God's Love is Patient, By Annie Lark

God's Love is Patient

By Annie Lark

Chapter 1

Oh, I did it again. My friends just let me do it. No, I did it all on my own.

I was sitting at our usual hangout, the bowling alley, enjoying a root beer with my friends. It was now my turn to show these amateurs how to bowl. I hoisted my eight pound, green ball to my chest and breathed deeply. In one fluent motion, my body appeared before the lane, my sweaty fingers grasped the ball as I swung it back, then forward and released- just as I heard the highest pitched squeal known to mankind. I spun around, forgetting all hopes of winning this game I ever had. Two tables away from all my friends, sat Kim Polte, with her Dr. Pepper dripping from her lap. Peter Hake was standing behind her with his glass in hand, still upside down. I saw my friends laughing, and without thinking I did too. I didn't mean to laugh at her, I just wanted to forget about my last throw. When I realized how terrible I was acting, I closed my mouth, and folded my arms. My best friends Alexa, Kinlee, and Gwen saw that I was not laughing and waved me over.

"Bess, did you see that?" Gwen giggled.

"Yeah," I answered, "I just didn't think it was funny. Peter chooses to mess with people he knows won't fight back. It's sad really."

Peter sauntered to our table, guffawing the whole way. "It's not funny, Peter," I lectured.

"What do you think is funny then?"

"This." I heaved my root beer to his face.

I walked to the counter and asked to use the phone to call my mom. She would have to leave her meeting at the church to come get me, so I told her I would wait until it was over. In my head, I began praying. "God, why does this happen? When will I gain any self-control?"

I was still embarrassed about arguing with Peter to defend a girl that no one wants anything to do with. How can we be so heartless as to think that someone is worth less than us? God did die for us all.

Kinlee, Alexa, and Gwen ran to me calling my name. "Are you alright? You've never done anything like this," Alexa questioned.

"I'm fine." Without saying anymore, I walked toward Kim, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans. Then I realized it was no use. My hands were still sweating as I wiped anyway. If I followed through with this, I would never hear the end of it; talking to Kim would change my whole eighth grade status. No, that's not how it's supposed to be. There's no such thing as a rank system, I kept lecturing myself. God loves everyone equally.

Suddenly, all of my fear of what others would think of me slipped away, just like my hands were slipping from my jeans. I looked at teary eyed Kim and simply said, "Hi."



Chapter Two

Kim looked up at me, then quickly looked down. She grabbed some more napkins and tried her best to wipe up what was left of Peter's Dr. Pepper off her. "Let me help you," I offered. She smiled wryly and continued wiping. A sympathetic looking Kinlee slowly walked up to us and began helping us wipe the pop still on the floor.

"Thank you," Kim whispered.

"You're welcome." We finished wiping all the liquid until all that was left was a sticky residue on the table and floor.

"I'll go wet some paper towels to clean the rest," Kim told us. After she had walked through the bathroom door, out of earshot, Kinlee raised her voice to me, right there in the bowling alley. People were staring, too.

"What are you doing Bess? No one in their right minds would associate themselves with Kim Polte!"

"I'm helping her, and maybe you're not in your right mind! She is human just like us! I can't believe you can be so heartless, K!" Kinlee gritted her teeth, spun on the heel of her Shox, and bounced away, her dark curls swinging across her back. Gwen looked at me with pity, but I ignored her expression. Kim returned from the restroom with damp paper towels. I held my hand out to receive one, and she hesitantly handed it over. I tried to start conversation with her, but not with much success. She kept her mouth tightly sealed to everyone but her best friend, Mae Roder, who was just walking through the door of the bowling alley.

I hadn't even turned to see if Peter was still whining about wearing my Root Beer, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on Kim? Kinlee Myers is outside with Gwen Jennings talking about you and Dr. Pepper."

Kim replied, "It's nothing Mae."

Mae looked at me, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping Kim, is that ok with you?" Mae shrugged.

My friend, Hudson, called me over to the table again. He tossed his sandy blonde hair to the side and questioned me silently, with just an embarrassed look in his eyes. "I'm sorry Hudson....... No, actually, I'm not. I shouldn't have to apologize to you or anyone else. Peter had it coming and if I hadn't thrown it on him, someone else would've. Kim and Mae are just people like you and me. Not many people stand up for them, and I'm disgusted that everyone thinks they're so much better than them."

Hudson didn't have to say anything, his eyes said it all. He was still embarrassed and confused. I saw my mom pull up outside and quickly left him to think. To add to it all, I called loudly, "Bye Mae, bye Kim!"



Chapter Three

Ok, it turns out that it was not my mom in the parking lot, it was actually Hudson's. That was embarrassing, he walked out of the bowling alley, and just as he was getting in, he imitated me, "Bye Bess!!"

I rolled my eyes and blew my Audrey Hepburn bangs from my forehead. I crouched down to the concrete, which was to hot to sit on. I stood back up just as soon as Hudson's mom drove from the parking lot. Uuuugggghhhhh....... I'm never going to hear the end of this!

My mom pulled up only thirty seconds after, and I ran to the white suburban as fast as I could. It was hot, I was hungry, and I had to find a disguise for next Monday. Mom was on the phone when I got in, she pointed to me, then the steering wheel. I nodded and traded places with so I could drive and she could talk on the phone. We had a five minute drive to the grocery store and a ten minute drive to the house. Normally it's only seven, but with me driving it normally takes ten. When mom finally got off the phone, she sighed, and asked me how the bowling alley was. I shrugged, "It was ok. I didn't win though." I smiled weakly. She nodded and it was quiet.

When we drove up to the house, Piper, our German shepherd ran to greet us. Mom began unloading groceries and I loved on Piper, "At least you're not angry with me Pipes."

Mom had already started cooking when I got in the house, and she somehow got my seventeen year old brother, Brooks, to help. She opened her mouth to ask me to help, but I quickly shouted "Homework!"

I ran upstairs to my purple and green bedroom and shut the door behind me. I picked up my laptop off the bed and checked my email. My cousin, Gwen, asked me to stay at her house next weekend. She and I are the same age, I'm five months older though. They live about twenty minutes away but we meet halfway between. I made a mental note to ask mom.

I finished my homework and ran downstairs to dinner which was spaghetti, salad, and breadsticks. We got seated at the table and prayed, and I knew the question was coming from Dad this time. He began passing around the food and asked how our days were. Brooks and I both answered fine, even though mine wasn't.

Later that night, I went downstairs to get a drink. My dad was on the couch watching the news. My mom was seated at the kitchen bar, talking on the phone while typing on the computer. My brother went to his friend's house, so it was just me. I grabbed a juice box from the fridge and ran into the living room and sat on the couch. My dad caught me up on the latest news. I thought a lot about what happened at the bowling alley today, and I decided to ask Dad for advice. "Dad, what do you do if someone's being picked on, and they don't deserve it?"

He wrinkled his forehead and thought hard. "Treat them with the same kind of love God gives us."

"What if people ridicule you for it?"

"People ridiculed Jesus for associating himself with lepers, but he knew better. No one on this earth is unworthy of God's love, or his grace."

I nodded while I took it all in. "Ok, what if no one wants to be around you because you've helped them, or talked to them?"

"God will never leave you, and you will be rewarded with the satisfaction that you know he's pleased with what you've done." I thanked him and said good night. When I got to my room, I got out my Bible, and flipped it open. It fell straight in 1 John 4-5. I began reading at chapter four. I came to verses nineteen and twenty. It read, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."

I thought for a long while about those verses. I knew exactly how I was going to deal with my situation.



Chapter Four

I had a hard time falling asleep that night. It may have been because Brooks got home an hour and a half past curfew, and they stayed up for him. I could hear them in the kitchen for at least forty-five minutes when Mom's voice finally went hoarse and they dispersed. I woke up at seven the next morning and began getting ready. Dad has hired me every Saturday that I'm available to clean the shop while he does work with the cows. I threw on jeans and a shirt from my dirty basket, I knew it would get dirty anyway. With my hair in the messiest messy bun I've ever done, I flew down the stairs.

Mom left a note saying that she left fruit salad in the fridge, and oatmeal is on the stove. I picked up the family Bible from the shelf under the kitchen counter and flipped to Proverbs, my mom's favorite book in the Bible. I picked up where I left off, at chapter thirty, while I ate my breakfast. I stopped at Proverbs 31: 8-9. "Speak out for the one who cannot speak, for the rights of those who are doomed. Speak out, judge fairly, and defend the rights of oppressed and needy people." It kind of sounded like Kim; she couldn't speak up for herself. I wouldn't call her doomed though. Dad clambered in through the front door and knocked his boots off at the rug.

"Well thank you for getting to work, missy," he joked.

"Sir, yes, sir!" I laughed back. He has always told me that if I want to work in the shop, I have to get started at eight-o-clock. It was eight-fifteen.

I spent all morning and afternoon blasting my iPod in the shop while I worked, sweeping the floors, cleaning windows, washing Piper, and a few other odd jobs. When it was all over, and I was about to go back to the house, Mom drove up. She opened the door and asked if I wanted to go get ice cream. I nodded and ran to the car. On the way, she explained that the reason she had been working so much is because she has so much paperwork on all these houses in town. Her real-estate company has her on her toes. We drove up to Baskin' Robin's and went inside. Now who do you think would be sitting inside, at our usual booth? Alexa, Kinlee, and Gwen. Why didn't they invite me to come?

"Hi guys," I said casually.

"Hi," Alexa and Gwen replied. Kinlee continued licking her ice cream like I wasn't even there.

"Will y'all be at youth group tomorrow?" I asked. They answered with shrugs, then nods. "Okay, well, maybe I'll see you then." I managed a smile and sauntered to the counter and asked for my favorite, Wild 'n' Reckless. This was the only thing that might keep me from tears, or maybe not. On the ride home, I let them fall, and fall they did. Mom pulled over frantically and asked what was wrong. That's when I told her the whole story.

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It was a bad choice to keep it from Mom; it really helped to talk to her. And then Dad, who heard from Mom. My friends had ignored me and excluded me just because I helped someone who couldn't defend herself on her own. I could see other people doing that, but not my very best friends. I slept better that night, so that I could make it to Sunday School the next morning. Brooks was already up and eating downstairs from what I could hear that morning. I threw on a sweatshirt and ran down to start eating. Mom had a tray of French toast on the dining table so I slouched into a seat next to Brooks. "You goin' to Sunday school?" he asked.

"Yeah, you?" I mumbled with toast in my mouth.

"I don't know how I feel about all this 'God' stuff. Who actually believes with their whole hearts that God has blessed them, or helps them through all the problems in their life?"

I finished chewing and swallowed, "I do."

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. Then shook his head, and went back to his breakfast. "I guess I believe that He's real, I just don't believe that He's so personal."

"Please come to Sunday school with me and learn about God.Then you can decide, but I really want you to know that He loves you, and I don't think you're all that bad either." He shrugged, then agreed to go with me.

Mom and Dad were almost ready for church when I checked my e-mails. I replied to Addalynn's message and told her that I would love to stay at her house next weekend.

We drove to church listening to the newest song by Britt Nicole, All This Time. "All this time from the first tear cried, till today's sunrise and every single moment between. You were there, you were always there, it was you and I. You've been workin' with me all this time." It's true, God has been walking with me all this time. I knew it all along, it just didn't stick with me these last few days.

Alexa and Kinlee were sitting on two beanbag chairs, talking and giggling. I just focused on the lesson, which we coincidentally learned about God never giving up on us, which is exactly true. God never gave up on me or my friends. He still loves us, and He always will. "You were there, you were always there, it was you and I. You've been workin' with me all this time." Britt Nicole's song is a great reminder. I glanced toward Kinlee, just as our Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Nolan, said that we should share God's persistent love. We shouldn't just keep it to ourselves, there are some people who need to know about it even more that we do. Kinlee was staring at her lap, and Alexa was taking it all in. After Sunday School let out for the service, Kinlee pulled me by the arm to the corner. The first thing she did, was give me a hug.

Chapter Five

She looked down at the floor, then back up at me. "Bess, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I got mad at you just for being a friend to someone who needed you. And I'm sorry that I laughed, because it was wrong. So, I know I don't deserve it, especially after the way I treated you at Baskin' Robins the other day, but, please forgive me."

I smiled, "Of course I will forgive you, but there's someone else that needs to know you're sorry."

"You're right. And I will apologize the next time I see her." We linked arms and Alexa joined in as we walked to the sanctuary like we always had before. I had my friends back. But even while I didn't have them, I had God. And I still do. He's been walking with me all this time.

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That next day, all four of us went to the bowling alley. Hudson was there and he apologized about the way he acted. I accepted, of course. We've been friends since we were two.

Kinlee and Hudson went to talk to Kim, and they invited her and Mae to come bowl with us. They sat at our table and we all bowled together. They really needed some friends, and we enjoyed having them with us. Kim and I exchanged emails so we could stay in touch during the summer. It felt good to make things right with everyone.

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Brooks was still not sure how he felt about God. He enjoyed Sunday School, and he planned to go again the next week. He asks me sometimes to help him understand Scriptures in the Bible. It's like we have a secret Bible study, just the two of us. He would never tell anyone that he's having his little sister help him read the Bible though!

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I stayed that next Friday at my cousin, Andalynn's, house. We stayed up listening to music, painting nails, and talking. Then there was a pillow fight with my little cousin Zane! I explained my whole story with Kim. Anndalynn prayed with me for Kim and we prayed for ourselves; that we could share God's love with everyone we know. The last song we played before falling asleep was All This Time. And it makes me glad to know that God's not just watching us from far away, but He's walking right here with us.

The End