"No Matter What": A New Year (part 2)

CHAPTER 3 – A NEW YEAR (continued)

            These things might have kept me on the margins of a few conversations, but these disparities were nothing compared to the difference in transportation.  Kids at our church had used BMWs and Mercedes, brand-new Mazdas and Toyotas, or full custom pickups and SUVs.  I drove (when I could get it) my dad’s brown 1983 Oldsmobile.  Most of the time, I went around like a beggar, asking people for rides.

            I didn’t have to beg for rides from my youth group much, because I was usually with my parents, but it was an everyday struggle at school.  Basketball was the last period of the day, and we never got out in time to catch the bus, so I was stuck without a way to get home.  No one wanted to commit to driving me home on a daily basis, so every afternoon contained the humiliating quest to find a willing friend to take me home.

*  *  *  *  *

            “It sucks, Dad,” I said, as we talked about it on the way home from a grocery store run on the last day of summer.  “I know there’s nothing we can do about it, but I feel like an idiot every day.”

"No Matter What": A New Year, part 1 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 3 – A NEW YEAR

            It was a week before the start of my junior year, and I was back-to-school shopping with my mom—which was just as embarrassing as it sounds.  I was actually never the type to be embarrassed to be seen with my parents or family, though.  I love my mom, and, besides, am I supposed to be embarrassed I have parents?  That being said, there’s nothing that makes you feel more like a “little boy” than going in and out of a dressing room so your mom can see how your clothes fit, and you don’t exactly want kids from school seeing you do a model turn for your mother. 

            I had the reputation in my family as the “fashion-conscious” one, which would have been hilarious to anyone who actually saw me dress as a teenager.  (There was this dude my sophomore year who looked me over disdainfully one day and said, “I can’t believe you can throw those clothes on in the morning and think you’re ready for school.”)

"Calvary Characters": Barabbas

This is my first effort for my "Calvary Characters" project.  These are fictionalized first-person stories of people who surrounded Jesus during the time of His crucifixion and resurrected, based on Scripture and history.  This first one was based on a monologue I did for Easter a couple of years ago.  Let me know what you think.

CALVARY CHARACTERS - BARABBAS

            In a cave in the Negev of Judah, a hooded figure slips through the shadows to join a band of robbers by the fire.  As light from the flickering fire illuminates his face, gasps echo in the cavern.  The newcomer removes his hood and speaks…

            “Don’t look so surprised!  Yes!  It is me!  Barabbas!”

"No Matter What": The Letter, part 2 (excerpt)

(read part one here)

            As I crawled into bed, my open spiral notebook caught my eye.  Near the bottom of the page, I saw my name, signed “Jay C. McGee.”  I paused.  The first clear thought of the afternoon shot through my mind: Did I really sign my name using my INITIAL?!

            The fog began to dissipate quickly as I remembered what I had done.  I remembered being so proud of it, but I struggled to remember exactly what I had written.  With a shaky hand, I reached for the notebook and began to read.

"No Matter What": The Letter, part 1 (excerpt)

 

CHAPTER 2 – THE LETTER

             Our standard birthday celebration for my dad was not enough to distract me from the inevitable thoughts that would flood my brain as I tried to go to bed that night.  So there I lay, with my stomach still cooled by the homemade ice cream we had that night and my mind relentlessly haunted by Nicole’s image.  I closed my eyes in a vain effort to sleep, but the only thing I saw was the vision of her, laughing, talking to her friends in the department store. 

            Why didn’t I talk to her?  Would she have talked to me if she had seen me?  Surely she would have at least said, “Hi.”  After all, she was one of the only girls that had shown any interest in talking to me at all before I got my contacts.

            I stared into the darkness and sighed.  Why is she such a roadblock to me?  Roger’s right.  I really should ask Amanda out.  Maybe Amy.  But I still liked Nicole.  A lot.  I had never asked her out, not in five years of knowing her.  Now here I am, sixteen years old, without a single date under my belt just because I can’t get the guts up to ask this one girl out.  Geez, she could say ‘yes’ for all I know.

            I moaned in frustration into my pillow and pulled it over my head.  How could I possibly tell her how I felt now? I can’t just come out and say it.  My feelings have gotten way too out of hand for that.  And of course there was no chance I would call her.

            So there in the dark that night, I made a decision: I had to do something about Nicole Ellis if I was ever going to get on with my life. 

"No Matter What": Summer Detox, part 2 (excerpt)

This is the rest of chapter 1, "Summer Detox"  Read part one here.

*  *  *  *  *  *

    It seemed to me that most guys looked at Nicole like cartoon characters—you know, the ones whose eyes would pop out of their head and tongues would hang to the floor?  But I really couldn’t look at her that way.  I didn’t know her all that well, but my feelings for her had always been strangely warm and caring.  Thinking of her in terms of her body parts, as so many of my friends did, made me feel wrong, even dirty.

    I came to this realization that morning in the shower.  Even during the summer, she would still enter my mind when at that groggy, vulnerable time most mornings.  I congratulated myself on my emotional depth and sophistication as I got out of the shower.  If only she knew I was better than those walking hormones who surround her all the time, I thought.

"No Matter What": Summer Detox (excerpt)

 

CHAPTER 1 – SUMMER DETOX

            It used to be that when a guy liked a girl, he couldn’t send a quick “Hey” to her phone or inbox and hope for the best.  He couldn’t hide behind text or a computer screen to maintain the façade of aloof coolness.  No.  He had to walk to the front door of her house, knock on the door, and tell her father to his face that he was there to call on his daughter. Imagine how exposed he would have felt when she finally appeared in the doorway.  All pretenses are gone.  He is there for one purpose: to win her heart.

            Thankfully for you kids, I didn’t grow up during that time or you would never have existed. 

Questions for Jesus: Is It Right to Pay Taxes to Caesar or Not? (excerpt)



Mark 12:13-17

¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.

"Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?  Should we pay or shouldn't we?"

I think this question has added relevance in modern times when many Bible-believing Christians also identify strongly with conservative "Tea-Party" politics, but I will get to that later...