Song Of The Waterwheel
The true story of a love and marriage that beat the odds
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Excerpts From ‘Song of the Waterwheel’
My heart sank when I learned that with her first paycheck from the post office Kristene had rented a one-bedroom apartment within walking distance of her workplace and got her furniture out of storage. She also bought a used bicycle to ride to work. I was heartbroken and pleaded with her not to leave when she kissed me good-bye and drove away in our little red Toyota. I went back inside the house, feeling crushed and empty. My mind was spinning. Had I heard from God correctly or not? If so, how could this happen? A sickening knot developed in my stomach. I had no appetite, and sleep escaped me. During the days and weeks that followed, I dragged myself to work..
“..I’m just not cut out for marriage or kids. It all happened too fast. If we had waited, this would have been over in about six months. I’m not the type for permanent relationships,” she said. We talked for quite awhile longer, and she finally agreed to attend at least one session of counseling..
The counselor I met with was an elderly woman named Alice. We talked and prayed together. A week later I met with her again. She had a long face. “You didn’t tell me your wife was so beautiful,” she said. “It’s no wonder you want her back. Uh—I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Of course you would want her back, regardless, but I didn’t expect to see this. Your wife is one of the most stunning women I think I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, Kristene had a hardened attitude about staying married when she came here, and it never changed. I’m really sorry, but I can’t see any reason to offer you any hope on this..
Two days later, I got a call at home unexpectedly from Alice, of Burden Bearers. “I want you to know that I have been in much prayer about you and Kristene,” she said. “I was praying last night and the Lord gave me a vision of a waterwheel that was steadily turning over, blade by blade, rotated by the water,” she said. “I asked the Lord, ‘Lord, what does this mean?’ The Lord told me as clearly as I hear my own voice now, ‘It means that life is an unfolding process.’
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About the Book
Song of the Waterwheel is a true love story of two unlikely people, opposite personalities whose red-hot romance established an unbreakable marriage that, for twenty-eight years, withstood all tests: time, multiple disasters, treachery and betrayal, financial loss, births, sickness, even death itself—because God was the author of their story.
About the Author
John Hansen has had a passion for writing as early as his sophomore year in high school, when he received attention for Prairie Moon, a short story about a murderer fleeing his pursuers on horseback. After high school, John served four years in the US Navy, during which time he was a Gunner’s Mate aboard an amphibious assault ship that plied the rivers and coastal shorelines of Vietnam and Southeast Asia for two tours of missions there between 1967 and 1970. After military service, John joined the Bellevue Police Department in Washington as a uniformed patrol officer, graduated from Seattle University on the GI Bill, all before becoming a Christian. After ten years in the patrol division, John met his beloved wife Kristene just days after he was transferred to the detective division. Their whirlwind romance was followed by two children, a daughter, Kristena, and a son, John III. During his police career, John had a reputation with his supervisors, prosecutors, and judges for the quality of his written reports. John retired from the police department after twenty-one years of service, and entered the business world as a private investigator. When his family of four moved to Arizona in 2002, John began chronicling their adventures and forays into the desert in a series of nonfiction short stories named Adventures in the Desert. John lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he is a member of North Scottsdale Christian, and is active in men’s ministries, including weekly Bible studies in his home. He also does search-and-rescue work on horseback with the Maricopa County Mounted Sheriff’s Posse.