A wanderer comes home

By Father DAVID EPPS
Contributing Writer

Father David Epps is Rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church which meets at 8 and 10 a.m. Sundays at 4881 E. Hwy. 34. He may be contacted at 770-252-2428, or at frepps@ctkcec.org

This weekend, my youngest son, James, age 23, is getting married. Suddenly, he seems so grown up and, just as suddenly, I feel just a bit older. James was the child who, in a sense was our "second" family. In 1972, Jason was born and his brother John came along in 1974. We thought we were finished having our family but, in 1980, Cindy wanted another baby. So, with two children in our home who were almost 9 and 7, James was born in western Colorado in the spring of 1981.

James was our "wanderer." He was barely a year old when, somehow without our knowledge, he awoke from his nap and managed to open the kitchen door to our home in Grand Junction, Colo., and escape. Cindy thought he was napping right up until a knock on the door revealed a neighbor from half a mile away who had brought him home. A few months later, he escaped from the nursery one Sunday morning at the downtown church we attended and eluded every adult as he broke free to wander the streets downtown. When he was discovered to be missing, a frantic search ensued until he was found sitting on the front porch of one of the city's residents several blocks away.

So, it didn't really surprise me when, on his 18th birthday, without telling a soul and foiling all our well-laid plans for him, he enlisted in the U. S. Air Force. After his graduation from East Coweta High School, he left for Texas and began basic training. A bright kid, he went through the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA and attended several technical schools in a couple of states. He has a top secret security clearance and can't talk about what he does, which seems to delight him, knowing that he can keep his mother and me in the dark about something.

I knew that James would be successful way back when he was in middle school. James went out for the cross-country team even though, in his own words, he isn't that interested in sports. During the season, he developed painful shin splints but decided to run in a competition anyway. Midway through the event, his face became contorted with pain. I watched through binoculars and whispered at him to just drop out and walk back. With each step he took, his face was skewered up in agony and his teeth were clenched. He came in last by a long way, but he never quit. I would have quit, but he didn't. That was the day I knew he had the guts to do whatever it would take to make a good life for himself.

He met his bride-to-be, Leslie Meyer, in San Antonio. She's from New Mexico and is in the Air Force, too. She also has a top secret clearance, so I guess I will just have to get used to them keeping secrets from me. I guess they can talk to each other, but I'm not sure. She's a quiet, sweet, pretty blonde that we have just fallen in love with. We've told her things about him that we felt she needed to know, like his tendency to build traps during the night in order to capture his brothers when they came home from work or a date. We told her about his tendency to take all his clothes off in the middle of the night, pile them on his bed, and wet on them. Of course he was a toddler then, but she needs to be aware of traps and strange habits. One never knows when such things might resurface.

Still, she wants to marry him, even after meeting his rather unusual family. Someone at church asked if she was still going to marry him even after being at one of our Sunday dinners. I'll just say that we're not the typical stereotype of a minister and his family and leave it at that. And, yes, she is going to marry him. His brothers are serving as "best men" and I will administer the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. His mother will cry and the people who have prayed for our family for the last eight years at Christ the King will be in attendance to see what their prayers have wrought. Leslie's family, having made the long trip from New Mexico will be there to see their beautiful bride walk down the aisle.

Next month, having completed their tour of duty, they both leave the Air Force, he a staff sergeant and she a senior airman, and will likely move away from Texas. They are talking about Denver and other cities where their skills can be used. James, I have realized, is still a wanderer. But, every so often, he wanders back to Georgia and lights up my world. The next time he returns, it will be as a husband, a veteran, and as a man making his way in the world. It's hard when your youngest establishes his or her own family, but it's a proud moment, too. It's a long race that is set before him and he, and his bride, will face any number of challenges, but I'm not worried. The kid has brains and he has guts. Now he also has someone to run the race with him.

[Father David Epps is rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church, which meets at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sundays at 4881 E. Ga. Highway 34. He may be contacted at 770-252-2428, at frepps@ctkcec.org.]