“You have to come and see Dad,” my sister, Peggy, said. “He’s dying.” My words were also to the point. “No. I ca…an’t.” Stuttering was something new for me. But I found I did it whenever I thought about my father. My words would just get as nervous as I had been the day he…
I froze in horror, humiliated, torn between anger and tears. My leader stared, eyes wide open, deer-in-the-headlights style. Someone had just made it abundantly clear they hated me—right in the middle of a room packed with people. The entire group stilled, mouths agape. I don’t know why they hated me; they chose to spew their…
I stood surrounded by stone on all sides, elbow to elbow with others inside the small stone room. The pit. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what it felt like to be in this dungeon alone, in complete darkness. I shuddered and opened them again. I didn’t want to experience what Jesus felt…