Mark had worked with people long enough to know that even Christians could get set in their ways and refuse to see that they could become better.
He made the bed that she would be sleeping in, listening to the sounds of the boys splashing in the tub coming down the hall. Was this what it would be like if they had children of their own? If he had a family of his own?
He wouldn't mind having the laughter and the fun, but he knew that it would be a lot of work. But like he told Olivia, he didn't mind the work. As long as he had the right mindset, that serving others was a small way that he could give back to the Lord for everything that God had done for him.
He had found that a lot of times his contentment had more to do with his mindset than with his circumstances. He supposed that's why God commanded Christians in Philippians to focus on what was good and right and true and beautiful. Because when a person did that, when they were thankful and looked at Jesus rather than the circumstances around them or the people around them, they had a tendency to be less depressed and more joyful.
God had the recipe. It was too bad that so many Christians refused to follow it. It was almost like they didn't believe that God knew what he was talking about. But Mark could tell from experience that it was true. And it worked.
"We want Pastor Mark to pray with us like he did when everybody was there," Aiden said, as Olivia wrapped the towel around Ethan, and both of the boys ran to their room. "Aren't you coming?"
Pastor Mark chuckled to himself. He highly doubted the boys wanted a Bible lesson. It was more likely that they just wanted thecompany and to prolong bedtime. But, if they were gonna ask for it, he certainly wasn't going to turn down the opportunity.
"You don't have to," Olivia said softly as she passed him in the hall.
"I'm a pastor. This is my calling. I'm not going to turn down the opportunity to preach the Bible to someone, even if it is a four-year-old."
She half rolled her eyes and continued to walk down the hall.
He loved that she laughed easily, despite the fact that she had so much on her shoulders. He also loved that she took such great care of her boys, but also was concerned about others. All the while, she continued to work, getting orders and trying to make sure that they would have money coming in.
He couldn't imagine having the responsibility for two little lives all on his own shoulders.
He grabbed his Bible, and then walked back to the boys' room, where Olivia sat at the foot of the bed, talking to the kids about what they were all thankful for.
He stood in the doorway, listening, as the boys listed people to play with, toys, Pastor Mark—which made him smile—and all the fun that they'd had over the last few days.
In no way did they insinuate that they were worried or afraid or upset about not being in their house at all. In fact, to hear them talk, they were ready to continue to live a nomadic lifestyle.
He thought about how the Bible told Christians that they were to be as little children. Not a thought of worry in their minds, and he wished that he was that good at not being concerned about anything, but being happy at the change of routine and the excitement that a snowstorm and a power outage could bring into his life.
"Pastor Mark! Are you coming in?" Aiden asked eagerly.
Ethan looked at him with bright eyes as he lay under the covers that were pulled up to his chin.
"If it's okay with your mom," he said easily.
Olivia shifted, nodding and smiling a welcome.
He walked in, chatting easily with the boys as he opened his Bible and read the story of Jesus talking about allowing the little children to come unto him. Then he spoke a few words about how God loved children, and he cared about them, even to the point where he would spend time with children rather than adults. He told the boys that Jesus was always listening, and they could say anything to him. Elementary principles, but principles that adults sometimes forgot. Or sometimes didn't feel, so then they didn't believe were real. But just because someone didn't feel something didn't make it not true. It just made their feelings wrong.
Then the boys bowed their heads, and each of them prayed. Aiden went first, as he usually did, taking the lead, and thanking God for many of the things that he'd already talked to his mom about, and then asking God to make the lights in their house come back on so that their mom could make candles for the church.
That made Pastor Mark smile as he listened, and then Aiden said amen, and Ethan began to pray.
He said a lot of the same things that his brother had, which was a pattern that Mark had noticed. Ethan tended to follow Aiden wherever he went. But then Ethan said something that made Mark's heart stutter to a stop.
"And God, please let Pastor Mark be our dad. So we can live here, and Pastor Mark can take care of Mom, and we could be a family."
Mark didn't listen to anything else the kid said. He was way too aware of the woman beside him, and the fact that God really heard children's prayers. Because they were much less encumbered than adults were.
Of course, he didn't mind that prayer. The idea of being married to Olivia was not onerous, and in fact, as he considered the idea, he realized it was something that he had been hoping for deep down, even if he wasn't admitting it to himself.
But what did Olivia think?
It seemed like a big step to ask her, and while he didn't know awhole lot about women, he knew that a lot of times it took them a little bit longer to make up their mind. Especially when, like Olivia, they had a lot on their shoulders, because they had a tendency to think in terms of the people around them far more than what men did. Mark considered that to be biblical thinking, although he knew the world would criticize someone who considered what other people thought before they made a decision that concerned themselves. It was just one of the ways that the world preached selfishness and elevated it to something that people should aspire to, instead of recognizing it as what human nature naturally did and was not the way a person should live.
Even Christian counselors got it wrong. He'd lost track of the number of times he'd heard or read a so-called Christian say that a person had to take care of themselves first before they could help anyone else. It was such a lie. So not found in the Bible, not even a little bit. A lot of times they would say, "But Jesus went off by himself to pray." And that was true, but typically Jesus went off by himself to pray after he ministered to a great number of people, doing far more than modern Americans could ever dream of. And not that going off by oneself and digging into the Bible and being alone with God was a bad thing. It certainly wasn't. But when modern Americans were told to take care of themselves first, it typically wasn't for them to go off by themselves to pray and read the Bible and be alone with God. It was more likely for them to go get a manicure and turn down people who were asking for help, because they didn't feel like helping or expending that much energy on someone else. But Jesus gave everything for the people around him, holding nothing back.
