Descent – Part 14
Kyle arrived at the classroom at exactly 9:45 and heard the doors echoing like gunshots in the corridor as they closed for Sunday school to begin. He tried to calm his kids down to no avail. They were talking about Saturday night escapades, who was dating whom, who’s wearing what, and what they saw on MTV during the last few days. A few of them were arguing about who got to sit on the couch in the back of the room. It was a weekly ritual. If you weren’t one of the three or four who could fit on the couch, you were forced to sit in one of the folding chairs that ran in rows like gray cornstalks. Kyle finally got their attention, got most of them into a seat they were content with, and started class.
“Well, you will all be upset to know that I will be leaving for two weeks.” A few of the youth actually cheered at the statement. “Thanks for the love guys. Thanks for the love.”
“So when are you coming back?” one of them said.
“Well, I may be here Wednesday night, but I doubt it. If I’m not, you’ll see me two Wednesdays after that.”
“That soon,” replied Axl. “Take the whole month off. You don’t really do anything around here anyway.” He smiled.
“Then I guess I better start doing something. Get your Bibles out. Open them to Romans, chapter five. All right, Zach, why don’t you read the first five verses.”
The youth fumbled through his Bible, struggling to find Romans. As he searched, other conversations started around the room. One thing about teenagers, if there was ever a moment of silence, they had have to end it.
“Where is Trojans?” the youth asked, still frantically looking through his Bible.
Kyle stifled a laugh and said, “Romans, not Trojans. It’s in the New Testament, after Acts and before First Corinthians.” He had a good mind to let the boy continue his search for Trojans, but he knew that the youngster would continue his quest until the end of the class.
“Got it!” the boy exclaimed. “What chapter?”
“Five. Verses one through five.”
The youth held his Bible aloft and began to read, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience. And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
“Zach, don’t tell me that’s a King James.” Kyle faked being in awe. “I didn’t think they still had those in print. Do you understand what that said?”
Zach stared a hole in the page, but remained silent.
“Okay. Guys, trust me on this. Get a more recent version of the Bible. NIV is much easier to understand. The King James is wonderful, however, scholars you are not. Make it easier on yourselves.”
“Yeah,” Zach said, “I have an NIV at home, but my dad says that the King James is the real translation, so that’s the one I should bring to church.”
“Sure.” Kyle found it hard not to laugh at Zach’s statement, but a chuckle slipped out. The youth looked at him questioningly so he moved on with the lesson. “Okay, Tyler, what does that piece of Scripture say to you?”
Tyler looked at the verse in his own Bible without blinking. His face became tense as he read and reread the verse. “Uh…” he continued studying the verse without looking up.
“Well, there’s a little more to it than that. Thank you for playing. Can somebody help him out?”
The room became deathly silent at the sound of his request. The youth stared at him blankly. Finally, one of the girls, Kim, slowly lifted her hand.
“Thank you, Kim. I thought we’d be here forever. So what do you think this means?” Kyle sat on the stool in the front of the youth room and awaited an answer.
“Well, it’s like God forgave our sins so we can have peace and not have to be punished, but I don’t get the rest.”
“Good job. Somebody else pick it up.” Kyle waited for the next volunteer for a few seconds before passing the baton to someone else. “James, what does the rest of that say to you.”
“It’s like your parents always say. You know, how bad things help build character. Like when you ask for something from your parents and they say you can’t have it, but you’ll be a better person because you suffered without it.”
“Okay. That’s pretty good.” Kyle thought for a minute and continued. “You both made good points. Because of the sacrifice Christ made for us, we can have peace. We can have peace knowing that when we face hard times, we have somebody else with us to help us through it. Now who is that?”
“God?”
“Exactly. Let’s see, is anyone here facing a hard time in his life?” The room was deathly silent and still. The only movement was the turning of heads back and forth to see who would have the bravado to raise their hands. Of course, no one did. The unspoken rule among teens is that you can never voluntarily answer a question. Even if you know the answer, it is much cooler to play dumb. Kyle aided them in their struggle.
“I’m not going to ask you to tell us about it. I just want a show of hands.” Arms slowly raised around the room. Kyle smiled. “See, when you become a Christian, your troubles don’t end. Each one of us is going to continue to face trouble for the rest of our lives. But the great thing is that when you become a Christian and ask for God’s help, He comes into your life to help you face the problems.”
The tension in the room started to break down, and one of the youth broke the unwritten rule and interjected, “Yeah, but what about the stuff about suffering and hope. What’s the deal with that?”
“Well,” Kyle said without missing a beat, “when you have to go through hard times, God gives you the strength to make it, right?” Slowly, heads nodded around the room. “Okay, making it through those trials is called perseverance. Once you start making it through the trials without being destroyed by them, you see that you can face anything when God is on your side. That’s where hope comes in. God grants you the hope to keep on going and asking for his help.” The youth were actually listening and Kyle was pleased.
This is an excerpt from Descent by Steve McAllister. Buy the eBook now!
