PARTY ONE NIGHT AND DIED. IF YOU HAD NOT TOLD HIM HOW GOOD BEER WAS, HE WOULD HAVE LIVED TO SEE HIS GRANDCHILDREN.
YOU ALREADY KNOW WHO WAS BOTHERING YOUR CONSCIENCE AND WHO WAS ALWAYS REMINDING YOU ABOUT PAULA’S BROTHER DON’T YOU?”
“Yes, Lord. The more I talk with You and the more I see how You work things out, I can see how You were protecting some people and how you were very long suffering with others. I am so sorry for everything I did in my life. I just wish I could go back and change all the things that I did that were bad. I also wish I could go back and tell everyone who I hurt, that I am sorry.”
“YOU KNOW YOU CAN NOT DO THAT. EACH PERSON HAD TWO PATHS THEY COULD TRAVEL DOWN. THE PATH THAT SOME PEOPLE TOOK CROSSED YOUR PATH AND THEY PAID VERY DEARLY FOR THEIR MISTAKE. ALSO, YOU HAD A PATH TO TRAVEL ALL YOUR LIFE, BUT YOUR PATH ALWAYS HURT PEOPLE AND DID THEM HARM. IF I HAD NOT PUT A RESTRAINING FORCE ON YOU, YOU WOULD HAVE ENTERED INTO THE CRIMINAL WORLD AND YOU WOULD HAVE TAKEN THE LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE.”
“Lord, why was I even born, if I was going to live like I did and then go to Hell? It would have been better if I was not even created.”
“IF YOU WOULD HAVE READ THE BIBLE, YOU WOULD HAVE LEARNED THAT I CREATED MAN FOR THE FELLOWSHIP. I DO NOT FORCE THAT FELLOWSHIP ON ANYONE, BUT I DO GIVE EVERYONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE WITH ME FOREVER. REMEMBER WHEN YOU TOLD MIKE THAT YOU WOULD ACCEPT AND THEN YOU LIED AND SAID YOU WOULD NEVER ACCEPT?”
“Yes, Lord, I remember that very clearly. I also remember how bad I felt about that remark and I also remember how bad I made Mike feel. There were many, many times I wish I had never said that.”
“GENE, YOU DID SAY THAT YOU WOULD NEVER ACCEPT AND YOU MEANT EVERY WORD YOU SAID. I KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING THAT YOU WOULD NEVER ACCEPT, BUT I GAVE YOU EVERY CHANCE IN THE WORLD TO CHANGE YOUR MIND. HOWEVER, YOU NEVER, NEVER, NEVER WOULD CHANGE YOUR MIND.”
During that first year in high school, Gene’s reputation grew like a wild fire. He was the nicest looking boy in school, and even the junior and senior girls wanted to go out with him. Mike, on the other hand, was considered only cute by most of the girls. Also, all the girls knew that Mike was a Christian and that there was no idea at all in his mind of trying to go to bed with them. They all knew that if he asked you out, you would get back home the same way you left.
Mike and Gene did talk and do some things together, but it was never the same as it was during grade school. Gene continued to do things that were considered bad by the standards of that day. Mike was the boy next door. He would help anyone that needed it and he would go completely out of his way to do something good for people.
Gene and Paula dated all that first year, even though the rumors flowed like a flood about all the girls he had gone to bed with. Paula just did not want to believe that Gene would cheat on her. But cheat he did. He cheated on every girl he ever dated and it did not stop there. (He later cheated on his wife after only two years of marriage. She forgave him every time, even though her heart was broken. )
In Gene’s junior year, he was the most popular boy in school. His unending “love” for girls, all girls, kept him busy most of the time. If he wasn’t in the back seat of his car, he was parked with a blanket on the ground. Paula finally had enough of the “talk of the town” and she said it was all over between them. Gene said he was only dating her for one reason and one reason only. He said he had wasted a whole year on her and did not get anything to show for his trouble.
All through that junior year, Gene was drinking more and more. One friend asked if he had seen a doctor about his drinking problem.
“I am not an alcoholic, if that is what you are getting at!” was his reply. “I just like to drink. There is nothing wrong with that, is there?”
Gene still believed what his father had taught him about a person ceasing to exist once they died. Gene was also following in his father’s footsteps in becoming an alcoholic. The one thing that Gene could not see was that he was becoming just like his father in everything that he did, and in everything that he believed.
This was the first day of the boys’ senior year. Mike’s mom, Bonnie, told him that the check for his lunch money was on the table.
“Thanks, Mom, but the first day of school we usually go out to eat.”
“Here’s some cash for you and a little extra. You might meet some nice girl. Who knows the way the Lord works. He just might bring a nice Christian girl into your life this senior year.”
At school, Mike ran into Gene in the hall. “Gene, we only have one year of school left. Remember when we were kids and we were hoping that we could always stay kids and never grow up?”
“Yep, I remember that very well. But all of that was just kids’ talk. We are now men and almost ready to be on our own. I’m sure glad we didn’t stay kids!”
“Scary, isn’t it, to think twelve years of school will be over in May?”
“I’ll tell you one thing, Mike. When we graduate, I’m going to have the biggest beer party you will ever see. Oh, I’m sorry, Mike, I forgot. The Bible says I am not supposed to do that,” said Gene sarcastically.
Mike just turned around and walked off shaking his head.
The boy's senior year went by so quickly, they both were surprised when May arrived. Gene started to reminisce about that special day of March 4, when he had met a new girl that started school at the beginning of the new semester. Sandy Teason was her name and she was almost as beautiful as Paula Albright.
They started dating steadily right after their first date on March 6. Every time Gene went over to pick her up, he always talked to her brother, Billy. Billy was a sophomore and looked up to Gene because he was a senior.
One day after school, Billy asked if he could get a ride home with Gene. Gene said, “Sure, but first I have to stop by my house and get a cold one.”
Billy looked puzzled with what Gene had said. “What do you mean a cold one?”
“You know, Billy, a cold beer. I think better with a cold beer under my belt. When we get to my house, do you want a cold one also?”
“No, thanks. I don’t drink.”
“Oh, you mean you are too young?”
“No, I mean I don’t drink. I‘ve seen what beer and hard liquor can do to people.”
“Okay, Billy. If anyone asks, I will just say you’re chicken.”
“You say whatever you want, but I am not going to touch that stuff.”
All the way to Gene’s house, Gene was putting Billy down and calling him all kinds of names.
At the house they both headed for the garage. Gene opened the icebox door and grabbed one bottle and opened it and took one big swig. “Oh, that really does taste good. Billy, I’m sorry for saying the things that I did on the way over. I just realized why you don’t want a beer and why you say you don’t want to touch that stuff.”
“Well, Gene, why did I say all of that?
“It’s because you have never drank beer before. Right?”
Billy didn’t say a word, he just stared at Gene.
“I knew it. I can see it in your eyes. You have never had a beer in your life. You know what else I see in your eyes? I see the desire for a beer. You want to open one so bad you can taste it. The smell alone has you in its spell.”
At that time, Gene walked over and put the bottle of beer under Billy’s nose so he could smell the beer. Gene then walked to the icebox, took another bottle out, and opened it. “Billy, I won’t say a word to anyone. Go ahead. Take it and drink it down. Billy, just one little swallow. Come on, be a man,” pleaded Gene.
“If I take one swallow, will that shut you up?”
“That‘s all it will take is one swallow. Trust me, Billy.”
Gene was right. One swallow was all it took. Billy finished the first beer off within two minutes. The second, third, and fourth did not take much longer either. When he left to take Billy home, Billy was almost too drunk to walk. Of cours
e, Gene could now hold it a little better, but he was not walking straight either.
The next day at school, Billy acted as if nothing had happened. Gene looked as if he had been drinking for a week. He looked terrible. After school, Billy asked if Gene was going straight home.
“I’m going straight home and to bed. I don’t usually drink that much on a school day.”
“Well, Gene, I thought that you might give me another ride home and we could stop at your house and have a cold one. I’ll also give you four dollars so you can get more beer and put it in your icebox, in case of a rainy day.”
“I don’t really want to drink today,” was Gene’s answer.
“Oh, you mean you can’t handle drinking. Or is it that you are the chicken?” Billy asked sarcastically.
“Don’t put words in my mouth, Billy!” Gene yelled.
“I am not putting words in your mouth. But I just wonder what everyone is going to say when they find out that you can’t handle drinking?”
Gene drove as fast as he could to his house. At the house, they headed straight for the garage. Gene took one bottle for himself and he handed one to Billy. Billy had the first and second bottles down before Gene finished his first. “Yesterday, you drank eight bottles. How many are you planning on drinking today?”
“Oh, about ten.”
Billy did drink ten bottles and from that day on, he was drinking on a daily basis.
When Mike and Gene graduated, they both received scholarships from different schools. Gene, who had made straight A’s all through his high school years, was given a four year, fully paid scholarship to UCLA. Mike received a scholarship to Multnoma, School of the Bible, in Oregon. Their high school days were over and their paths would lead both in totally different directions.