Somebody Else (Christian Romance)

THIRTY-TWO

"I'm curious." Stephanie said. "Can you please tell me what you know about God?"

For a brief moment, Vanessa's eyes widened and her lips parted as she stared at Stephanie, then she gave Stephanie the widest grin she'd seen in a long time. "Of course, I'd love to talk to you about God. Would you like to talk here, or do you want us to talk a stroll. Have you had something to eat today? We could go to the cafeteria."

Stephanie hadn't even noticed that she hadn't had something to eat since morning, and this was already 5PM. But food was the least of her worries right now. She was hungry for the knowledge she hoped she'd get from Vanessa. But then a stroll seemed like a nice idea. She wanted the fresh air and the feel of nature.

"Yes, I'd like to take a stroll." She nodded.
"Alright." Vanessa stood. "Let me just grab my purse."
The evening weather was cool. Stephanie was grateful she'd put on a jacket.
"Aren't you cold?" She asked Vanessa who was in just a T-shirt.
"No, I'm fine." Vanessa smiled. "Been sweating indoors for hours. I need this fresh air."
"Okay."
"Speaking about the subject of God," Vanessa's smile was partly replaced by a look of seriousness, compelling Stephanie to pay full attention. "God is so infinite that even the person with the deepest knowledge of him, has only just scratched the surface."

Stephanie nodded, prompting her to go on.

Vanessa looked up. "We can compare Him to the sky. It's so vast, we can never see the end of it."
Stephanie and admired the blue sky above them. It's expanse was truly so large she couldn't see it's end. It was clear and beautiful. Was God beautiful too?

"If you want to learn about God, your first resort should be His Words which are contained in the Bible. Because a man's words are a pointer to his mind. Do you have a Bible?"

Stephanie blushed. How could she tell Vanessa that she'd been so careless with her Bible she didn't know it's whereabouts, whether it was here in school, or somewhere back at home.
Vanessa smiled and gave her shoulder a gentle pat. "It's okay. You can just download a Bible app."

"Oh, that's true." Stephanie took out her phone from her purse. She moved closer to Vanessa, making room for two girls who were walking in the opposite direction.

A stroll might not have been the best option because of the many distractions. Every now and then, she had to make room on the small pathway for other people who passed by them, and from time to time, people smiled and waved Vanessa, distracting her a little. It was amazing how Stephanie had gone out of her way just to get people to love and accept her, but Vanessa had just been herself, yet everyone seemed to love Vanessa and no-one recognized her. How would they, when she'd spent the bulk of the semester in Chinasa's hostel? She was now like a stranger here.

Stephanie was more than relieved when she noticed a few empty chairs under a tree in the lawn beside them.

"We're going to read the Bible, right? Why don't we sit over there so we can fully concentrate." She said to Vanessa.

"Oh, nice idea." Vanessa nodded and both girls made their way to the chairs.

Once they were seated, Stephanie searched for a Bible app on the AppStore. "There are so many Bible apps. Which of them do you recommend?"
"I use YouVersion." Vanessa glanced at Stephanie's screen. "Yeah, that one," She pointed at the brown Bible app. "You'll enjoy it." She said and Stephanie hit the download button.
Vanessa took out her phone from her purse as well. "Whenever you want to understand God, just look at Jesus." She scrolled through her Bible app and highlighted some words. "Here. read these two verses I highlighted. John chapter fourteen, verses nine and ten." She handed Stephanie her phone.
"Okay." Stephanie cleared her throat as she took the phone. "Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.' Jesus answered, 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father'." Stephanie paused her reading and turned to Vanessa. "Wow. Jesus was saying here that He resembles God?"