THE KNIFE IN MY HAND (W.R.)
My parents are gone. The neighbors are out. No one is here to stop me.
So if I can't be stopped... Why can't I start?
This knife in my hand... It isn't in my hand very long. Faster than intended it is back in the knife drawer. I growl at myself. WHY CAN'T I JUST GET THIS OVER WITH?!
Maybe it's that new kid at school. All she ever talks about is this stupid God of hers, and I've got to get her to shut up before I go. That's it. Unfinished business. I can't leave my idiot classmates to suffer under her continuous chatting, can I? OK, maybe I can, but I won't.
So the next day at school I confront her. "What are you talking about?" I ask briskly.
"Oh, well, I'm talking about God! The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth! The Father up above! The-"
"SHUT UP!" I yell. "I'm just asking that you STOP talking about it, k?"
"I can't!" she complains. "He gave his only Son to this evil world just so they could kill him and so that our sins would be forgiven. He and His Son care a lot about us, and I can't just turn my back on him!"
"I can," I mumble as I walk away. But maybe she's got a point. Something had to have made this world, right? Why not just assume that it's the Father of whatever? So that night, as I follow my usual schedule, (check to make sure no one's watching me, pull up a stool next to the knife drawer, , watch the knife in my hand until I hear my parents coming up the driveway, and then put the knife back) I think about what she said. About how some Dude gave His only son to us. She gave me the link to some website about it, and apparently the Guy worked miracles. He could feed five thousand with only one basket of fish and a piece or two of bread. He could turn water into wine. He could even raise the dead. I have to admit, it was pretty stupid of those guys to kill Him. Nail Him to a cross. Leave Him there, in between two REAL criminals. And I have to admit, it was pretty amazing when, at the exact hour that this Jesus guy died, the curtain in the temple split. And we're talking BIG curtain. REALLY thick. No human could tear it. Nothing could. And yet, it tore itself. From top to bottom, and this thing was tall, so no worldly being could have done it. And it was even more amazing when Jesus rose out of the tomb three days later. Creepy, but cool. And to think that He did it all just so I could be forgiven of my sins? ALL of my sins? All of my many, many sins? Even cooler.
So I guess that girl has a good reason to worship this God. He made a big sacrifice. And he was powerful! Made the whole world in just one stinkin' week! I guess I'd have a good reason to support that Guy as well.
So this time, when I hear my parents pulling up the drive, the knife has already left my hand. I meet them at the door, which surprises them, but my words surprise them even more: "I've become a Christian!"
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