He recalled the sound of her voice as she sang, "When I shall see Him face to face and tell the story saved by grace." But that scripture, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord," took the sweetness out of that long-remembered song.

Jake knew he was not holy.

His heart was defiled by sin.

His lips were unclean with blaspheming God's name.

He remembered all the good resolutions he had made and broken the past quarter of a century.