There Must Be Something More

41 | Now

"Hey, what happened with you and Amanda?" Calum said as soon as I got into the baseball lockers. The guys ignored us, but I knew they were nonchalantly eavesdropping. I frowned and pulled my friend into a corner.

"Did Amanda say anything to you?" I asked.

Calum stared at me as if I had three ears. He frowned. "No, she wouldn't tell me anything. She just said you're kind of becoming a jerk, and I think so too."

"Oh, great, you too?" I mumbled.

"Yeah," he said. "I saw you a while ago at lunch. You didn't even wave at us. You just passed by our table and started hanging out with that weirdo Meredith and the newly converted weirdo Samuel. What in the world is going on with you, Charlie Borlock?"

I looked at him. I wondered if I had to tell him about my faith. I also wondered if he'd walk out on me like Amanda. I wondered if I'd lose my best friends forever because of my faith. And that's when I caved. I was scared. I cared more of my friends who rarely even listened to what I was going through than the treasure I found.

I lost my words. I stood there like a statue.

"Dude?" Calum snapped his fingers in my face. 

"What?" I said, snapping out of my guilt trip. And Coach Anderson blew the whistle for us to get out of the field. Sullen and culpable, I grabbed my bat and cap and jogged outside with my teammates.

The sun beat down on us like a scorching drum. I could see vapor from the heat blurring down the ground and I knew it was one of the hottest days in Arizona. I jogged across the field and stood in my position. My bat felt heavy in my hands. I shuffled my feet in the grass.

I heard the coach's whistle and raised my bat high.

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I felt guilty all throughout the practice. I kept thinking what it would have been if I just gathered the guts and told Calum about my faith. If I just stood up for the King who left His entire kingdom to pay for my sins on the cross.

I closed my eyes and repented of my sin. I asked God to help me be more bold about Him. When I opened them again I saw a bunch of people gathering around the bulletin board excitedly. Most of the students stood on tiptoes and tried to see. I backed away and tried to see it from afar, and then I bumped onto somebody.

I turned to see it was Meredith. She raised her hands as if to shield herself. "Whoa, back up, mister."

"What are they gathering for?" I asked. She shrugged and tiptoed to see over the stampede of shoulders. We tried in vain to get through to the crowd but they pushed us away before we could even get to the bottom of the gathering. But then, Samuel, taller than everybody else, squeezed out of the crowd and approached us.

"What's that all about?" I asked him.

He smiled confidently, one he usually did during school conferences, but this time his eyes reflected the smile. And I knew it must be something from God.

"I just did something that could change our little group," he said.

Meredith gave me a quick glance. "What do you mean?"

"I made us a club."

Meredith and I stared at him for a long time. And then I shook my head and eyed the school president suspiciously. "By club, you mean to say--"

"We're a club," Samuel repeated. "By being a club, we can invite people in and share the gospel and have them pray for their salvation. We can be a group of believers sharing the good news. It's perfect."

Meredith's hands flew to her cheeks and she grinned. "Thank You so much, Jesus! Thank you, Samuel!" She gave me and Samuel a quick hug. We chuckled nervously. We were pretty sure we had never expected her to react like this, and then we thought maybe we should have. She had always been the bubbly type.

"But what did you name our club?" I asked.

"Grace Club," he said.

"I love it! It will be a club overflowing of the grace of God. It will be the club who'll pour out grace like a wave!" Meredith said with her hands flailed thrillingly. Her boots clicked on the marble floor. And then she said piercingly, "We have to start winning people to Christ. That way, we can add them to our group! This is going to be exciting!"

Samuel and I exchanged smiles.

"When do we start?" Samuel asked.

"Now!" Meredith stomped one foot excitedly and looked at us.

We boggled. "Now?"

She folded her arms. "Second Corinthians chapter six verse two: For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, the "right time" is now. Today is the day of salvation."

We sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

I knew we were nervous. We had never actually gone out there and preached the gospel like Jesus's followers did. We had never actually talked to anonymous people about God. We did want to. We really did. But our timidity held us back. We just didn't seem to have the guts for it.

"I don't mean to be cowardly or anything," Samuel said as he and I followed Meredith trotting outside of school. We knew she planned to head to the schoolyard where most of the students hung out after periods of classes.

"But we're not even ready to do some evangelizing, Meredith," Samuel continued. Meredith walked too fast and he had to grab her arm to slow her down, and stop her. 

"What is it, Samuel?"

"We're not ready to evangelize yet, Meredith. You might be taking things too fast for us. We're not ready. I think our cell leader should have to teach us to--"

"I'm going to teach you," she offered.

I stared at her.

Samuel chuckled and shook his head. "You are so persistent, aren't you?"

"Come on, you guys! God wasn't kidding when He said the time for salvation is now. Now is right now. Not later. Not tomorrow. Not some any other day. It's now!" she said. "I don't know about you. But I'm going out there and win people to Christ and multiply our club members."

Samuel squared his jaw. I stared down the floor.

Meredith exhaled and walked off. Her boot heels echoed across the marble walls and faded when she jogged down the school steps to the yard. I looked back the bulletin to see people losing interest when they heard the new club was going to be "religious".

"So," I said, turning to Samuel. "What are we going to do now?"