     “I wanted to talk to you about something…I guess I need some advice. Your brother and sister-in-law were missionaries right?” he asked.

     “Yeah, they were.”

     “I have been invited
to go on a mission trip for three months. I am just not sure if I’m strong enough, spiritually, to go.”

     “How strong do you have to be to go?” asked
Daffyd.

     “Stronger than me, I’m thinking,” the young man said with a smile.

     “Max, I know I’m pretty new at this, but you have been here for over a year fighting all kinds of demonic stuff. You’ve been strong for us when we couldn’t be strong; you helped us to lean on God and to put our trust in Him. I’m thinking this is a mission field! What difference does it make if you change location?”

     “Yeah, you’re probably right. I guess I just feel comfortable here,” he explained.

     “Do you feel like it is something God wants you to do?” asked Daffyd.

     “I do. I just guess I was scared to think about going. I kept trying to think up some excuse. I talked to them here and they will allow me to come back and continue my work here. The money to go is even already paid for…so I guess I’m out of excuses,” he said with a smile.

     “My brother loved it. They died doing what they loved and doing what God asked them to do. The things that they gave up to go didn’t seem important compared to those they helped and the ones that came to the Lord through their work.”

     “Did you ever think about going?” asked
Max.

     “No! I was much too selfish and wrapped up in my own plans to even think about it. At the time I thought they were both crazy. And after they died, I was just mad at them for leaving their son behind,” answered Daffyd.
“Now I’m proud of them for doing what God called them to do, and for the sacrifices they made. Their unselfish lives touched so many people.”

    
“Well, now that you’re a changed man, and have renounced your selfish ways, maybe you want to come with me.”

    
“No way. Not my calling. I’ll just pray for those of you who are sent out and be content to touch the few people I can,” laughed Daffyd.

     “Thanks, knowing you’ll be pr
aying makes it so much easier,” Max answered sarcastically.

C
hapter 29

We Know What We Are, But Not What We May Be
    

     June fifteenth found Samantha on her way to Montana with Bryce and Seanna in Leal’s truck. After months of planning and packing she was finally closing a chapter in her life. Over the past few months she had sorted and sold, donated and trashed the few belongings she had left. Most of the boxes in the back were filled with her books and some of Seanna’s keepsakes from her childhood. Bryce had driven over to help them load up and to bring them back home. The two kids had been joking and ribbing each other since Bryce showed up. Samantha couldn’t help wishing that Daffyd would be there to meet them all.

     “So what do you think, Mom?” asked Seanna.

     “About what?” she asked back.

     “Have you been listening to a word I said?” asked her daughter.

     “Honey, I’ve quit listening to the two of you a couple of miles back,” she laughed.

     “We were talking about taking a trip while we are waiting for Daffyd to come home. What do you think about going to visit Leal’s grandma in Oregon? She only lives a couple of hours from the beach and we could maybe book a place on the beach for a few weeks.”

     “This has been such a crazy year with Uncle Daffyd and school
, it would be great to just be lazy at the beach for a while,” offered Bryce.

     “Do you think Trisha would leave her garden for two weeks?” asked Samantha.

     “Maybe we could get someone to come and take care of the place while we’re gone,” suggested Bryce.

     “It would have to be someone Daffyd
trusts, right now that isn’t too many people. He still doesn’t want anyone to know that he is “Savage”,” said Samantha.

     “He trusts Kate!” said Seanna.

     “You’re right and I bet she’d like to come and bring a few of her grandkids to hang out in the pool,” said Bryce.

     “I feel guilty taking a trip without Daffyd,” said Samantha.

     “Uncle Daffyd made me promise that I wouldn’t allow you to sit around and mope all summer waiting for him to come home,” said Bryce.

     “I don’t mope!” Samantha exclaimed.

     “…um…whatever,” laughed Seanna.

     “Anyway, I made a promise to him to keep you girls entertained and busy. He has more money than he knows what to do with and gives more away than he spends…so no excuses!” Bryce insisted.

     “I’m gonna call Trisha right now, she can get everything rolling while we are on our way,” said Seanna.

     By the time they got home Trisha had it all arranged. They were going to fly into Bend and rent a car to drive to Leal’s Grandma Sally’s house. She insisted she had enough room for them to stay a few days with her before they all set out to the coast. Trisha had a whole itinerary set up along the coast for sightseeing and lollygagging. Then she had rented a house on the beach for two weeks farther south where the weather would be warmer. Kate had agreed to come and stay at the house for a couple of nights a week with some helpers to tend the garden, mow the yard and play in the pool. Everything was all set for the first week in July. They would be celebrating the holiday with Grandma Sally with a big backyard barbeque with friends and neighbors. Samantha could hardly believe that it had only been a year since they celebrated here at Mountain Home.

     “Wow, Trisha, you missed your calling. I think you should have been a travel agent,” said Seanna.

     “I used to schedule quite a few get-a-ways for Daffyd when his life would get too crazy, so it’s kind of old hat. Besides who would take care of the bunch of you if I was working in an agency somewhere?” she teased.

     “She’s absolutely right! We are blessed to have you!” said Bryce giving her a big hug.

     “Ok, ok, you can just make it up to me by hiking the trails with us when we get there,” laughed Trisha.

     “I
, for one, will be lying on the beach with some cold lemonade and a good book. I will designate myself as company for Leal’s grandma,” volunteered Samantha.

     “Good to hear that. Grandma is seventy-something and she still gets around like a much younger woman. She won’t be doing any hiking, but she loves to walk on the beach and through all the little tourist shops in town,” said Leal.

     “Sounds great. I guess I like my adventures to be a little tamer,” smiled Samantha.

     “Mom, you are going to at least go with us once. You’re only thirty-
six. You need to stop acting like an old woman,” insisted Seanna.

     “I’m not acting. This is who I have always been Seanna. I will go on a
short
hike with you, but you know that I intend to start writing and I plan on spending some time doing just that while you are all doing what
you
love to do.”

     “Don’t be too hard on your Mom, Sea. You and Uncle Daffyd will get along fine. He’s not very adventurous either.
He’s more a movie and book kind of guy,” said Bryce.

     “How is it that he’s a rock star? He is so
not
the typical stereotype,” said Seanna.

     “I think the word should be
‘
was’, it’s
been years since he recorded anything,” Trisha reminded them.

     “That may be, but you can still buy his cd’s and his music is played on movies and commercials all the time. He still has quite the following on UTube,” Bryce commented.