He didn’t know but God was already starting to change Nolan’s life. The dream about his father was from God and so was the craziness that happened the next day. Nolan went off to school ready to tell everyone what had happened at the stadium. He didn’t tell anyone on the car ride though, he was extremely embarrassed about the dream. Nolan said hello to the Howard kids but mostly he ducked his head to keep from looking at Tory. She could never know, the boys at school would be terrible to her and to Nolan. Not to mention the car rides for the rest of the year and next year and who knows how long, they would all be difficult. No way! He would never look at her again if that’s what it took.
Nolan had a tendency to think about the extremes. If it could be bad, he worried about every possible bad thing that could happen. He could see them in his head in his little movies. As he thought about being embarrassed by someone finding out about a crush, he lived it. His mind would go on for years of terrible things happening and Nolan experienced the whole thing all at once. Sometimes it made things difficult for him. He was the same way with good things though. The smallest little encouragement could sail him through a lifetime in his head. Everything would fall perfectly into place, over and over for years. The pictures in his head were so easy to get lost in. Real life could be so boring by comparison.
Today, Nolan’s pictures were all over the place. He was afraid of the embarrassment of someone finding out he had a crush and at the same time he was excited to tell everyone what had happened at the stadium. He was seeing pictures and movies in his head of how great it would be for everyone to know about Jesus! And yet he was fighting this major embarrassment and somehow he couldn’t pick just one. Joy and terror were his morning until class started.
That’s when he decided to act! Nolan got the attention of the class as he stood up to speak in the morning when the teacher was writing the first words on the board.
“Nolan do you have something you’d like to say?” She asked him.
“Yes Miss Samantha, I wanted to tell everyone that I got saved last night at the stadium!” Nolan said, excited to share but not knowing what else to say.
“That’s wonderful Nolan!” Miss Samantha said with her ‘good job’ voice. “I think that’s very good news. Now let’s get out our homework everyone. I’m very happy for you Nolan.”
That was it, that was all the sharing he got to do. Nolan still felt great about it, he was exploding with joy. Some of the kids were wanting to talk to him and ask him questions. But some of the boys who always messed with him decided to be their usual uncharging selves. They were calling him stupid and making fun of him in low voices. The joy quickly turned to sadness for Nolan. After a few minutes Miss Samantha noticed and made them stop. He didn’t understand what was wrong with him. Nolan had just experienced the greatest thing in his life, and the people who should have cared didn’t. The people who already didn’t care, just hated him more for it. It wasn’t the grand moment he had hoped for.
Practice Outlaw 