Part 39 (2/2)
In all the ways that mattered, she was just like them.
A thousand miles away, Ryan Taylor tried everything in his power to focus.
He was one of seventeen coaches parked in a stuffy office room at the New York Giants' headquarters, listening to what had already been a three-hour dissertation on the importance of preventative stretching and correct form during spring training. , Head Coach Jared Brown had jotted a dozen key points on the board, but for the life of him Ryan could see only one thing. Kari Baxter Jacobs, the way she had looked two months ago, when he had said good-bye. When he had kissed her newborn daughter on the cheek, brushed a lock of hair off Kari's face, and gazed into her eyes one last time.
The way the tears had welled in her eyes as he brushed his lips against her forehead and walked away just as he'd done so many times before.
Ryan tightened his grip on the pencil and squinted hard at the chalkboard. He wanted to be here, after all. It had been his dream forever to coach in the National Football League. Besides, when he left it was because Kari had made her intentions clear. She intended to stay with her husband, forgive him for betraying her, and rebuild a life with him. And Ryan respected her for that, loved her for doing the right thing-even if it meant she had no room in her life for him. That they didn't dare even try to be 358 friends, not when they both knew her feelings for him were as strong as his were for her.
But all that was before the shooting. Before Kari's husband died and left her a widow, six months pregnant.
Ryan leaned back in his seat and tried to appear interested in the meeting.
Kari was grieving, no doubt. She needed time to work through the loss of Tim and all that they'd planned for their new daughter. But she needed a friend too.
These probably were very difficult days, after all, and it caused his heart physical pain to picture her and the baby back in Bloomington. Ryan bit his lip.
He could see Kari waking alone to a crying infant, or weary from a day of caring for her daughter and having no one there to help.
She had her family, of course. They would see that she didn't get overwhelmed.
But he'd had long talks with Kari the week the baby was born, and she was clear on one thing. She was going to raise the baby by herself. Her parents would be a welcome support, but she had no intention of staying with them forever, pa.s.sing off her responsibility the way Ashley had done with her son, Cole.
Coach Brown erased the board and began writing a new set of notes. The scribbled letters faded, and Kari's tearstained face appeared again. When Ryan looked back on the course of his life, despite the fun he'd had playing football, he didn't have a single worthwhile memory without her.
Tears nipped at the corners of Ryan's eyes, and he sat up straighter, knowing this wasn't the time or place for regrets. Still, if he could be anywhere in the world, he would be back in Bloomington, beside a girl he'd loved as long as he could remember. Praying with her, crying with her, and being her friend as long and as often as she needed.
His eyes fell on the NFL insignia notepad in front of him. He'd loved football since he was a little boy. The feel of the game, just him and the ball flying across a field like the wind itself. The fact that he had played it at the highest level and now 359.
was coaching at that same level usually made him feel like the luckiest man alive.
But here and now, aware that football was the only thing that had kept him from marrying Kari Baxter all those years ago, certain that it was the only thing keeping him from her even now, he knew he wasn't lucky at all.
He was flat-out crazy.
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361.
For SEVERAL YEARS I've been dreaming about creating fiction, putting together a series of novels that would ill.u.s.trate what I believe G.o.d teaches about relations.h.i.+ps. During the past thirty years, I've written many books about how to restore broken relations.h.i.+ps. But nothing touches the heart, nothing fleshes out the truth quite like a good story.
A DREAM COME TRUE.
A few years ago I came across a novel by Karen Kingsbury and read it on a long flight. Halfway through the flight, my son Greg elbowed me in the ribs. ”Dad. .
.” He looked nervously around to see if anyone was looking. ”You're crying pretty loudly there. Everything okay?”
I had no words. I simply pointed to the book and kept weeping. Karen's books were the first ones that ever really made me cry. Since then I have read everything she has written. It is clear to me that G.o.d has given her a special gift, an ability to create stories that not only touch hearts but also change lives.
In no time at all Karen became my favorite fiction author. She also gave me an idea. As I came to know her, suddenly I could see my dream of collaborating with a fiction writer taking shape. My themes and lessons about relations.h.i.+ps ... her storytelling. We had a meeting that summer, and G.o.d gave us the ideas for our Redemption series.
The series will follow the lives of John and Elizabeth Baxter and their five adult children, each of whom is trying to find his or her way in life-sometimes with G.o.d, sometimes without. The series will follow the paths of pain and pleasure, tragedy and tears that take place in the lives of Brooke, Kari, Ashley, Erin, and Luke. . .
The Baxters, their spouses, and friends experience the same struggles each of us faces-the longing for lasting love, the hurt 362 of broken relations.h.i.+ps, the fear of the unknown, questions about the future, the sorrow of loss, and the joy of restored relations.h.i.+ps. Over time you'll come to know the Baxter family as if they were your neighbors or members of your own family. My guess is you'll even see yourself in one or more of them.
At the end of each book Karen and I will provide questions that can be used for book clubs, small groups, or as a guide for your own personal reflection.
The bottom line is this: The Redemption series is my dream come true, fiction that will teach and touch our longing hearts. I am convinced these books will make you laugh and cry. I know they will leave you with a deeper understanding of how you can build rich relations.h.i.+ps with the people in your life.
I hope you enjoy the ride.
REFLECTIONS ON RELATIONs.h.i.+PS.
Most of us are like the Baxters: We want intimate relations.h.i.+ps, but we often go through life dazed-hurting and being hurt by those we love. In the process we end up with broken, fractured, distant relations.h.i.+ps.
In Kari's case, her relations.h.i.+p with her husband-the man with whom she wanted the deepest, most intimate relations.h.i.+p-was battered and broken. She had a decision to make: Would she stay with him and love him no matter what, or would she do what most people thought she should do-give him the divorce he demanded?
Kari made a tough choice. She decided to love Tim unconditionally.
Love is a decision. Not always an easy one.
You may be facing a similar situation in your life. Maybe your marriage is distant or even broken, and you need to decide what to do. Maybe you are like several of the Baxter children and feel disconnected from family members. Maybe you've been hurt by a friend and have to decide whether or not you will stay in the relations.h.i.+p.
363 Whatever your situation, there is hope. G.o.d can redeem our broken relations.h.i.+ps and restore them to wholeness. G.o.d can give us the strength and grace to love in the midst of difficult circ.u.mstances.
If you are struggling with a difficult marriage, I am concerned for you. I pray that G.o.d will redeem and restore that relations.h.i.+p. As you recall, one of the tools G.o.d used to restore Kari and Tim's marriage was something called a marriage intensive, an intensive counseling experience that helped Tim and Kari understand how they were hurting each other and how they could rebuild their marriage. That same help is available to you. If you would like to attend a marriage intensive or if you need other relational help, I urge you to contact us at: The Smalley Relations.h.i.+p Center.
1482 Lakesh.o.r.e Drive.
Branson, MO 65616 Phone: (800) 84-TODAY (848-6329).
FAX: (417) 336-3515.
E-mail: Web site:364 364.
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When Gary Smalley.
contacted me about writing fiction with him, I was thrilled.
When he said, ”Think series,” I went blank.
For weeks I prayed about the series idea, asking G.o.d to show me a group of plots that would best exemplify relational truths taught by Gary Smalley and the staff at the Smalley Relations.h.i.+p Center.
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