Stormie: A Story of Forgiveness and Healing Read Online Free PDF Page A

I heard the frustrated musician in his voice.
    “It’s only a matter of time for you, Michael. You’re a major talent, and it won’t be long before other people recognize it.” I had been around Hollywood long enough to be certain that what I was telling him was true and not just flattery.
    “It just depends on what the Lord wants,” he stated.
    “The Lord?” I questioned. “What does the Lord have to do with it?”
    “Do you know anything about Jesus?” he questioned.
    “Sure, Science of Mind teaches that He was a good man. Play me another one of your songs,” I quickly changed the subject.
    He complied and I studied his intensity as he played. I was attracted to him in a profound way. He had a confidence and an energy that I found irresistible. The more my attraction for him increased, the more my confusion also increased. I thought about Rick and our plans to be married. “What am I doing?” I asked myself. I had no answers, so I kept silent.
    At the end of the third day I invited Michael to my apartment for a “health drink.” He had been sick for weeks, he told me, and was unable to shake the congestion in his head. Having been into health foods for some time, I had a combination of things I knew would help.
    “Hi, Michael,” I smiled with enthusiasm as I opened the door. I was eager to be with him again.
    “Hello,” he said coolly. I was taken back by his sudden change from the warm person I met at the studio.
    There was little conversation as I mixed up a concoction of brewer’s yeast, wheat germ, lecithin granules, vitamin C, acidophilus, and more into a glass of grape juice. As he drank it, I could tell he thought it might kill him. However, my credibility was saved when in 20 minutes his head started to clear.
    We made small talk quietly and with great hesitation on his part. There was something different about him now. He had been friendly at the studio, but now he was cool. I didn’t understand it. Perhaps I had misread his friendliness. Or maybe he felt uncomfortable about being in my apartment late at night. After all, he was one of those Christians. Or maybe he saw through me and found many things he didn’t like.
    When he left I was painfully sad. I had felt so good being with him at the studio, and now this encounter was so strained. It reaffirmed my beliefs that there were no good relationships, only tolerable ones. You just had to grab a tolerable one and get all the life you could out of it until it was time to go on to the next. I was getting married because I couldn’t take living alone and Rick was the most tolerable of all the relationships. We would do well if we could stand living together for more than two years.
    Even though I accepted the fact that what seemed like a potentially fantastic relationship had fizzled, I couldn’t get Michael out of my mind. There was a quality in him that I loved. Something beyond just physical, although that was certainly there too. I couldn’t give it a name, but it was the same dynamic of life that I recognized in my friend Terry.
    Two weeks later Terry asked me to go with her to visit her friend Paul Johnson, a well-known Christian musician. Michael was one of his two roommates. They lived up in the hills of Sherman Oaks in a large, modern house with enormous windows that overlooked the city. The view was tremendous. The view inside was even better with these three good-looking fellows. All of them had clean, healthy, vital good looks plus that sweet, loving, irresistible quality that I still couldn’t put into words.
    When I saw Michael again he wasn’t cold this time—only tentative and cautious. Like before, I was caught up somewhere between heaven and earth as we talked about one thing after another. He asked me out for dinner the following night, and I accepted.
    At the restaurant our conversation began to move beyond things, places, and people to the deeper topic of feelings. He explained that the reason he turned suddenly cool