Free Tumbleweed Weddings by Donna Robinson Page B

well have been my parents. When the plane crashed, I was actually excited I could live with them permanently.” He paused. “I’ve often wondered what would have happened to me if my parents had lived.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Uncle Herb, my mother’s brother, married Aunt Betty late in his life, so they were too old to have kids. But Aunt Betty was so motherly. She loved children, and whenever I was with her, I was her son.”
    Callie smiled, nodding for him to continue.
    “The most important thing was that she was a Christian, and she led Uncle Herb to the Lord before they married. Then, when I was nine years old, Uncle Herb led me to the Lord.”
    Relief flooded through her. “That’s wonderful!”
    Lane squeezed her hand. “I still remember him sitting on my bed that night. I was scared for some reason, scared to die. He told me about Jesus, who died in my place so I could go to heaven. And I believed.”
    “I’m so glad, Lane.” Callie bit her bottom lip, willing the tears not to come.
    “Me, too.” He gazed at her. “But if I had grown up with my parents, I doubt if I would be saved today.” He sighed. “Not that it’s made much of a difference lately.”
    Callie widened her eyes. “How can you say that? Being saved makes all the difference in the world. It’s going from death to life.”
    “I know.” He looked down at their hands. “I used to be on fire for God. Back in high school, I was the student leader of our youth group, and I led a prayer meeting after school. But when Aunt Betty got cancer, I started cooling off toward spiritual things.”
    It looked like he would say more, but he stopped.
    Callie spoke softly. “How old were you when she passed away?”
    “Nineteen. For thirteen years, she’d been my mom, and it really hurt when she died. Uncle Herb told me not to blame God, but God could have healed her, and He didn’t.” Lane paused. “I started drifting away from the Lord. At least that’s what Uncle Herb told me. And then, three years later, he died. Very suddenly.”
    “How did he—”
    “Heart attack.” Lane blew out a breath. “Like I told you, I’m all alone in the world, Callie.” A resentful tone crept into his voice. “You have your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters—I have no one. And I’ve always asked,
Why?
Why did God take every single relative I had, leaving me to navigate through life alone?”
    Callie laid her other hand on top of his. “I wish I knew, Lane.”
    “At my uncle’s funeral, someone told me that God was trying to get my attention.” For a moment, he pressed his lips into a firm line. When he spoke, his voice was bitter. “Well, if that’s the way God is—if He has to kill all my loved ones to get my attention, I don’t want anything to do with a God like that.”
    She caught her breath.
How can he believe that?
At the same time, she prayed for God’s guidance in saying the right thing to help him. “Lane, the Lord doesn’t work that way. He has a plan and a purpose for each life. Evidently your aunt’s and uncle’s work on earth were finished, so He took them home. God didn’t cut their lives short just to punish you or to get your attention.”
    “Well, maybe not.” He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb.
    She clamped her hands on his to stop the motion. “The Lord has a reason for everything He does, Lane. The Bible says, ‘It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.’ He loves you, and He wants to guide your life.” She shook her head. “Whatever you do, don’t become bitter against God.”
    “Bitter.” Lane almost spat out the word. “I never thought about that before, but yeah, I guess I’m bitter at God.”
    The more Callie found out about Lane, the more she realized she didn’t know him at all. She withdrew her hands from his and slipped them in her lap. “I’ll pray for you, Lane. Only the Lord can heal your heart.”
    He gazed at