There Must Be Something More

79 | Her Risk

That day could have gone as normal as I wanted it to. But it didn't. I found myself grabbing my Bible from my bedside table and leafing through pages. I didn't know what to make of it, it was just that I felt the need to read God's Word at the start of my day.

And I stopped, from a call of conviction, in 1 Timothy.

And out of all the passages, one hit me like a brick:

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ~1 Timothy 6:12

I closed my eyes. I didn't understand it. What could it mean? But I definitely was drawn to it, and I was sure it was from the Holy Spirit. Or was it? I didn't know. The only thing I was sure of was that the verse was definitely calling out to me.

I prayed right before I left my bed. I asked God that if it was His Word for me for the day, then He would give me clarity and understanding for it.

When I got down the living room Mom and Dad were giving me a kind of sour look. I decided to ignore it but it definitely was tugging at my heartstrings as soon as I reached for my pancakes and butter.

I looked up at them. "What?"

Mom and Dad looked at each other anxiously. Mom turned away from Dad. "You tell him. It was your idea." She said.

Dad cleared his throat and folded his arms. "Son, your mom and I have come to the conclusion that we should... make room for a guest bedroom in this house."

I chewed my pancakes. I nodded. "Okay. There's room in the basement."

Mom looked frazzled. She brushed her hair over her ear. "Charlie, honey, the basement is a little damp and uncomfortable for guests."

"Okay, you can use my room. I don't mind sleeping on the floor of your room, Mom and Dad," I said with a grin.

"I wouldn't want you to do that, Charlie. You have your own room." She said.

"There's no room left," I said. Then I stopped chewing. I lifted my eyes to my parents. "Oh."

Dad cleared his throat again. "We think it's... time, don't you think? I mean, it's been six years, son. We should do a garage sale for Michael's clothes and then clean out his room. You know how your grandpa and grandma like to visit for Christmas."

I tapped my finger on the table in front of me. 

Mom said, "Charlie, I know it's still a little hard for you, but..."

I stood. I picked up my plate and dropped them on the sink.

"It doesn't have to be right away--" Dad started.

"I'll think about it," I told them. I finally turned to face them.

"Charlie, if you're upset about this, you can tell us--" Mom said.

"I'm okay," I said. I gave them a smile. "Just give me time to think about it. I'll be fine."

"Okay," Mom said, her voice shaky. "But if you have a problem, any problem at all, please tell me. I want to help you."

I smiled and pulled her in a hug. "I'm okay, Mom. I love you. Dad too."

She smiled and hugged me tight. "Okay."

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Dad said tauntingly, spreading his arms for one. I laughed and hugged him too. We both laughed like freemen.

I wasn't decided about Michael's room and stuff, but I was smiling the whole drive to school.

----------

"I don't know what it means," I shrugged and leaned on the locker beside Meredith's. She was pulling out her stuff for her first period, and then she closed her locker and turned to me. That day her long brown hair were pulled high into two ponytails that could have come close to ridiculous. But knowing Meredith and the change she did in my life through Jesus, she made it seem endearing. 

"Well then, have faith," Meredith said. She cradled her books to her chest. "God's answers for your prayers don't have to be right away. What's important is you have a Word that will help you for today. His answers will come when you need them."

I nodded. "Hey, what are we going to tell the principal about the photocopy machine?"

"We'll tell him we need it for our club." She said with a careless shrug.

I scoffed in the absurdity of her statement. "Okay, you may not know Principal Powell like I do, but I've lived with him for twelve years and believe me, he is very strict about his atheism. We're lucky we got to establish our club. But actually going to him and explaining a kind of special treatment by borrowing of a machine to support our club? That'll be academic suicide."

"Yes, if we didn't pray," she said.

I stared at her.

"Did you pray?" She asked.

"Well, yeah, but--"

"Then everything's going to be alright." She said. 

Before I could make any objections, the school bell rang and she hurried off to her first period. I sighed. I still haven't made a decision about Michael's room and I've got another problem about the principal. I ran my hands down my face and took a deep breath.

I ran off to first period.

----------

"I don't know about this," I said, pressing my cheek on the cold metal of our lockers in our own Baseball Club room. I faced the lockers and let my body weight lean on them.

Trey was putting on his shirt. "Me too. I mean, the principal's really not somebody you challenge with." He cringed. "What if he condemns our club?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said.

"I can't let that happen," Trey said, "it's because of your club that I knew about God. And then I became a true convert when I heard Pastor James's sermon."

"And we could reach a lot more people with the club," I said. I tapped my finger on the locker door. The metal was ice-cold in my fingertips.

I sighed. "These are the times when Meredith likes taking great risks again."

"When has she ever not taken a risk?" Trey said. "Hey, it was because of her risk that you and Samuel were led to Jesus too. And it was her risk that the club was formed."

"No, Samuel was the one who formed the club."

"Yeah, but Meredith was the one to reach Samuel."

I sighed. My phone beeped. It was a message from Meredith.

Meredith: Where are you? We're about to head to the principal's office!

"That's our cue," Trey said. "Let's go."

I sighed. "Yeah, okay." I said reluctantly.