Title - Frank
Author - Spookysister7
Email address - - http/ - PG
Category - MASH- alt universe
Spoilers - After Margaret's Wedding
Summary -What if Frank found God?
"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11)
"No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from." George Eliot (1819-1890)
"Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi
Feedback - Please, oh please, oh please! I'm young, I'm stupid, I need help! Thanx! Post anywhere! Just keep my name and let me know.
Disclaimer -
BJ and Hot Lips are not mine
They aren't making me a dime
They belong to my man, Alan
And Fox, the company of talent
Hawkeye does not belong to me
But if he did, I'd be filled with glee
Frank and Potter, don't forget Klinger
Alright, I'm done, I'll no longer linger
But just remember, morning glory
They're not mine, now read the story
MASH: Frank
He had lost everything. His job, his girlfriend, his wife, and now his mother, all gone. In the space of a few short months, everyone who had ever loved him was gone. Frank stood silently, Bible in hand, staring up at the stars. Standing in the midst of the minefield, Frank made his peace with the world, expecting to die at his next step. He walked forward.
"Three hours walking in a minefield and not one mine!" Frank muttered, impatiently stomping through the weeds. The sun was rising slowly on the horizon, and Frank was becoming ever more frantic to get this over with. Soon, his insurance wouldn't buy into him stumbling through a minefield in the dark. A distinctly mechanical click sounded from beneath his boot. He gulped and paled. Now that death was upon him, he had second thoughts. What if I survive? I don't want to end up a vegetable. I hope it doesn't hurt. Thoughts whirling, Frank lifted his foot. Nothing happened.
"Why won't you let me die!" He screamed to the heavens, Bible raised angrily in his fist. Stomping out of the minefield, Frank looked back in disgust. His anger grew, and the Bible in his hand became a thing of such vile hypocrisy that Frank was sick of seeing it. He threw it as hard as he could towards the center of the field, pages waving as it flew. As gently as a dove, it fluttered to the ground. Boom. Frank was thrown back, dirt flying through the air, as a mine exploded mere meters from where he stood. His body lay covered in dirt, blood leaking from his ears.
Someone was shaking him. He shook his head, annoyed. They shook him again and he opened his eyes. Pierce. I should have known.
"Wha ya wan Piece?" Frank asked angrily, shoving Hawkeye's hand away. At least, that's what he tried to say. He could feel his mouth moving and his vocal cords vibrating, but nothing was coming out. Pierce said something.
"Tha not funny, Piece. Kit 'oofin off an talk ta me!" Frank tried to say, feeling but not hearing the words. Pierce's mouth moved again, but Frank heard nothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nurse Kellye drop a bedpan. It should have clattered to the floor, but the metal hit the ground in silence. Frank paled, finally realizing this was no practical joke. He reached up the feel his ears. They were still in one piece, along with the rest of his body, but he was completely deaf. Pierce looked at him pityingly as his face fell, assessing the damage. Frank finally looked up.
"Pernint?" He asked simply. Hawkeye shook his head and shrugged, an apologetic look on his face.
"Oh." Frank whispered, looking down. Hawkeye reached out a comforting hand, pausing halfway as if considering just who it was he was comforting. Hawkeye squeezed his shoulder, but Frank didn't respond, eyes blankly staring at the floor. Hawkeye stood, shaking his head sadly, and left.
Two days of silence later...
Father Mulcahy stood quietly by his bed, reluctant to disturb his meditative stare. He finally moved, gently brushing the edge of Frank's cot. Frank blinked and looked up at the Father. Sitting up slowly, he gestured towards the nearby chair. The Father sat, scribbling quickly on the little note pad he had brought.
"Need anything, Major?" Frank shook his head, glancing back at the bare walls surrounding him. He had removed every picture, every memory, from his side of the Swamp. Now his cot lay bare and empty, as empty as his soul. Father Mulcahy looked around and shook his head. Pulling out a small Bible, he opened the cover and wrote something. Before Frank could protest, the Padre slid the Bible into his hands and left. Frank looked down at the Bible in fear, flashing back to the terrible accident that had cost him his hearing. Through the fear, another emotion bubbled to the surface. Need. Frank opened the Bible, reading what Father Mulcahy had written.
"When you are down to nothing, God is up to something." Frank slammed the Bible shut, setting it down next to him. One thought echoed through his mind. Why did you let me live! I was ready to die, and now I have nothing! Not even my hearing! Why did you let me live! Frank screamed to God; angry, tired, and lonely beyond belief. He had finally moved past self-pity and had turned to anger. A sudden rush of wind blew through the camp, slicing through the Swamp like a blade and rustling the thin pages of the Bible next to him. Frank shivered, oddly chilled in the warm summer sunlight. One page stuck, and the wind slowed. Frank looked down at the Bible in fear, a very irrational thought buzzing in his mind. With a look of disgust, he dismissed it. Aiming to prove that the thought was incomprehensible, Frank started to read where the wind had blown it open.
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." (Exodus 33:19)
Frank swallowed, thinking back to his angry rants. The wind returned, sweeping the pages once again. Frank sat stock still, afraid to move. When the wind stopped, he read again.
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."(Phil 3:7-16)
A righteousness that comes from God and is by faith, not from the law. Faith. An odd word Frank had never analyzed. He had heard it before, of course, but never really understood what it meant. Flipping to the end of the Bible, he searched through the concordance. There was faith, and under it several verses. Righteousness caught his eye and he turned to the verse.
"What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the 'stumbling stone.'" (Rom 9:30-32)
Works a stumbling stone? What is faith then? He looked up the first verse; Faith, definition of.
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)
Oh. Frank thought, still confused. The list of verses was long, and Frank continued looking, hoping to find some answers.
"Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Rom 10:17)
Okay, read the Bible, and you get faith. I've read it, where's my faith?
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Rom 5:1-5)
Gained access by faith into grace? Now, what the heck is grace? Frank searched the back of the Bible. A line jumped out at him- The Grace of Christ. He turned.
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Rom 5:6-11)
Saved? He died so we could be saved? How do you get saved?
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you have faith and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Rom 10:9-10)
Frank read and reread that verse. Do I have faith? Well, I do believe he died for me. Can I confess? Confession means repentance. Am I ready to stop? The memory of the mine explosion and the thoughts that had flashed through his mind in those few terrible seconds between consciousness and darkness convinced him that someone wanted him to change, and fast. Can I stop? A memory verse from some long forgotten Sunday school class popped into his head.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Phil 4:13)
Bending to one knee, Frank prayed. As he confessed his unworthiness to be saved, his sins overwhelmed him and he realized how he had hurt God with his actions. Professing to be one of God's children, and then acting the way he had... He really didn't deserve forgiveness. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Frank began to pray out loud, tears running down his face.
"Jesus, you are Lord. I know that I am a sinner, and I repent of my sins. I know you died for me, and that you rose again. Please forgive me for what I have done, and come into my heart." As he finished praying, a feeling of peace flowed over him. His breath stopped as a wave of hope and peace radiated out of him, and left the tips of his fingers tingly.
"The Holy Spirit." Frank whispered, awed. He was alone no longer, but felt such acceptance and fulfillment that his previous depression seemed like a bad dream. He laughed.
He felt flooded with energy, anxious to tell someone about his experience. The Father. He should be the first to know. As Frank rose from the floor, Klinger flew in the door. Gesturing frantically, he pointed up. Frank quickly understood. Choppers. The two men ran out the door.
The choppers were coming in too fast for Frank to talk to the Father, but he did manage to slip him a scrap of paper. Father Mulcahy read it curiously, and then looked up, startled. Frank looked up from the triage duty and smiled; the Father, with an astonished look on his face, smiled back. He clutched the scrap of paper tightly, planning on saving it for a long, long time. It was only a sentence, but it told it all.
"I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." (Isaiah 65:1)
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (1 Peter 5:8-9)
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:28-38)
What if BJ or Hawkeye hit each other and hit head and fell into coma. POW/ beating, separated. A maternal Frank?