FRIENDS TO THE RESCUE
Back when I was in high school in the 50’s a kind of ordinary incident happened to me to which I didn’t attach a whole lot of significance at the time but which I now see in retrospect as one of the times when God helped me without being asked. It’s not too important to me to maintain that it was really god. It was manifested through my friends, and I’m quite content to see it as merely human help that came my way. I say this because at this older stage in my life I am convinced that God is behind and within everything, so if I can’t adduce His fingerprints on this little matter, all the same, it was God, see!
Our high school at that time was deep into football and our team was playing teams from all over the country instead of the usual bunch of other local high schools that might be expected. Teams and supporters were brought in from hither and yon each week. We even had our own football stadium or a sort that might belong to a college, not a high school.
I don’t remember what team it was that was bussed in to play us that day; actually I only remember the names of a very few of the teams we played way back then. On that particular day, for some reason I was carrying along, before the game started, some kind of placard sign on a stick, maybe supporting our team, maybe proclaiming some other message. As I walked along in front of the stands I encountered a bunch of kids from the other school coming the other way. High spirited and, I guess, full of fun, they (I think somewhat playfully) grabbed and forced down my placard on a stick and put me out of business as a sidewalk advertiser.
Out of nowhere some of my friends came charging out of the stands coming to my defense, setting the visitors back on their heels and turning the tide in favor of our side. That’s all — no big deal. It was over, no punches thrown, no blood spilt. Just an unexpected demonstraton of loyalty and friendship coming to me in a moment of seeming peril. It warmed my heart, in the cool, unobservable way of teenage boys.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
[...] Back when I was in high school in the 50’s a kind of ordinary incident happened to me to which I didn’t attach a whole lot of significance at the time but which I now see in retrospect as one of the times when God helped me without being asked. It’s not too important to [...] Read more… [...]