And the Two Shall Become One: The Frank J. Atwood and Rachel L. Atwood Story
- ISBN-10
- 1985391058
- ISBN-13
- 9781985391055
- Pages
- 314
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2018-04-29
- Author
- Frank Atwood
Description
How do we reconcile the death sentence - specifically, a sentence of death that was pronounced on the 8th of May in 1987 - with our marriage, and more importantly, with eternallife? In order to answer this question, we need not only to lookback, but especially, to look forward.Before we were joined in marriage, we were two peoplefrom two extremely divergent backgrounds. Frank, the only childborn to affluent parents, had a childhood of privilege; Rachel,the only daughter of a couple who later divorced, had a childhoodracked with difficulties. In spite of the difficulties, Rachelbecame "one of us" - a hard-working American with a kind andgentle heart and a rock-solid belief in God. Despite the privilegesand the affluence, Frank's "choices" - some that he made andsome that had been foisted upon him - led him down the darktrail that ended, eventually, on Death Row in an Arizona prison.The stories of our lives are the stories of the two very differentpeople, who, several years after the death sentence hadbeen pronounced, were married on December 17, 1991. They arethe stories of how Rachel become "one of us" and of how Frank's"choices" led him so far astray. They are the stories of how we met and married; but they go further, for they are the stories thatexplain how each of us discovered Orthodoxy and came to be Eastern Orthodox Christians, and especially, of how the trajectoryof our lives has so completely changed. Merely being OrthodoxChristians can never be enough; we have learned to leadlives of prayer, repentance, and most of all, hope. With our hopefirmly grounded in our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, welook forward to life in Him, because only in Him are all thingspossible.We must emphasize that we did not "become one" uponour marriage, but years later. Through our individual life experiencesand through our shared experiences, we have learned, atlast, what is meant by "And The Two Shall Become One". At therequest of clergy near and dear to us, we offer these, first, ourindividual and then, our shared experiences to the scrutiny andprayers of all who read them. And we pray, always for the salvationof all.
