“She might. She’s changed. Watching Tommy die, nearly dying herself, it changed her heart. She’s gotten right with God.”
“What about you, son? You get right with God? Seems to me you can’t move forward with Emma until you square that away.”
Colton shook his head. “I want to. Last week when the reverend talked about Matthew ten, verse twenty-eight, it chilled me to the bone. ‘And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.’ I remembermy mother sharing verses, and that was one of them. I wanted to go forward when there was an altar call, but I was afraid Emma would think it was just for show.”
“Do you believe God sent Jesus to die for your sins, son?”
“I do now. I remember a time when I believed it as a child, but I let my father convince me otherwise.”
“Do you believe Jesus rose again from the dead?
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Romans ten, verse nine says, ‘That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ John three, verse sixteen says, ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’” He paused and gave Colton a smile. “That’s about the extent of my memorized Bible verses, but the point is, God loves you and wants you to be saved and gave us Jesus in order to do it. You’ve accepted that it’s true and have confessed to me that you want to be saved. Therefore, you now belong to God.”
“I don’t have to do anything else? Perform some sort of deeds?”
“If you had to do that, you’d be saving yourself instead of God saving you. You can’t work your way into salvation. There’s nothing you can do to save yourself, Colton. We Christians follow in baptism and fellowship, communion and such, but at the very heart of the matter is one thing: accept Jesus as Lord and be saved.”
“I do.” Colton leaned back and felt a weight lift off his shoulders. “But now what?”
“Now the hard part begins. Satan will do what he can to rob you of your peace and joy in Christ. He’ll do what he can to convince you that God’s salvation isn’t that simple. Oh, we encourage Christians to pray and read their Bible daily, toget baptized and tithe. We encourage them to do good works for God. But those things won’t save you. Only Jesus saves.”
“How can you be sure of that, Mr. Johnson? Seems much too simple a solution for something that keeps a soul out of hell.”
“Are you familiar with the crucifixion—when they nailed Jesus to the cross?”
“I am.”
“Remember one of the malefactors who hung on a cross beside Jesus who asked Jesus to save him, and Jesus told him He would? Told the man he’d be with Jesus that very day in paradise. He was condemned to die and had no hope but Jesus. And Jesus was enough.”
Colton slowly nodded. “I see what you mean.”
Just then, the waiter brought their food. Colton felt his stomach rumble at the delicious smell wafting up from the plate.
“Mr. Johnson, Mr. Benton, would you mind if I joined you for a moment?”
Colton looked up to find Robert Vogel. He glanced over at Rich, who was already nodding.
“It’s fine by me, Rob. Is the town keeping the peace?”
“For the most part,” Rob replied, taking off his hat. “I hate to interrupt, but I need to speak with Mr. Benton. And you’re welcome to stay too, Mr. Johnson. I don’t want to interrupt your meal.”
“What can I do for you, Mr. Vogel?” Colton asked.
Rob gave a hesitant smile. “I want to ask permission to marry your sister.”
Colton hadn’t expected that at all. He knew the young man was sweet on Rosie but had worried he wanted only to toy with her affections. He hadn’t expected him to want to propose marriage. Apparently, the man was as honorable as Emma suggested.
“Isn’t this kind of quick? I mean, you’ve only known her a couple of months.”
“I knew from the first moment I laid eyes on her that she was the one for me. I know that might sound impossible, but I knew it from the very start.”
Colton felt a tightening in his chest. He glanced at Rich, who was smiling. He couldn’t very well tell Rob that he didn’t believe in such things after just telling Rich that was how he felt about his daughter.
“Rosie doesn’t have a dowry. She’s not going to bring a big inheritance into the marriage.”
“I don’t care about that, Mr. Benton. I love her. I can’t imagine my life without her. I want to take care of her and provide for her. I have a small savings, enough that we can get a place of our own. My job is good, and the town much calmer than when my father took the same job twenty years ago.”
