Chicagoman
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About this ebook
You will be touched as you read the fictional story of Tom and Julie Grant, a young Christian couple living in Chicago.
The Grants become victim of a very real epidemic affecting over 50% of our homes today, as divorce shatters their family.
This inspiring book, although not based on actual people, brings out one of the greatest truths known to mankind today: GOD HEALS HURTING MARRIAGES.
The Grant's story is touching, tearful, and then triumphant, as God restores another broken family.
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Chicagoman - Bob Steinkamp
CHICAGOMAN
Many Are The Plans In A Man's Heart, But It Is The Lord's Purpose That Prevails. Proverbs 19:21
By Bob Steinkamp
Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
Post Office Box 10548
Pompano Beach, FL 33061 USA
http://rejoiceministries.org/
~~~~
All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written consent of the publisher.
This book is entirely fictional and is not based upon any actual person, living or dead, or any event, except for the author and his family. Any resemblance to a specific person or situation is coincidental.
Scripture Quotations are from the King James Version or the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission.
Published by Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 1997 by Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
~~~~
TABLE OF CONTENTS
In Appreciation
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1 - A Little Child Shall Lead Them
Chapter 2 - The Meeting
Chapter 3 - Their Sins Will Find Them Out
Chapter 4 - The Secretary
Chapter 5 - See An Attorney
Chapter 6 - Gone
Chapter 7 - Just What He Wanted
Chapter 8 - Without A Notice
Chapter 9 - Maybe The Pastor Was Right
Chapter 10 - Finding Someone Else
Chapter 11 - Not After What I've Done
Chapter 12 - Everywhere I Go
Chapter 13 - A Beautiful Night
Chapter 14 - Different
Chapter 15 - Even Executives Cry
Chapter 16 - Ready To Serve Him
Epilogue
Meet The Steinkamps
The Greatest News
Ten Sources Of Help
Connect With Rejoice Marriage Ministries
IN APPRECIATION
I want to thank Karen Lewis for preparation of her beautiful artwork and design of the cover. One of the blessings of each new book is discovering what scene the Lord has given Karen.
A special thanks and appreciation to Julie Bell, Lorrie Meininger and others who spent many hours in typing, in editing, and in critiquing the manuscript for this book.
Thank you to the many that prayed and provided so this book might be placed in your hands.
Back To Table Of Contents
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to men and women all over the world who have marriage problems. Everywhere they turn they are being offered the world's solution; divorce.
This book is dedicated to bringing hope to every troubled marriage. May each reader come to understand that there is life for their marriage only after they turn to God.
I know of no better example of one who turned to God, and stood firm than my wife, Charlyne. Thanks, honey, for not giving up on me.
Bob Steinkamp
Back To Table Of Contents
FOREWORD
Chicagoman is a contemporary internet story of temptation, failure, yet insight and courage - - but most of all hope. The destructive seduction of the affair and the confusion that follows are patterns we have watched in thousands of marriages. As you read, you will cry and you will say, Now I understand.
but most of all you will believe your life has a future, because God is there!
Jim Conway, Ph.D.
President, Midlife Dimensions
Author of 14 books on midlife crisis and marriage
Back To Table Of Contents
INTRODUCTION
In the pages that follow, you will read the fictional account of Tom and Julie Grant, a young Christian couple, always seeking to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and excited about serving Him.
During the 25 year span of this book, you will witness a painful process that is taking place in over 50% of our families today--divorce. That is the problem. Our Lord God provides the provision.
Although their story is fictional, the heartache experienced by Tom and Julie became real to Charlyne and me anew, as the pain of our own divorce in 1986 came back, as each page of this book was being written. If reading this book brings tears, no apology is necessary. The man the Lord allowed to write it cried his way through each chapter.
One day recently, while driving in my car alone, my heart was heavy. I attempted to recall for whom I was burdened and should be praying for that day. Only then did I remember this to be the Saturday when Tom Grant, in this story, was leaving his family.
My prayer is that as you read CHICAGOMAN, a hurting family might become real to you. No, not the Grants, but that family next door, or at church, who is under Satan's attack. May you be the one to always declare, wherever the Lord has placed you, that GOD HEALS HURTING MARRIAGES.
Bob Steinkamp
Back To Table Of Contents
CHAPTER 1
A Little Child Shall Lead Them
Honey, I really need your help. Can you please get up with Sam this time? I'm exhausted,
Julie pleaded. The cry of six-week-old Samantha continued to pierce the darkness of the Grant Chicago apartment. The same cry that would have been a welcomed sign that his new daughter was awake during the evening hours was now an unwelcome intruder into Tom's deep sleep. As he attempted to awaken, Tom mused, Why do babies cry so much louder during the night?
Samantha's crying had actually awakened Tom a couple of minutes prior. He was lying still, hoping that he would soon feel their bed move, as Julie got up to attend to their baby. Somehow, he reasoned that if he was awake, Julie would expect him to get up with Samantha this time. If he was asleep, perhaps she would get up. That was not happening.
His eyes focused on the bedside clock; 3:12 AM. In five hours, he would be at work downtown. He had only gone to bed after 1:00 AM, long after Julie. Since their precious baby had arrived, Samantha had taken up most of Julie's time. Tom had found a new interest for his time in the computer that Julie had purchased for him last Christmas. Hours would seem like minutes when he was on-line.
As Tom wiped his sleepy eyes, he again looked at the clock, hoping that it had changed to a later hour. It had not; 3:12 AM. Samantha's crying had become more incessant.
Tom, can you get up, or should I?
Julie asked, almost from her sleep.
I'm getting up. Just give me a minute,
he barked roughly back at her, as his feet sought slippers on the cold Chicago floor. Guilt, over his words, as well as his tone, flooded Tom's emotions as soon as that sentence had been spoken. Samantha's crying had become almost a desperate wail for attention.
Tom sat on the bedside, trying to awaken. He thought back, trying to remember how much sleep made up this short night. Two hours so far. Every evening he promised to himself, and often to Julie, as well, that he would go to bed when she did. Yet, every evening CHICAGOMAN would log on the computer and seek out a chat room.
Others in the chat rooms thought CHICAGOMAN to be witty and interesting. He often thought about Julie as he communicated with an anonymous person in an anonymous location somewhere across the nation. Yes, he thought about Julie; how she had gained weight since the baby arrived six weeks ago. He thought about how she was always tired.
He thought about Julie most when the E-mails would arrive on his computer screen. The rush of having someone (hopefully female) show a personal interest in him was often accompanied by guilt, knowing that he should be asleep beside his wife. He thought about Julie most of all when the E-mail would be less than what a Christian man should be reading. These were often read while glancing at the bedroom door, ready to ESCAPE, should his tired and sleepy Christian wife and the mother of his child appear.
Tom had re-played the on-line scenario