He Chose Me

chapter one

"Before you all leave I just want to close out with this. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace with His holy name, Jesus", my dad finished as he closed us out.

It always took a little while to leave after service was done because my dad was the pastor and everyone and their mother wanted to talk to him, so I usually just waited in the car for him to be done. I made my way out of the sanctuary and into the common area. I gently slipped past a couple of people, saying 'excuse me' with a light tap on their shoulder.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ruth! I didn't see you there", a lady named Kathleen said to me.

I smiled at her, "Hi Miss Kathleen! That's okay. I'm just slipping by."

She hugged me, "That was a good word from your father today. I felt like he was speaking to me. What'd you think of it?"

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, no, I feel the same way. I'm glad he was able to speak to you. I'm always amazed at how he does it."

"That's the Holy Spirit speaking through him. Okay, I see you're trying to go, I won't keep you! Oh, and your mother said to come find her after service got out", she said before leaving me.

I sighed and went to find my mother. She worked in the children's ministry. So while my father preached, she was in another room watching and teaching all of the kids. I lightly knocked on the door and popped my head in, "Hey, Mom. You wanted to see me?"

"Ruthie! Yes, I need a favor from you. Your brother just got a new job and with me and your father working all the time, we won't be able to take him. So I was wondering if you could let him use your car for just the first few weeks until he gets his paycheck and then he can start paying for Ubers", she said casually.

My mood abruptly changed and I became annoyed, "What? No, that won't be possible. I work too! I can't let him take my car, and for weeks at that. Besides, my car has too many problems as it is. I just don't trust anyone else driving it but me."

She gave me a disapproving glance, "Ruth, it's only temporary. You know, you should really learn some patience and kindness. It wouldn't kill you to be nice to your brother. All you guys ever do is fight, I'm so sick of it. We'll talk about this later. Go sit in the car and wait for me and your dad."

She shooed me off,  leaving me in disbelief over what I'd just heard. She had the audacity to tell me that I could learn some patience when she and my dad fought like cats and dogs once they were away from everyone at church. I hated the mask she put on in front of people. And she was so much more harsh on me than on my brother. The point was, they didn't make him come to church. It's not that I didn't enjoy going, but sometimes I just wouldn't feel up to it and I was still made to go anyway, while my brother would say he didn't want to go and my parents wouldn't make him. They were hypocrites.

I finally made my way outside and ran into Jonah, one of the boys on the worship team. He smiled and waved, "Ruth, it's always good to see you. Did you notice how last week you said your favorite worship song was 'Same God' and how the band played it today? It's cause I told them to. Did you like it?"

Ah, Jonah. The perfect church boy that both of my parents wanted me to marry. They had been setting this up since we were little. I never really had an interest in him, he just wasn't my type. He was sweet and of course, we had a lot in common, and I liked how involved he was in the church and with all the youth group activities, but just because someone your age goes to the same church as you, doesn't mean that you're meant to be.

I nodded, "Yes, I loved your guys' rendition of it! You did a really good job singing it. I had a feeling you had something to do with that song being played."