“Sister Jessa, it’s doing you no favors to lash out this way. It says in Proverbs chapter fifteen, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Cut out all this silliness and do not act evil in His sight.”

Jessa used the back of her arm to wipe the snot from her nose, and she spoke in between sobs. “I didn’t bring you the wrong Dooley on purpose, Brother Jessup. The other one was with his girlfriend, and I didn’t know how to get him away from her. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Randy Jessup stood, loomed over Jessa, and placed both hands on his hips. “Proverbs fourteen teaches us that there is a way that seems right to a man,” he said, “but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Her voice went up in pitch. “Am I gonna die?”

I lunged forward, but Cody Eli bearhugged me around the shoulders and wrestled me to the wall. A paint-by-numbers scene of Jesus helping Peter walk on water rattled on its hook and crashed on the floor.

Cory stood to help his brother, but Randy Jessup held a hand out. “Stop that foolishness right now, friend, or Sister Jessa will suffer the wrath due you.”

6.

Cody bearhugged my arms to my ribs and made it so I couldn’t fight. He cradled me the way a mama does a rowdy child and tossed me onto one of the pews when we got into the sanctuary. He pinned me to the seatback. Cory led Jessa down the aisle where Randy Jessup waited. He tossed her at the preacher’s feet when they reached the altar. Jessa rolled across the floor, stopping just shy of Randy. He knelt down beside her right after she pushed up onto an elbow, and he helped her stand. Her hair was matted to one side of her face now. Her makeup looked a mess, and her shorts ran up her butt. Randy massaged one of her shoulders and pulled her close.

He embraced her the way an angry parent hugs a frightened child and started praying, “Father God, this wretched soul comes before you unworthy and sinful. She’s disobeyed your solemn servant and is here to face Your judgment.” Randy Jessup let his voice hitch and turned his face heavenward. “Give her Your strength and help her to stand on her faith and be merciful if You will, Lord. Most of all, be just. As the book of Romans says, for we all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.”

Randy Jessup held Jessa out at arm’s length, and she shook all over. He looked at her with that twinkling eye of his and asked, “What do we say, Sister Jessa?”

She tripped over her tongue when she tried forming words. The preacher asked her the question again, and she forced herself to say an amen.