That smile

It's time for a change

The next day, I wake up to my phone ringing. I look at the clock and see thats its 7 o'clock in the morning.

Who can be calling at 7am on a Sunday?

"Hello?" I cautiously answer the phone.

"Hey Penny." Ethan's voice tickles my ear.

"Whats up?" I say trying to make it sound like I didn't just wake up.

"Would you like to go to church with me?" He asks.

"You go to church at 7 o'clock in the morning? On a Sunday?" I'm honestly shocked.

He laughs. "Yeah. Would you like to go?" He repeats. "I can pick you up."

I brush my hair with my hand. "Um, sure." I look at the Bible on my night stands. Maybe I should bring it? My dad used to bring his Bible to church.

"Great! I'll pick you up in 30 minutes?" He said.

"Yeah. Sounds good. See you then." I hang up.

What should I wear? I wore my usual clothing to youth group, but that was youth group. Youth group is full of teenagers, church is full of judgmental old people, or so I heard. I should wear something fancy. I have a little black dress that's fancy enough.

I was going to wear it to homecoming.

Eh, I can just ask my mom to buy me a fancy dress from the thrift store for homecoming.

I put on the black dress, I haven't wore a dress in a very long time. It feels uncomfortable.

Then I hear someone at the door. I run downstairs and open the front door. On the other side I see Ethan with his eyes wide looking at me from head to toe.

"What?" I say embarrassed.

"Wow! I've never seen you in a dress before." He says.

"Is it not appropriate for church? I can go change." I said.

"No, please don't. You look beautiful." He said. That made my heart race.

"Thanks." I said probably blushing like an idiot.

"Are you ready?" He said. I nod and we get in his truck and leave.

We arrive at church, the same church that youth group was at. We go inside and find our seats, next to Ethan's family. I get some stares from strangers, but they turn the other cheek and focus on what they were doing.

Worship starts and I enjoy the guitarists once again. They are very skilled. That also made me think on the music competition, it's on December 29th which is only a month and a half away. I think I might join.

Service comes and I notice Daniel making his way up to the stage.

This is his church?

He stands on the stage and begins to pray.

After praying, he clears his throat. "Good morning everyone. Glad to see that you are all here this morning. Today my sermon is on forgiveness. One of the hardest thing to do. I know that mostly all of you here have someone that you need to forgive. I might be because they've hurt you, physically, or mentally." Those words felt like an arrow to the chest. "I'll tell you now, that it'll be never easy to forgive someone who has hurt, or betrayed you. But it was easy for Jesus to forgive us, when he died on the cross. Imagine if all of your life, you've done horrible, wicked, unforgivable things, and yet, all you had to do was ask Jesus for forgiveness and mean it, and He will forgive you. If only we can forgive one another that easily." He continues to talk about forgiveness.