Standing and Waiting covers events that sweep from the mid-Fifties until the early Nineties. Mark Atwood is the only son of an accountant / insurance salesman, Chris Atwood, and part-time secretary / homemaker, Mira Carson Atwood, who live in Whitley, Tennessee. Events of a tragic past are recounted by Mira to Mark. Chris and Mira's lives become wound around several figures of a local Baptist church that they have joined: Brother Bob Clark, the dogmatic pastor of the church, and the imposing chair of the deacons at the church, Hamilton Wallace Stewart, known as "Ham." Chris becomes...

Standing and Waiting covers events that sweep from the mid-Fifties until the early Nineties. Mark Atwood is the only son of an accountant / insurance salesman, Chris Atwood, and part-time secretary / homemaker, Mira Carson Atwood, who live in Whitley, Tennessee. Events of a tragic past are recounted by Mira to Mark. Chris and Mira's lives become wound around several figures of a local Baptist church that they have joined: Brother Bob Clark, the dogmatic pastor of the church, and the imposing chair of the deacons at the church, Hamilton Wallace Stewart, known as "Ham." Chris becomes...