Sunday, December 4, 2011

=5 Noah Meets Samson


Silver-haired Noah Pierson knocked at the front door of Samson Tiffin's house. A lady answered the door with some caution. Noah introduced himself as a friend of Samson's teenage friend, Ben. Noah said he'd like to just sit on the porch steps and meet Samson.

Sam's mom spoke loudly over her shoulder, “Sam. The man Ben called you about, is here and he'd like to say hello! Come on down and meet him!” Noah wore his baseball cap hoping it would give a warmer first impression. As Sam stepped past his mom going out the door, she asked, “Fellas. I just made a fresh batch of sun iced tea. Can I pour a glass for each of you?” Noah answered with a cordial 'please'. Sam didn't make eye contact with Noah much at all. His iced tea reply was, “yeah, I guess...”

Sam and Noah both sat on the concrete steps getting the full force of the July high-noon sun. Noah's heart told his mind, 'listen to God's leading. Don't mess this up.' The scars on Sam's face didn't disturb Noah but might discourage any of Sam's dating prospects.

Before the iced tea arrived, Sam began with, “Ben told me he asked you to come over. And that's OK, so long as you don't drown me with a bunch of DOs and DON'Ts.” Noah's reply was, “Works for me. Actually, I'm here to LEARN, not TEACH or DICTATE. When my wife died last year, there seemed to be so much I needed to learn about others, and their challenges. Nenee would sit on our front porch and just open her heart to teen girls and remind them of God's love and provision.”

We live right next to a big woods and I sure miss taking quiet walks with her among all those tall refreshing trees. Sam, I wanna ask you, 'have you ever loved someone so much, you could talk to them without using words?' God has given us so many ways to show our compassion and love to others, sometimes just by a warm look, or a gentle touch or hug. What do you think, Sam?”

The iced tea arrived, and welcomed by teen and man. After a few long refreshing sips, Noah spoke. “Sam, I was serious when I said, I came here to learn; learn about you teens and the incredible challenges you all face. By the way, I'd appreciate it if you'd have eye contact with me, often. I can see that a hot-water accident has given you some challenges that other teens and I don't have to deal with. But you know what? I firmly believe God is going to show both of us, that you've got some really great reasons to hold your head high and be proud of the many good gifts God has already given you.”

Noah continued with, “Sam, I'm trying to help Bob Button and some other adults at the teens workshop that your friend Ben is really enjoying. I'm guessing Ben has already told you a bit about the workshop. While we work on our iced tea, can I tell you about the jitter-bike ride story that Bob told us? It's a cool story that sure spoke to my heart, and maybe it will yours too.”

Sam's finger traced a crack in the steps as he listened with interest to the Jitter-Bike Story the white-haired man was retelling to the young teen next to him. When the story was finished, more sips from sweating glasses of iced tea. Noah remained silent, giving the teen time to digest the story.

Is it OK if I call you Noah?” came a timid question from Sam. The reply was, “Sure, Sam. Anything you want. I want to be your friend; your ongoing friend. Call me anything you like.” Sam said, “Well, I was just wondering. I liked the story you just told. It really strikes home with me when people will look on my insides, and not just my face. The other thing is that Ben had told me about the Funny Motor Story that Bob had told at the workshop. I was just thinking that until you get another name, it might be neat to call the group Teen Steppers.”

Sam opened up with his thoughts to silver-haired Noah. “You talk about a stepper motor making little steps in its rotation, and then you said these little jerky funny motors are super important in helping printers and grinding machines to step across a sheet of paper or other stuff. Well... these steps we're sitting on, we could be like 'teen steppers', making our way up these steps in service for God. You'd have to be real careful, though. If you don't say that in the right way, my generation might think you gotta work your way up to get to Heaven. And Noah, I'm certain none of us could do that. Jesus done it all for us!”

Noah stood up while asking, “Sam. I've gotta take off. This visit we've just had, has meant so much to me. If I call first, would I be able to come over next Tuesday, after supper? I need some more of your great ideas.

The silver-haired man did a teen hand-shake with Sam by sort-of bumping fists. Noah drove about 3 blocks and then pulled over to a parking area. He pulled out a pencil and used an old envelope that was on the car seat to write on. Noah excitedly scribbled down, the things he just learned from Sam. Right under the notes he wrote: “God's up to something!”