Tracy Ventures, a girl boxer, longs to find out what it is like to get knocked out. But she has never been defeated in the ring. A new fan of hers, the born-again believer Flanders Nickels, has her over for a date. And he sees her need for Jesus, herself lost in her sins. What will the girl boxer do about the Saviour that Flanders tells her about?
THE GIRL BOXER
By Mr. Morgan P. McCarthy
Flanders Nickels and his roommate Proffery were sharing fellowship in the Lord in the back attic as they sat upon the sofa. This little extra storage area was in the back of their second story apartment of an apartment complex of an upper apartment and a lower apartment. A little door in the kitchen opened up to it. And its ceiling sloped quickly down from the middle to both sides to the floor. And it had no windows; but it did have a little grate in its far wall that let in air from the outside. And its lights gave a most homey feel to this apartment’s attic. Both young men were born-again Christians, mighty in the faith and wise in the Scriptures. And in today’s fellowship the two brothers-in-the-Lord were discussing the doctrine of the pre-incarnate Christ. Flanders said, “And remember how Jesus appeared in the burning fiery furnace and saved the three Hebrew youths from the hot fires.”
“Yeah, Brother Flanders,” said Proffery. “Daniel 3:23-25, long before He was born of a virgin centuries later.”
And Flanders recited this Bible passage from memory: “And these three men, Shadrach,
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Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors,
Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
“And don’t forget that immortal man Melchizedek who went and blessed Abram early in the Old Testament, Flanders,” said Proffery.
“And to Whom Abram paid tithes, Brother,” said Flanders. “Hebrews 7:1-4.”
And Proffery recited this passage from the Bible, “For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.”
“And this happened thousands of years before He was born of a virgin in Bethlehem,” said Flanders.
“I remember how Jesus told about His life before He was born in Bethlehem unto the unbelieving Jews of His day,” said Proffery. And he recited this Bible passage to Flanders, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
“Ah, Brother Proffery,” said Flanders Nickels, “John 8:56-58.”
“Do you know of any other verses in the Holy Bible that talk about this pre-incarnate Christ?”
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asked Proffery.
“Have you heard of the Old Testament ‘angel of the Lord?’” asked Flanders.
“Yes. He was Jesus pre-incarnate, too,” said Proffery.
“And Moses wrote a psalm in the Psalter that tells us of Jesus before He had come,” said Flanders.
“Psalm 90, Moses’s psalm,” said Proffery. “Are you talking about verse two?”
“You know it, Brother,” said Flanders. “It is written, ‘Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.’”
“Just think how Jesus has been from everlasting past to everlasting future,” said Proffery.
“We humans can understand how someone can always be—especially if it is God,” said Flanders. “But we humans cannot understand how someone has always been—even if it is God.”
“But such is the case with the Lord Jesus,” said Proffery. “Remember how Psalm 93:2 says, ‘Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.’ That can only be about Jesus.”
“We finite humans live in the temporal world. We always see the start of things, and we do not always see the end of things. How can God not have a start, and how can it be that he has never not been?” said Flanders.
“God lives in the eternal perspective,” said Proffery. “And we live in the perspective of time.”
“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, Brother Proffery,” said Flanders.
“In eternity past, Jesus’s hands and feet were whole and well. But in eternity future, Jesus’s hands and feet are wounded by nail prints as an everlasting reminder of the cross,” said Proffery.
“The cross of Calvary,” said Flanders Nickels. “The way of salvation for all souls everywhere in all the dispensations of past and present and future.”
“Salvation was the same for the Old Testament saints as it is for us New Testament saints,” said Proffery.
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“In the Old Testament, one looked forward into the future unto the cross where Jesus died for their sins,” said Flanders. “And in these New Testament days, we look back into the past unto the cross where Jesus died for our sins.”
“Paul said the same thing about Abraham the friend of God in Galatians 3:8,” said Proffery.
“How does that verse go again, Brother Proffery?” asked Flanders.
“It goes like this: ‘And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed,’” recited Proffery.
“The Gospel: that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and rose again the third day,” defined Flanders. “And Abraham, even way back maybe 2100 B.C., knew all about the gospel.”
“Abraham was saved completely by grace through faith. So were all the other Old Testament believers saved completely by grace through faith. And so are all us New Testament believers saved completely by grace through faith,” said Proffery.
“Six thousand years of this young Earth’s history and its years to come, all are saved only by the shed blood of the Lamb,” said Flanders.
“’Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever.’ Hebrews 13:8, Brother Flanders,” said Proffery.
“’For I am the Lord, I change not;…’ Malachi 3:6,” said Flanders Nickels.
The next day, Proffery came back home from the Brown County Arena with exciting new to tell his roommate Flanders, “Brother, I found the right girl for you!”
Surely if Proffery found the one woman just right for him to have as a girlfriend, then she was the right girl for him. Proffery knew everything about Flanders Nickels in their years together as roommates. There was nothing that Flanders had not told his roommate about any of his dreams—
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whether they were daydreams or life dreams. “Did you see her at the arena, Brother?” asked Flanders.
“I saw her in the ring fighting another woman,” said Proffery.
“She isn’t a girl wrestler. Is she?” asked Flanders with doubts. Women wrestlers were not built right in Flanders’s eyes. Proffery knew this about Flanders.
“No, Flanders,” said his roommate. “She is a girl boxer.”
“She is a girl boxer?” asked Flanders with hopes.
“And she is built! She is tall and skinny and a brunette,” said Proffery.
“”Did she win?” asked Flanders.
“She knocked that girl all over the ring, and down the girl went,” said Proffery.
“That’s exciting to me, Proffery.” said Flanders. “What’s her name?”
“It’s ‘Tracy Ventures,’” said Proffery.
“She sounds like a pretty girl who lives on ventures,” said Flanders. “I never saw this Tracy, and already I’ve got a crush on her.”
“You’ll like her, Flanders,” said Proffery. “She fights again next week at the same place.”
“I’ve got to go see this girl box,” said Flanders. “Does she punch hard?”
“Real hard,” said Proffery.
“Sexy!” said Flanders. “Let’s go to the Brown County Arena next week, Brother Proffery, and see how good this pretty girl boxer is.”
“Go after her, Flanders,” said Proffery. “You always did want a girlfriend in your life with Christ,”
“That I shall do for sure,” said Flanders. “Just think, I could have a girl boxer for a girlfriend before next week ends.”
“Don’t forget,” teased Proffery.
“Like a guy is going to forget a woman who can become his first girlfriend,” said Flanders.
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And both Christian roommates laughed together.
And they went to see this fascinating girl boxer fight at the Brown County Arena. And when Flanders saw her step into the ring, his heart was smitten by her. Her hair was long and brown and loose all about her head. She was tall for a girl—about five feet eight inches. And she was attractively thin of physique; in fact she looked too thin to be a successful woman boxer. Why, her arms, though long, were far from strong. And over her fists were real brown leather boxing gloves. And truly her face was the prettiest face that he had seen in his few Christian years. He then turned to see what her opponent in the opposite corner looked like. Uh oh, she had the more physical build of the two in the ring. She looked more like a boxer than did Tracy. She was shorter and stockier than Tracy, and her arms had biceps that Flanders could clearly see. And this stronger woman prize fighter had a plain and unattractive face to Flanders. And the guy who got to liking Tracy was worried that this other boxer might hurt Tracy there in this ring.
And the bell rang. Behold, pretty Tracy threw a real girl’s punch with her right boxing glove!
Flanders saw it happen. It was a stiff right jab thrown by a long skinny arm. And it struck the stronger girl right into the temple of her head. And Flanders saw this girl’s head snap back from this punch. This that was taking place before him was a real new world opening up to him. Women’s boxing was definitely not a well-known sport, but suddenly it became Flanders’s new favorite sport to watch. Flanders wondered, Was it time now for the strong girl to hit the weak girl back? Ouch. He could not look. But he did not turn away. Instead, Tracy threw a second punch with her long skinny arm at the stocky girl. And this time she connected with her left boxing glove hard against the stronger woman’s other temple in her head. And the plain girl’s head snapped back again from this blow also. Now surely this bigger girl boxer would hit pretty Tracy back. Could Tracy Ventures take a punch as well as she could throw a punch? But Flanders’s new girl boxer never gave this other girl boxer an opportunity to hit her back. As Flanders watched his special crush of a girl in this ring, she went on to back this
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plain girl up against the ropes. And once she had her against the ropes, she began to work her over real bad with lefts and rights and body shots and head shots. This very real sight happening now right in front of Flanders took him over with rapture. What a boxing glove could do in the hands of a girl unto another girl! He held his breath with great anticipation of a climax. The stocky girl was practically out on her feet. The ropes against her back held her up. And her knees were about to buckle. Her expression was empty and blank. Her eyes were without awareness. She seemed not to know that she was in the ring. And the attractive girl with the long thin arms went and did it to her. It was a right uppercut. This was definitely Tracy’s hardest punch of the prize fight. And the strong girl was knocked hard against the ropes and slumped down to the canvas supine and did not move any more. Her eyes were open, but her head was unconscious. Flanders fell hard now for this Tracy Ventures.
The referee counted out this woman. The announcer declared Tracy the winner by knockout. And he and Tracy made eye contact. He was in the front row, and she was in her corner, the closest corner to his chair. He hesitated going up to this woman, lest he be out of line. But this girl did not hesitate to come down to him! Maybe she did not think herself too good for him after all.
“Miss Ventures,” he said. “That was a great fight!”
“Did you like it, sir?” she asked.
“I loved all of it,” he said. “Call me ‘Flanders.’”
“Call me ‘Tracy,’” she said.
“Would you deign to go on a date with a new fan of girls’ boxing, Tracy?” he asked.
“I never had a fan who liked me for a date before, Flanders,” she said.
“I never had a date before,” he said.
“Your girl boxer would be most happy to go on a date with you,” she said.
“I could tell you a little about God,” he said.
“A girl like me can always learn about God,” she said. “Are you a born-again believer?”
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“That I am, Tracy,” he said.
“My place or your place?” she asked.
“My place would be good,” he said. “It is an apartment full of the Lord.”
“It’s a date then, Flanders,” she said.
“I’ll bring my Bible,” he said.
“I want to see what’s inside the Good Book,” said the girl boxer.
“And could you bring your boxing gloves?” he asked. “I want to find out all about them now, Tracy.”
“I promise to give you a good look at them,” she said in an equivocal double-meaning that Flanders caught.
“I will get a real close look at them from you. I’m sure,” he teased back. Both laughed.
It was now their first date. Tracy and Flanders were sitting side-by-side outside in the nice weather of North Erie Street in De Pere upon the front stoop. Tracy Ventures was dressed in a long-sleeved black and yellow argyle sweater and faded blue jeans and very pretty glasses with big lenses and a pair of black boxing gloves with the word “Everlast” upon them. She was looking upon the number “131” that was above the door to this building, and she said, “I was not sure that this was the place. You told me that you lived on 131 ½ North Erie Street, and the number on the house says, ‘131.’
“That’s the way they do it with apartment buildings of two apartments with one upper and one lower.” he said. “The number ‘1/2’ on my address means the upper of two apartments—mine and my roommate’s apartment. And the number 131 without the ½ technically means the lower apartment of this building, that of my neighbor below me.”
“My best friend Jenny did not know about apartments with a ½ in them, Flanders. And, now that I think of it, it might have been with you,” said the girl boxer. “It seems that she was waiting upon
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a customer who was buying a pair of penny loafers. She had to ask this man for his address, and, yes, it was 121 ½ North Erie Street. She could only think that this street was called ‘Half North Erie Street,’ and that the number of the address was 121.”
“You mean like 121 Half North Erie Street and not 121 ½ North Erie Street. Don’t you?” asked Flanders Nickels with a grin. The girl boxer nodded. “That was I buying the shoes. I remember. Tracy.” Young man and young woman laughed. “Silly girl,” he said.
“Did you ever get your penny loafers, Flanders?” asked Miss Ventures.
“Yes. I did,” said Flanders Nickels.
To both sides of these two on this date on the front porch were two objects. To Flanders’s side upon the concrete was his King James Version Bible. To Tracy’s side upon the concrete was a box with the word “Everlast” upon it.
“I know what’s in that box, Tracy,” he said.
She handed it to him, and he took it in his hands. “Voilà, Flanders,” said the girl boxer. “Or is it ‘voici,’ in this case? I got straight ‘A’s’ in French class all four years of high school.”
“Are they the same color as yours that you have on now?” he asked Tracy Ventures.
“Go ahead and open it and take a good look at them, Flanders,” she said.
He did at once and found them to be black like hers. “I like these, girl,” he said. “Do I get to keep them?”
“They’re all yours,” she said in beneficence.
“I love these,” he said, “especially after having seen you do what you did to that girl in the ring.”
“It is my present to a man who is not against what I do for a living,” said the girl boxer.
“I want to keep seeing you fight, Tracy,” he said.
“I will keep winning for you, Flanders,” she said.
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“Win or lose, Tracy. I will always be your best fan,” said Flanders.
“I won’t let you down, Flanders,” said the girl boxer.
“Tracy, what you did to that girl in the ring…no girl did that to you in the ring…did she?” asked Flanders.
“I have never been knocked out in the ring,” said Miss Ventures.
“Do I dare put these on?” he asked.
“I can tell that you want to,” said the pretty girl boxer. “Don’t be shy. They can’t hit you.”
And he put the black boxing gloves on his fists. He then knocked them together as boxers do, and he said, “I’m ready for the ‘thrilla in Manila,’”
“That’s Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. We are just Tracy and Flanders.” said the girl boxer. “But go ahead and sock me in the face.”
“I never hit a girl with glasses,” he said. She took off her glasses. “I never hit a girl without glasses,” he said this time.
“I hit girls without my glasses, but I don’t hit girls with my glasses.” said the girl boxer a play on words. Both laughed. In essence she said that she did not go into the ring and fight with her glasses on.
He then took off his new boxing gloves to open up his Holy Bible to share his Saviour with the girl boxer here with him now. She read out loud the words, “Authorized King James Version Bible.”
He said to her “The King James Bible is the only perfect Bible out there in the English language, Tracy.”
“How old is it?” she asked.
“It was translated in 1611,” he said.
“Way back early in the seventeenth century,” she said. “Almost four hundred years ago.” And she said, “I believe it.”
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“We born-again Christians call this ‘God’s love letter to mankind,’” said Flanders.
“It is a great big Book,” she said.
“Over a thousand pages,” he said. “Every page with double columns.”
“I heard that the Holy Bible has the Old Testament and the New Testament,” said the girl boxer.
“What’s the difference?”
“The Old Testament talks about God’s chosen nation Israel, and the New Testament talks about Jesus the Saviour of the world.” summarized Flanders Nickels. “The Old Testament has thirty-nine books in it, and the New Testament has twenty-seven books in it.”
“Ah, so there are sixty-six books in the Holy Bible,” said Miss Ventures, working simple arithmetic.
“All of them God-breathed through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and written by men of God,” said Flanders Nickels.
“I wonder how many chapters that there are in the Bible,” asked Tracy Ventures.
“There are one thousand one hundred eighty-seven chapters in the Holy Bible, Tracy,” said Flanders.
“I wonder how many verses that there are in the Good Book,” asked the girl boxer.
“There are thirty-one thousand one hundred seventy-three verses in the Bible,” he told her.
“I wonder how many words that are in the King James Bible that you have there in your hands,” she asked him.
“There are seven hundred seventy-three thousand six hundred ninety-two words in this Book,” he told her.
“I bet that you do not know how many letters there are in that Bible, Flanders,” she challenged him.
He said, “This Bible has a total of three million five hundred sixty-six thousand four hundred
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eighty letters in it, O Tracy.”
“Mr. Flanders Nickels, you know your Bible!” exclaimed the girl boxer. “I give up.” She smiled at him, and he smiled at her.
“It is my favorite book of books,” he told her.
“What happens when you read the Bible like you do, Flanders?” asked Miss Ventures. “What does it do for you?”
In reply, Flanders Nickels said, “It is written, ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.’ Psalm 19:7-10.”
“All good things and no bad things,” assented the girl boxer after hearing this reply.
“Do you like my favorite book, Tracy?” he asked.
“I find now a new liking of your Bible as you have found a new liking of my sport,” said the girl boxer.
“So what got you started with women’s boxing, Tracy?” he asked.
“It all started for me at the theater of all places, Flanders,” said the girl boxer. “It was a contemporary move called ‘Desperately Seeking Susan,’ It was publicized as ‘the Madonna movie.’ Madonna played ‘Susan.’ But it was Rosanna Arquette that fist titillated my fetish for girl’s boxing. She played a woman named, ‘Roberta.’ She was no boxer. But something happened to her that happens a lot to boxers in the ring.”
“Did her head get hit?” asked Flanders.
“No. Instead her head hit something,” said Miss Ventures.
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“Do tell me what so fascinated you about Roberta in the movie that made you the girl boxer that you are today,” said Flanders. “What could it be that her head hit?”
“Her pretty head hit a lamppost and she was knocked unconscious by it, Flanders. Awesome! Awesome! I tell you!” said the girl boxer.
“What a keen accident,” said Flanders getting into it with Tracy as she told her story.
And the girl boxer told more, “Rosanna, or should I say, ‘Roberta,’ was trying to get away from a guy who was after her, and she accidentally crashed back-first into a solid metal lamppost. The back of her head also crashed right into this solid metal lamppost. And she was knocked right out. And she collapsed to the ground on her back. And she lay there and did not move. And the bad guy fled.”
“How I wish now that I had seen that scene,” said Flanders Nickels.
“I saw it over and over again on my VCR,” said Tracy. “You can come over sometime, and we can see it together lots, Flanders,”
“We’ll do that, Tracy!” he said. “Praise the Lord for VHS tapes.”
“So there lay the woman. People came up to her. And then she began to come back to. And do you what the first thing she said was?” asked the girl boxer.
“’What happened? My head hurts,’” replied Flanders.
“You saw the movie, too,” said Miss Ventures.
“Nope,” he said. “It was a guess,”
“That’s what she said when she regained her consciousness with all those people around her: ‘My head hurts,’” said Tracy.
“Neat! Real neat!” said Flanders.
“Bump your head. Lights out. Wake up later,” Tracy summed up Roberta’s compelling accident.
“I wonder what that is like,” said Flanders.
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“So have I, ever since I first saw that scene,” said the girl boxer.
“So is that all about why you went into girls’ boxing so seriously as you have, to hope to be knocked out in the ring?” asked Flanders.
“Yeah. Kind of. That is why I am a girl prize fighter,” said Miss Ventures.
“Don’t you now have a win-loss record of 25-0, Tracy?” he asked.
“Uh huh,” she said. “And twenty of those wins by knockout at that.”
“You made twenty girls experience the one thing that you never got to experience for yourself in the ring, Tracy,” he said.
“Giving it is almost as much fun as getting it,” said the girl boxer.
“You are a fascinating and mixed-up girl, Tracy,” he said in manifest praise and affection.
“Someday it will come upon me. And I will be the one down on the canvas. And then I will know what Roberta knows. And then I will be satisfied. I will finally find out what it is like. And I shall revel in that memory from then on,” said the girl boxer.
“Will it be another lamppost, girl?” he teased her.
“You goof!” she said. “It will be one of these.” And she held up her two black boxing gloves. “That is what these are supposed to do best.”
“I do believe that you will never throw a fight just to get what you want,” he said to her in sureness.
“Getting what I look for in the ring might hurt,” she said. “And I don’t like getting hurt. So I am too chicken to throw a fight to find out what a KO is really all about for a girl. So I keep throwing my punches, and I wait and see what happens to the girl that I am fighting. So far I have not lost a prize fight.”
“What a unique inspiration for such a successful girls’ boxing career that you have, Tracy,” he said to her. “I pray that someday you can finally have your odd and quite quaint dream come true.
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And I pray that your pretty face doesn’t hurt too bad when it happens.”
“What a friend you are, praying that I get knocked senseless. I like that!” said the girl boxer.
“’…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16, woman,” he replied in a funny quip. Both laughed together at his wit.
He then picked up his Bible and hugged it against himself in both arms where he sat. She said, “Why, Flanders, you love the Good Book even more than I do all of my boxing gloves.”
He quoted more Scripture most ardently, “’Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.’ Jeremiah 15:16.”
“You really wanted us together most of all in order to tell me about God. Didn’t you, Flanders?” asked the girl boxer.
He answered her with more sincere and endearing Scripture, “’Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.’ Jeremiah 20:9.”
“This Jeremiah feels great need to tell others about Christ. Am I right?” asked the girl boxer.
“And I do, too, Tracy,” said Flanders. “Heaven and Hell are on the line for souls in De Pere and Green Bay. I must tell them.”
“Do tell me now, Flanders,” said the girl boxer. “Just how good is it to be in Heaven?”
He searched the Scriptures, found what he sought, and showed it to her in his King James Bible, and said, “Philippians 1:23, O Tracy.”
And she read out loud, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:”
“Do you know what that means, Tracy?” he asked.
“I believe that it is saying that being in Heaven is far better than being on Earth,” she said in
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spiritual comprehension.
“Christ sits on His throne in Heaven,” he said.
“I also now believe from this verse that being in Heaven with Christ is even far better for a girl like myself than stepping into the ring with another girl boxer,” said Miss Ventures.
“Girl, you have suddenly learned so much from so short a Word of God!” exclaimed Flanders.
“You and God make a girl want to get saved, Flanders,” said Miss Ventures. “I definitely want to end up in Heaven in my life to come.”
“Jesus saves,” said Flanders.
“But just how bad is it in the other place, Flanders?” asked the girl boxer.
“Do you mean, ‘How bad is it in Hell?’” he asked her.
“Yeah,” she said, knowing herself to still be lost.
He searched the Scriptures for just the right verse to show her, and he found it, and he showed it to her. He said “Mark 9:44, 46, 48, Tracy.”
She looked and said, “Why, all three verses say the same thing, Flanders.”
“Read them out loud, if you wish,” said Flanders.
And she read out loud three times over, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
“What do you think about this?” asked Flanders.
“Hell must be the worst place in the universe,” she said, fearful of the fires of Hell below.
“Are you scared, Tracy?” he asked her.
“Oh, I am, Flanders. I am scared of Hell,” she said.
“Fear is a great reason to get saved,” he said.
“I believe it!” said the girl boxer. “I want to get saved now like never before.”
“Jesus saves, Tracy Ventures,” said Flanders Nickels again.
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“I will do anything now to get right with God and that it goes well for me with my soul, Flanders,” said the girl boxer.
“Do you understand yourself to be a sinner who cannot save herself?” asked Flanders, jumping right into God’s plan of salvation for this beautiful girl.
“I am! I so am!” said Tracy Ventures. “I like to punch girls, and I can never get enough of that.”
Whether girls’ boxing were a sin in God’s eyes, Flanders could not know. He pressed on, however. The important thing was that she knew herself to be a lost sinner in this life. He went on to ask, “Do you believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross for you and that He rose again the third day?”
“I believe that a Higher Power did indeed shed His blood for me and died and arose from the grave,” confessed the girl boxer.
Whether this young woman were acknowledging his Jesus as the Higher Power, again, Flanders could not tell. It was good that she did profess the Gospel of salvation. He continued on for her soul. He asked her, “Do you believe that in order to get saved, you must come to God in prayer?”
“I think so. I really want it to be that way,” said the girl boxer.
Whether she were sincere about accepting the free gift of eternal life, here again, Flanders had some doubts about this girl boxer seeking the truth now.
“What else do I need to know?” asked Tracy Ventures.
“Tracy, I have misgivings about what you have been saying in these answers to my questions,” he said.
“What kinds of misgivings” asked the confused woman.
“God never said that you are sinning every time you step into the ring,” said Flanders. “Jesus never died for you because you are a girl boxer.”
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“I do other bad things, too,” said Tracy. “I sometimes lie and steal and cheat from my family, also. Those are read bad things. I deserve to go to Hell because of all that.”
“Leviticus 19:11: ‘Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another,’” recited Flanders.
“Every bad thing that I should never have done, that I have done. And every good thing that I should have done, that I have not done,” confessed the girl boxer all.
“Ah, now I see a pretty girl repenting in sincerity and in truth,” said Flanders.
“And about that God Who shed His blood for me on the cross,” said the girl boxer, “well, I was wrong in calling Him just a Higher Power. The name Jesus for what He had gone through because of me made me a little slow to confess Him. The truth of Christ and His name made me a little offended and a little convicted both at once. I now choose to declare His name as the Saviour of the world, He Who died for me and rose again and lives today.”
“’For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.’ Romans 10:11,” quoted Flanders good Scripture.
“Jesus saves!” proclaimed the girl boxer.
“Ah, a fair brunette praising the name of Jesus the Saviour now,” said Flanders in great encouragement.
“And Flanders, if you can show me two places in the Bible where it says that all I need to do to get saved is to ask God to save me, then I will believe,” said the girl boxer.
“It is written in Romans 10:13, ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,’” he told her right out at once. And then he said right after that, “It is written in Acts 2:21, ‘And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” He quickly showed the girl first the one verse, and then the other.
And in eternal wisdom, Miss Ventures now confessed, “I believe now that getting born again
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is simply a matter of humbling yourself before Almighty God and praying to Him sincerely and asking for and accepting God’s free gift of eternal life.”
“I can see that this day a beautiful girl boxer is so close to so great salvation, Tracy,” said Flanders in great zeal and sweet affection.
“Once I get born again like you, Flanders, then I will get to go to Heaven when I die,” said the girl boxer the wisdom of Christians.
“Would you like to get saved right now?” asked Flanders. “I will lead you line-by-line through the sinners’ prayer, and when we are done, you are saved. Just like that.”
“I can still be a girl boxer when I get There. Can’t I, Flanders?” asked Tracy Ventures.
“The Bible does not speak on that,” said Flanders. “The important thing is that you will get to see and worship the Lord Jesus in His regal glory.”
“This girl wants to box,” said the Miss Tracy Ventures here with Flanders on his cement stoop.
Choosing his words most carefully upon this sudden stumbling block to Tracy’s so near salvation, Flanders said, “We can both wait until we get There, and then we can find out if you can box forever Up There or not.”
“If I cannot get knocked out in the ring, then I do not want to go There right now,” said the unsaved girl boxer.
“You really want so bad to get knocked unconscious with one of these that you refuse to get saved?” asked Flanders, holding up one of the black boxing gloves that she had given him.
“Uh huh,” said the carnal girl boxer.
Thinking hard in prayer and trying to seek a solution to this girl boxer’s strange fetish, Flanders asked, “If you do experience your own first knockout for yourself, will you then let me lead you to the Lord, Tracy?”
“You mean that if I let it happen to me in a prize fight, that then I will be ready to receive Christ
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as Saviour?” asked the girl boxer.
“I was thinking of something sooner than your next bout with a girl in the ring,” said Flanders, strong in the Holy Spirit and resolved to consider a crazy idea for the good of her soul.
“I promise, Flanders, anytime, anywhere, once I get put to sleep in a prize fight, then my curiosity is satisfied. And right after that, I will go on and get born again,” said Tracy.
“The Holy Spirit has put an idea in my head,” declared Flanders. “And it is like nothing that I have done before to a girl.”
“What was that something sooner than my next fight in the arena that you were hinting about just now, Flanders?” asked Miss Ventures.
“We can answer your demands right here in this front yard of mine—you and I, O Tracy,” said Flanders. “Watch out. It will hurt me more than it will hurt you.”
“Do I get what you’re telling me?” asked the girl boxer. He nodded and spoke not a word. “You will be my next opponent?” she asked. He nodded again and said nothing. “We will have a prize fight right here in your front yard?” she asked. He nodded a third time and spoke not. “You think that you can take me in the ring, Flanders?” she asked. Again he nodded without a word from his tongue. “Do Christian guys hit girls?” she asked. In answer he stood up, took up the black boxing gloves, and put them on.
For her first time, this girl boxer was unsure of herself before a boxing match. She saw Flanders walk out into the middle of his little front yard, take a deep breath and look up to Heaven, and then turn around and wait for her to come and fight him. Punching a man was different from punching a girl; the man might not go down. Being punched by a man was different from being punched by a girl; she might go down. She took off her glasses
“Do not keep the Lord waiting, Miss Ventures,” said Flanders Nickels. Afraid of Flanders’s right boxing glove and now very unsure of her desires for a KO in the ring
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to happen to her, the girl boxer approached Flanders with her gloves down at her sides and with her knees trembling and with her heart faint.
“Thank You, Lord. Forgive me, Tracy. Here goes, Flanders,” said Flanders Nickels.
She closed her eyes in uncertainty and in submission. He hesitated. The Holy Spirit told him, “Throw a punch at the girl right now and real hard and one time.”
She opened her eyes, and her girls’ boxing confidence came back strong and alive once again in her face. She was her old self again. He threw a stiff roundhouse right toward the left cheek of the girl boxer. And, most adept as the girl boxer had always been in prize fights, the professional Tracy Ventures threw back her head out of the way of the clumsy punch. And it was a clean miss. But, in so doing this, in dodging of her head back, the girl boxer hit her head hard against the top of the little lamppost that was in his front yard. And her head made a sound of a thump, and the glass broke in the lamp portion, and she fell to the ground hard and lay there and did not move. Tracy Ventures had just been knocked unconscious by a lamp post. The girl boxer had now gotten what she had always wanted—she had gotten knocked out. Flanders in God’s way had made this curious girl find out all about what a KO felt like in the ring. And Flanders confidently waited upon the Good Lord to make her wake back up and to be all ready for that sinners’ prayer that she had needed to pray all of her life. And God did not keep him waiting long.
As soon as he sat down next to the girl boxer who lay there, her head moved and her eyes opened back up again, and she said in a daze to him, “What happened? My head hurts.”
“You got knocked out by a lamppost, silly girl,” he said. And he began to laugh.
“A lamppost?” asked the girl boxer.
“I never laid a glove on you,” he said in great mirth.
“Flanders,” said the girl boxer, quickly regaining her senses, “that kind of thing is supposed to happen only to Roberta in the movies.” She laughed and sat back up, leaning upon her outstretched
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arms, her gloves upon the ground to both sides of her.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“At least my pretty face does not hurt,” she said with a merry laugh.
“What was it like, getting knocked unconscious?” he asked her.
“I don’t know. I slept right through it,” she said.
“Are you glad it happened?” he asked.
“That I am,” she said. “And I thank you for doing that to me. I needed to get straightened out the way I was still stubborn against getting saved and all.”
“Are you ready finally for Jesus?” he asked.
“I am at that for sure now, Flanders,” said the girl boxer. She took off her boxing gloves, and he took off his boxing gloves. Together he and she came back to the porch where his Holy Bible was. She set her gloves behind herself where she sat up on top of this stoop, and he did the same with his boxing gloves behind himself where he sat on top of this stoop. She reached out her hands now for his Bible. And he let her hold his Bible in her hands upon her lap. “Your girl boxer is ready to pray now, Flanders,” said Miss Tracy Ventures. She put back on her glasses.
And he began to lead her through the prayer for salvation: “Dear God:”
“Dear God:” she repeated after him.
“I have sin in my life,” he said for her.
“I have sin in my life,” she said after him.
“I am sorry for that. Please forgive me,” he said.
“I am sorry for that. Please forgive me,” she said.
“I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me,” he said.
“I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me,” she said.
“I believe that Jesus arose from the grave on the third day,” he said.
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“I believe that Jesus arose from the grave on the third day,” she said.
“I cannot save myself. Only Jesus can save me,” he said.
“I cannot save myself. Only Jesus can save me,” she said.
“I ask You now to save my lost soul,” he said.
“I ask You now to save my lost soul,” she supplicated God.
“And to become my personal Saviour,” he said.
“And to become my personal Saviour,” she petitioned God.
“In Jesus’s name I pray,” he said.
“In Jesus’s name I pray,” she did say to God Up in Heaven.
“Amen,” he finished her sinners’ prayer.
“Amen,” she finished her sinners’ prayer.
They looked up from their prayer site. “Ah, a beautiful girl has just gotten saved,” said Flanders.
“Now I’m born again, too, just like you, Flanders,” said the girl boxer.
“What kinds of things are going on in your heart now that you became a Christian, Tracy?” he asked.
“All I know now is that the best thing that could ever happen to me has just happened to me,” said Miss Ventures, filled with the joy of the Lord.
“Better than what happened to you with my lamppost, girl?” he teased her.
“Better than what happened to me with your lamppost, Flanders,” she said, grinning at him.
“Sorry for what my lamppost did to your head, Tracy,” he said.
“Sorry for what my head did to your lamppost, Flanders,” said the girl boxer.
It is written in Luke 15:7, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” And again it
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is written in Luke 15:10, “Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
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