Millstones

At Odyssey's Wednesday afternoon Bible study, Connie Kendall announces a fundraiser for her childhood friend Pamela, whose California home has been destroyed by wildfires. Connie sets an ambitious goal of five thousand dollars, opens an online crowdfunding account, and places collection boxes at church and at Whit's End. Pastor Wilson Knox prays that God will comfort Pamela and help everyone show her His love.

Meanwhile at Whit's End, Renee Carter is so lost in thought that she washes the same glass for ten minutes. She tells Whit she is troubled by how easily Professor Lebernis once manipulated the characters in her creation program, and she wonders how she can teach them to make good choices when she is not sure she knows how herself. Whit points out that Renee became a champion tennis player through hard work and practice, and says making the best choices works the same way. Since Renee worries about practicing decisions on real people, Whit leads her to the Room of Consequence for a two-part practice session.

In part one, Renee finds herself in her lab at Campbell College, where Professor Lebernis bursts in begging her to hide him in the portable Imagination Station from some "very bad men." Remembering how he altered her program and tried to steal the Imagination Station's secrets, Renee suspects a trick and flatly refuses. In part two, she is in an old house where Lebernis pounds on her door wearing a Star of David. It is 1941 in Nazi Germany, and Jewish people are being rounded up and sent to camps. This time Renee hides him in her basement, and when officers come asking about him, she tells them she has not seen him. Afterward Renee feels guilty about lying, but Whit explains that Proverbs commands us to rescue those being taken away to death, and that the scenario came straight from the real life of Corrie Ten Boom. Then he gently turns to part one: Renee never asked who the men chasing Lebernis were or whether they had any right to take him. She simply wanted to see him punished. That dilemma, Whit says, was never about lying at all. It was about forgiveness.

Connie's fundraiser, meanwhile, is off to a miserable start. After two days the donations total only thirty-five dollars, so she fires off a shaming email to prod people along. The only person showing initiative is Jay Smouse, who strikes a bargain with Connie: if he fills a collection box, she will tear up his enormous soda fountain tab. When Jay returns with nearly ninety dollars, Connie cancels his tab, promises him free sundaes, and tells him to keep doing whatever he is doing. Emboldened, Connie scolds the church youth group, calling their response "pathetic" and pointing out that Jay, who does not even go to church, has out-given them all. Pastor Knox pulls her aside and warns that abusing people into giving undoes the very goodness she is trying to do, telling her, "Doing wrong in the name of right is still doing wrong." Connie storms off anyway, insisting that helping Pamela is all that matters. Soon after, Pastor Knox catches Jay's secret: he has been taking unflattering photos of kids at school and threatening to post them online unless they donate. The pastor shuts down the blackmail scheme and makes Jay return every cent.

Back at Whit's End, Whit confronts Connie about giving away tabs and sundaes he never authorized, then brings her upstairs for a phone call from Pamela herself, with Pastor Knox waiting in the office. Pamela has heard everything, and she lovingly refuses the money. "It's sin money, Connie," she says, reminding her friend of Jesus's warning that anyone who leads others into sin would be better off with a millstone around his neck, cast into the sea. Even though she desperately needs help, Pamela will send back anything raised this way. Crushed, Connie protests that she only wanted to help, but Whit reminds her that they have been praying for Renee to come to know Jesus, and asks how he can teach Renee Christian ethics when his best employee acts as if extorting money is fine so long as it is for a good cause.

Later, a humbled Connie finds Whit preparing another practice round for Renee in the Room of Consequence and asks to join in, admitting she could use some practice making ethical choices too. Quietly she adds that maybe she can even get rid of a millstone. Whit smiles and tells her it seems to be already untied and falling away, and the two friends step through the door together.