There Must Be Something More

86 | Perfect Love

"It's a full house tonight," Meredith said.

I nodded. I peeked into the openings behind the two red velvet curtains draped in front of the stage and saw the crowd gathered in the hall. People laughed, chattered, whispered. They looked eager, excited. It made me sweat profusely. I wiped some off my brow. I scanned the area to see if people I knew had come. I saw Samuel (shocker!), and Amanda and Calum (what?!)--though they didn't go together. I even saw some of the guys from the team, at least ten of them. Six looked showered, four looked as if they had just done some heavy-duty yard work.

"You nervous?" Meredith asked beside me.

I turned to her. I cringed. "Very much. You?"

"Of course." She said. Though nothing of how she looked like and how she acted and moved said so. She wore a long-sleeved white dress with a white beret on her pigtail-braided hair. The boots never changed, but they were white today.

She moved past me and peeked out the curtains too. Then she turned back and smiled. "God's going to do something tonight."

"Hopefully," I said. "I don't want to have wasted my breath."

"No, we have not wasted our breath," she said. "If we obey God, we will never ever waste something. God's will is never a waste. Our wills are."

"Guys, Principal Powell's among the crowd," Trey came trotting in. He was dressed like me--a gray sweater vest and a white collared shirt. Although his hair was slicked back very neatly, and mine was all over the place.

"You guys ready?" Meredith asked. She looked at me and tsk-ed. "Charlie, your hair."

Trey gave me a pomade. I frowned. I hated doing anything unnatural to my hair. I just wanted it to exist untouched, you know just let it do its thing. I had wavy hair that was always standing up everywhere, and it never bothered me.

I slicked my hair back with pomade. I grimaced. Meredith and Trey seemed to be snickering. I both gave them a shove.

"Five minutes," Lily reminded, poking her head backstage. She winked at us, gave us a thumbs-up, and then walked away.

"Let's pray," Meredith said. Trey and I bowed our heads.

Meredith prayed, "Lord Jesus, we are now going to present real and reasonable things about You. But this did not happen by our will, but Yours. It was Your will for us to do research for Your evidence and a deeper understanding of You. We have heard it from scholars and pastors You have anointed. And we believe You have anointed us to proclaim this reasonable faith we have. But, God, in Jesus's name, I rebuke our own words tonight. Holy Spirit, please speak through us. We are Your instruments. This is all about You, Jesus. In Your name I pray. Amen."

We all looked up at each other.

I grinned, the fear bugging me was now cast out by perfect love. "Let's go change the world tonight."

The curtains parted to the sides and minutes I knew we were facing a great crowd of witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 came to my mind. I smiled even wider.

This was meant to be.

"Good evening, everyone," Meredith said. She held the mic to her chin with both hands. Trey and I stood a few feet behind.

"Good evening," some replied. Some didn't retaliate. Some whispered and snickered.

"We have been given the opportunity by Principal Powell to present historical data and scientific facts about our Christian faith. But, before I begin--"

"What's she doing?" Trey asked. I shrugged obliviously.

"How many of you came here to watch Christianity debunked?" Meredith asked, raising her hand as an invitation.

Some people smirked and raised their hands. Amanda and Calum did. Of course, so did Principal Powell, though he looked a little uncomfortable.

Meredith merely smiled. "Thank you." She took a deep breath. "How many of you here came but don't know what to expect tonight?"

Some raised their hands. Samuel was one of them.

Meredith smiled. "How many of you came here because you're curious to know? Like, no doubt. Just... questions."

I held my breath as almost ninety percent of the crowd raised hands. Then they all looked at each other, equally surprised at the result.

"Thank you," Meredith said.

I smiled. So did Trey.

"Well, this lecture is for everyone. Whether you're an atheist, a pantheist, a Christian, or anyone in a religious affiliation, whatever--you're welcome." Meredith said. "Well, I'm going to start with a question again."

Some chuckled.

"Has any of you heard of Intelligent Design?" She asked.

A few only raised their hands.

"Hmm-hmm," Meredith said, scanning the crowd. "As many of you don't know, Intelligent Design is the belief that there is a Creator who has intelligently designed the universe. And I do believe it. I mean, it's so obvious around us."

"Don't tell me you're going to start making sense of that crazy belief that we're made in the image of God and all that, are you?" A girl from the crowd stood up and remarked. She put her hands to her hips.

Meredith smiled. "Oh, I am."

The girl looked confused at Meredith's answer. She looked at the others around her, then sat down a little awkwardly.

"Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No arm-twisting. No statements of, 'You just have to believe.' Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists." Meredith clicked something on the projector remote she was holding and her PowerPoint Presentation began. The slide showed 'IS THERE A GOD?' in bold, dark letters.

Honestly I was impressed. I had not known Meredith was this prepared. Sure I had known her to be really eager, but she had always brought me to a surprise. It was no wonder her eccentric ways had led me to Jesus.

"But first consider this," she said, "when it comes to the possibility of God's existence, the Bible says that there are people who have seen sufficient evidence, but they have suppressed the truth about God. On the other hand, for those who want to know God if He is there, He says, 'You will seek Me and find Me; when you seek Me with all your heart, I will be found by you.' Before you look at the facts surrounding God's existence, ask yourself, 'If God does exist, would I want to know Him?'"

I looked at the crowd. Principal Powell was glaring hard at us.

Disclaimer: This info was taken from an article called "Is There A God?" By Marilyn Adamson