James 1:2-3 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. We were unlikely lab partners, and we would not be friends. In my quest to be an honor graduate, this type person could have a detrimental effect, perhaps serving to shave critical points off of my GPA! On the first day of class, the teacher paired us up in some lottery of fate with the person who would join us on our ” journey through chemistry”. I immediately judged her for her poverty, her sad demeanor and baggy black clothing. Her hair was dirty blond and greasy, long and thin as a baby’s. The sides had been put to the curling iron in attempt to recreate the Farrah Fawcett look of a decade hence. I judged her to be a member of what I called the “Heavy Metal Crowd”. This crowd dressed exclusively in black concert t-shirts with band names such as Motley Crue and Warrant (also known as Big Hair Bands). I assumed they were not as concerned with academic excellence as I, being far more interested in how they would afford the next pack of cigarettes! My partner was so skinny and frail, her lab goggles would swallow her face and cause her ears to stick out. My immediate reaction was to feel so sorry for her. As the weeks turned to months, I found I had misjudged her intelligence, and our lab reports came back with hard earned “A”s. We worked well together, but our relationship existed only in the classroom, amongst the beakers and the bunson burners, as we hunched over our black and white lab books. In between grilling each other over the periodic table of the elements, we shared bits and pieces of our personal lives. From her I gathered the details of a hard existance in her short 16 years, a story with a broken home, a story written in a poverty and dysfunction that I could only barely imagine, What I shared with her was of my loving family, and how much my church meant to me. She seemed so fascinated to hear of my “normal” life. I invited her once to come to youth group, and she grew red and uncomfortable, so I quickly changed the subject. It was the last day before school would let out for Christmas vacation. Back then, we actually could call it for what it was, not talking in politically correctly coded “Winter Break”. A festive mood was felt in the warm chemistry lab that day. The class was in high spirits with the thoughts of what lay ahead- no school! My partner was strangely silent. I studied her pale face, and her skin was so translucent with black circles underneath her giant eyes. “Are you feeling okay?” I asked her. She looked up at me, “No, I’m really not. Can you take me to the nurse?” Her translucent skin had now turned a horrible shade of green. I raised my hand, and asked the teacher if we could be excused and waited impatiently for him to write us a hall pass. As we sat in two chairs outside the nurse’s office, she turned her bony shoulders toward me, took a deep breath and told me why she was feeling ill, the cause of her nausea that day. I tried not to gasp, but my Puritanical sense of shock was hard to disguise. “You are my only friend.” She said, looking full at me with her giant eyes. She grabbed my hand, “Will you pray for me?” So many thoughts and feelings ran through my head that moment. She had referred to me as “friend” and I felt so guilty for having not considered her the same. She now was calling on my faith to help her through, and I struggled to find the words. My spiritual maturity was to be tested in the school’s hallway with it’s high polished floors. I fought off the feeling of discomfort and embarrassment, summoning forth some sort of paraphrased Sunday School lesson from the past. I remember! I have to be ready, to give an account for the hope that is in me! We prayed together for her strength and well being in the days to come and as I said Amen, the door to the office opened. She rose and looked at me in silence and smiled sadly. I honestly can say through the fog of passing years, I don’t ever remember seeing her again. I remained there for a moment alone. There was a window across the hall from where I sat, and watched a driving rain hit the panes. It was a miserable cold day and I shivered though I was inside. I didn’t know it at the time, but this year, 1983, Georgia would have it’s first white Christmas in 100 years. I couldn’t help but compare my lab partner to Mary, and how she must have felt at such a young age when she found out she was to be a mother! The grace and unbending faith Mary showed when she knew she would face the scorn of others throughout her pregnancy. I said another prayer then for my lab partner, that she could experience a similar faith. . Luke 1:46-48 And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. Heavenly Father, the season that is upon us brings us such feelings of joy! Remind us that must help one another to be strong in times of trial. Equip us with the preparedness and strength to witness to others what we know to be true- the birth of your son has afforded this promise of hope and joy to us all! Amen
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:26:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015