| Friends Forever |
| I smiled as I climbed up the last rung of the ladder that led to our "secret" hiding place, otherwise known as the treehouse in her front yard. I crawled to her side. "Guess what?" She said excitedly. "What?" I replied with equal enthusiasm. "Are you going to tell me your secret now?" "Yeah! Okay, close your eyes." She instructed. I obeyed and a long second later, she said, "Okay. Open them." Dangling before my eyes was a gold bracelet. "Wow! Is this for me?" I smiled again and took it from her fingers. I looked and saw another bracelet in her hand. "Who is that for?" "That one is for you and this one is for me. They are friend bracelets. See? Mine says �friends' and yours says �forever.' That spells �friends forever!'" She grinned. "Wow! Thank you." I said, trying to put it on. My small fingers fumbled with the lock and it fell to the floor. I picked it up and tried again. "Here. Let me help you." With her help, I fastened the bracelet to my wrist. I held it up for her to see. "Its kind of big." I said, studying it. "My mommy said that's so we can wear it when we get older. Forever is a long time and we are going to get big." She told me proudly. I nodded to voice my agreement. Then she shifted her position on the wooden treehouse floor and said, "Can you go to Melissa's party tomorrow?" "No, I can't go. I have church tomorrow morning. My mommy said I can't go. Maybe you can come with me to church! It's lots of fun." She shook her head in return. "No. Mommy says we don't go to church." "Oh." I said sadly. "Okay." Ten Years Later The school bell ran and I followed the throng of students out of the classroom, pushing my way to our meeting place. I heard someone call my name and turned to see my best friend running up. "Guess what?" She said excitedly. "What?" I replied with equal enthusiasm. "Bobby Jackson finally asked me out!" She announced. We screamed together and then quieted in a burst of giggles. "Really? That is awesome! When are you going out?" I asked. "Friday night. Can you come over before, at like four o'clock, and help me get ready? I'll be too nervous to put on my makeup right." She asked, shifting her purse from her hand to the crook of her bent arm. "Oh, sorry. I can't. I have Bible study that night." I said sadly. I really wanted to help her get ready. "Another church thing? Come on! Please! You know how much this date means to me! I've been waiting for him to ask me out for, like, ever!" "Yeah, but I can't back down on church. It's important to me too." I said apologetically. "Besides, I'm leading worship. I really can't back out." "You know, I know you've explained to me all about God and stuff, but we are supposed to be friends forever. And a forever friend wouldn't skip out on a very important date." Her eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened. "Yeah, I know and I am really, really sorry, but I just can't back out! I would if I could but�" I let the end of the sentence hang. "Fine. Whatever. I don't need you." She sprouted angrily and then paused before storming away. "I'll call you later." I caught her arm. "You understand, don't you?" "Yeah. I understand your church is more important than your best friend." And then she walked off. At home, I awaited her promised phone call. I was too scared to call her at the wrong time. I needed to explain to her that church and God were more important than her, but that I still cared deeply about her. I glanced down at my bracelet and the word �forever' etched into it's faded gold surface. I pondered what forever exactly meant. Until the end of high school? Forever and beyond, never-ending? Until we die? No, the problem with �until we die' is we both live after we die on Earth. But how could we be friends then? If things didn't change, then we'd be in two totally opposite places and she would be mad at me for not preventing her from going there. I wanted her so badly to be with me when we died, but my efforts of asking her to church over the years seemed to have no impact. Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. Maybe my love wasn't penetrating her heart. I had never really told her about the story of Jesus. Sure, I'd told her about who God was, but never why He had impacted my life and the consequences if you didn't believe. I stared at the picture of us, sitting framed on my night stand. And maybe, I could me and the only thing that separated us. The phone rang and I picked it up. "Hello?" |