“Amarrea practically beat me over the head when she found out that I backed out.” Dam took a sip of his coffee. “I want to partner with you on this revival, I really do. But, I need to keep my job for my family. So, I’m kind of stuck.”

  “Totally understand where you’re at. I just wish I had taken your news better. I’ve been a complete bear to deal with all week. Amarrea might have wanted to fight you, but my wife isn’t even speaking to me.”

  Dam took a sip of his coffee, then put it down. “I hate to hear that. We are trying to do good work for the Lord. It shouldn’t be this hard.”

  Isaac shook his head. “I was just talking with my uncle the other day. He and my father used to handle these revivals, and he told me all kinds of stories about the obstacles they ran up against. So, nothing much has changed, we just have to figure our way around these issues just like my dad and uncle Keith did.”

  “I should have never accepted the youth pastor position at Bishop Thomas’ church. Every day I’m there I wonder how I could have missed God on this assignment.” Dam prided himself on following the lead of God. He wanted his life to be a living testimony and to always be in the will of God. So, how he found himself working for a man like Bishop Thomas, Dam just couldn’t explain it.

  “What if you didn’t miss God,” Isaac suggested. “What if God put you in that position just so millions of people could see you deliver those two sermons that was not only seen on a cable Christian television station but was also posted on YouTube. Last I checked those two messages had about fifty million views. Which is the reason we received so much interest from several networks wanting to televise our revival.”

  Dam looked doubtful. “Or Minister Vicki could have just made a mistake.”

  “Two Sundays in a row?” Isaac shook his head. “That’s not a mistake, that’s a God-ordained intervention.”

  “Okay, let’s say you’re right, then tell me why Bishop Thomas now wants to fire me if I continue working on the revival? Tell me why my wife is on bedrest and needs me to earn money to pay the bills rather than do the will of God? We may have coverage from the networks, but I won’t be there.”

  “And if you’re not there, most of the networks will probably cancel,” Isaac finished the thought for Dam. “But I have an idea that just may salvage the revival and our mission for reaching a hurting world.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  Isaac leaned forward, put an elbow on the table. “When I was talking to my uncle the other day, he mentioned that he and my father dealt with an ego-driven bishop years ago. And as he laid out for me some of their exploits, an idea struck.”

  “I hope it’s a good one,” Dam looked as if he didn’t have faith in anything changing Bishop Thomas’ mind.

  “You just bring your lunch to work with you tomorrow. Be in your office around noon, and I will show you how we are going to deal with the good bishop.”

  ~~~

  “I knew you would come to your senses and get with the program,” Bishop Thomas said as he playfully smacked Minister Vicki on her behind and then got out of her bed.

  “You know I can’t resist you. I want you here with me all the time. I can’t wait until you get that divorce like you’ve been promising me.” Vicki sat up in bed and pulled the sheet up to cover her naked body.

  Bishop rolled his eyes heavenward like he was asking the Lord’s help to deal with this wayward saint. “You’re expecting too much from me, Vicki. My wife loves me, and she is beloved by our church members. I can’t just break her heart like that.”

  “Then why did you come over here today?” Vicki’s lip stuck out as she pouted.

  “Because you called. I thought you were finally ready to accept your place. Plus, I haven’t had much fun lately. I needed to be with you. Why can’t you just be happy with what we have? You knew I was married when you laid down with me in the first place.”

  “Yeah, but you kept talking about how unhappy you were and how First Lady Jade doesn’t care about you. Now you tell me that she loves you.” Tears strolled down her face as she asked, “What am I supposed to do with that?”

  “Take it for what it’s worth. You and I had a good time. But maybe our relationship has run its course.”

  “So, just like that, I’m being dismissed. Do you really think I’m going to just take this and do nothing about it?”

  “You can’t hurt my ministry anymore if that’s what you’re threatening. I already had you thrown off the media team. So, Dam’s messages won’t be, he did quote marks in the air, ‘accidentally’ uploaded on any of the networks again.”

  “I can tell First Lady what you’ve been doing behind her back. You won’t divorce her, but that doesn’t mean she won’t divorce you... because baby, I’ve got a serious story to tell.”

  “That is why I told Jade to get herself another armor bearer. I’m not about to let no devil in hell tear down what God has put together.” Bishop snatched his clothes off the floor and headed for the bathroom.

  “So, now I’m the devil? Just remember, you’ve been laying up with the devil if that’s what I am.”

  “You’re trying to bring down a man of God who has been anointed by the Almighty. God’s word says touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm. Now if you're bad enough to go against God, then like I said, you are a devil.”

  “Don’t mess with me, Daniel.” Vicki flung the sheet off and strutted over to him with a menacing look on her face as she put her full glory on display. “I’m the one you want. I’m the one you keep coming back to. But I’m telling you now if you don’t make things right, I’m going to turn your life upside down. By the time I’m finished you’re going to wish I was just the devil.”

  Grabbing hold of her bare shoulders, Bishop Thomas shook her. “It’s over between us, Vicki. Go find some man to marry and leave me alone.”

  “I’ll never leave you alone. You belong to me, and I belong to you.”

  “I belong to God.”

  Vicki laughed at him. He smacked her. Vicki stepped back, wiped the blood from her lip with the back of her hand, then smacked him back with her other hand. After smacking him, she lunged at his face, claws at him like an angry tiger.

  He knocked her down, but not before she put a long gash on his left cheek. “You crazy. I’m getting out of here.” Bishop Thomas quickly put his clothes on and left without showering.

  7

  Isaac glanced at his watch and became slightly irritated at the fact that Bishop Thomas was seven minutes late for their meeting. It wasn’t that Isaac thought he was so important and should therefore not be snubbed in such a way. It was more that his father taught him that two things were important when beginning a business relationship... always be able to look a man in the eye and value his time.

  Bishop Thomas was the one who asked for this meeting, Isaac had wanted this meeting and would have called the bishop himself because he thought that maybe talking to him man to man would help to smooth things over. But the fact of the matter was that Bishop called him, Isaac showed up, and the bishop didn’t.

  The church secretary had brought him into Bishop Thomas’ office and seated him on the black leather sofa. She gave him a cup of coffee and a banana nut muffin while he waited. Isaac ate half the muffin, took a few sips of the coffee. As he glanced around, Isaac wondered about the square footage of this room. He’d been in big offices before, but nothing like this. Not only did Bishop Thomas have a sitting area with enough space for a sofa, love seat and an oversized chair, but there was also a long table that seated at least ten people for meetings or heck, Thanksgiving dinner if that’s what he wanted to do. And if that wasn’t enough, the bishop’s desk was mahogany wood. It was so huge that it would take about six men to pick the desk up to even attempt to get it out of the room.

  Glancing at his watch again revealed that Bishop was now ten minutes late. Marissa had asked him to come home for lunch so they could talk. He’d been in the doghouse with his wife for a few weeks now and did not want to stand her up. So, he decided it was time to leave. He’d get with Bishop another time.

  Isaac walked out of the office and stood in front of the secretary’s desk. He thanked her for the coffee and was about to reschedule the meeting with Bishop Thomas when the door opened, and the man in question rushed in.

  “Isaac my boy, I’m so glad that you are still here.”

  “I was about to reschedule. My wife wants me home for lunch.”

  Bishop waved Isaac’s comment off. “This won’t take long at all. Come on into my office so we can talk. I’ll have you home to your wife in no time.”

  “Sir, you’re bleeding,” the secretary said as she came from behind her desk to hand the bishop several napkins.

  There was a bandage on his face, and his cheek appeared to be swollen. Isaac wanted to ask what happened, but it really wasn’t his business.

  Bishop held the napkin to his face. But he didn’t thank his secretary for her concern. He glanced over at Isaac and said, “Come on young man. Let’s have this discussion that should have taken place a year ago.”

  Isaac caught the shade the bishop threw at him. His nose crinkled as he itched to tell this man just what he thought of his actions. But he held it in because Isaac was here for Dam. That young man was a servant of God. And the Lord had need of him so Isaac would bow down to the bishop if that was God’s plan. “I’m here now, so let’s talk.”

  They went into bishop’s office. He closed the door then offered Isaac a seat. “Let’s sit over here.” Bishop pointed toward the sitting area. Isaac sat back down on the plush leather sofa.

  “I apologize for being late. I was out evangelizing this morning and got scratched by a wild animal. I ran back home so I could get bandaged up.”

  “What kind of wild animal attacked you?”

  Bishop Thomas’ eyes crossed as his hand swatted the air indicating the incident was no big deal. “Just a dog. I should have known better. That neighborhood always has dogs running around with no owners in sight.”

  “You probably should see a doctor. You don’t want an infection to set in.”

  “I’ll take care of that soon enough. Lady Jade will probably make me go to the hospital.”

  “My wife would probably pour a whole bottle of green alcohol on it.” Isaac laughed thinking of how Marissa believed that green alcohol healed everything.

  “Speaking of the wives... the next time your wife takes Lady Jade shopping, could you please tell her to stop my wife from buying the boutique out. My credit cards can’t take many more of those shopping trips.”

  “I will tell her, sir.” Bishop had married a woman twenty years younger. Jade was only a few years older than Marissa, and they enjoyed hanging out with each other from time to time. But Marissa never told him anything about extravagant shopping trips. “Now, let’s get to it... you wanted to see me?”

  “Oh, yes, yes.” Bishop put a hand under his chin as he looked at Isaac as if studying him. It took him a minute to speak, but finally, he said, “God has put me in position to mentor young ministers so that men like you and Dam will be able to fulfill your God-given mission. So, I would be remiss if I didn’t praise you when need be and correct you when that is needed also. Especially since your father is no longer with us, God rest his soul.”

  Isaac wanted to tell Bishop to keep his father’s name out of his mouth. But he was disciplined enough to hold his tongue.

  “Now, I can’t help you young ministers unless you understand a few things first,” Bishop began. “And first and foremost, I don’t like when little upstarts like you and Dam think y’all just gon’ use what God has blessed me with and not even reach back and say thank you.”

  On second thought... “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me, and you know exactly what I’m talking about. How do you think your daddy would have reacted if some wet behind the ear youth pastor tried to steal his glory?”

  Lifting a hand to halt the foolishness, Isaac said, “To answer your question about my father. The thing you need to know about Isaac Walker Sr. is that he never wanted the glory. He respected God too much to try to take what belongs to Him and Him alone.”

  “W-e-ll, well of course,” Bishop stuttered. “Of course, the glory belongs to God. You misunderstood what I was saying. And I’m not going to let you turn my words around on me. Not when you and Dam have received very lucrative contracts from several television networks because of what I put in place.

  “If I wasn’t already paying several networks to broadcast my sermons, you and Dam never would have reaped the benefits of my stupid media manager’s bumbling mistake. So, I think you owe a debt to me.”

  Isaac Jr. was the only child of Isaac and Nina Walker who hadn’t lived in the hood. His mom had been a successful Christian fiction author and his dad a preacher of a neighborhood church, that didn’t bring in a lot of money, but his speaking engagements and subsequent book deals garnered all the money he needed to live a lavish lifestyle.

  But even though Isaac didn’t grow up in the hood like his father and his siblings he still found himself on the street at the age of seventeen, bumping heads with drug dealers and killers, so this three-piece suit, toupee-wearing preacher, didn’t move Isaac one bit. He sat up, cocked his head to the side and said, “Just what do you think we owe you, bishop?”

  “For starters how about a little gratitude? If it wasn’t for me, that kid wouldn’t be getting attention from those networks. His association with this church made him a rock star... and now you and Dam just want to waltz off and act like he doesn’t owe me anything.”

  Isaac had a whole lot he wanted to say. He was about to let loose on the bishop, but the secretary knocked on his door and then opened it. “Sir, Dam is here. He said you left him a message to come to your office when he finished with his youth meeting. Should I send him in?”

  “Of course. He’s the man of the hour, please send my protege in here.”

  Dam walked in. He and Isaac exchanged glances, then fist bumped. “Good seeing you, my brother,” Dam said as he sat down on the sofa with Isaac.

  “It’s always good seeing you, bro.” Isaac rubbed his hands together. There was so much he wanted to say right now. He was like his father in so many ways. He actually wanted to grab the bishop by the throat and choke him out. But that wasn’t what Jesus would do. He had to let the Isaac Walker side of him decrease and allow God to increase at this moment. “Bishop and I were just talking about how we should show gratitude for all he did for us. I’ve been thinking about this myself, and I believe that we should ask Bishop Thomas to partner with us for this first revival.”

  Without thinking, Dam shook his head, “You don’t have to do this for me, Isaac. If the bishop will not allow me to work with you this year, then maybe God has something else for me.”

  “Nonsense!” Bishop’s voice boomed throughout the room. “I’m not going to let you shirk off your responsibilities like this. You gave your word to Isaac, and at Called of God we keep our word.”

  “But sir, I think it’s best that I keep my job to take care of my family.” Dam looked at the bishop as if the man had two heads and was speaking out of both mouths at the same time.

  “Now see, it’s that attitude right there. You have got to take the ministry serious, young man. I truly believe God has me mentoring you to light a fire under you. So, listen to what I’m saying, we will do this revival with Isaac, and I will make sure that all the networks cover it.”

  All the networks had already agreed to cover the revival, thanks to Dam’s fiery sermons, but Isaac didn’t feel the need to remind the bishop of that.

  “Let's sit down here at the table so we can strategize.” Bishop pointed to the table as he walked over to his desk. He picked up the phone and called his secretary. “Order us some lunch.” He turned back to Isaac and Dam. “Turkey and ham sandwiches or fried chicken.”

  Dam sat down at the table. “A sandwich sounds good to me.”

  Isaac wanted to excuse himself. He should be at home having lunch with Marissa as he promised. But Marissa knows how important this revival is, and she knows that everything almost fell apart. Isaac wouldn’t feel right if he didn’t stay and finalize things with the bishop. “A sandwich sounds good to me too.”

  ~~~

  One problem solved, ninety-nine more to go. The next problem presented itself when Dam arrived home and heard sirens coming up behind him. As he got out of the car, he stood in paralyzed silence, watching as two EMTs rushed toward his front door, rolling a hospital bed between them. The front door flew open, and Dam saw his mother step onto the porch and hurry the EMTs into the house.

  Somehow, his legs started moving, Dam didn’t feel them moving, but they must have because he was no longer standing by his car. He was inside his house watching the EMTs place Amarrea on the ambulance bed. “What happened? What’s going on?”

  Angel ran over to her son and wrapped her arms around him. “I found her on the floor by the bathroom. She passed out.”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have gone to work today.” Dam held onto his wife’s hand. “Baby, talk to me. How are you feeling?”

  “Not so good... don’t know what happened.” Amarrea released his hands as her eyes slowly closed.

  “We need to get her to the hospital,” one of the EMTs told him as they strapped Amarrea to the bed and then rushed her out the door and into the ambulance.

  “I’m coming with her,” Dam told the EMTs as he jumped into the ambulance behind his wife.

  “I’ll pick up your father, we'll meet you at the hospital,” Angel told her son.

  Dam wasn’t listening. He was praying. God had just opened one door by causing Bishop Thomas to allow him to take part in the revival. He thought he was coming home to tell Amarrea the good news, but instead, he was headed to the hospital as the EMTs worked to wake his wife back up and Dam needed God to tell him what in the world was going on.

  ~~~