Keep walking

Jamie hugged her books against her chest and threw back her head with determination. She had two minutes to get to Biology class, two minutes to maneuver Jock Alley. She’d tried a lot of different strategies.

Sometimes it worked well to keep her eyes on the floor as she walked. Other times, she followed so closely behind the cheerleaders that she almost blended into their group. But on football game day, they had all been in uniform and her mousy everyday clothes were a sore thumb that drew jeers.

She turned the corner in the locker-lined hallway to see tall, dark-haired, handsome Tommy Fletcher. “Ooooh,” he said in a low coaxing voice. “Here comes the Princess! What elegant clothes today. And that hair!” He howled with a practiced coyote voice. “Sexy! Hot Mama today!”

She got that she was plain. She wasn’t drawn to the high fashions and the latest hairstyle. On she walked.

The howling continued for a few seconds before the boys grabbed their books and walked off with a group laugh.

At least after Biology class was freedom. Jamie could leave this crazy world that squeezed her heart every day and step out into the place where she could breathe, smile, laugh……

She knew it wasn’t just the athletes. At her cousin’s school, the athletes had all gotten saved and were nice. There, it was the drama kids who formed the gauntlet line. Sometimes it was the guys in building trades or the girls in art class.

It wasn’t what they were doing but what they were inside.

The Biology classroom had the faint smell of formaldehyde and Lysol as she settled in. Not much longer and she’d be out of here.

"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

Ever feel like a junior high student? Keep walking.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph 6:12