“Pay what you have vowed. Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.” Ecclesiastes 5:4,5 (NKJV)
Janis was tired of her job flipping burgers. Now an office clerk, she is welcomed into the women’s office clique! Kandace, her new
coworker, sings, “Remember it’s Friday. We’re meeting at Jambo’s this time!” “See you there!” Janis replies. But she remembers when Friday nights were when she and her church’s “band of sisters” visited the sick, prayed for them and helped with needs. Yet, having fun-loving office friends feels so good!
But after dressing, applying makeup, and heading for Jambo’s, a gnawing feeling that something may go wrong troubles her. Maybe
guilt about abandoning the sisters? But once there, her smiling friends calm her guilt. Inside, the place is jam-packed. Popular singers belt their latest hits. Janis’ group splits apart when the dancing starts. Nobody has asked her to dance, so she sits watching the others absorbed in their own versions of fun.
Shortly after midnight somebody bumps into someone else. The murmuring heightens to threats. A fight breaks out. Shots ring.
Screaming starts. Janis heads for an exit. But other panicked partiers bottleneck. More shots ring out. Approaching sirens sound outside,
then burning pain radiates through Janis’ arm.
After treatment and release from the emergency room, Janis lies in her bed the following morning. Her arm aches from the graze of the bullet. TV news names her as the only one injured in the barroom fracas. Then she remembers that the promise she’d made to her church sisters was really a promise to God. And she had broken it. A tear streams down her cheek. “Forgive me, Father, and thank you for giving me another chance!”
“He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” Proverbs 13:20 (NKJV).
Father in Heaven, help us to prayerfully consider and keep the promises we make to you. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
— Kiki BelMonte-Schaller
Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.
The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website.
Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org