Paul Hudson's Winter (eBook)

Richard C. Smith (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
256 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-9390-5 (ISBN)

Infos

From tragedy to divine intervention, 'Paul Hudson's Winter' follows one man's encounter with Jesus.

After many years as an advertising executive, Richard C. Smith has turned to writing fiction--the earliest desire of his heart. Following retirement, he has authored a variety of novels and short stories, especially those with a Christian theme. Originally from Colorado, he and his wife Susan now live in central Pennsylvania.

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If you are hurting, this book is for you. It's full of hope. If you are a Christian, you will find yourself cheering. Entering his second year as a high school physics teacher, 30-year-old Paul Hudson is struggling through a deep depression. Chrissy, his intended fiancee, is killed in an auto accident in which he feels responsible. Without her, his life is unbearable. His friend and school guidance counselor spent the past summer helping him return to normal activity. He recommends Paul find something to keep his mind active, aside from his time teaching students. Paul belongs to a local gym and becomes interested in a new Mini-Gym exerciser that is being introduced by the national franchise. The gym owner hires him to follow up on inquiries and sell these expensive units after school. This introduces Paul to an exciting variety of potential users and their problems. During one visit, Paul becomes acquainted with Abby, a classy female television reporter who strongly reminds him of his beloved Chrissy. By chance, he gets to know her and her family through the sale of a Mini-Gym and slowly finds a release from his depressive thoughts. Paul has never been a strong believer in God due to his father's own beliefs, and for the past five years they have been estranged. In an amazing turn of events, however, Paul has a vision and becomes a new believer overnight, hungry for more of what he has missed all his life. This is a powerful evangelical book demonstrating how God answers problems and prayers in a person's life. It proves how He loves each of us and wants us to have an abundant and fulfilled life.

Textauszug

Chapter 7

At school the next day, Paul was distracted. He did his best all day to give his attention to his students, but his thoughts were still bothered by the rescue and challenge from Mrs. Adams: “You could be learning to be a Christian,” she had said. Chrissy had been a Christian.

When he looked through the little booklet the old lady had given him, one of the messages caught his eye. It said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.” Strange. This was uttered by a man named Job.

How in the world could I praise a Lord who took away my beloved? Was that what the Christians do? Chrissy often said stuff like, “I finally met the man of my dreams, thanks be to God.” He asked himself, did that mean she would still praise God if I had been taken instead?

Well, it was obvious that he would never understand on his own. Actually, he wasn’t so sure he cared to go to the trouble, but then Monica said hello to him on her way out of class.

Surprising himself, he blurted out, “You got a minute Monica?” already beating himself up for stopping her.

“Of course, Mr. Hudson,” she said with her usual smile.

They moved to the side of the room. He began with a stutter, “I thought of you when this friend of mine recently quoted something from the Bible. And as a Christian, I thought you might be able to make sense of it.” It appears this guy, named Job, had lost his entire family, property and animals, and he was still actually praising God. It went something like, ‘the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.’ Don’t you think it was a little strange for someone to basically give thanks at such a terrible time?”

Monica looked down and her face went serious as she pondered. “Sounds familiar, but I’m not quite sure where it is. Let me look into it, and I’ll find out for you.”

“That would be nice,” he said. “Don’t go to too much trouble.”

“For you, Mr. Hudson. Absolutely no trouble.”

Later at the gym, Brian Cox, came over while Paul was sitting at the weight bench with a towel around his shoulders.

“You ready for another appointment this week?”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Paul said. “By the way, I didn’t get a chance to report on what happened on my first one.” Leaving out any reference to the talk about Jesus, he said, “Things didn’t go as planned to say the least! My contact wasn’t even there, but his bed-ridden mother was.” He went on to give details: “I think it was a close call, but I think I actually saved her from smothering to death!”

“Wow!” Brian said. “That was some experience. How did you know she was in danger?”

“She screamed when I rang the doorbell, and it sounded like a cat caught in a trap.”

“Lose a sale, save a life. Not a bad exchange,” Brian said. “I’m proud of you.”

“Well thanks,” Paul said with a smile. “No charge for the visit.”

The call he made two days later was amazing in another way. Paul picked a contact with a name he recognized from the local news. Who would have thought the local borough mayor, Mr. Ryan Grey, personally called in a request for a look at the Mini-Gym?

It must have been the mayor’s day off when Paul walked up to the house. He barely recognized the town leader from his photographs, because the man was in jeans and a big sweater and baseball cap working in a planter full of end-of-season roses.

“Sir, am I right that you called about our new exercise equipment?” Paul asked as he approached the busy gardener.

“Absolutely,” Mr. Grey replied, taking his cap off and wiping his forehead with the back of his glove. “If the TV ads have any truth to them, I think the unit might be just perfect. Did you bring one that you can show me?”

Paul put his hands up. “Sorry, they’re too heavy to lug around, but I’ve got several views which show just what you would be getting.” He pulled out a large binder from the suitcase that Brian had prepared.

“Let’s go up on the porch and make ourselves comfortable,” the mayor said. “Would you like a glass of water or soda?”

“Yes, water would be nice. It looks like you could use one too.”

“True. I’ll be right back,” he replied.

Paul looked around. The house was large but not grand. He figured the mayor was just one of the boys and not overly wealthy.

Mr. Grey returned with the water, and they sat on comfortably padded lounge chairs. Paul laid out some color photos with the Mini-Gym installed in a home rec room. Its size was obvious compared to other furniture, and other views showed people in action with the weights.

“Man, I think this idea of a little home gym is great,” the mayor said. “I simply can’t take time out of my schedule to join a large facility, but a daily workout is what I need. I have too many meetings to go exercise, shower and get dressed. This thing looks just like what the doctor ordered.”

“That’s the whole idea behind it,” Paul, happily agreed.

“So how much does it cost, and can I return it if I’m not getting the workout I’m used to?”

“That’s why I’m here,” Paul answered. He gave the price, installation included, and showed the mayor a paper that listed the arrangements, including return guarantee.

“I have to be honest. The cost is more than I guessed,” Mr. Grey said. “I actually had in mind ordering a second one for my daughter and son-in-law as a gift. He’s like me––on the go.”

Paul had not been faced with objections to date, but he did his best. “The quality of the Mini machine is completely stainless-steel. It’s meant to be a professional unit, not a toy, and while the results might not exactly match-up to the standard gym, the unit is guaranteed to provide a satisfying amount of daily strength and weight control that the average individual expects from his exercise.” He took a quick breather.

“Well, that seems to answer my initial questions,” the mayor said thoughtfully. “In other words, if it doesn’t perform to my satisfaction within a given time period, the manufacturer will take it back.”

“Yes. That time period is stated here,” Paul pointed to the hand-out. “It gives a reasonable chance for you to know if this unit is really effective enough to meet your needs.”

After pondering quietly, and probably going through some cost figures in his head, the mayor finally said, “well I think I’m going to go ahead and try it out. And I still want to invest in a second one for my kids for their Christmas present, assuming I like my unit. What do you think?”

“I think that would be very nice of you,” Paul answered, trying to keep the cheer out of his voice. “You can expect us to have a Mini-Gym in your house by next week. I’ll keep in touch with you after that. And thank you for your generosity toward your son-in-law. I’m certain he will be thrilled.”

After the papers were signed, he closed his case, shook hands with the mayor and thanked him again for the order and the refreshing glass of water that he had not taken a drink from.

Back at the gym, he wrote a note for Brian. “I sold two machines today.” He added a big exclamation point for emphasis. Paul was excited at his luck. Now, lets hope the mayor likes his Mini enough to want the second one.

So far, the contact work he was doing had helped to relieve his sadness, as John Marks had suggested. And his physics classes had kept him busy enough to keep his overall demeanor upbeat.

Monica asked for a word with him after class, and he hoped that it wouldn’t cause a new downer.

“I found the Bible verse you quoted,” she said enthusiastically. It was in Job 1:21, and your friend’s words were correct. It’s what Job, a man who was known to believe deeply in God, said after he suddenly lost his entire possessions and family, and then his own health, all in one fell-swoop. After all that, he actually praised God.”

“Don’t you find that reaction a bit unbelievable?” Paul observed.

“Well, Mr. Hudson, I don’t profess to be a Bible scholar. On first blush, yes. Job lost everything. It was devastating to be sure. But a man of God doesn’t put his possessions or even his family first. What Job still had when he was left with nothing in this world was God. To a real Christian, that’s the most important thing in life.”

“God comes first.”

“That’s right. It’s faith at its best.”

“Well, thank you, Monica. I appreciate you, and I knew I could depend on you for clarity.”

“You are welcome, Mr. Hudson. And if you have other questions, I’ll do my best to answer them or find someone who knows.” And with her sweet smile, she went her way.

Paul asked himself: God comes first? What god? His god had created the world and was no longer around. How do you connect with anyone who isn’t there? Paul had no course but to rely on his own wits for everything. Even his own father hadn’t been of help whenever he needed a reliable word.

After he’d lost everything, Job in the Bible seemed to still feel like living. Not me, he thought. I lost the one thing I ever really wanted in the accident, and I don’t feel like living. Plus, it was my fault.

As he had feared, he felt down again. He headed for Brian’s gym...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.4.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-9390-5 / 9798350993905