by Kelli G. Albright
POST Editor
When you think of it, don't all our lives have some kind of soap opera in them? Something dumb; something sensational; something hurtful; something sly; even something rewarding....school days can be that way. I thought of the title, "The Days of Our Lives" because it seemed fitting for looking back many years ago, as I co-administrate a private Facebook site in hopes of getting a planning meeting together to start organizing my 50th high school reunion. It's two years away. So far, about 23 classmates have raised their hands, out of the 100 or so graduates. The search is on for those whose whereabouts are unknown.
Watching "The Jesus Revolution" movie brought back familiar images to me, although I wasn't as old as the main people in the story of the late 1960s and early '70s. But the long hair, attitudes, popular incense, and fashions, brought back that time period. I remember sitting in the local Lincoln Junior High cafeteria, and a long-haired guy, not a student, came and sat down and started asking questions about my faith beliefs, and probably shared about salvation. I think my best friend, Mary Jane, was sitting with me that day. She was continuing to pray for me, since the beginning of our 3rd-grade friendship. (I found this out years later). I remember replying to the hippie, "I believe in God". That was about the end of the conversation. During the same junior high years, I sat in the school hallway with Mary Jane during a Bible Club. I remember commenting that the Psalms "were like poetry". During the few years that I was bullied at school, I remember kneeling in my little bedroom praying and crying for Jesus to come into my life. But I didn't really know what it all meant. (My parents were empathetic and supportive of me, though faith was left up to my sisters and me).
I was conservative in my high school years; studied hard; joined clubs (my oldest sister said, "Get involved in all you can!"); was close to good friends, and had a few dates. Getting crowned prom queen was one of the biggest surprises of my life (next to Scott from Idaho proposing to me 6 years later). I got too distracted by social life in my short stint in college after high school, but thankfully some basics of journalism stuck with me. But where was God, then? On the back burner. A few years later, back home, He got my attention. I surrendered to Him and felt like a happy kid. The social life of the large singles group at church was a good switch, too.
It will be interesting----this class reunion---in just two years. Some will probably politely turn the conversation after Scott and I answer the routine questions of employment or "What are you up to, now?". (Scott knows some of my classmates from his route salesmen jobs in the past). I can even imagine someone asking, "So, you are a Jesus freak?". One thoughtful classmate volunteered to do a presentation on remembering our classmates who have passed.; about 13 has been the count. There was one friend, several years ago, who was dying of cancer. She shared on Facebook about her faith and that she would be meeting Jesus. Such a plus purpose of social media; is to be able to share, encourage, and comfort.
God is waiting for your RSVP to Heaven. Respond to His Son. When the trumpet sounds, what a reunion that will be!
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