The summer before I went to Junior High School, was a pivotal year in my spiritual growth. The previous school year, in sixth grade, I began to think more independently. However, what I considered at the time to be more “adult” ideas were really more “teenage rebellious” thoughts. I had decided that I wanted to be popular, dress stylishly, and maybe even find a boyfriend. But, in order to be popular, I was listening to and talking about things that did not honor God. Dating was not allowed until I was 16. And, dressing in-style in the 1970’s meant “mini-skirts” and “hot pants”. So, none of these goals honored my God, that I had already been following for 5 years.
During the hot, carefree months of summer, I spent a lot of time reading. I almost always read my Bible daily. And the Lord lovingly and persistently spoke to my heart. Whereas before I had often flipped the waistband of my skirt over a few times after I reached school to make it shorter, I now made my own cut-off jean shorts that were closer to my knees. Through many prayer conversations with the Lord, I entrusted both my friends and future boyfriends to His plans and His time. As I realized that God himself was asking me to honor Him first through my actions, I became at peace with separating myself from the world in this way. But, even with all of these changes in my heart that summer, I was unprepared for what God asked me next.
As it grew closer to September and the exciting, scary newness of junior high school, I began to sense God’s urging to carry a Bible with me to school. My Bible? I argued a bit with God. Nobody does that! We don’t use Bibles in class! It will be another big book to lug around! Back then, we did not carry backpacks with all of our books and supplies. We just carried our books in a big stack in our arms. And, I became more and more convinced that God wanted me to carry my Bible right on the top of that stack.
After a night of internal conflict– would I obey God and take my Bible to school? I prayed a rather teenagey, drama-filled prayer something like…”OK, God, if you really want me to have no friends, to be an outcast, to be…weird, then for YOU I will.” I felt so sorry for myself. But God opened my eyes and showed me that Jesus had become an outcast from even much of his earthly family, He had challenged the religious leaders of His day and had few friends. He was “despised and rejected of men” for me. The next morning, I grabbed my Bible off my shelf and carried it to the bus stop, where I carried it for the rest of my high school and junior high years.
The Results of Carrying my Bible to School
1. Others knew from the beginning that I was a Christian.
When our children were young, we once hosted a missionary family in our home. At the end of the evening, one of our kids asked the missionary, “Is it hard to bring up conversations with people about Jesus?” The missionary’s wise reply was, “I try to make sure that a person knows that I am a Christian the first time we meet. Otherwise, it can be difficult, after knowing someone for some time, to suddenly bring your faith into the conversation.” By carrying a Bible with me to school, the other kids knew from the beginning that I was a Christian.
2. When other people had spiritual questions, wanted prayer for their problems, or just wanted Biblical advice, they sought me out.
When God is working on the heart of a non-believer, they will often seek out someone they know who is a believer to ask for prayer and counsel. I found that to be true even in Junior High or High School. Sometimes kids that I barely knew came to me if they were in trouble, wanted prayer, or had questions about the Bible. I remember one boy that I barely knew, sat by me in study hall one day. Because he had landed himself in some trouble and had to spend the weekend in the Juvenile Detention Center, he asked me to pray for him. His normal cocky, mouthy attitude slipped away in that moment revealing a scared young boy. I don’t think that we ever had another conversation, but I prayed for him that weekend and I still pray for him when God brings him to mind.
3. When the world knows where you stand, they are less likely to ask you to compromise.
Because I carried a Bible to school, I was protected from many of the pitfalls of the teenage years. I didn’t get invited to the wild parties. Non-Christian boys didn’t ask me out. I wasn’t offered drugs or alcohol in the school parking lot. No one expected me to go to movies that weren’t PG. Looking back at those years, I consider “missing out” on all of those questionable things to be a blessing.
4. Other Christian students befriended me.
Since I carried my Bible to school, other believing students knew that I also was a Christian. I made many great Christian friends that way. While I feared that I would have no friends, quite the opposite was true. I had some of the best school friends that I could have hoped for.
Focus on the Family is sponsoring “Bring your Bible to School” Day on Thursday, October 6 to encourage students not to leave their faith at the school house door.
Encourage your children, or children that you know to take their Bibles with them to school. Yes, everyone today has a Bible on their phone, tablet, and laptop. But there is something powerful about carrying your copy of God’s word, in actual book form, with you in public. Considering this, why don’t we all take our Bibles to a restaurant, coffee shop, or workplace?
Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”
Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
All verses are quoted from the ESV
With Joy,
Kathleen