The Study

That night, Gloria and Natasha had lots of fun. They held a Bible meeting which Natasha led. "We will now start our study of who God is," Natasha began. " 'Kay, who be God?" Gloria asked. "The Bible says," Natasha held up her Bible, "That God has always been." "Always been where?" As Gloria tilted her head to the side, Natasha furrowed her brow. "He's always - existed." "OK, go on," Gloria nodded her head expectantly. "The Bible also says that God made everything." "Everything?" "Yep." "You be sure?" "Positive." "Wow. He made you and me; the birds; the sky; the sun?" "EVERYTHING." "That cain't be," Gloria said, shaking her head misbelievingly. Natasha nodded her head, saying, "He made everything out of nothing." Gloria yelped. "Out of NOTHING?" Gloria was overwhelmed. "OK, we're done now. We still have lots more to study, but that's it for now." After their study, the girls watched Princess Diaries, ate some popcorn, and finally, at 1:00 A.M., went to sleep. The next afternoon, as she was walking in the park, Kelsey came up to her on her skateboard. She said, "Hey, Nakala -" "It's Natasha!" "Whatever - I'm sorry about what happened at school, OK? I was talking to my best friend, Becca. She's a sports maniac like me." She hesitated, then said, "I'm sorry, Natasha, but I just don't think you're the right kind of friend for me." With that, she skateboarded away. Snob, Natasha thought. If I were her, and there was a new girl, I'd . . . Natasha left that thought hanging and kept walking. Then something stopped Natasha in her tracks. It was a big, ugly, roaming dog. I would HATE having that dog, she thought. She came up with ten reasons she wouldn't want it. One . . . it was UG-LY! Two . . . it looked half - starved. Three . . . it was following her around. Four. . . it was stinky. Five . . . it probably didn't even like people. she finally came to ten. Then she realized how sad God must be. I'm sorry, God. It's part of your creation, just like me. She decided she would be nice to the dog and come up with ten reasons she liked it. One . . . He's part of God's creation. Two. . . God loves him, and I should, too. Three. . . he might make a good pet. Four. . . It's devoted to me. She finally reached ten. It took hera while, but she could do it. During the rest of the week, she saw the dog as she went on her walks. Soon, she had twenty reasons why she liked the dog. She kept this up for two weeks, then she couldn't believe her eyes.