Dec. 18: Picking up the pieces

 I was 18 years old and sitting in the backseat of the SUV my parents had loaned me for my first year at the Bible college/theatre school. The SUV was parked at the lookout to Horseshoe Canyon, a popular tourist draw in east central Alberta. It was late on a Saturday night. I was not alone. There was a girl with me. She was also a student at the Bible college/theatre school. The people who ran the school would not have been happy knowing we were alone there.

I had rescued the girl from some hot mess of a situation. Someone had betrayed her, taken advantage of her innocence and naivete, and she was feeling pretty ashamed and vulnerable. I found out about it and offered to take her out of town. This we did. We went out for dinner and she told me her side of the story and I think it calmed her down a little. But she was visibly nervous when it grew late and it was time to go back home. So we stopped at Horseshoe Canyon and I got in the back seat so we could talk some more.

You know how teenagers are. Hormones and all. Same applies to Christian teenagers. I had 'em. They were buzzing, man. She had 'em too and somewhere in there, an offer was made. Not to go all the way. That's not the way we would have described it. No home run but there was an invitation to step into the batters box. No top floor but you were invited to get on the escalator. Taste, baby, but don't swallow. 

So I stopped.

My body hated me for it but looking back more than 30 years in the rear view, I'm glad I said no. Sure I could have had some fun but I knew the girl and I returned to the Bible school and went back to our dorms, the guilt would eat us alive. I'd feel doubly awful because I had "rescued" her from a nasty situation and, upon removing her from the campus, became twice the villain. Nah, I wouldn't want to be left picking up those pieces.

That particular battlefield is one where I have fallen so many times. But that night, I was victorious. I thank God for that victory.

I believe mystery is a woman's greatest attribute. I had no earthly right to solve that girl's mystery that evening. She was entitled to her purity. I'm happy I valued it as much as she did.