The church next door episode 2

THE CHURCH NEXT DOOR – Episode 2

No! I have to tell her half the truth. I can’t lose my wife! No I can’t! I thought loud in my head. Managing a weak smile which was in much contrast to the mood my broken and sullen appearance had created, I whispered to my loving wife, “I felt the hand of God upon me tonight. I stopped by the church on our street. Believe me love, God is there…” I paused and gave her time to assess my words. Her eyes were moving desperately from left to right, piercing into my heart. She was searching for signs that I was telling the truth. Convinced she had believed what I said, which was the truth, half the truth though, I continued, “I heard the truth of God’s word preached tonight… the gospel as of old…” I paused again. My heart was pulsating as rivers of tears pooled from my eyes. “…I have been lost for the past twelve years. My claim to love God was a lie and what we called worsh¡p in our family church can best be described as a social hangout or at best a regular business conference. I don’t see how I will make heaven continuing with the sort of worsh¡p we have there. I am through with our family church baby,” I said emphatically.

“I will go with you wherever you want to go, especially to this place that brought this zeal and love for God back into your life. When do they have another worsh¡p service?” my wife asked. “I brought with me the church bulletin, it contains all the information about the church services and programme,” I replied rummaging through the pouch which held my bible and sermon note. “Here it is.” She took it from me and said something about the look of the bulletin. I heard her but could not tell what she actually said. My heart was pounding very fast. I was still wondering if to tell her the wh0le truth. “I think this is an answer to my prayer. I have been meaning to tell you that we should change church. I think our family church has lost it. I can’t quite say it is still a church.” “Thanks baby,” I said, careful not to say too much. The burden in my heart was threatening to burst out. It felt as though a bucket load of filth had been emptied from my life in my encounter with God at the church. In fact, the thought of the uncountable s€× marathon I had with Anita Magbere in my office, made me want to puke several times. “I think we should announce to the children in our morning devotion that we have made up our minds to leave our present church. There is something about this church next door. I can feel it even in this bulletin,” she observed and placed her head on my chest. Just as soon as she did that, she removed it, looked at me oddly and wondered out loud, “Your heart is beating too fast!” “I do not think I lived the best life I could in the past twelve years as a believer in Christ. What if I had died? I am scared stiff as I think about eternity and hell. I could have been gone you know, baby.” This time I was the one holding her so firmly that you would have thought she was about to bolt from me. “No matter how bad your mistakes were, the truth is that God has forgiven and cleaned you up. There were times I felt you had forgotten you were saved. I wanted to talk to you about it but chose not to. I felt it might drive a wedge between us. I am glad God heard my prayers.” I was shocked by her words. Was it obvious? How bad was it? Could it be my wife knows about Annie? My thoughts were racing at the speed of light. Eager to find out from my wife how much clues I gave away about my illicit relationsh¡p with Annie while I was backslidden, I asked, “Was my backslidden state that obvious?” “I think you did your best to keep it on the low, but I am your wife after all. I saw it. Others may have been fooled. But I was not. I asked God not to let you drift too far. I cried to him not to let you get ensnared by strange women. I do not know how I would deal with that,” she said and peered into my eyes. The innocence in her eyes broke my heart. “I think I need to have a bath,” I said and stood to my feet. I was afraid I would tell her the wh0le truth at that point. The way I felt and the guilt ravaging my heart were just too much for my heart to take. Having heard her confess she did not know how she would take the news of my infidelity to her, I had to find a way of escape from her presence. “Do you want be to join you in the bath and bathe you? It has been long since you asked me to do that. This repentance should also bring with it all the sparks of rom-nce we seem to have forgotten,” my wife said. No way! I was not going to let that happen. I had claimed I wanted to bathe all because I needed to be away from her and clear my head. “I would love to ask you to join me…” “So what’s stopping you?” she was beginning to sound like she knew more than I was willing to let her in on. I moved closer, stood before her and studied the look of her face and then said, “I need to do a lot of sober reflection. I just realized I was on my way to hell and by God’s grace got saved again. Please let me spend some time by myself,” I pleaded with tears in my eyes. She smiled… oh how her smile melted my heart. She pouted her l-ips in my face and closed her eyes. I knew what she was asking for. I knew I had to oblige her, there was not denying her this one. For about five minutes, we k-ssed passionately. k-ssing her made me feel worse. It brought back the memory of all the immoral things Anita Magbere and I had done in my office. When we broke from the k-ss, I slipped out of my clothes and went into the bath, for no reason I could explain, I had an urge to take my phone along to the bathroom. While I had my bath, I cried and pleaded with God not to let my marriage break. I scrubbed my skin as if I could wash away all the blowjobs Annie gave me in the office, the squirting and tweaking she did in my face and the abominable stuffs I did with my tongue on her body to give her s€×ual pleasure. I almost pulled out my tongue to give it a good scrub. The feeling of resentment I had for my past life made me want to peel off my skin. I was lost in thought when my phone buzzed. It was a text from Annie. A reply to the text I had sent to her while I was at the church. It read, “While you tell your wife the wh0le truth about us, don’t forget to tell her that I have videos of you and I making love in the office, especially those where I had your d–k in my mouth while you mo-ned my name! I will be glad to fill in for you any details you leave out by morning when I visit your wife with the pictures of you and I unclad and covered with your sp**m. Good night Mr. Born Again!” “Kill her!!!” was the thought I heard exploding in my head. It was as if whoever said that was behind me in the bathroom. I felt goose bumps all over me. I had to look around to make sure I was the only one in the bathroom. “I rebuke you Satan! I will never do that! I will never shed blood!” I said authoritatively under my breath. I had not been that afraid all my life. I was shaking from my head to toes. My breathing became so laborious that I feared my heart would stop. “Gbam! Gbam!! Gbam!!!” That was my wife knocking on the door. “Baby, haven’t you had enough time alone? Your food has been long served. Come out and stop sorrowing!” “Okay baby! I am coming out now!” I said making effort to sound as though I was alright. I quickly deleted the message Annie sent to me and also deleted the copy of the one I had sent to her at the church. I leapt out of the bathtub and began to dry my body. As I did that, the words I had heard in my head, “Kill her!!!” began to gain ascendancy in my mind. I shook my head to get rid of them, but they would not leave. I left the bathroom feeling like something ominous and menacing had seized my mind. “Lord please don’t let me kill Annie. It is already bad enough that I cheated my wife and that Annie is pregnant for me,” I prayed under my breath. I looked at my fists in shock, they were both clenched. I only do that when I want to make tough decisions.

TBC