Two Percent (standard:Inspirational stories, 2330 words)
Author: Eutychus	Added: Jun 03 2010	Views/Reads: 2873/1884	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A Saturday morning Men's Accountability Group examines the subject of personal purity from an unexpected perspective.

Pastor Douglas had explained the week before that he would be away
participating in a family enrichment seminar, so none of the dozen men 
who took part in the Saturday morning men's accountability group were 
at all surprised that Kyle was leading the assembly this morning. As he 
walked up to the lectern he bounced a handful of index cards on top of 
the podium to straighten the pile, never suspecting that the move would 
result in such a loud, percussive sound. 

“Sorry about that. Now that you're all awake, good morning gentlemen.
I've been asked to speak with you on a topic that gets very little 
positive press in the world these days, that topic being personal 
purity. While purity may be desired when speaking about medication, 
food, and drink, when it comes to behavior, it too often takes a back 
burner position to our fallen desires. While there are many angles we 
could attack this subject from, I thought the best way to do it would 
be with a story or three. This first tale took place some twenty years 
ago when I was in the eighth grade...” 

“Man, I hate gym class first thing in the morning. I'm not even awake
yet.” 

“Don't worry. I saw someone bringing out a trash can full of dodge ball
balls. That means old J.T. is planning on having us play fireball. Just 
get hit early and take a nap between rounds.” 

“Good idea, Kyle. Any idea where Jeff is this morning?” 

“I don't know, Matt. He didn't get on the bus.” 

“You guys didn't hear? His dad died last night.” 

“What are you talking about, Andy? I saw him just last week. Mr. Walters
seemed fine.” 

“Hey, all I know is his mom left a message with mine and asked her to
have me collect some of Jeff's schoolwork since he'd be out for a few 
days because of the funeral. He talked about his dad having some blood 
problems over the past few months. Red blood cells and leukocytes, I 
think.” 

“That would be leukemia,” Matt offered. “Why didn't he say anything?” 

“Jeff's always been very private. And maybe his dad didn't want to make
a big deal about it.” 

“If you're going to make a big deal of something in life, wouldn't you
think it would be the fact that you are terminally ill?” Andy wondered. 


“No, that might be the very time when you just want to spend your days
with your family and not waste a minute with anyone else. It's the kind 
of thing I'd have wanted with my dad,” Kyle said. 

“We really ought to do something.” 

“Like what, ask our folks to pay for some flowers?” Andy asked with a
touch of contempt, thinking such a gesture would be empty in the long 
run. 

“You know, I did see two wagons full of hay by the barn this morning.
They were parked right by the conveyor and it wouldn't be too difficult 
for us to get it put up in the barn after school,” Kyle suggested. 

Several rounds of fireball later, four other recruits were lined up. At
lunch, phone calls were made and permissions given to let the ersatz 
farm hands ride the bus that would drop them off at the Walters' farm. 

Later in the day on the bus ride home, it was decided Kyle and Andy
would feed the conveyor and the rest of the crew would stack bales in 
the barn. 

Midway through the first wagon the ground crew was instructed to
rearrange the conveyor so the bales would be dropped closer to where 
the barn crew needed to place them. Once the cumbersome task of moving 
the conveyor was done, they called up to the group in the barn to see 


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