Goal-Line Stand by Todd Hafer

Author:Todd Hafer [Hafer, Todd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, General, Religious
ISBN: 9780310872474
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2010-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Fight or Forgive?

On Sunday morning, Blake pulled into the Martin driveway promptly at 10:30 to take Cody to church. Cody heard the beep of Blake’s horn. He pushed himself away from the kitchen table, downed his half glass of orange juice in two gulps, and snatched his second Pop-Tart before heading for the door.

He was hoping Blake would ask him about the game so he could tell the tale of his first-ever middle-school touchdown pass reception. Sure it had been in a losing effort, and from the hand of Goddard, the backup QB, not Bart, the starter. But it was a sweet twelve-yard hook-and-go that made the difference between a 20-3 drubbing and a more respectable 20-10 defeat.

But the youth pastor had something else on his mind. Cody had barely buckled his seatbelt before the questioning began.

“Code,” Blake said, “I want to follow up on something you said in my office a while back. I was reading through my notes last night, and it hit me.”

Cody wrinkled his nose. “Good morning to you, too, B. And, may I ask, what hit you?”

Blake smiled anxiously. “Sorry to just dive right in, but we have a lot to talk about on the way to church. Anyway, you told me a while ago that you were feeling that something was incomplete—something was undone where your mom’s concerned.”

Cody stared at the half-eaten Pop-Tart in his hand. Suddenly his appetite had deserted him.

“Yeah, something is definitely not right. I mean, I’m finally playing ball like I should and that helps. You know, at the first football practice, Coach Smith told us to write down a goal for the season. I made one for the whole year. I wrote, ‘This season is for my mom.’ And you can’t devote a year of sports to someone, then go out and play like a stiff. So I think I’m playing in a way that would make her proud, but I don’t know.”

They approached a red light, and Blake turned to look at him. “It seems to me you don’t have peace about something.”

Cody closed his eyes and searched his mind for answers. “I think maybe it’s the funeral. It was a good service and all. It was cool when Pastor Taylor asked all the people to stand who Mom had helped in some way. Took them meals when they were sick. Watched their kids. Listened to their problems and gave them advice. Almost everybody in the whole church stood up. It made me so—I don’t know—proud of her. I never realized how many people she reached out to.”

Blake placed a hand on Cody’s shoulder. “Your mom is a great example of how one person can touch hundreds of lives. And note what I said. Is a great example. Not was. The Bible says that the memory of the righteous will be a blessing. And the example set by a righteous person like your mom is one way that blessing shows itself.”

Cody nodded slowly. “Yeah—you know, B, I think that might be kinda what my problem is.

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