by Ganelle Davis

Created on: December 19, 2009

 Elijah sat and in the pew and listened as the  sermon was given on forgiveness. At sixteen years old, he understood this concept fully. The congregation  affirmed the sermon, they were listening to by rendering an "Amen", each time the sermon rose to a feverish pitch. Elijah  looked around at the congregation and focused in on one of the newest members.  She was quiet and never engaged in  the after church gossip of who liked whom. He liked that she kept to herself and seemed too busy to get caught up in the fray.  Elijah had only seen her come to church with her mother . He stayed in pensive thought about her  and on occasion, worked up enough nerve to approach her and say, "Hello".  She was always polite and responded with a ,"hi".

Summer was just around the corner and soon Vacation Bible School would start. The church always put on a great picnic for the youth at the church. Elijah thought to himself, this would surely be the last year he would attend this event.   Although, the adults and teens in that atmosphere seemed more relaxed, they seemed more real.  A ll the pretense of being self righteous and sanctified seemed to vanish at the picnic.

The pastor and deacons seemed much more approachable. Last year at the picnic, Elijah had approached the pastor and told him he was having difficulty finding a summer job. The pastor agreed to put in a good word for him and aid him in finding employment.  A few weeks later , after church, the  pastor introduced him to a business owner in the community , who was looking for a reliable young man to help in his where- house.  The job seemed like a match made in heaven. Elijah loved electronics and the inventory was computers that were being refurbished and sent back to the manufacturer.  He needed someone to identify and inventory parts and  he offered to train Elijah if he liked it and had an aptitude for it.

Elijah started the job and was soon making  more money, than even he, could ever imagine.  Elijah's mom warned him the job must never take precedence over his school.  Elijah knew he had to maintain good grade so that he might go to college one day to major in computer science. That had been his dream,for as long as he could remember.

Unlike the other teenagers, between church, school and basketball, he had very little time for socializing with the other teenagers.  The other teens for that  reason thought

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