We are all sitting in the car that my dad drives, heading to Alice's so we can pick her up for church. It's 8:30 and no one wants to be awake but you do what you have to do in order to hear the good word of God. When we get to Ali's house she is waiting on her porch. I open the door and scoot to the middle seat so she can sit in the spot near the window.
"Goodmorning, Alice. Sure is nice to be bringing you to church with us. Thanks for getting up so early too." Dad says
"Mornig to you to, sir." She replies, pulling her hair to her right shoulder
"Ah, call me John." Dad sighs "Sir is an old man name."
"You are an old man, Pops." Mandy chirps, causing me to laugh
"Yes mandy, but I'd rather pretend to be younger than I am for a few more years." Dad replies
The rid is quiet until we reach Ryleigh, which is becoming my favorite place. I kissed Alice here first, I go to church here, and I won semi finals here. When we pull into the parking lot of the giant building that contains our church we climb out of the car and they straighten our outfits.
I'm wearing a light blue button down with khakis and dress shoues. Ali is wearing a strapless white dress with a denim jacket. She matches with my family perfectly.
Mandy skips ahead of us, eager to get to her classroom. Her yellow sun dress flies behind her and her hair twists in the wind. Oh, the joys of being a young child.
London, Alice, and I go to the teen class room which is to the right of the entrance. When I go in with my arm wrapped around her waist it seems like all of the people stare, gasping that I've finally brought "The Alice" to church. I didn't really notice how much I talk about her.
"Alice!" Laura yells, coming up to us "I was afraid I'd scared you off or something!"
"No, of course not!" Alice says
"Well good cuz boy are we glad to have you here!" Laura smiles
"Laura, if you keep talking you'll scare her away!" London shouts from accross the room
"You make me sad." She pouts, causing london to come over to her.
"Aw, Babe! You know I love you!" London cries, hugging her
"I know," She replies, getting on her tip toes to peck him on the cheek "Come on fam! We got some Jesus to learn!"
I take Alice's hand so she doesn't get lost. When we make it to t the classrom I pick a pair of chairs in the corner. We've set it up in a circle for the Junior class so everyone has an open opportunity to participate in class discussions.
"Asher," Alice whispers
"Hmm?" I reply, looking over at her
"London and Laura?"
"About three years of the double L magic. He's just recently gotten up the nerve to ask her out and all that. He's a flirt but luckily she doesn't get jealous easy."
Since they are seniors, Laura and Landon are in a different group setting based on graduating and life after highschool. Our teacher Mr. Paron interrupts my thoughts with his voice.
"Goodmorning! It's nice to see you all here I love seeing new faces, and it looks like we have a few here toda. Let's start by praying" Mr. Paron says "Asher would you mind leading us?"
"Sure, will you bow with me?" I start and pray over the group.
After I have finished I feel someone's small, soft hand touch my own hand and I realize that she is making the first move. Ali is trying to hold my hand. Quickly I react, wrapping my giant man hand around her small petite limb. It's like we are puzzle pieces matching up in alignment. It's amazing and somehow I can't pay attention to the lesson but all I can feel is the sizzle of fire that burns up my forearm, and it stems from my hand where ours are touching.
Suddenly the burning is gone and Alice's hand has shot up straight into the air, waiting to be called upon. I nudge her and tell her she can just talk out once he comes to a break point. While she waits I try to catch up to what the conversation was to make her want to jump in and say something. Then I realize, they are talking about how God never makes bad things happen to you.
Once Mr. Paron has stopped, Alice jumps into the empty space to fill it with words "If God doesn't make or plan bad things why do babies die? Why do mothers lose their children? Why do teens feel the need to murder themselves? Why do loving people have to endure the pain that should be entrusted with the bad ones. Why do drunk drivers come out alive while families come out missing their babies? Why do these things happen?"
"That is a great question, Alice. See, the darkness is an absence of light. Light doesn't want to be gone, it just is. Sometimes we let in the darkness and shut the door on light. There are places where the light doesn't reach, shadows, for example. God is the light and the badness is the dark. God doesn't let bad things happen, bad things are just an absence of God and just because God is absent doesn't mean he wants to be gone." Mr. Paron says
"Okay, I guess I part agree with that." She replies, slumping back in her chair with her arms folded across her chest.
I lean over to her and place hand on her kneecap, showing her that I am here. Her lips turn up into a smile just faintly enough to satisfy me so I can go back to listening to the lesson. After a few more minutes of his talking we are released to go to the full service.
The sermon is interesting but I am part distracted by the fact that Alice keeps looking over at me when she thinks I am not paying attention. When the first song comes up and we start to sing her voice is so mesmerizingly beautiful I don't even sing, all I can do is listen to her voice stream lyrics of praise to our God.
Church seems to go by quickly and soon we are all crammed back in the car again. This time, Alice is sitting in the middle so I can have the larger seat.
"How did you like church?" Dad asks, making small talk
"It was awesome, I really enjoyed it." She responds with a smile
"Yeah, you are welcome back anytime. You know, we are going down to the lake next Friday night through Saturday, if it is okay with your Mom we would love to take you along! You could always room with Mandy and the boys and I could share a room." Dad offers, getting me excited
"Sounds like a blast," Ali responds
How awesome! I bet I am going to end up spending most of next weekend with Ali! This is going to be so fun!
