Men After God's Own Heart Read Free Page B

after this night.
    â€œYou’re a mighty fine one to talk. You never accepted the fact that I’m a man and I have needs.” Lemont picked up his clothes from the floor and draped them over his arm.
    â€œI was a good wife to you. I followed the scriptures, and if that’s not enough for you, then I know it’ll be more than enough for the next man.” Victoria stormed back into the master bedroom and slammed the door.
    Titus knew that his mother had retreated to her room because she would not give his father the satisfaction of seeing her cry. His mother was often criticized throughout the church for her rock-like nature. It did not seem ladylike in a traditional church for a woman to carry the rigidness of a man. What most people misunderstood about Victoria, Titus knew perfectly well. He compared his mother’s nature to that of a solid rock. She had to endure the scorn and shame that accompanied being the pastor’s wife. Titus mother’s greatest affliction was being in love with a fool.
    â€œDad, you can’t turn your back on God and your family like this!”
    â€œSon, I’ve come to the conclusion that God has turned His back on me. I’ve tried. I’ve fasted, prayed, and poured over the scriptures, and nothing. No deliverance, no breakthrough. Do you know how hard it is to watch people get delivered, while you remain a slave? This desire in me doesn’t let up. I didn’t even want to get married, but your granddaddy and the church forced us to and told us that it’s better to marry than to burn. Well, I’m through taking God’s advice and the church’s advice.”
    Titus had heard the rumors, but it was in his nature not to listen to them. Titus stayed focused on getting closer to God and his promising basketball future. Titus stood six foot three inches tall. The whole town was ecstatic about his future. There was not a corner in the church Titus could go to where he was not confronted by a mother of the church and her daughter. Even fathers who were vehemently opposed to their daughters dating did not mind if their daughter dated a well-mannered preacher’s kid with a formidable jump shot.
    â€œDo yourself a favor, son, and don’t become a preacher. That pulpit and that book”—Lemont pointed at the Bible he had just given Titus—“have destroyed the men in this family.”
    Bishop Samuel Dawkins, Titus’s grandfather, had for years carried on an affair, which his grandmother had accepted.
    She harked back to a time when folks did not get a divorce, because it was a sin, and so Titus’s grandmother tolerated her husband’s infidelity for the sake of her salvation. Titus’s mother was not that way. She would rather be alone and happy than married and miserable.
    â€œDad, don’t do this!” Titus clasped his hands together as if to pray.
    â€œAs far as I’m concerned, I don’t owe nobody nothing! I don’t want forgiveness, neither, except from you. I hope you can forgive me for what I’ve done. And take my advice. If you want to be happy, then stay away from that pulpit.” Lemont made his way toward the door.
    â€œNo, Dad!” Titus tried to impede his father’s progress, but a punch to the solar plexus brought a swift end to Titus’s campaign.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Lemont said in a tone that lacked compassion.
    Those were Lemont’s last words. Once the pain subsided, Titus went into his mother’s bedroom. While she pretended not to cry, her face told a different story. Titus did not know what to say. In truth he had borne witness to something a fifteen-year-old should not have to experience, the self-destruction of a first family.
    Titus was pulled out of his sleep by the sound of the television, which meant one thing: Grace had fallen asleep with the television on again. Titus got up and walked around to Grace’s side of the bed, where he