There Must Be Something More

101 | Make America Great Again

I couldn't imagine the pressure Trey had standing up on that stage in front of almost everyone in our high school, Clarkdale High. I wouldn't have known how he felt, that was until he told me everything a few hours later. And this is what happened during the hours he did a lecture on stage. In front of the whole student body. Including our dreaded, good 'ol principal, Mr. Powell.

Trey peeked behind the slit opening in the middle of the red velvet curtains in front of him. He gulped.

"This is a real full house," he whispered, wiping the sweat dripping down the side of his face.

He turned to face Meredith, who had a huge grin on her face. "How do I look?" He asked.

"Good enough to change a whole school!" Meredith said, giving him the two-thumbs up.

"I don't get it," he said, fanning himself with the collar of his long-sleeved white shirt. "There's so many people tonight. How is that?"

"They're expecting something big," Meredith said. "And we've got to give it to them."

That made Trey a lot more nervous. "Uh... why don't you do the lecture tonight, Mer? I can totally just be the moral support guy for you guys. You know, the one who's always backstage, clapping and whistling his cheers. You know, the guy nobody knows about in every show. You know, that guy."

Meredith's forehead wrinkled. "You're not that guy."

"Can I be?"

"No."

"Why not?" Trey demanded, scowling, his heart crashing in his ribs.

"Because you're meant to lead. Every child of God does. Why fit in when you can stand out?" She said.

"Is that why you're not afraid to always be in the center of attention?"

"If it means getting to share about Jesus to them, why not?"

Trey sighed. "Guess I'm going to do it. I reckon you're not gonna take no for an answer."

"No," Meredith smiled.

I came in backstage with three orders of French fries in my hands. I gave one to Meredith and started to give one to Trey, but he refused.

"My stomach is already in knots," he told me, clutching his stomach and making a disgusted face.

I laughed. "Calm down. Trust me, it's not as bad as it looks."

"Easy for you to say," he snapped. "It wasn't that much of a full house during your lectures." He peeked behind the curtain again and grimaced at me. "I think students from other schools are there, too."

"Oh, they are," Alex said. She grabbed Trey's share of French fries from my hand and plopped one to her mouth.

"Really?" Trey said sarcastically.

"Really!" Alex said. "I asked my atheist friends from other schools and universities to come and at least ten of them did. They're interested how one person could change my entire worldview." She turned to me. "They mostly want to see you two, Charlie and Meredith."

Meredith smiled. I cringed. "Oy." I muttered.

"That's perfect," Trey said. His voice cracked.

"Two minutes," Aubrey came in, hugging her clipboard. She held two fingers up.

"Let's pray," Meredith said. We all huddled together and Trey led the prayer.

"Father, we humbly come before You today, acknowledging that apart from You, we are nothing. As we embark on this lecture to unbelievers and believers alike, O Lord, give us the boldness and wisdom to speak what You want us to speak. Whatever happens tonight is all to Your glory and honor, God. In Jesus' name. Amen."

Trey turned to me. I gave him a smile and a playful shove on the shoulder. "You're just like your uncle now, dude. You're talking about Jesus to other people. Only this time, you're doing greater. With a lot more people--multitudes!"

He smiled. We all left the backstage as the curtains parted to reveal the massive crowd ahead of us. Trey stared at the sea of both familiar and unfamiliar faces. He didn't seem at all fazed at the harsh spotlight pointed at him. He cleared his throat--

I sat down behind the stage with Meredith and Alex.

Trey started.

"Hi, guys!" He said, grinning awkwardly. "Um..." he tugged at his collar to let in a little more air in his chest. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Trey Mullins, sophomore."

Some girls giggled. I heard one say he was cute. I snickered.

"So, why am I here, you ask? I know you were probably expecting Meredith Caraway or Charlie Borlock and are pretty disappointed to see me," he continued. "Don't worry, you'll be able to talk to them after my lecture. But for the meantime, you'll have to put up with me."

Laughter from the crowd.

"But I also can promise you I'll be giving some promising information as Charlie and Meredith had in the previous lectures."

Trey turned to Aubrey Wade, who was behind the laptop beside the platform stage. Aubrey clicked something on the keyboard and the words 'Why 66 Books? How Do We Know The Bible Is True?' styled in bold, black letters emerged from the projected screen.

"Does anybody here don't know what a Bible is?" Trey said, holding one hand up to call on somebody who may not know about the Word of God.

Nobody held their hand up. Nobody moved. They all just stared at him now.

"I'm guessing everyone here knows what a Bible is," he said.

"I don't know what kind of Bible you're talking about," Calum stood up from the crowd and stared at Trey, expressionless.

"Come on," Trey said. "We've done at least two lectures already. Surely you know--"

"There are lots of Bibles out there," Calum said. "The Satanic bible, the Quran, the book of Mormon, and etc. So many. How would I know what bible you're talking about?"

"I'm talking about the Bible that's been there earlier than any of the other bibles," Trey said.

Suddenly, Meredith stood up from her chair and went around the platform stage.

"Where's she going?" I asked Alex beside me. She just shrugged.

Meredith came up the stage and handed Trey a Bible.

"I'm talking about this Bible," Trey said, holding up a black hard-cover leather Bible. "The one our very ancestors trusted since the beginning of time. Even our past presidents trusted the Bible. That's why we have 'In God We Trust' printed on our dollar bills. It was supposed to acknowledge that America believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now those words don't even mean a thing to most of us. But I'm going to explain tonight why America in the old days was much better than the America we know now. And I totally get President Trump's slogan, 'Make America Great Again'."

Meredith came back to her seat beside me. "Nice save," I told her.

Trey said, opening his leather Bible and flipping through its pages, "The Bible is composed of 66 books by 40 different writers over 1,500 years, yet it has one consistent story line running all the way through, and it has just one ultimate author - God."

"Oh, come on," I heard a person mumble in the crowd.

Meredith smiled and put a hand on Alex's shoulder. "Can you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Alex asked, giving me a puzzled look.

"The Holy Spirit is here right now," Meredith said, grinning. "The atmosphere is changing."

I smiled and took a deep breath. I knew she was right.

Disclaimer: This info was taken from the article by Brian H. Edwards entitled "Why 66?" In the answersingenesis.org website.