(By John Warren)—

 

History was never my favorite subject in school. But as I get older and have more history to look back upon, I can see it is very enticing. Just a simple sermon illustration this past week about a childhood friend, Roy Parrisher, sent me to lamenting my past.

 

Roy and I were best friends from the moment my family moved next door to his family. He was four years younger than I but that didn’t seem to matter for we liked the same things; playing pitch, hide and seek, playing in the dirt, and riding our bikes. But when I went to junior high things changed. The high grades I enjoyed in elementary school where harder to obtain in the 7^th grade. I had vision problems and borrowed notes from others many days and copied them at night because I could not read what was written on those old chalk boards. So in the afternoons when Roy would knock on our door and ask if I wanted to play, I said no. Before long he didn’t knock on our door. There are times in our lives when four years is a broad leap; during our teen years is one of those times. The journey from childhood to adulthood is a long one. There are times when children make adult decisions with a child’s understanding, such as giving your love away to the first person that treats you like an adult rather than the child you are. Just as there are adults who make childish decisions in adult situations like the husband who stops off at the casino and spends the paycheck rather than going to the grocery store to provide food for his family.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is, we all make decisions we regret. I miss my friend Roy. He grew up to be an architect, something I had dreamed of being in an earlier time of my life. I would like to tell him I am proud of him. I wonder if many of you have made childlike decisions about adult things, like your relationship with Jesus. Studies show that during our teens and twenties is when most of our people leave their roots of faith. I wonder is Jesus misses you knocking on his door? There is a remedy. There are many churches in our area who would welcome you and your family. If you’re missing something in your live that you just can’t put a name to maybe it is that relationship you gave up on when you were a young adult.