Christian Short Stories

Lord, Help 'The Knockout'
By Web Ruble

Web writes: "One of the disadvantages of old age is it deprives you of optimism. I'm in my 70s and I've seen it happen over and over -- a young social siren ends up desperately needing God without even knowing it."

Five young people -- three boys and two girls junior high school age - were lounging at a Portland restaurant's west window booth. All were good looking and acting fine -- perhaps beyond their years in maturity - while sipping lattes.

They weren't giggly. They acted beyond their age. Moreover, they seemed to be all smiles, and weren't tattooed or painted like totem poles. Good.

However, one of the two girls, was stunning. I said to myself, "Self, in a couple more ice cream seasons she's going to be a sultry, devastating, drop-dead knockout." The basic ingredients were there. A doll face. Dynamite figure. Devastating smile. Enticing legs. Oh my!

To me it has always been somewhat interesting to see young folk before they develop completely. In her case I could almost predict the future. I've always sighed with the knowledge that I could see something like this coming - two to four years down the road.

Then a cold shiver set me back.

I needed to pray for "the looker."

Why?

If anything, the others appeared to need it more than her, given the cosmetic nature of our society. For instance, one of them, was a sweetheart-looking young 'un, sort of like the girl next door. However, "the looker" appeared to be guaranteed a glorious teen- and young-adult future. Boys would come swarming. The pubescent lads wouldn't be able to help themselves. And the 20-plus guys would be too immature to have a discerning view. Admiring parents and teachers would sniff power. Popularity would be sure to swamp 'the looker."

Knowing how this world is -- with its accent on youth and beauty and even ignoring our romance with meanness and violence - the looker would not be able to resist being a woman of the world and would cruelly grow full of herself.

Not a good prospect.

I remember when I was in school oh so many years ago. We had more than a few such lookers. (However, clothes did not exploit those looks like they do today.)

Nevertheless, they became social beasts -- impaled on themselves. It's as if they were always saying - "Who says I have to be nice? I'm so good looking and devastatingly attractive, I don't need to perfect any personality, or kindness. That's for those other girls who are on the edge and who don't have it. Me? I've got it. (A leg flash). Older men dig me. And don't forget it."

A true woman of the world. She'd give popularity a whole new meaning. Other girls would almost hate her. She almost always would be the queen bee and get her way. She'd hang sex on the social telegraph. And everything would come tumbling to her.

That is. . .it would for a few years.

Besides ruining her potential for connecting with the Lord with a good heart. She'd get spoiled by earthy adulation. And by the time she was 30 or so, she would be almost "old bonnet." Then she'd get angry, because things weren't falling in her lap like they used to.

Also, she would probably divorce 2-3 times. Boys who had gravitated to her a few years earlier would still live in a prolonged teenage world. Once those teen years passed -- say after less than a decade -- she'd find "the once foxy guys" warped, lost, and otherwise losers.

Then she'd stumble around in her 40s. By the time she was what they call early middle age, she'd be lonely. Why?

She'd have few or no women friends. Firstly, female compatriots her age would all have their own friends, fellowships and marriages with children and grandchildren. Secondly, she'd be played out. Her physical looks would be so-so (compared to the up-coming younger sirens), and her personality would be in the toilet.

What to do? Despair. Perhaps she'd try to dress attractively or even provocatively with perhaps modest success. She might become a tavern molly or gadfly, but it just wouldn't be the same.

And she'd have absolutely no relationship with Jesus. In years of yore who needed Him? If she was lucky, she would at least now finally recognize the need. She might feel the spiritual vacuum, but how could she progress toward a spiritual relationship with No. 1, having ignored Him and God so long?

To help in this and similar maladies, fundamental churches have erupted all over town . Mainline churches have seemed out of step with modern problems. Many of the new evangelistic ones have been successful because they cater to the lost, the war-torn, the recovering druggy, the divorced, survivors of brutal relationships, and others all but destroyed by emotionally traumatic events.

Yes, "the looker" probably would be in that bunch. She would need my and your prayers.

So I will say a prayer for her. If she only knew what I think I know.

However, that's the case with every generation isn't it? One can't tell the advantaged anything when they're young, because things are going their way.

Sometimes, I feel like being brash and saying, "Find a way to shape up . . .come around in a few years . . .and if I'm still around, I'll be watching."

Oh, Lord, please have mercy on such as these.

(© 2012 Web Ruble – All rights reserved. Written material may not be duplicated without permission.)

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