3 short stories.
setting: english camp, the night that the gospel has been shared. the students are walking around a "labyrinth," going to different stations which make them think and answer questions.
i'm sitting in a room which the students can choose to enter or to ignore. if they choose to come in, it's because they're acknowledging some sort of guilt/shame in their lives. if they enter the room, they're holding a plastic cut-out of a man who is dirty, and they hand the piece to me. i symbolically wash the sin/dirt away, comparing it to how Christ has washed away our sin.
character 1: independent young woman, introspective, full of questions, knows the gospel but believes God doesn't love her
character 2: a girl who loves science and believes the big bang, but has come to youth group and Bible study for a year
character 3: a young man who's helped leading the youth group, attended Bible studies, but still has lots of questions about God
i'd been praying for a few girls throughout the year, and for some new faces i'd met at English camp. all these faces i loved and desperately wanted them to accept Christ. that special night, the gospel night, i was praying and hoping that each of those five girls that i was specifically praying for would enter the room. characters 1 and 2 belonged in my specific group.
character 1 was the first to walk through the labyrinth, and as i saw her reading the verses outside of the room where i was sitting, i prayed so much that she'd enter the room. i sadly watched her walk past the room without even looking in; what disappointment that my prayer hadn't been answered.
another girl on my prayer list walked up to the room, and then i watched her walk past. tears welled up in my eyes as i realized that these two girls who i loved were not going to acknowledge Christ that evening.
character 2 was next in line. i prayed and told myself that she HAD to come into that room. and she did. i washed her little plastic human, and we cried and held onto each other. both of us knew that she was taking a step.
then came character 3. he walked past the room. sigh of disappointment. but wait - he had come back and was looking in our room! he couldn't decide. i saw him walk past the room again, and then turn around, and then again one last time. someone from the youth group sat down and was talking with him. half an hour later, he entered the room and made the full decision. my eyes welled up with different tears, tears of joy, knowing that the BEST THING had just happened to character 3. he was a brother now.
then a different friend came and got me, and told me that character 1 really needed to see me downstairs. i found her, and she admitted to me that though she hadn't entered that room, she had chosen Christ. there were those tears again, and i hugged her and told her that this was the BEST THING. she was a sister now. and i took her back to that room, and i sat with her as she washed her own plastic human, showing how she had acknowledged that God had washed away her own sin and guilt.
and then i found character 2. i sat down and talked with her, and we talked about things that i didn't know were going on with her. and she told me that she was ready to take a big step this year, and that she wanted to find God this year. she's not a sister yet, but i rejoiced with her in her decision.
what a beautiful night.
