To Christy"s surprise, Katie"s hand shot up.
"I want to ask you guys to pray for usa"for Christy and mea"because we"re sort of going on a missions trip."
Christy gave Katie a puzzled look, feeling a little embarra.s.sed that Katie had included her name in this announcement, especially since she wasn"t sure what Katie was going to say.
With a grin, Katie explained to the group, "We"ve joined the ski club at Kelley High, and we"re going on a trip with them over Thanksgiving weekend. I think it"s going to be a real opportunity to witness to a lot of the people, because none of them go to church as far as I know."
"That"s great!" Luke said. "It"s a chance for you both to see what it"s like to be in the world but not of it. We"ll be praying for you both."
He turned around and wrote on the board, Katie Weldon and Christy Millera"school ski trip.
"Does anyone else have something they"d like to add?"
I wonder what he meant by "in the world but not of it"? This ski trip is such a big deal for Katie! Now she"s turned it into a missions trip. I hope she " doesn"t get too disappointed if it ends up we can"t go.
"I have something," said a girl in the middle of the room.
Christy had seen her before, but she went to a different school, and Christy didn"t know her name. She seemed really nice. Christy had thought once before when she saw her in Sunday school that she was the kind of girl Christy would like to get to know.
"Sure, Lisa, go ahead," Luke said.
"I have a list I started a couple of weeks ago, and I"ve been carrying it around in the back of my Bible. I guess you could call it a hit list."
Some people sitting near Lisa laughed. She didn"t look like the kind of person who would have a hit list. Tall and gentle-looking, Lisa had long brown hair that hung in soft curls. She appeared to be the sort of person who had a kind word for everyone.
Lisa"s cheeks began to turn pink as she explained, "It"s not a list of people I"m trying to geta" She paused and said, "Well, I guess maybe it is."
Lisa looked fl.u.s.tered. Luke jumped in and encouraged her to keep going. "That"s okay," he said. "I think I know what you"re getting at. A hit list is probably the best way of describing it too. Go ahead and explain what the list is for."
Looking a little more courageous, Lisa went on. "See, what I did was ask G.o.d to show me who He wanted me to witness to this year at school. Then, when certain friends came to mind, I wrote down their names. I have six names on my list, and every night when I have my quiet time, I pray for them."
"Is your plan to simply pray for these six friends?" Luke asked.
"Well, I really wanted to start witnessing to my friends, but I wasn"t sure exactly how to do it. A couple of weeks ago you taught about how prayer is the key that unlocks any door. So I"m starting by praying for them. Then, when opportunities come up, I want to tell them about the Lord."
"That"s a great idea, Lisa. Let me ask you something. Do you feel it"s your personal responsibility to make sure each one of those six friends gives his or her heart to the Lord?"
Christy thought of how she might answer if Luke had directed the question toward her. She probably would have said yes. It seemed to her that if she were willing to make that kind of commitment to pray for six friends, then she should be willing to keep at it until they all became Christians.
"No," Lisa answered.
You"re a lot braver than lam, Lisa, to admit that in front of everybody!
"I mean, I feel it"s my personal responsibility to pray for them every day and to tell them about the Lord. But I know the way they respond to it all is their own responsibility. Theirs and G.o.d"s, really."
"Good," Luke said. "I"m glad you see the difference. That"s what witnessing is all about. We need to be faithful to pray and faithful to share, but we must leave all the results up to G.o.d. If we"ve done all that, and they"re still not interested, we have to try not to take it personally. If they reject the message, remember it"s our heavenly Father they"re rejecting."
Luke turned and added Lisa Huisman"s name to the list on the board.
"We"ll be praying for you, too, on your missionary journey. I"d encourage all of you to start your own hit list. Remember, the foundation has to be prayer." Luke took a deep breath and crossed his arms across his broad chest.
Then he looked at his watch and said, "We need to wrap it up. Let"s pray for Katie, Christy, and Lisa."
Luke prayed for them and then closed the Bible study by saying, "Everyone, be sure to introduce yourself to Glen. One more thing. There"s a sign-up sheet at the back door for the pizza feed Friday night after the football game. It"s three dollars for church kids and free for any friends you bring."
Everyone started to talk. Luke spoke over the rumblings. "This is exactly what we"ve been talking about, you guys. A chance to bring your friends to a place where they"ll hear about the Lord and have fun at the same time. Don"t just come by yourself or with your church friends. Consider this your missionary opportunity of the week." Then, sounding like a football coach, he shouted, "Now everybody go out there and give em heaven this week!"
Christy felt bad because she had to work Friday night and couldn"t come to the pizza feed. The whole lesson that night had made her think though about how few friends she had outside her church friends. If she were going to the pizza feed, who would she invite? Maybe this ski club was a good idea because she could meet some new people and invite them to church with her.
"Come on," Katie urged, standing up and tugging on Christy"s arm. "Let"s meet Glen."
"Do I detect a girl with a crush on a guy here?" Christy teased.
"I"m only trying to be friendly," Katie said with a gleam in her eye. "Luke told us to make Glen feel welcome, didn"t he?"
Just then Luke came up and said, "I"m glad you told us about the ski club, Katie. It"s a great opportunity for both of you."
His warm smile made Christy feel welcomed into the group as he turned to her and said, "I"m, glad to see you here, Christy. I hope it works out for you to come all the time."
"I hope so too." Christy felt a little guilty for not getting involved earlier. "I wanted to come to the pizza feed on Friday, but I have to work."
"Maybe you can stop by after work," Luke suggested. "We"ll be cranked up here until around midnight."
Christy felt silly explaining to Luke that her parents had a strict curfew often. She smiled. "Maybe."
Katie looked over Christy"s shoulder, obviously trying to track Glen. "We probably should get going, Christy."
"Can I ask you both a question first?" Luke asked.
Katie glanced over at Glen and then back at Luke. Yes?"
"Do either of you see Rick Doyle anymore? I thought someone said he was dating one of you."
"Not me!" Katie said in quick defense.
Christy shyly admitted, "I was. I went out with him last month. He isn"t around anymore though because he"s going to San Diego State."
"I knew that," Luke said, "but I was trying to see if he was spending time with any Christians. He sort of dropped out of everything toward the end of last year, and I haven"t seen him around. I thought I"d see who keeps in contact with him and find out how he"s doing."
"I don"t really know much about how he"s doing," Christy said. "But he moved into an apartment with some Christian guys, and one of them, Doug, is a friend of mine. Doug"s a really strong Christian."
"Well, good. That"s encouraging. If you see Rick, tell him I asked about him and that I"m praying for him."
"She probably won"t see him," Katie blurted out, giving Christy a "let"s get going" look. Then quickly she added, "I need to sign up for the pizza feed. Excuse me." With a swish of her copper hair, she turned and made a beeline for the clipboard by the back door.
Christy noticed that Glen was by the door with pen in hand, ready to sign up, when Katie practically pounced on him. She must have said something funny to him, because he smiled at her, and they began a conversation.
You go, girlfriend!
Christy glanced at the clock on the wall and realized she had only ten minutes to make it home by nine. She caught Katie"s eye, waved good-bye, and headed for the less-crowded front door.
All the way home she thought about how cute it was seeing Katie with a crush on Glen. She hoped he was a nice guy and wouldn"t break her heart. She couldn"t wait till the next day at school so she could ask Katie how everything went with him.
"Okay, so tell me your opening line," Christy said the next morning when she entered her English cla.s.s and found Katie already at her desk.
"What opening line?"
"With Glen! You had him laughing in ten seconds. How did you do it?"
"Oh, that," Katie said with a laugh. "You noticed, huh?"
"Yes, of course I noticed. Tell me what happened."
"I just asked him if he ever ate bug larvae in Ecuador."
"Katie, how gross!" But Christy had to giggle. "Why did you ask him that?"
"I wanted to be original," Katie said with a smile. "It worked! He said he"d look for me tomorrow night at the pizza feed."
The teacher interrupted their conversation by saying, "This is not a social club. Will you please find your seat, Miss Miller, so we can begin our cla.s.s?"
Why do I get the feeling this teacher isn"t exactly crag about me?
Christy hurried to her seat and made a special effort to perform as a model student for the remainder of the cla.s.s.
At lunch Christy caught up on the rest of Katie"s story. It sounded like she and Glen had really hit it off, and Katie was excited about seeing him Friday night. Christy felt a little left out since she had to work. She was determined to be enthusiastic and supportive of Katie, the same way Katie had always been supportive of her.
"What do you think I should wear?" Katie asked. "Jeans would probably be good, right? And what? A sweatshirt or sweater or T-shirt? I could wear that University of Hawaii one you got me, or is that too cheesy?"
"No, I think that would be great."
"You"re just saying that. I can tell. Your words are saying, *That"s great," but your face is saying, *Katie, girl, go buy yourself a new shirt." And can I just say that I think that"s a very good idea and that you have been elected to come shopping with me to help pick it out?"
Katie caught her breath and looked at Christy expectantly. "How about it? Can you go to the mall after school?"
"I don"t know. I"ll have to ask. If you think about it, you already have some really nice outfits you could wear if you didn"t have the money to buy something new." Christy chose her words carefully, since a few weeks ago Katie had said that all she had to spend on back-to-school clothes was the seventy-five dollars her grandmother had sent her and that had barely paid for her new shoes.
"I"ve got twenty dollars from babysitting that I was going to use for the ski trip. This seems much more important though."
"How are you doing on selling your candy bars?" Christy asked. "Do you think you"ll be able to sell all fifteen of your boxes in the next three weeks?"
Katie quickly turned the question back on Christy. "How about you? How many have you sold so far?"
"Well, my uncle came by last night while we were at youth group. He was going to take three of the boxes for my aunt to sell at her women"s group."
"So you sold three boxes without doing a thing?"
"Actually, he ended up taking all fifteen boxes. He said he"d pa.s.s them out to all the trick-or-treaters on Halloween."
"Let me get this straight," Katie said. "Your uncle bought all fifteen of your boxes last night, and now you have your total amount for the ski trip raised?"
"Wellayeah, I guess I do." It hadn"t hit Christy that way until this minute. She now had even fewer reasons to back out of the trip.
"All you need is for your aunt to buy you a couple of new ski outfits, and you"re all set."
"I told you she was doing that, right?"
Katie threw her hands up in the air. "Don"t tell me. She already bought you a new outfit."
"Come on. I told you she was going to buy some ski stuff. At least I thought I told you."
Christy couldn"t believe how upset Katie was acting over Uncle Bob and Aunt Marti"s generous involvement. "My uncle left the outfits last night, but I haven"t tried them on yet."
"Christy, I was being sarcastic about the outfits! You mean your aunt actually bought you some?"
"You have to understand what my aunt is like. This is nothing to her. It"s her way of being a part of my life or something. It"s not like I go around asking her to buy me things."
Katie shook her head. "You are spoiled rotten by your rich relatives, Christy Miller, and you don"t even know it."
Now it was Christy"s turn to get huffy. "I am not! I have to work just so I can have money to put gas in the car. Did you forget that? And you"ve seen where I live. My family can"t even afford to buy a house; we"re renting that little house. Your house is three times as big as ours, you have your own car, and your dad pays for your insurance and your gas."
"Okay, okay." Katie bowed her head in surrender. "You"re right. It is ridiculous for us to get all hyper over nothing. I guess I didn"t expect you to have your money this soon, especially when I"m dealing with negative fundsa" Her voice trailed off.
"What do you mean?"
"I kind of, well, I sort of haven"t sold any, really."
"Wait a minute," Christy said, reaching for Katie"s fund-raiser candy box next to her and opening the cardboard handle. "There are only two left in here. That means you sold eight. That"s eight dollars toward the trip. What"s wrong with that?"
Katie"s voice became softer as she looked down and said, "I didn"t exactly sell eight candy bars."
Christy counted again. "There are only two left in here. With ten in a box, that means you sold eight, right? You"ve earned eight dollars."
Looking up and biting her lower lip, Katie confessed, "Actually, I owe $16."
Christy"s blue-green eyes widened, and she said, "Katie Weldon, you didn"t!"
"Well, see, I have this thing about chocolate. I can"t be in the same room with it. It starts calling my name and says, "Eat me! Eat me!" In the middle of the night, it wakes me up. When I"m trying to do my homework, it keeps bothering me. Really, Christy, I"ve tried ignoring it, I"ve tried telling myself that it"s calling to some other Katie, not me. I"ve tried everything! The only way to shut it up is to eat it."
By this time Christy was giggling at Katie"s confession. "Eight jumbo chocolate bars in two days?"
"Three days," Katie corrected. "We got them on Monday, remember?"
"Aren"t you sick?"
"Actually, I feel pretty good," Katie said, her mischievous smile returning. "I kind of feel like I"m in love. Isn"t that what they said in science cla.s.s last year? Chocolate releases some chemical in your brain and makes you think you"re in love?"
"I don"t know about that, but you"d better lay off the candy-bars tonight and tomorrow. Otherwise, when you see Glen tomorrow night, you won"t know if it"s true love or the chocolate double-crossing you!"