Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Write something in the YOUNG ADULT or TEEN genre (06/07/07)
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TITLE: Juan Carlos | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lillian Jacobs
06/14/07 -
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My dad’s in jail; got busted for drugs. My mom and me, we live in a motel for now. I don’t know how she gets her money and I don’t ask. My girlfriend’s pregnant and I don’t know what I’m gonna do about that. I’m all ‘tatted out’ and whenever I go to apply for a job, I feel like I got a tattoo “LOSER” right on my forehead by the way they look at me. “Here comes another Gangsta trying to get a job.” Mostly I kick it with the homeboys and act like I’m down with all that but to tell you the truth, I’m not.
I went to the church near my house the other day and even the priest gave me a dirty look. I went inside anyway. I wanted to sit and think for a few minutes. Had to clear my head. I sat and looked at the statues and the pretty stained glass windows. It used to make me feel peaceful in there but all I could do was sit. I sat for a long time and then I left and caught a bus to the beach.
We used to go to the beach once in a while when I was a kid; when we were all still together. My dad would take us. We would spend the whole day and have a picnic. Mom and dad would be smiling and it was good. My dad was a good man but I guess things just got to him after awhile.
When I got to the beach, I laid down and closed my eyes. I been so tired lately. I guess I must have fallen asleep cuz next thing I know some old guy was shaking me and it was dark out. I started trippin cuz I was supposed to be taking my girl out tonight and here I was messing up again. He kept saying something to me and finally I understood that he wanted me to come over to a bonfire they were having.
It was some church thing but everyone treated me nice for once. No one said anything about my baggy pants or my baldhead or why on earth I was sleeping on the beach like some fool. It was kind of nice. They sang some corny songs and had some food. There were all kinds of people and then they had some message. Anyway, at least I got to eat which I hadn’t done all day.
They gave me a small Bible that I could keep in my pocket and even gave me a lift all the way to East Los. Strange people, if you ask me, being nice to a stranger and all. No one does that around here. I don’t tell no one, but I been carrying that Bible around in my pocket since then. That preacher guy even showed me this thing in the Bible that made me think. It was something like God has plans for us, to do good to us and not bad. Plans; plans even for me. Then we will call on Him and find Him but we got to do it with all of our hearts.
I’d like to have plans. I just live day to day and don’t expect to be around long the way it’s going. But now if I'm gonna be a father, that's different. If I could believe this, if I could know for sure that there was something else out there other than this grey concrete world, I would do it in a second. Problem is, I don’t know how I would call on God or if I could do it with all my heart. I ain’t never done nothing with all my heart cept maybe be bad or be angry.
I like that though, that someone has plans for me. I marked the verse and I keep reading it when no one’s around. Maybe someday I’ll believe it. Maybe.
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A look into the life of a teenager in another country ... God cares about each individual - wherever and whoever they are and whatever their situation.