Terrence leaned his head back, shut his eyes, and tried to relax. The plane had been in the air only a few minutes, but already he was missing the friends and family he had just said good-bye to. It had been a wonderful vacation, and now he was headed home.
Everyone at home would be expecting him to be as wild and crazy as he had ever been, but they were in for a surprise. And his mom and dad—they would be thrilled! This vacation at his grandparent’s had really been different—Terrence had given his heart and life to Jesus.
At the beginning of his vacation he certainly hadn’t anticipated this change in his life. He had just been glad for the spring break from school. He was going to have fun with the cousins he hadn’t seen for a couple of years. But their church’s four-day youth retreat had been a turning point for him as well as for several other young people.
Terrence opened his eyes and ran his hand over the cover of the new Bible that he held on his lap. It was a gift from all his new friends who had prayed with him when he became a Christian. He opened it and began to leaf through the pages. So many pages, so many words. Where do I start? thought Terrence . He stopped turning pages when he saw the name Isaiah. That was the Book of the Bible his grandma had mentioned when they had read the Bible together this morning. He scanned through a few verses and stopped when he came to the words, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.” Perfect peace—wow! Was such a thing possible? It must be if it’s written in the Bible, thought Terrence.
As he continued to read, Terrence noticed that the man sitting next to him kept glancing at the Bible. Terrence first thought was that the man might like to hear about what Jesus had done for him. But then he thought he had better be careful, because he didn’t want anyone to think he was a religious fanatic.
Wait a minute! What was that his grandpa had said to him just before he got on the plane? “Terrence, Jesus has given you something very precious. Don’t let the devil rob you of it. He will try to make you doubt what Jesus has given you. He will tell you that you are going to have a hard time as a Christian, and that other people won’t like you. But just remember, the devil is a liar. He only wants to see you in Hell. If you will pray and read God’s Word, Jesus will always be there to help you.” His grandma had then handed him a piece of paper. On it were written several Scripture references. Terrence decided to look up some of the verses now.
The first verse was in Philippians. He looked at the index to see where to find that Book. When he found it, he looked for chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. He read the verses, and again he found a reference to peace—the God of peace. It seemed that this peace which was promised was conditional on his thoughts being turned to the things of God. Verse eight said to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of a good report—things that are right.
As he thought about these verses, Terrence saw that the man in the next seat was still glancing at his open Bible. He decided that this was a good chance to give his testimony to someone. The devil was just trying to stop him. Well, Grandpa said that the devil is a liar, thought Terrence, so I will just say what I’ve heard other Christians say, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” The devil’s not going to get a hold on my mind, thought Terrence. I’m going to bring honor to God whenever I have the chance.
He turned to the man and said, “You seem to be interested in my new Bible. Would you like to hear how I got it? Well, I met a wonderful new Friend who changed my heart and mind . . .”
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