Smoke Break | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Smoke Break | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lawrence Travis
02/08/06
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Chad looked at Jim. They were on break, sitting together on a curb. Chad had been looking down, considering the ants, who labored steadily without breaks, without guide, overseer, or ruler. A length of ash had fallen into their midst. From its size, Chad concluded that Jim's cigarette had been burning, unattended, in his hand. The case for his conclusion was strengthened when he beheld his co-worker's face. The blank eyes and vacant expression indicated that Jim was "spaced out."

Chad grinned. He finished his drink of water, carefully folded the paper cup, and put it in his pocket. Chad never littered, believing it wrong to break the law and sinful to pollute God's earth. He did, however, sometimes pollute the air, though he was not a smoker, and this was such an occasion. The pollution was quite audible, but Jim did not react.

Chad's grin returned. He waved a hand in front of Jim's eyes, saying "Earth to Jim!"

This he did for two reasons. One was to spare his co-worker the discomfort of a cigarette burning right down to the fingers. The second and stronger motivation was a childish delight in having caught Jim spacing out. Jim was "so darn smart," as Chad would have put it. Chad never cursed.

Jim was annoyed. He had been thinking. He had been thinking about things Chad himself had told him over the past few weeks. Jim had joined the lawn care company and was assigned to a mowing crew. Chad was the crew's leader, and a Christian. The day he met Jim, Chad introduced the crew he led to the new guy, and the new guy to Chad's own Leader and Savior. In the following weeks, Chad was always ready with an answer to two kinds of questions: those regarding the work of mowing lawns, and those regarding the Gospel.

Jim didn't ask many questions about mowing. He was a quick learner and there wasn't much to learn about the job. More often they talked about Chad's faith. Jim was curious, because his grandfather, whom he barely knew, had died about six months prior. Jim didn't grieve, having only vague memories of the man. He knew, though, that his grandfather was a Christian who had spent decades in God's service: many years as a missionary in various parts of Africa, even more years as a pastor in Cincinnati, and his last few years as a teacher of Hebrew at the Christian college. How could a man spend his life in that stuff? Thinking of his grandfather, Jim wondered whether there was something real in Christianity. Why else would a man devote so much to it? Jim also wondered whether his grandfather met the God he had served. Jim was, for the first time in years, curious about the Gospel.

When he learned of Chad's faith, Jim asked questions. Chad's answers were sincere and warm, simple but sensible. Jim would listen to Chad on breaks, and think all day as he walked behind the mower. Today, though, he was thinking on his break. He was thinking hard, and his eyes looked vacant because his mind wasn't using them. His mind and his heart were busy, the former cautiously watching its step, but trying to keep up with the latter, which was racing across the gap between doubt and faith.

Jim's heart made a break for the other side, reached it, stopped and turned around, beckoning. His mind was negotiating two or three last steps before catching up, just a couple last doubts before he could go heart, soul, mind and strength where he was finally seeing he needed to go. What about these last doubts? Slowly, Jim began to recall a story Chad had told him. A man had a son who often had seizures. This man went to Jesus, but entertained some doubt whether the miracle-worker could help. Jesus called him on his unbelief, and the man replied ...

"Earth to Jim!"

Jim's concentration was broken. Annoyed, he lit another cigarette, smoked it, and went back to work. His mind didn't make those few more steps, and grumbling it marched back to where it had begun, his heart sadly following. He was really annoyed at Chad, and as he walked behind the mower he didn't think about the Gospel that afternoon. Every time he thought of Chad he thought, "Earth to Jim!", and his annoyance grew. Jim never did renew that broken line of thought.

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