27 of 36

Write now Article Tools

Not many people, I suspect, can claim that their senior year of high school was a life-changing event. I can.

That year passed by quickly nearly fifty years ago, but I can still recall snatches of it, a glimpse here, a conversation there, and things I did. I remember being editor of the high school newspaper. And I remember people.

I remember the co-editor of our high school newspaper who worked very well with me until one week we ran out of stories to publish and had to scramble to come up with something for the front page. I remember sitting with my friends on cold autumn nights in the stadium while our football team played, but we were more interested in the girls who sat a row or two from us than we were in the game. I remember my best friend who, with his mother, lived in the home of his aunt and uncle. It was during our senior year that his uncle had a stroke one night and died, right there in the room next to my friend. I remember the girl on whom I had a serious crush, with whom I managed to have one date, even though she was above me on the social ladder of our class. It was this girl who played a part in the life-changing event that occurred in the fall of my senior year.

I'll call her Sarah. She had everything. She was pretty. She was popular. She was intelligent. She was sweet and kind. It was her kindness, I suspect, that caused her to accept my proposal for the one date we had. Sarah also had something else. That something else caused her to arrive at school more than an hour early on Fridays. That put her there at 7:00 am. Why would anyone want to get to school at 7:00 am every Friday?

I really didn't care why anyone would show up so early. But I decided I would start attending the meeting Sarah was attending. I would also arrive at school at 7:00 am.

It turned out that Sarah was attending a meeting of evangelical Christian students. Such meetings were common on high school campuses then, and were actually encouraged by the administration. Soon I was learning how to sing songs I had not heard before and study the Bible like I had never done before. It did not take very long.

I soon lost interest in Sarah; it was merely a crush, after all. But when I lost interest in Sarah, I did not lose interest in what I was learning so early on Friday mornings. After several weeks, I established a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, a decision that was certainly life-changing. That decision eventually determined my career (ministry), the person I would marry (not Sarah, of course), how we raised our children, and what I have believed all these years.

My senior year in my memory has always been the year I became alive because of my faith in Jesus Christ. I have never regretted the decision I made to get up early on Friday mornings to be near a girl I never did marry, a decision which instead brought me into a life-changing faith relationship with Jesus Christ.

Learn more about this author, Tom Parsons.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Memoirs: My senior year in high school?
We want to hear your view. Write now!