By the Way | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: By the Way | Previous Challenge Entry
By Wanda Draus
04/15/15
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I clicked on the bubble, with the red square, and the white number 1. There was a private message from Beth an old friend from my high school days. It had been over 40 years since I heard from her. Beth had been in contact with another old friend Carol, and wanted to know if I was interested in meeting them for lunch and catching up?

With a click of the send button, I let her know, the sooner the better. I gave her my cell phone number to call when she confirmed where and when.

A few days later I received a call from Beth and it was as if 40 years had not passed. We talked about our families, kids, and now grandkids and promised to bring pictures to the lunch. She mentioned she would call Carol to confirm with her and then there was a-“by the way.”

In a whispered tone Beth chuckled, “speaking of Carol, I hear she is one of those ‘born again’ people.” I could feel myself being on the defensive and thinking, oh my goodness we really are back in high school. From what she understood, Carol is all out there with this Jesus thing.

Thoughts of the old neighborhood and the kids we hung around with brought a flood of memories back. We grew up in the inner city of Chicago and had to be street smart and tough. We were not bad kids but we did our share of drinking, dancing and an occasional fight. I could definitely party with the best of them.

I haven’t been confronted with my past for some time, Christ redeemed me years ago. When you surround yourself with people who have the same faith in Christ, and when your environment is mostly Christian people; your church, Christian women’s conferences and bible study, it’s easy to take a stand for Christ. The rubber meets the road when you are outside of that Christian environment and you are at work or meet people who knew you when.

A few years ago I might have stayed quiet, maybe even embarrassed by her remark but I smiled and responded, “Beth, I think you may be referring to me. I’m not sure about Carol but I know that I am a believer in the one and only Christ.”

I know to some it may seem an easy thing to say or do but in my experience and talking with others it seems it’s the hardest among old friends and family to take that stand. Unlike Christ, they have a harder time of forgetting who we were.

Leaving Beth speechless, with a heart full of gratitude for what has been done in my life, I broke the silence. “I can’t wait to see you and Carol for lunch and don’t forget those pictures.”

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