Chapter 7

At school the next day, Paul was distracted. He did his best all day to give his attention to his students, but his thoughts were still bothered by the rescue and challenge from Mrs. Adams: “You could be learning to be a Christian,” she had said. Chrissy had been a Christian.

When he looked through the little booklet the old lady had given him, one of the messages caught his eye. It said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.” Strange. This was uttered by a man named Job.

How in the world could I praise a Lord who took away my beloved? Was that what the Christians do? Chrissy often said stuff like, “I finally met the man of my dreams, thanks be to God.” He asked himself, did that mean she would still praise God if I had been taken instead?

Well, it was obvious that he would never understand on his own. Actually, he wasn’t so sure he cared to go to the trouble, but then Monica said hello to him on her way out of class.

Surprising himself, he blurted out, “You got a minute Monica?” already beating himself up for stopping her.

“Of course, Mr. Hudson,” she said with her usual smile.

They moved to the side of the room. He began with a stutter, “I thought of you when this friend of mine recently quoted something from the Bible. And as a Christian, I thought you might be able to make sense of it.” It appears this guy, named Job, had lost his entire family, property and animals, and he was still actually praising God. It went something like, ‘the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised.’ Don’t you think it was a little strange for someone to basically give thanks at such a terrible time?”

Monica looked d