Point of No Return (7 page)

Jimmy looked up at his dad's face and suddenly realized tears were rolling down his cheeks.

“Because my son accepted Jesus, I want to rededicate my life to Christ,” George said and squeezed Jimmy's shoulder.

“Me, too,” came a tear-filled voice from behind Jimmy. He turned. It was his mother.

“So do I,” came a younger choked-up voice. It was Donna.

As the organ played softly, the Barclay family collected themselves into a tender embrace. And Jimmy found himself crying, too.

CHAPTER TEN

Monday at School

J
IMMY SET HIS RADIO
alarm clock for Q96—Odyssey's only Christian station. He thought he would wake up to music. Instead, he awakened to a fiery preacher who was making a case about lazy Christians who never talked about Jesus to their families, friends, and neighbors. He made his point by citing Acts chapter two. “Look what happened here,” the preacher said. “After the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, Peter went out into the street to preach the story of Jesus. At first, the people thought the disciples were drunk because they were so filled with the power of the Spirit. Peter set them straight. He said, ‘Hey, you heathens, we're not drunk! We're just fulfilling what the prophet Joel said would happen! He said that in the last days, young men and women would prophesy and see visions and dream dreams! And that's exactly what's happening right here, right now!'”

Jimmy rolled over in his bed and listened.

“Then Peter went on and laid the gospel down for everyone who was listening. He told them about how God sent Jesus of Nazareth to them, and they crucified Him because their hearts were hard, but it didn't matter because Jesus rose from the dead to prove He's their Lord and Messiah! And look at what the people did.

“The people said, ‘What're we supposed to do?' and Peter told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah, and then their sins would be forgiven.

“You see what he did? He told them the gospel, plain and simple, and they responded. He
witnessed
to them.

“Do you know what witnessing is? Witnessing is telling what you know. Like if you saw a car accident, you'd act as a
witness
—you'd tell the police and the court what you saw, what you know. That's what Peter did. He told them what he knew. And they responded by asking how they could know Jesus the way Peter did. And look at verse 41. Do you see that verse?
Three thousand
people were added to the church that day!
Three thousand
—all because Peter took the time to share the gospel. He could've made all the excuses we make—about how we're tired or embarrassed or don't want to be pushy. Did Peter care? No! He obeyed Scripture, called on the power of the Holy Spirit, and explained his faith, and
three thousand
became believers.”

Someone knocked on Jimmy's bedroom door.

“Yeah?” Jimmy called out.

“Just making sure you're up,” his mother said. “We don't want you to be late for school.”

“Okay,” Jimmy said and sat up. The preacher had finished speaking, and an announcer was telling about booklets listeners could order. Jimmy turned off the radio and got ready for school.

It would be his first day there as a new Christian, and he wanted to make it count. If Peter could bring three thousand people to their knees, Jimmy could at least do the same with a couple of kids. One way or another, he was going to make an impact.

And he did.

The morning at school slipped past in a blur of history, English, and math. Jimmy and Tony were in different classes, so he didn't get to see him until lunch. Tony was sitting with Brad Woodward when Jimmy walked up to their table.

“Hey, Tony,” Jimmy said as he sat down.

Tony and Brad stopped their conversation to look at Jimmy. “What's up, Jimmy?” Tony said.

“Not much,” Jimmy said. That was one of their normal exchanges, like when adults say “Hi, how are you?” and the other says “Fine” even if he isn't fine.

“Brad and I were just talking about Saturday night at Allen's Pond,” Tony explained. Then he said to Brad, “Jimmy couldn't go with us 'cause he was in trouble and had to go to church. Right, Jimmy?”

Jimmy answered, “Yeah, well, I—”

Tony continued saying to Brad, “Did I tell you that Jimmy's all religious now? He's gonna grow up and be one of those TV evangelist guys.” Tony and Brad laughed.

“Cut it out, Tony! I am not,” Jimmy said.

“He'll have to paint his hair white and get sweaty and talk in a REAL LOUD VOICE,” Brad added.

“He'll have to buy a white suit,” Tony said with a laugh.

Jimmy wondered if Peter had to put up with this kind of junk. “Don't be stupid,” Jimmy said.

“I still think you're just pulling something to get out of trouble with your parents,” Tony said.

“No, I'm not,” Jimmy said.

“Then come on, tell us what happened,” Tony said.

Jimmy thought back to what the preacher had said that morning: Witnessing is just telling what happened, and then
three thousand
could be saved. So Jimmy sent up a quick prayer for the Holy Spirit to help him make Tony and Brad fall to their knees and become Christians right there. He began, “See, I went to church the other night, and I thought it'd be really boring, but it wasn't. We played games, and then Dave, one of our pastors, talked and said that—”

“What kind of games?” Brad asked.

“I don't know,” Jimmy answered impatiently, “dodgeball and stuff. Shut up and listen, will you? Anyway, Dave told us how we all live in this world, but there's another world that God lives in, and so God sent Jesus to
this
world to—”

“So Jesus was some kind of astronaut,” Tony teased. “A UFO.”

“No,” Jimmy said. “But, see, He came over and dressed in skin and stuff so He could be like us.”

Brad raised his hand as if he were asking a question in class. “How did He put on the skin?” he asked. “Did it have a zipper up the back, like the monster in
Creature from the Black Lagoon
?” He and Tony laughed again.

Annoyed, Jimmy folded his arms. “He was
born
, you idiots! Don't you know what Christmas is all about?”

Tony smiled and said, “It's about a big tree and presents and Santa Claus.”

“Maybe Santa Claus was Jesus in disguise,” Brad said with a chuckle.

“Will you quit fooling around?” Jimmy pleaded. “Do you wanna know what happened or not?”

“Yeah, but skip the history lesson,” Tony said.

“It's not a history lesson, it's part of the story,” Jimmy said. “You have to understand why He came! See, we're no good, and God is perfect, so Jesus had to come and die so that we could be with God. We can't go to the other place unless we're made perfect, kinda like Jesus is and…and…”

Tony's and Brad's blank expressions told Jimmy he wasn't making any sense at all. Why couldn't he say it the way Dave did? Why couldn't he sound like Peter? Why were Tony and Brad giggling?
I'll bet Peter's audience didn't giggle
, he thought.

Tony burst out laughing. “I wish you could see your face,” he said. “You don't even know what you're talking about!”

Tony and Brad laughed harder, then harder still.

“I do, too! You just don't understand!” Jimmy protested.

They kept laughing and making more jokes about Santa Claus, aliens, other worlds, and everything else Jimmy had tried to say.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way
, he thought as his emotions twisted up and nearly squeezed tears out of him.
They're supposed to understand and say yes to Jesus just like me. Why don't they?

Finally, he grabbed his tray of food and stormed off to another table.

Jack, Oscar, and Lucy were sitting together as Jimmy passed their table. Jack called out, but Jimmy ignored him. He wanted to ignore everyone. He couldn't stand the thought of being laughed at anymore.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Monday After School

A
FTER SCHOOL
, J
IMMY
avoided Tony and went straight home. He was still moping about what had happened at lunch, but in case he was asked, he had worked out an excuse about rushing home to finish building a model of a ship. His dad had given him the model two Christmases ago, and it was still unassembled in a box at the top of his closet, but Jimmy ran home anyway.

It nagged at Jimmy that he had prayed for the Holy Spirit to help him—just like Peter—and they had laughed at him anyway. He couldn't understand why they didn't want to say yes to Jesus the same way he had after hearing Dave.

In his room, he paced and tried to figure it out. He wished—no, it was really a prayer, though Jimmy didn't realize it—that he could talk to somebody who understood how he felt. At that moment, he thought he was the only person in the world who had ever become a new Christian and was teased about it.

His mind went back to the ship model, so he climbed up on a chair to pull it down. As he pushed and lifted various games and boxes of long-forgotten toys, something caught his eye in the corner of the shelf. It was the Bible his grandmother had given him—the one with his name embossed on the front cover. He grabbed it, climbed off the chair, and threw himself onto his bed. Dust flew from the book's jacket. The binding cracked as he opened it. On the inside, his grandmother had written:

Was this the answer to his wish-that-was-really-a-prayer? “Don't let people look down on you,” it said. “Be an example in your speech and behavior.” Is that what God wanted him to know? He couldn't be sure.

Then Jimmy thought about his grandmother. He suddenly felt a longing to talk to her, to see her. She had always acted as though Jimmy would become a Christian one day, and now that he had, he wanted to make sure she knew about it. Had his dad told her? Would they let him call her? Maybe he could go and visit. He wanted to do
something.

He remembered once again how his family used to pray together. He wondered how it would feel now to pray—and really mean it. He closed the Bible and crawled off his bed. Getting on his knees next to it, he carefully folded his hands and began, “Dear God—”

Just then, Donna walked into the room. “Jimmy,” she said.

Jimmy instantly fell to the floor and pretended he was searching for something under his bed. “What?” he shouted. “Don't you ever knock?”

“Sorry!” she said. “What are you doing?”

“I'm looking for something!” he said, still talking loudly from his embarrassment.

Donna looked puzzled. “Oh,” she responded. “Well, Jacob's here to see you.”

“Jacob Wright?” Jimmy asked as he stood up.

“How many other Jacobs do you know?” Donna said as she walked out. Jimmy heard her call down the stairs for Jacob to come up.

Jimmy was surprised. He couldn't imagine that Jacob would show up without his father. He wondered what he was doing there. He also wondered what he would have to talk about with a kid who never seemed to talk.

Jacob peeked into the room. “Hi,” he said softly.

“Hi,” Jimmy said.

“I heard you had a hard time today,” Jacob said.

Jimmy knew that Jacob was taught at home by his mom, so he didn't go to their school. “How did you hear about it?”

“My dad saw Jack Davis at Whit's End, and he said your friends were teasing you at lunch. You tried to witness to them, huh? They didn't act the way you thought they would.”

Jimmy stared at Jacob for a moment. “They're idiots,” he finally said, and all the feelings from lunch came rushing back to him. He felt angry and wanted to cry.

“They don't get it,” Jacob said quietly as he sat on the edge of the bed. “Maybe they'll
never
get it. That's the way it happens sometimes.

They all make up their own minds. All you can do is what God says to do and
try
to tell them.”

“But Tony's my best friend! He was supposed to…to understand.” Jimmy hung his head. “I said it all wrong.”

Jacob smiled. “Just because you became a Christian doesn't mean you'll turn into Peter or Paul and be a great preacher right away,” he said. “I know. The same thing happened to me the first time I tried to tell someone about Jesus.”

“Really?” Jimmy asked, brightening a little.

“Yeah,” Jacob confirmed. “I felt embarrassed and mad, and…I thought I might cry in front of everybody. It was terrible.”

Jimmy sat down on his bed next to Jacob. He looked intently at the brown-haired kid who didn't talk much but came by at just the right time as if he had been sent by someone.