The Preacher Boy: Learning to Trust God

Bobby Joe held out his thumb hopefully as he saw a car approaching. He wondered what they saw as they whizzed past him. Did they see him as a sixteen year old homeless bum? Which he supposed he was: or did they see a hopeful person who only wanted to get somewhere that would allow him to better himself? He looked down at his jeans and tee shirt. They were at least clean. He knew his blond hair was a little long for the best style in this age. But he didn’t have the money to get a hair-cut after he had paid his portion of rent he had promised his room-mate. He hadn’t wanted to leave him in the lurch. After all this was the modern age. Each should carry his own weight.

After Katie had told him that her Mother had demanded she quit seeing him, he felt the despair of rejection. His Mother had told him to get out of her house, his father had left a long time ago, never to be heard from again, and now his friend’s Mother had just squelched his interest in a sweet girl.

“I feel like I just want to lie down on this lonely road and let the next car run over me. No one would care. Mom wouldn’t even think to search for me. No one would miss me. Where do I think I’m going anyway?”

In despair he stumbled over the ditch and sat down under the shade of a tree. Dropping his head to his chest, he thought about last night.

He had asked, “Katie could I go to church with you and your Mother?”

“Sure you can, Bobby Joe, Mother doesn’t like to drive at night, so maybe you can drive us there in our car.”

“Are you sure? I do have my license, but I haven’t gotten to drive much. My Mom had to have the car to go to work so I never got to drive.”

“I don’t think Mom will object.” Katie scooted in the passenger door.

Excited about getting to go with Katie, and getting to drive also, he clamored under the steering wheel.

Coming out of the house, Mrs. Bowman stopped, stared, and frostily said, “What is going on here?”

“Oh Mom, I told Bobby Joe you probably wouldn’t mind if he drove us to church, as you don’t like to drive at night.”

“All right.” It was evident her agreement was hesitantly given, but she climbed in behind Katie in the back seat on the passenger’s side.

“This is a wonderful car, Mrs. Bowman!” Bobby Joe said as he slid his arm behind Katie’s shoulders.

“Young man, it takes both hands on the wheel to drive safely!” Mrs. Bowman reached over and pinched a plug out of Bobby Joe’s arm.

“Ouch!”

“Shut up and drive!”

The worship band was very intriguing.

However, the message Pastor Gary preached touched Bobby Joe’s heart. He told about the prophet Elijah, who had tried to obey the word of the Lord, and was told the most powerful woman in the Kingdom was going to put out ‘a hit’ on him. He said the story was in I Kings 19. Pastor Gary also mentioned how the prophet ran for his life, finally sitting down under the juniper tree and telling God to just kill him then and there, because he felt despair. After that God sent him an angel to minister to him, both physically and spiritually.

As he sat in the shade of the tree, waiting for another car on this lonely road, he thought about last night. “I guess this is my juniper tree.” he thought. “Didn’t he say something about God sending an angel to encourage the prophet? I don’t know if I believe in angels or not. Seems like, it kinda equates with the tooth-fairy.”

He heard the crunch of gravel in the distance. Jumping up quickly, he crossed the ditch and held out his thumb. To his astonishment the driver pulled over and stopped. Bobby Joe ran up to the car, “Are you going to the next town?”

“Sure am. Even farther than that if you are interested.”

“Frankly I don’t know where I’m going. I just need to get to a town where I can find a job, and rent a room or something.”

“My name is Peter Simon. What is your name?”

“Bobby Joe Johnson”

“Glad to meet you Bobby Joe. What kind of work do you do?”

“I don’t know. Anything, if someone is willing to teach me. I learn fast. I was raised in a small town mostly, and not many jobs were available. So I went to a city, but that didn’t work out, so I decided to go somewhere else.”

“Did you get into trouble with the law or something in the city?”

“ “Do you have a passion for any kind of work or project? What do you want to do with your life?”

“I guess I never thought about it. I just wanted to finish high school and get away from home. My Mom was always so unhappy. I felt I never pleased her. Of course I don’t think anything ever pleased her. I don’t remember her laughing much.”

“Son, how old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“How did you finish high school at sixteen?”

“When I was in the first grade, I could already read, and so they put me in the second grade. I learned to read because there was nothing else to do. My Mom was always at work, and the baby-sitter wanted to do her housework so she bought me picture books. It wasn’t long until I recognized the word under the picture. Then when I saw that word somewhere else, I would try to figure out what it was saying about that animal or whatever. You might say I taught myself to read.

In the second grade, after I learned how to add and subtract, I was bored, and so they moved me up to the third grade. That was pretty hard, but I passed at the end of the year.
“Let me take you home with me. My wife would like to meet you. She is a school teacher.”
“Forgive me, but I think I want to stay away from those! I was glad when they graduated me, and I never want to see another school teacher again.”

“What a skeptical young man you are! Haven’t you ever met anyone who just wanted to be nice to you?”

“Not really. Everyone is interested in themselves, and not caring what others need.”

“You poor boy! God will need to teach you there are people who do care about others.”

“Well, I don’t know any adults who think that way.”

“Son, you just met one!”