Chapter 2 Meeting JW

It had been a long, long time since I had seen Joe last when a hidden motive brought me to his mom's house once again after several years of no contact. Time had not been kind to him. He was a shadow of his old self and looked many, many years older than his mere 42.

I discerned a little bit of a difference in him. Perhaps he was hunkered down from his years of wasting away from wrong living. Anyhow something motivated me to ask him if he would read a bible if I bought it for him. He acknowledged that he would. I bought him a real nice NASB study bible with his name embossed on the cover. I started stopping by a little more often. I'd ask him if he had been reading his bible and if the Lord had been showing him anything interesting. I'd also share stories that related to scripture. Joe's brother JW was often present. JW was primarily quiet and said very little never initiating any spoken words on his own. I'd mention him a time or two and look at him and check his eyes and try to limit my sharing to where he wouldn't think I was over doing it and beating him over the head too much with the bible. He just thought I was another bible thumper and didn't know if I was genuine or just another hypocrite like so many.

While JW was a very quiet and subdued man who hardly spoke during all this time, his brother Joe on the other hand was still pretty much the same as the old Joe. He didn't use expletives as readily as he used too. He didn't venture off into topics I'd rather not hear about like he used too. He did tell me he read the bible I had given him sometimes. But, he would never come up with anything he had seen in his reading. It was like that if he did really read it, there was no understanding. I took him to a couple of bible studies and I took him to play pool a few times with the men from my bible study group. But all indications showed me that Joe was pretty much still full of his old foolishness, and regarding the parable of the sower found in the 13th chapter of Matthew; Joe was obviously beside the road without much real interest in learning.

I knew Joe, but I didn't really know JW. Joe could be considered my friend depending on how you look at it, but JW was just someone who quietly sat and politely tolerated me as long as I didn't get too carried away with my bible thumping.