The Gilgal Passage Read online

The Gilgal Passage

  one man’s journey to personal fulfillment

  by

  Bob Brown

  Copyright 2010 by Bob Brown

  Cover Image by Apollofoto

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark status and ownership of various place names and products referenced in this work. The use of these trademarks has not been specifically authorized or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  All scripture quotations are from the NIV Study Bible, 10th Anniversary Edition, Copyright 1995, the Zondervan Corporation.

  Prologue

  ‘After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them -- to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.”’

  Joshua 1:1-3

  In the Bible, the story of how God fulfilled his promise to the people of Israel is found in the book of Joshua. After being exiled in the desert for forty years as punishment for their transgressions, the Israelites were ultimately allowed passage across the Jordan River into the land which God had promised to generations of their forefathers. That passage occurred at Gilgal.

  As Christians, we are all trying to get to the Promised Land. The Promised Land is that place where we are the best we can be, where God would have us be. Unfortunately, for most of us the journey is similar to the forty years of wandering the Israelites endured. We get beat down by circumstance. We give up on our principles. We focus on the wrong goals. We ignore or abandon God. For whatever reason, life gets in the way. We end up not reaching our Promised Land. We never complete the Gilgal passage.

  This book is about one man’s journey to understand God’s plan and complete his passage into the Promised Land.

  Chapter 1

  Jason swiped his student ID and pushed through the turnstile. Then he walked through the metal detector and headed down the stairs, looking for a vacant cubicle along the back wall of the university library.

  Tossing his backpack onto the desktop, he unzipped the center compartment, extracted his laptop, and plugged it into an adjacent outlet. As the computer booted up, Jason pulled out his notes and reviewed the requirements for the assignment due tomorrow for his Sophomore Philosophy class.

  As the computer blinked to life, Jason sat staring blankly at the screen. He was shackled with the realization that he didn’t have a clue how he was going to write a philosophical abstract about how religion had impacted his life.

  ‘More like Creative Writing than Philosophy,’ thought Jason, as he recalled his own upbringing and the lack of any particular role religion had played in making him who he was. Jason had lived life pretty well so far, and he had managed to do so without any help from religion. He suspected he was going to have to reach pretty deep to find much of a connection between religion and the person he had become.

  After some reflection, Jason resolved to treat life like a journey, something for which people pack and prepare. They pack their beliefs, memories, knowledge, and expectations. They prepare with guidance, education, and experience. He knew the concept wasn’t exactly unique, but he figured he could work in the religion angle by playing it as one more thing to be packed for the trip. Determining whether it was something needed or not and arguing the rationale would be the subject of his discourse.

  Jason began typing…

  ‘People get to where they are by moving from where they once were. Life is, after all, a journey.

  ‘Often, the journey starts out fine. We pack well, plan thoroughly, and follow the necessary directions. The signs guiding our path sail by. The path is paved and well lit. The horizon beckons.

  ‘But sometimes the journey turns difficult. Perhaps we discover that the road doesn’t go where we intended. Or perhaps we strayed from our chosen path somewhere along the way and can't find our way back. Or maybe we just didn't plan well enough, or we failed to pack what we most needed.’

  Jason looked at what he had written. He figured it was mostly crap, even by Philosophy standards. But he liked the concept of the journey. It occurred to him that he was on that journey.

  As he idly tapped the keys on his keyboard and stared blankly at the words on the screen, Jason reflected on his journey so far. He thought about his life growing up, on what it was he had gained, and on what he may yet be missing.

  *****

  Jason grew up an only child in a middle class family outside Tulsa, Oklahoma. His parents cared about him and taught him the lessons he would need to succeed. He learned manners, discipline, and self-control. He was taught to respect others, to work hard, and to expect positive results from honest efforts.

  Jason learned his lessons well. In high school, he excelled at nearly everything he tried. He finished near the top of his class, lettered all four years in football and baseball, and held a steady job, working weekends at a local gas station. Not one of those pump-your-own stations with the mini-mart attached. This one had lifts, diagnostic equipment, lots of grease, and tool boxes full of socket wrenches. Like many kids his age, Jason loved all things mechanical.

  But when it came to religion, Jason’s parents never taught him that faith could be something more than just a place. That place was called church. God was there on Sundays, at least for an hour or so. But for six days of every week, God was nowhere to be found. Growing up, Jason never made the leap from church as a place to faith as a purpose.

  *****

  Jason retreated from his recollections and focused once again on his assignment. Searching for something philosophical and remembering some of what he had been exposed to growing up, he wrote in abstract about finding religion…

  ‘How does a person on the journey first discover that something is missing? If they don’t know it’s missing, do they even know to look for it? If they don’t know about it, can it really be missing?

  ‘But what if what’s missing is the most important thing? Does life simply go on anyway, as if what’s missing doesn’t matter? Or is there a reckoning one day, when suddenly what’s missing is suddenly owed?’

  Wrapped up in his philosophical musings, Jason failed to make the connection between what he was typing and what he was living. In the real world of Jason Matthews, things missing were things to be gained. If something was missing, he would achieve it, make it, or buy it. If he couldn’t get it, then it wasn’t worth having. And if he didn’t know it was missing, and there was therefore no way to pursue it, then it was likely not worth worrying about.

  Jason spent the next two hours on his assignment. In his conclusion, he argued that living a life of charity, civility, and integrity was good enough. Relying on anything more was like traveling with excess baggage—no problem if it came up missing.

  Satisfied with his argument, Jason bundled his belongings and headed up the stairs en route to his next class. As he pushed through the turnstile and exited the building into the afternoon sunlight, he had no way of knowing that the rest of his life would ultimately be defined by what was missing.

  Chapter 2

  Jason met Kyle during his junior year at the University of San Diego.

  They were both majoring in Advertising and were paired together for a project in a course which taught current-age advertising alternatives to newspapers, magazines, and television. Students were required to think in terms of online and onscreen and to become expert in the technologies of web pages, texts, tweets, blogs, and tubes. No proble
m -- for anyone over the age of twelve.

  Turns out Kyle was at the University on the ‘My dad owns the business but I have to get a college degree to inherit it’ program. His family had owned Garrett Motors, the Honda dealership in Pacific Beach, for nearly three generations. So it wasn’t like he was attending college because he was going to need a job. He was already twenty six years old and had been working at the dealership for almost nine years.

  But even Kyle’s dad knew times were changing. Hanging balloons on car antennas still worked sometimes. But competition was increasing, and marketing methods were changing. So Kyle was required to attend college in order to ensure that Garrett Motors survived into the next generation. At least that’s what Kyle had been told.

  Even though Kyle was a little older than the other students, he got along well with everyone. It may have been because USD is a relatively small campus. It may have had to do with the large number of students from the at-large community participating in after-hours executive programs on campus. It might also have been because Kyle became the go-to guy for anyone looking for a good deal on a new or used car. Whatever the reason, Kyle fit right in.

  Jason and Kyle were teammates on a number of intramural teams while in college. Make no mistake. Even though he was a few years older than most everyone, Kyle was a player. At just over six feet and two-hundred-twenty pounds, Kyle was two inches shorter than Jason but thirty pounds heavier. He had been a state wrestling finalist in high school and kept himself in shape by jogging the beach and surfing.

  On campus, Kyle was also a bit of a celebrity, because his team from the Honda dealership was a three-time champion of the annual Over-the-Line softball tournament at Mission Bay Park. The event was legendary among the college crowd in San Diego. Widely advertised and much anticipated, the tournament presented the best in beer, softball, and sun-tanned bodies for two weekends of adult fun every summer. The OTL, as it was known, was likely the only place on the planet where softball was not considered a family-friendly sport.

  But perhaps the most significant thing about Kyle was also the most surprising. Kyle was a serious Christian. Not the kind you see carrying signs at sporting events on Sunday, or the kind who attends arena church services looking for salvation in numbers. Kyle’s faith was very personal. It was reflected in how he acted and in how he treated others. His faith was how he lived his life.

  Kyle lived his faith every day, in every way. He was known around campus for opening his Bible in the middle of class if he thought a verse made a point, something which took courage, even on a Catholic-affiliated campus. Kyle just knew what he believed. And he believed what he knew.

  Still, Kyle never pressured Jason about his faith, about religion in general, or about how Jason felt about God, grace, sin, or salvation. Not even when they became best friends. Kyle always figured there would be time for that.

  Life, after all, was a journey. And Jason’s had just begun.

  Chapter 3

  By the end of his junior year in college, Jason had amassed close to forty thousand dollars in college-related debt. His scholarship came nowhere close to covering all of the costs at USD. His parents helped when they could, but his family never had a lot of money. So it was clear when Jason accepted admission to USD that he would be responsible for making up the difference between what his scholarship provided and the final bill. As it was, he couldn’t even afford to have a car on campus.

  One Friday afternoon Kyle and Jason were having a beer at a local student hangout near campus, one that didn’t look too closely at Jason’s under-age ID card. Jason was lamenting his poor financial situation, his lack of a car, and the breakup with his latest girlfriend. As far as Jason was concerned, all three were related -- the second caused by the first, the third a result of the second.

  “How about I talk to my dad about giving you a job at the dealership,” Kyle offered.

  “You must be kidding.”

  “Should be no problem,” insisted Kyle. “We always have things that need doing. You could work with the service department doing tire rotations, oil changes and tune-ups. The same kind of stuff you used to do in high school. Or maybe you could help out with some of the administrative tasks, like accounting, payroll, or advertising.”

  Jason thought about it. Then he said with a grin, “Or maybe I could just apply for your job.”

  “Well, truth is, I don’t really have a job,” replied Kyle. “I’m just the owner’s son. It’s more of a position than a job. And truth is, right now it’s not paying very well.”

  They both laughed. Jason sure liked Kyle. He was like the big brother Jason never had.

  “Look. I know you could use the money. And I know you’re smart, and you’re good with people. I expect you would do well at Garrett Motors. And you could eventually make some decent money if I could get you into sales. How about it?”

  Jason considered the offer. “You must be forgetting. I don’t even have a car. Exactly how am I supposed to get to and from work?” The irony wasn’t lost on Jason -- He didn’t even own a car, and here he was being asked to work at a car dealership.

  Kyle knew Jason’s situation and had the perfect solution. “Well, if you work for the dealership, I can probably swing you a company car. You pay the gas, the dealership picks up the insurance. I’m sure I could clear it with my dad.”

  “Sounds like a plan. And for that, I think I owe you a beer,” Jason said as he raised his hand for another round.

  *****

  Jason started working part time at Garrett Motors a few weeks later, just before the end of his junior year. He wasn’t exactly changing oil and doing tune-ups. But the routine office chores, document filings, and car deliveries were also a far cry from anything that remotely required a college education.

  Still, the dealership was only about fifteen minutes from campus, depending on traffic. And thanks to Kyle, he was now driving a year-old Honda Civic LX. No car payments. No insurance payments. Good gas mileage. His dating life was back on track. He was saving money faster than he was spending it. Life was good again.

  As the school year ended and summer arrived, Jason began working full time at Garrett Motors and moved on to more meaningful assignments. His first task was to work on some cost/revenue projections to determine if there was money to be saved in how the dealership spent its advertising budget.

  “Finally, something useful from all that money I’ve spent at USD,” Jason muttered late one afternoon as he was wrestling with a cost-benefit spreadsheet.

  He had been trying to correlate total sales revenue to total advertising costs for different advertising methods over a five year period. He was having a hard time factoring in certain variables, like turnover of salesmen, sales tax increases, gas prices, that sort of thing.

  One of the variables Jason looked at was ‘target customer’. He actually chuckled at that, because Jason took that to mean just about anyone who could draw a breath. After all, weren’t car dealers supposed to be near the bottom of the moral food chain, right behind lawyers and politicians?

  While looking for more research data, Jason found something in a Garrett Motors Employee Handbook that caught his eye:

  ‘Who we are: Garrett Motors is a Christian, family-owned business.’

  ‘Mission: Our Mission is to offer the best overall value and service to our customers. We commit ourselves fully to these ideals.’

  Jason knew from his studies at USD that Identity and Mission Statements were often more about sales than substance. Good companies practiced what they preached. Most companies got by with far less.

  Jason made a mental note to ask Kyle about the statements when he saw him.

  Chapter 4

  The sky had turned an ugly gray.

  It was mid June, and another day of ‘June gloom’ had descended on San Diego. The sun had disappeared by mid-morning, and the beach was nearly deserted. Tourists who had booke
d vacations with travel agents who told them that it’s always sunny in San Diego were about to be disappointed -- again. As many as half the days during the months of May and June were just like this.

  Jason knew only that the gloom had something to do with ocean currents, air temperature, and offshore breezes. After all, he was majoring in Communications, not Meteorology.

  But it didn’t matter. It was fine with Jason. And with Kyle.

  The two were sitting on their surfboards just north of the pier in Pacific Beach, waiting to catch a final wave. It was mid-week, slow at the car dealership, and the two had been surfing since early afternoon. The ocean was the same gray color as the sky, and it rolled gently in the steady breeze. Both wore full-body Hyperflex wetsuits to protect against the chill of the early-summer Pacific.

  After a long silence, Jason asked Kyle about the statements he had seen in the Garrett Employee Handbook. “Hey, Kyle. What’s the story with Garrett’s business statements?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That thing about being a Christian, family-owned business. Seems odd to announce right up front that your business is Christian-oriented. Won’t that offend some potential customers? What about customers who are Jewish, or Muslim, or whatever?”

  “Well, I can see your point. It’s something that’s been part of the dealership as long as my family has owned it. A couple of generations now. My dad has just kept it going. I suspect you know he’s a strong Christian.”

  “I sort of figured he was, based on the couple of conversations we’ve had. And since I know you are.“

  “Anyway,” continued Kyle “when I asked him about it once, he told me he wanted to run his business without compromising his beliefs. He figured the best way to do that was to put it right out front, where people would see it. That doesn’t mean he won’t respect another person’s beliefs. But his faith is important to him. It drives all of his decisions for the business.