Riley Mae and the Rock Shocker Trek by Jill Osborne

Author:Jill Osborne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Published: 2013-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Flip didn’t come to church the next day, but Rusty did. Rusty and her dad. I was so distracted watching for Flip that I didn’t even notice they were there until we were being dismissed for children’s church.

Rusty caught up with us in the lobby.

“So where do seventh graders go?”

“There’s a teen group in the next building over.” TJ obviously didn’t want Rusty coming with us.

“Don’t go there,” I said. “They’re all in high school. You can come with us and help in children’s church.” I gave TJ a dirty look.

Mrs. O’Reilly was thrilled to have a fourth helper. “We’re making the breastplate of righteousness today. The kids are going to need lots of help.”

“The what?” Rusty looked around at all of us. I didn’t have a clue what to say.

“You’ll see.” Sean came to the rescue, as usual. “So, Rusty, who invited you to church?” I wished he hadn’t asked that question.

“Uh, well, Mrs. Hart called my dad and invited us. He made me come. I’m glad I saw you guys, or I would have felt really stupid being here.”

I never thought that being at church would make someone feel stupid. I guess I’ve just gone for so long it feels normal. I can’t believe I never thought to invite Rusty.

While Mrs. O. talked about the Breastplate of Righteousness, I was still thinking about the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. I realized that I wasn’t ready to share the gospel with Rusty, or anyone else. I’d been wearing all sorts of shoes, but when it came to the ones that really mattered, I was really messing up. Some shoe girl I was.

“Do you have a Bible?” I decided that would be a good thing to ask. Rusty looked up from fitting Ava Zimmer with a foil breastplate.

“No. Do I need one to go to church?”

“No, but you should have one. There’s a lot of good stuff about God in it.”

“Like what?”

I was speechless . . . again. Where was Sean when I needed him?

Ava spoke up. “There’s good stuff like how God made the world and the animals and the trees . . .” (But she said it like this: wuwold, animos, and twees.)

“ . . . and God made the boys, but then the best part was when he made the girls.”

That’s when Sean walked up.

“But the girl came from the rib of the boy.” Sean pointed to his side.

“Very funny,” Rusty said. “That sounds like a little kid story.” She was right — it did sound a little weird.

“No, it’s true!” (But Ava actually said twooooo.)

Rusty stood up and admired Ava’s finished breastplate. “If you say so.”

Ava ran over to the corner table, grabbed a book, and handed it to Rusty.

“You can have my Bible.” She opened to one of the first pages. “Right there. See — God made the girl.” She pointed to a picture of Eve. “She’s pretty, like you.”

“That is a nice picture.” Rusty handed the Bible back to Ava.

Ava frowned. “No, I gave it to you — for keeps.

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