“Flanders Nickels, an unbeliever, wonders about the meaning of life; finding no answers he falls into a slough of despond. A cheerleader girl named Tracey Kelsey Talley and her pet Belgian Tervuren, both of whom he had never met, come along. She says that she knows God; she is a believer who says that she knows what the meaning of life is. She answers with Bible verses life’s three questions for Flanders: ‘From where did I come? Why am I here? Where am I going?’ As for the cheerleader girl, Flanders reveals to her the secret of why she cannot seem to get her family saved. And it is all about the dog.”
THE CHEERLEADER GIRL
By Mr. Morgan P. McCarthy
He was an eighteen-year-old guy standing upon the sunny banks of Left Foot Creek unhappily contemplating the meaning of life and coming up with no happy answers. This countryside of Beaver, Wisconsin, was most pleasingly rustic. This cold flowing creek was pure enough for him to drink from. And the cabin he had for a home behind him was a nice home for a young man starting out on life on his own. But he was still missing something in life to make it meaningful. And he could not fathom what such a thing needed to be. He had nothing to live for. And he was afraid to die. Looking down into the creek three feet to its bottom, he said to himself, “Who is God?” And still he had not an answer for himself.
Then he heard a rustling in the branches from across the creek, and he looked up and gazed across to the opposite shore and awaited whoever was coming his way. And he saw a handsome big dog. It had a long thick coat of reddish-brown with black tips, strong canine legs, and a full abundant tail, and a face that looked positively fierce. It looked similar to a German Shepherd, but it was not a
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German Shepherd. Whatever breed that this large dog was, this man could not tell. He had never seen such a dog as this before in Wisconsin. Yet, even though this dog had a vicious countenance, its stance was benign and benevolent as it looked at him from the opposite shore of this little creek. And this man came to believe that all such breeds of dog as this looked ferocious in the face, but were docile in temperament. This dog gave this man a friendly brown-eyed look and cocked its head to the side at him in affection. This man trusted this dog here alone with it in this wilderness of northern Wisconsin.
Hark! Another rustling of branches across the creek, behind where this handsome big dog stood. Behold, a little white lamb coming out of the bushes and approaching this noble large dog. This man had once heard of a Jesus Who was called “the Lamb of God.” And this man delighted in this little white lamb. Between his bank and the bank where the lamb and the big dog were was a makeshift bridge that this man had built. This most simple of bridges was of two eight-inch-by-eight-inch wooden beams built just above the surface of Left Foot Creek. One eight-by-eight went from this shore to halfway across the creek. And the other eight-by-eight went from this halfway point to the opposite shore of this creek. In a gladness this man sought to cross his bridge and to introduce himself to his two new friends.
He then heard the little white lamb bleat. But the innocent bleat was a cry for help. He heard a savage snarling, and he saw this big dark dog foaming at the mouth, and he saw the eyes of this big dog turn bright red, and he saw all of the teeth of this large dog bared and ready to bite. This man, with one foot on the bridge, stopped his second foot from also coming onto the bridge. And this man froze with terror and awaited a most morbid possibility. And it happened with sudden probability. This perhaps suddenly rabid dog clamped down upon the back of the neck of the innocent little white lamb, shook it most deadly, and threw it down into the creek and let it sink to the bottom, very killed for no good reason. The man was shocked. As for the dog, it now looked at the man, its visage unchanged in its diabolical nature as it gazed upon him.
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Then this man heard another rustling of branches coming from the bushes of the opposite shore, and he heard the sound of a young woman singing. It sounded like the singing of a hymn. He heard the words,
“All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing.”
And there coming upon the man and the wild dog was a girl about the man’s age dressed in a high school girl’s cheerleader uniform. Her top was a white football jersey, tucked in, with the big maroon number seven on it. Her bottom was a cheerleader’s box-pleated skirt with a couple dozen narrow main white pleats and a couple dozen narrow maroon contrasting pleats and a maroon yoke and a blue stripe running along the bottom hem. Her cheerleader socks were white with two maroon stripes on top. And her cheerleader shoes were white sneakers with maroon shoelaces and maroon rubber soles. Her hair was a beautiful and abundant brown. And her face was enhanced with big glasses over her eyes. And she was slim and delightful of frame.
The dog took one look at her, and instantly the apparent rabies was gone away most completely.
And once again this dog looked like the kind big dog that he had first been before he had seen the lamb of God. “Oh, there you are, PackMaster,” the cheerleader girl sang out. “I’ve been looking for you. Where have you been, good boy?” The dog whined in affection. The girl kissed it on the head. The dog kissed the girl on the cheek. And the cheerleader girl hugged the big dog in both of her arms. Why, with this cheerleader girl watching it, it seemed like a dog from Heaven. A moment ago it was like a dog from Hell. The man was mystified. Then the dog pointed with its muzzle toward the man here on this side of the creek. And the girl said, “Oh, hi, sir.”
“Hi, miss,” he said.
“I am Tracey,” she said, “Tracey Kelsey Talley.”
“Is that with all ‘y’s’ at the ends?” he asked.
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“No,” she said. “It is with all ‘ey’s’ at the ends.”
“I am Flanders,” said the man. “Flanders Arckery Nickels.”
“F. A. N.,” she said. “Fan!” Then she said, “Are you a fan of God?”
“I am not,” said Flanders. “I don’t know God.”
“That’s sad,” said the cheerleader girl. “I am a fan of God.”
“Then do you know God?” asked Flanders.
“Uh huh,” said Tracey Talley, nodding her head. “PackMaster, shake hands with the gentleman.”
In understandable fear, Flanders put both hands behind his back and stepped back away a few steps from the creek. The cheerleader girl and her dog were still across the creek. “He won’t bite, Flanders,” said Miss Talley.
“He bites!” exclaimed Flanders.
“No. No. PackMaster has never bitten anybody,” said Tracey in sincerity of tone.
Yet apparently benign, PackMaster crossed the bridge toward Flanders in great care not to frighten the man, and then it sat before Flanders and proffered its right dark paw. Despite himself, Flanders reached forth his right hand and did shake hands with the mercurial dog. And PackMaster did not bite his hand. Then the cheerleader girl hopped across his bridge and also joined him on this side of the countryside creek.
Flanders Nickels asked, “Tracy, what breed of dog is PackMaster?”
“Why, he’s a Belgian Tervuren,” proudly declared the cheerleader girl.
“He seems so good right now,” said Flanders.
“He’s my best friend from God,” she said. “I found him the day that I moved into my cabin on the other side of the creek. He was there, waiting for me. The first thing he did was to proffer his paw for a handshake. We shook hands, and we were mistress and pet ever since.”
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“You do not know from where PackMaster had come?” asked Flanders.
“Uh uh,” said the cheerleader girl with a shaking of her head.
“How long have you had him, Tracey?” asked Flanders.
“Oh, we’ve been together for three months,” said the cheerleader girl.
“And you never saw him bite another animal or something?” asked Flanders.
“PackMaster loves animals and people,” proclaimed its mistress.
“I was so sure that I saw him bite a little white lamb,” said Flanders.
“My Saviour is called ‘the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world,’” said the cheerleader girl. “Surely my PackMaster would not bite such an animal as what you are talking about.”
“You speak so much about God,” said Flanders. “Are you a born-again Christian, Tracey?”
“That I am, Flanders,” she professed her good faith. “I am a born-again believer.”
“I’ve been trying to figure out three questions by myself about God before you and the Belgian Tervuren came here,” said Flanders Nickels. “I wonder if you have the answers to my three questions. Tracey.”
“I do read my King James Bible every day. I may have the answers to your questions. What are the questions, Flanders?” said Tracey Talley.
“From where have I come? Why am I here? Where am I going?” he told her his three seemingly irresolvable queries of mankind through the millennia.
“Oh, Flanders. I know the answers to those three questions. God’s Word answers those questions all throughout the Good Book,” said Tracey Kelsey Talley.
“You must be a philosophy savant,” said Flanders.
“No, just a daughter of God who studies the Word of God and who memorizes such Scripture, Flanders,” said the cheerleader girl.
“Would you sit with me and tell me all that you know about God and the answers He has for me
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to hear from you about my three troubling questions, Tracey?” asked Flanders.
“I can make those questions a comfort if you take heed to my answers, Flanders,” said Miss Tracey Talley.
“I will listen,” he promised. And the three sat down upon his bank of Left Foot Creek, the man to the right, and the woman to the left, and the dog in between. Ansd he asked her the first question, eager to hear what the cheerleader Christian had to tell him with her great wisdom of God, “Where did I come from, Tracey?”
“First tell me, Flanders, what kinds of answers to that question that you had come up with in your little reflection here before I and PackMaster saw you,” said the cheerleader girl.
“Well, what I think about where I have come from, Tracey,” said Flanders, “I learned that we human beings came from monkeys. So I believe that I came from a monkey. Charles Darwin wrote that famous book called “Origin of the Species,”and he was a brilliant scientist. I believe in evolution. We all had evolved from a lower species. So I am no better than an animal. And science can not be wrong, Tracey.”
“Oh, but science is wrong if it takes out the true God of science,” boldly stated Tracey.
“What do you mean, Tracey?” asked Flanders.
“Your scientific evolutionism says that there is no God. It purposefully denies God because evolutionists do not want to admit that God is real and that He it is Who made us. Those who believe in evolutionism do not want to think about a Good Higher Power to Whom they are accountable and by Whom their sins will be judged. They deny the Creator Who died for them on the cross. They deny the Maker Who will come again. Does it not take more faith to believe that we came from a monkey than to believe that we came from a Divine Designer? Evolutionism is not true science; it is man’s theory. And, I hate to say this, but Charles Darwin is in Hell right now if he died in his sins and never got born again,” preached the wise cheerleader girl.
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“Whoa, girl. So much said so fast at me,” said Flanders. “What new ideas you dare to say, Tracey.”
“Do you really want to know from where you have come, Flanders?” asked the cheerleader girl.
“I thought I knew,” he said. “You do not say that we came from apes, I can see, O Tracey.”
“You and I did not come from apes,” said Miss Talley.
“Tell me from where you and I have come,” said Flanders.
“It is written,” began the cheerleader girl some Scripture recitation, “’So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ Genesis 1:27.”
“What does that mean to be created in God’s image, Tracey?” asked Flanders.
“It means that only us people are born with an eternal soul. And because we have souls, we will live forever—either in Heaven forever after or in Hell forever after. What we do with Jesus in this life determines where we go in the life to come. Monkeys and apes and all animals do not have souls like people have; when they die, they return to the dust,” said the cheerleader girl. She continued, “Our Good Maker has given us his gift of free will. It is also called ‘free choice.’ If, in this life, we, of our own true and sincere free will, seek Jesus as Saviour, we become saved for Heaven. Also, if, in this life, we, of our free choice, willingly reject Jesus as Saviour unto death, we become lost for Hell. God does not force his so great salvation on anyone; He wants them to ask for it by their free choice, and He will give it to them. Salvation is not for any animals. Yet neither is damnation for any animals.”
“So you’re saying that the answer to my first question is, ‘I have come from God the Creator,’’ said Flanders.
“Yes!” said Tracey Talley. “It is written indeed, Flanders, ’And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.’
Genesis 2:7.”
“I believe,” said Flanders.
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“Say it to me, Flanders,” urged the Christian cheerleader woman.
“I now believe that I have come from God my Maker,” declared Flanders.
“Amen!” praised Tracey Talley God.
Furthermore, the young man went on to say, “And I now know that the Words of the Bible are more true than the words of men. Scripture is truth; evolutionism is falsehood.”
“Amen, Flanders,” praised Tracey Talley this fellow.
“Would you tell me more from the Holy Bible, Tracey?” asked Flanders.
“Now let us go on to your second question of your three questions,” said the young cheerleader lady.
“Yes, the second one, Tracey,” he said. “Why am I here?” He went on to say, “If anybody knows ‘why’ to that, you do.”
“God knows why we are here, Flanders, and He tells us in His Word,” she said. “But first tell me what you think the answer is for you.”
“Oh, yes. I have to tell you my answer first, and then you will tell me your right answer,” said Flanders. “I’d be glad to tell you why I am here in my mind. I am a collector. I collect things, Tracey. In fact I collect so many things that you could even say that I ‘collect collections.’” He laughed in mirth. She laughed with him.
“Do you collect stamps and coins, Flanders?” she asked.
“No, I collect business reply mails and word search puzzles, Tracey,” he said. “And dozens of other things.”
“You collect business reply mails?” she asked.
“Do you know what those are?” he asked.
“Are those those things that say, ‘No postage if mailed in the United States?’” she asked.
“Yep, girl!” he said. “I’ve got a thousand of them.”
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“And you have lots of word search puzzles, too?” she asked.
“And I do all of them, too,” he said. “They are my favorite puzzles, Tracey.”
“What else do you collect, Flanders, that is your meaning to life?” asked the cheerleader girl.
“Anne Murray albums. Bicentennial Seven-Up cans, sardine can keys, caulking compound tubes, Blondie comic strips, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’s, pictures of one-piece swimsuit girls from the newspaper ads and the catalogs, high school and college yearbook pictures of cheerleaders, picturesque covers of NRTA Journal and Modern Maturity magazines, Wishing Wells puzzles, Christmas carols on sheet music, and lately now a new collection of mazes, Tracey,” summed up Flanders a sample of his myriads of collections.
“Your collection of collections is, for you, why you are here, Flanders?” asked Tracey Talley.
“Now you are going to tell me that my answer is wrong,” he said, with a grin.
“What do you think, Flanders?” asked the sagacious born-again Christian lady.
“I have a lot of fun with all of my collections, but my life as a whole is not a lot of fun,” he said.
“And my cabin, though a big cabin, is all full and hard for me to walk around in with all of my stuff. For my raison d’etre, O Tracey, all of my collecting leaves a lot to be desired for making life worthwhile.”
“Ah, every life lived without God,” said Tracey Kelsey Talley.
“How can something so fun make life so unfun?” cried out Flanders about his life’s fond diversion of collections.
“Are you ready now for my answer to why we are here?” asked the cheerleader believer in God.
“Yes, Tracey. Why am I here?” asked Flanders.
“You are here to praise Jesus,” answered Tracey Kelsey Talley not unconvincingly to this unbeliever.
“Praising God, then, is the answer to life?” asked Flanders with some hope.
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“It is why God had made us,” she preached.
“I never praised God before,” he said.
“We Christians praise God all the time.” said Miss Talley.
“That doesn’t sound real fun for me to do, though,” said Flanders. “I still think that collecting things sounds more satisfying than praising Jesus.”
“You’ve first got to be a born-again Christian, Flanders,” said Tracey Talley.
“So, if I become a Christian, then I can have fun praising Christ?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” she said with an avid nod. “Only we believers can praise our Saviour the right and honorable and godly way. Unbelievers can only get it all wrong or not mean it at all.”
“I bet that you know a few good verses in the Good Book in your head that can prove what you say as to us being here to praise God and all,” said Flanders with a fond smile at the cheerleader girl.
“Uh huh,” she said again. “It is written, ‘Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth: Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.’ Psalm 148:11-13.”
“Convincing,” he said. “Convince me further with another.”
And she went ahead to do so, “It is written again, Flanders, ‘From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised.’ Psalm 113:3.”
“And by getting saved and praising the Good Lord Jesus, then I will find satisfaction in this life?” asked Flanders.
“Only Jesus the Saviour can fill the void of every man and woman in this life. Nothing else can satisfy us other than Christ. Only God can bring lasting peace and contentment and fulfillment,” said Tracey. “Do you believe, Flanders?”
“I believe now that collections are not why I am here, but praising and worshiping Jesus is why
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I am here,” said Flanders Nickels. “I believe that I have to get right with the Saviour.”
“Praise God that I hear such words now as this from another,” said the cheerleader gal.
“The Saviour is the answer to ‘Why am I here?’” confessed Flanders, finding truth.
“Now your third life’s question of the three life’s questions, Flanders,” said Miss Talley.
“I said it. You heard it,” he said philosophically.
“You said it. Say it again,” she said.
And Flanders Nickels went ahead and asked it of her again, “Where am I going?” She cocked her head to the side at him and gave him a brown-eyed look. “Oh yeah,” he said. “First I give you the wrong answer; then you give me the right answer.”
In compassion she said, “Tell me where you think that you’re going, Flanders.”
“I have an idea now with our little talk so far, and it is not Heaven, but rather the other place.” he said. “But to answer your question according to our format of this day, I have to answer it the way I tried to answer it here at the creek before you had come along. I have to tell you where I had thought all my life where I was going. And to answer that in that manner I must say three words: six feet under. All of my life, Tracey, I thought that when I die, I will simply and only be six feet under.”
“Ah, the false doctrine of annihilism,” said the cheerleader woman. “Tell me all about it.”
And Flanders Nickels said in reliving his ennui of his time alone here before the cheerleader neighbor had suddenly come along, “I was thinking how I was eighteen years old and had my whole life ahead of me and someday it would all be over. All I had for myself was this life alone. When I died, all that I knew would be gone forever. When I died, all that I was would be gone forever. And when I died, all that I had would be gone forever. The things that I liked I would like no more. And the things that I disliked I would dislike no more. All that I could see or hear or taste or smell or feel
I would sense no more for the rest of forever. I would never see a good day or a bad day ever again, because I would have no more days. I myself would have come upon my own end. And I would be
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no more again ever. I believe as my dad always says: ‘Life is a period of light between two darks.’ I remember how Dad also says to me, ‘I’m prepared to die…but not right now.’ So I say again, Tracey:
‘Where am I going? I’m going six feet under, and I am afraid.’”
“Oh, but I have hope for you, Flanders,” said Tracey Talley.
“You do,” he said, finding hope now himself. “Would you tell me what your answer is to ‘Where are we going?’ I remember you talking about Heaven, and I remember you talking about Hell.”
“You’re right, Flanders. We go to Heaven, the Place of Paradise, or we go to Hell, the place of torments,” said the cheerleader girl.
“Heaven sounds better any thing here on Earth. And Hell sounds worse than this annihilation that you mentioned,” said Flanders. “Would you tell me some more of your good Bible verses that you know so many of, Tracey?”
“How about a Bible verse about Heaven?” she asked.
“Yes, tell me a happy Scripture verse,” said Flanders.
“It is written, ‘Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.’ Psalm 16:11,” recited the mighty saved cheerleader lass.
“I want to end up There,” he said. “Would you tell me a Bible verse about Hell now, Tracey?”
“You want to hear an unhappy Bible verse?” she asked.
“Yes. I do,” he said.
“It is written, ‘But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.’ Revelation 21:8,” recited wise Tracey Kelsey Talley.
“I do not want to end down there,” he said.
“So, Flanders, where are you going?” asked Tracey for confirmation.
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“Either to Heaven or to Hell,” he said.
“And how do you know?” she asked for assurance of his confession.
“Because the Bible says so, Tracey,” said Flanders.
“Flanders, would you like to get saved right now?” she asked with bated breath.
“Yes. I would,” he said.
“Oh, finally a lost soul which I can lead to Christ,” she said in great rejoicing.
“You never did anything like this before?” he asked.
“Oh, I tried, and I know all about how to do it, but everybody I tried to witness to suddenly changed their minds at the last moment,” she confessed.
“What do you mean? What suddenly came up in their minds that they decided not to get saved like that?” he said.
“I do not know, for the life of me,” she said with a sigh. “I did not start to try to win souls until I found handsome PackMaster. I fell in love with him, and at once I began to try to win my family to Christ. I thought, ‘If Christ can give me my Belgian Tervuren, then I can give Him some souls to save.’”
“You said that you’ve had your beloved PackMaster now for these past three months, Tracey?” asked Flanders.
“Yes, Flanders. And all these past three months I have been telling my family about the Saviour of the world like I have never told anybody all these years as a believer. I told Dad and Mom and Big Brother and Big Sister and Little Brother and Little Sister. And over these past seven days, each of all six all believed and agreed to pray the salvation prayer with me to bet born-again like myself. But seven days ago, suddenly Little Sister suddenly changed her mind just when I thought I was about to win her soul. And six days ago Little Brother did the same thing, for no reason. Five days ago, Big Sister suddenly pulled out from the sinners’ prayer. And four days ago Big Brother suddenly chickened
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out on me and God. Three days ago Mom did the very same thing. And two days ago, Dad went and did it on me. I tell you, Flanders, I almost got my whole family saved last week, but the Devil had his way with them. And I do not feel that they will be ready for salvation now anytime soon. Yesterday, I got them all together, alone with me and PackMaster, and again tried to warn them about the fires of Hell. But they seemed to be more afraid of something else than of Hell. I do not know quite what to make of that. Flanders, my heart breaks for my loved ones. Promise me that you will not be like them.
Promise me that you will not suddenly say, ‘No,’ now that you have said, ‘Yes.’ Promise me that you will let me lead you all the way through the prayer and all the way to salvation. I want you to be my first soul won for Christ. What do you say, O Flanders?” called forth the cheerleader girl.
Flanders heard PackMaster, who was between him and the girl growling. “He’s growling.” said Flanders.
“No, he’s groaning,” said its mistress.
Flanders saw its mouth foaming along the right side of its mouth from where Flanders was sitting. “Tracey, he’s foaming at the mouth!” cried out Flanders.
But Tracey, seeing its mouth along the left side said, “No, he’s drooling, Flanders. He’s hungry.”
“The Belgian Tervuren is about to bite me!” cried out Flanders, jumping to his feet and backing away.
“I told you, Flanders. He has never bitten anybody!” rebuked Tracey Kelsey Talley in indignation.
“I am about to get saved, and he is about to bite me,” said Flanders. “If he bites me, then he is sure that I will not seek Christ again.”
“PackMaster, are you all right?” called forth the cheerleader mistress. “Your eyes are bright red.”
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“I believe now that the Devil looks down upon this Earth, and he sees when a lost person is about to get saved, and at that moment he sends a stumbling block to come between the soul winner and the soul about to be won to keep that from happening, Tracey Talley,” said the prudent Flanders, finding great discernment.
“But I never saw PackMaster anything like this any of the times I was sharing Christ with them.
And he certainly did not look quite like this those days that they almost said the prayer with me,” said the cheerleader girl in truth. “He was never rabid like this any time that he and I together were with any of them.”
“PackMaster must have been keeping his darkest secret from his loving mistress,” said Flanders.
“My family all seemed to have had ailments that they had to deal with last week,” she said.
“Little Brother had a wounded ankle. Big Brother had a wounded knee. Little Sister had a wounded foot. Big Sister had a wounded hand. Mom had a wounded wrist. And Dad had a wounded elbow.”
“Did you ask them what happened to them?” asked Flanders.
“I did, but they refused to tell me what happened to them,” said Tracey Talley.
“Probably because they were afraid to tell you,” said Flanders. “They were afraid of PackMaster. And they knew that you loved PackMaster even more than you loved them.”
“Did PackMaster hurt my family?” asked Tracey.
“PackMaster had bitten your family, Tracey,” said Flanders.
The cheerleader girl looked upon her Belgian Tervuren, It looked now that it could even bite her the way it looked as it stood there in defiance of God and Christians. “PackMaster,…you bite,” said Tracey Kelsey Talley now in the truth from God.
“Your Belgian Tervuren was with you every time you told them about their need for the Saviour, and he remained apparently tame all the while, taking it all in and planning his move. Then
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he made his move, and attacked them like a hell dog when you were not around to see. Then he was alone with you and each of them in their day when you asked them if they wanted to now pray and get saved, again putting on the show of a good dog. And they took one look at him, remembered the dog bite of the mad dog, and changed their minds about asking for salvation. And you were the only one who did not know that he bites.”
“You knew, Flanders,” she said. “When I first saw you, you said, ‘The dog bites.’ You were right.”
“If he bites people, he will bite a little white lamb,” said Flanders, remembering.
“And if he bites a little white lamb, he would surely bite the Lamb of God,” she said.
“Your PackMaster does not like Jesus Christ,” said Flanders.
“My Belgian Tervuren is a demon,” she cried out. “What did I fall in love with, O Lord? Flanders, I love PackMaster no more!”
“I do not say that PackMaster is a demon, Tracey,” he said.
“What do you say?” she asked, sniffling through her nose.
“I say that PackMaster may only have a demon,” he said.
“Then he is not the reason for what he has done?” asked the cheerleader girl.
“No, he is not,” said Flanders. “I believe that a demon indwells your PackMaster, changing him into a dog of Hell whenever God gets into the picture. I blame the demon within PackMaster for all of this evil that has happened.”
“Do you have hope for him?” asked the cheerleader gal.
“I do, Tracey. And I think that I can come up with a way for him to be okay and for you to love him all over again and to be right in loving him all over again,” said Flanders.
“And for my family to get saved, too, Flanders?” she asked.
“If God is as powerful a God as you told me He is today, O Tracey Talley,” said Flanders
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Nickels, “He can help.”
“And what about you? Would you get saved today?” asked the cheerleader woman.
“Pretty Tracy, I promise to become your first soul won for Christ. Very much so this day. As soon as possible. No matter what. Dog bite or no dog bite,” avouched Flanders.
“What do you think that God would have us to do with the demon in my dog?” asked Tracey Talley.
Now with the evil of Satan the Belgian Tervuren began to stalk Flanders. The man had to backpedal. “I don’t know for sure, Tracey, but I think that my time is getting short. Whatever you need to do, you best do it very soon.”
Flanders found himself now standing upon the bridge where it lay upon the ground of the bank of the creek on this side. The Belgian Tervuren was hunting him down like a predator.
The cheerleader girl asked, “What would you have me to do, Flanders?”
“You must exorcise your PackMaster,” said Flanders. “I cannot being an unbeliever. You can being a believer.”
The Belgian Tervuren proceeded to pursue Flanders as its prey out onto the bridge now. Flanders was now halfway across; and the Belgian Tervuren was one-quarter of the way across.
“How does a girl do that?” asked Tracey. “I never did that kind of thing before.” She now stood upon the part of the bridge upon the land where Flanders had just been.
“Best get off the bridge, Tracey. He might bite you,” warned Flanders.
Now the Belgian Tervuren had driven Flanders out onto the part of the bridge that rested over on the opposite shore’s ground. And the Belgian Tervuren was now three-quarters of the way across the bridge. The cheerleader woman was halfway across the bridge.
In panic Tracy stammered, “Demon, come out of Flanders!”
But the demon did not come out of the Belgian Tervuren.
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“He’s about to pounce!” called forth Flanders. “Pray for me, Tracey!”
“Why didn’t it work?” she cried out.
“Maybe you should use the Lord’s name in glory,” said Flanders, afraid for his life.
And the Belgian Tervuren pounced upon Flanders. Its powerful forelegs, impelled by its large physique, drove Flanders hard down upon his back here in the grass of this opposite shore. And the Belgian Tervuren clamped its great and many teeth down upon Flanders’s left shoulder where he lay. And the Belgian Tervuren bit a chunk of Flanders’s shoulder out of his body. And the man cried out in great shock.
Then Tracey Kelsey Talley called forth, “O demon inside of PackMaster, I command you to come out of him in the name of Jesus!”
Lo, the Belgian Tervuren was thrown to the ground upon its side by a Force greater than its devil. And the Belgian Tervuren came upon a fit where it lay. And then its spell was over. And it lay there, feeble and dazed.. PackMaster did not know what happened.
The cheerleader woman came first to Flanders. He said, “The demon is gone out of your dog. Go to him now.”
In obedience, she came to her dog second. All traces of its former demon within were gone from its canine features now. It was weary and weak from the exorcism, but it was going to be okay.
The Belgian Tervuren kissed its mistress upon the nose, then pointed with its muzzle to the man.
In deference to her dear dog’s wishes, the cheerleader girl came back to Flanders. “It hurts,” said Flanders about his shoulder. “Really, really bad, Tracey.”
“Let me go and get some bandages and stuff from my first aid kit at home,” she said.
“Tracey,” called out Flanders.
“Yes, Flanders?” she asked.
“PackMaster is all right now.” he said. “And with your help I will be all right.”
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“I’m sorry for what he did to you,” said the cheerleader girl. “Please forgive me.”
“I forgive you and your PackMaster, Tracey,” said Flanders Nickels.
And she ran to her cabin off in the countryside somewhere beyond the many trees not far away and very soon came back with medical supplies. And she treated the dog bite on his shoulder. At this time PackMaster was sitting and in its right mind and quite exorcised of that demon. True and valid goodness now shone upon its countenance, a tameness that would now never go away again. PackMaster was never going to bite again.
Then Flanders was stronger, and he rallied, and he sat up. “You do good work, pretty Tracey,” he said. “Thank you for helping me.”
“It is time now,” she said.
“Time to get me born again,” he said.
“Let us pray together,” she said.
“Hold me up,” he called forth in pain.
She put her cheerleader’s arm around his waist as they sat together, holding him up with his wounds. The cheerleader girl and the man searching for Christ were upon the shore of this opposite bank now as they were about to pray his sinners’ prayer. His bare feet and her cheerleader-clad feet were both just above the surface of Left Foot Creek. And the good Belgian Tervuren was off to the side, near the bridge, and watching and wondering and glad.
And the cheerleader girl began, “Dear Father:”
“Dear Father:” he repeated after in this prayer for salvation.
“I am a sinner who never knew You,” she continued.
“I am a sinner who never knew You,” he repeated after her this line of prayer.
“I am sorry for all the sins that I have committed in all the years of my life,” she said.
“I am sorry for all the sins that I have committed in all the years of my life,” he did say after
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her.
“Please forgive me and wipe my slate of sins clean,” she had him to pray.
“Please forgive me and wipe my slate of sins clean,” he did pray.
“I confess now that Jesus Christ the Lord shed His blood to die for me on the cross two thousand years ago,” led the cheerleader her disciple in prayer.
“I confess now that Jesus Christ the Lord shed His blood to die for me on the cross two thousand years ago,” prayed Flanders in true repentant sincerity.
“And I declare that this same Jesus rose from the grave three days later,” she prayed upon the Easter miracle.
“And I declare that this same Jesus rose from the grave three days later,” proclaimed Flanders the glorious resurrection of Christ.
“Good Lord, please become my own personal Saviour,” said Tracey Talley.
“Good Lord, please become my own personal Saviour,” prayed the man now finding Christ.
“And give me everlasting life with You Up in Heaven,” said Miss Talley.
“And give me everlasting life with You Up in Heaven,” prayed this man who had now found Christ for his own.
“Thank You, O Lamb of God,” said Tracy, finishing up this unique sinners’ prayer for Flanders.
“Thank You, O Lamb of God,” said Flanders in good saving faith.
“In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen,” said the cheerleader girl in closing.
“In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen,” said Flanders Nickels in closing of his sinners’ prayer unto so great and eternal salvation.
The two Christians now looked up from his prayer. One was a daughter of God with many years of living in faith. The other was a son of God, a new convert, beginning his new everlasting life in joy of the Lord.
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“I’m a Christian now,” said Flanders.
“Yes. You are a believer now,” said Tracey.
“Thank you for letting me become your first one,” he said.
“Thank you for agreeing to become my first one,” she said.
“Go now and do the same for your family,” said Flanders.
“Could I see you again, Flanders?’ she asked.
“I would like that very much, Tracey,” he said.
“Tomorrow at this same time?” she asked.
“Tomorrow at this same time,” he said.
“I can tell you how it went with my family,” she said.
“I would be glad to hear,” he said.
“Could it be like maybe a date this next time between us?” she asked.
“One could call our next time between us tomorrow a ‘rendezvous,’ if we could, pretty Tracey,” he said.
“Then today’s get-together could be called our ‘first date,’” she said.
“The day that your boyfriend got bit by your dog,” he said in mirth.
“The day that my boyfriend turned my walk with Christ back around to what it should have been,” said the cheerleader girl.
“The day that your boyfriend found a new friend in life in a good and handsome Belgian Tervuren,” said Flanders.
“The day that my boyfriend changed a cheerleader girl into a cheerleader girlfriend,” said Tracey Kelsey Talley.
“Amen, girl!” praised Flanders his new Saviour.
“Amen, Flanders,” praised the cheerleader gal her Saviour once again.
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And having enjoyed fellowship mixed with romance talk for her first time, the cheerleader girl got up, beckoned PackMaster with her open hand to follow her, and began to go back home to win the souls of her six loved ones. Mistress and Belgian Tervuren disappeared into the trees.
“I really really like you a lot, Flanders Arckery Nickels,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
“You are the prettiest cheerleader in Wisconsin, Tracey Kelsey Talley,” said Flanders Nickels.
“And I will see you tomorrow.”
Then he heard her say in prayer somewhere in the woods, “Thank You, God, for my new prince.”
And he whispered in prayer, “Thank You, God, for my new princess.”
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