I. Rising Weight

Everybody loves a story with a happy ending. A story where the hero wins. Our "G" rated movies instill in us the belief that the hero is supposed to win, and everything turns out for the best. Epic movies show us that sometimes a hero must win at all costs. Movies like Rudy, Gladiator, Rocky, and Braveheart show us that sometimes the happy ending is in the journey and accomplishment, not necessarily the hero winning. But not every story has a happy ending, not every attempt is met with accomplishment, and not every "best effort" is rewarded with victory.

This is my story, and it doesn't have a happy ending...

In the spring of 2004 I was entering the second semester of my Junior year at Harding University. I was on a roll. I just completed my best semester of college. But things were about to change. I moved from the first floor of Keller dorm; where I had the neighbors of Tom Greenway, Chris Morton, and my infamous roommate Mike. Josh decided he was moving off campus and invited me along for the ride. It was his last semester at Harding.

When Josh told me where we were going to be living I was a little nervous. We were about to move into a house with three other guys, only one of which I knew. I can still remember the first time I met Peter Miller. Josh and I were at the White County fair about to watch the demolition derby. I noticed a stingy guy with two good looking ladies. That was the first time I met the cool South African stylings known as Peter Miller. Now we were going to live in a house together.

Upon further inspection I realized that I knew another of our future roommates, the Will. Will was on the ill-fated Civil War field trip with me. Will seemed ok, but I was cautious. The other roommate was Jimmy. Jimmy was a Grad student at the Harding U. Grad school of Religion in Memphis. He worked as a G.A. at the campus in Searcy. Jimmy hated his job.

So Josh and I moved in to the 1106 house. It was a true bachelor pad equipped with a wrap-around couch that didn't belong to anybody, christmas lights for mood lighting, stained carpet, and random wholes in the sheetrock. It was a little on the ghetto side, but it was home for the next semester.

Upon moving into the house I was introduced to a whole new group of people. Friends like Jeremy S., Jody M, Thomas K, Josh B., Amber, that girl from across the street, Natalie, and so many more. Josh and I didn't know it but we weren't just moving into a place to live but a place with history and it's own personality. It was a hang-out for people. In fact on Friday nights people would just migrate to the house.

The house was also the location of Tuesday night Prayer Group. Basically at around 9 pm people started showing up at the house for a devotional. After some songs we would usually split up and take prayer requests. At first it was a little awkward, but it was eventually really cool. People would come over to the house and hang out for a while. Some nights we had over thirty people at the house. Basically it was a break from school and drama to set your heart out to God, but with a support group. Its amazing how many people will show up to something when they know the people there are genuine and ready to help out. People invited their friends and we usually had a decent spread every Tuesday night.

One of our main "outreach" guys was Thomas K. Thomas was smooth. He was 6'3" had long dark hair and was from Alaska. Thomas really loved Jesus. He was also a National Merit Scholar and great student. Ladies LOVED Thomas, and he brought a lot to Prayer Group. There was one girl who Josh and I had drooled over for several months. Incredible girl. Loved Jesus, athletic (soccer), sweet, gorgeous, and played drums. It was hott. Yes with two "t's." She was sort of diggin' on Thomas but for some reason he wasn't interested. See, unlike mere mortals, Thomas had something special. That thing that some guys have that you really can't put your finger on that just attracts ladies like flies to poop. OK bad analogy. Like minnow salmon to the ocean.

Thomas had also just gotten out of a horrible relationship. Basically everything was going good and she went on a summer mission trip to Honduras. Thomas kept up with her and wrote her letters while she was away. And she mirrored his letters and love. Thomas came back to school and she was still in Honduras. Now the girl, Rachael the Hippy, was another one that Josh and I had been inquisitive about. But when Thomas came back to school he noticed something different. All of her friends were kind of avoiding him. But Thomas continued writing letters. Until one day in the cafeteria some unknowing friend of Rachael the Hippy walked up to Thomas and asked him if he heard about Rachael's engagement. He was completely broadsided and I'm sure, devastated for a while. Rachael had been going out with another guy she met in Honduras for a few months.

So Thomas was on the defensive. Incidentally so was Sammer. But that's another blog for another day. Thomas claims that his ungodly ability to attract fantastic girls came from lots of prayers. But Thomas could have never seen what lay a head that semester. His mom died.

It was a huge hit to him. I tried my best to be there for him. We went camping after he got back from the funeral. But things were getting bad. This great student was facing the likely hood of some very bad grades due to missing a couple of weeks of school. He dropped a class. But one class he didn't drop was his Scuba class. And this is where the adventure began.

In the Scuba class that spring there were 8 guys signed up, and one girl. That was a small problem in a university with no "mixed bathing." But she was a cool girl and handled everything very well. She was cool enough that Thomas brought her to prayer group where we got to meet her. For the sake of blogging we'll call her Jane.

Jane was cool. I remember our first conversation. I remember where I was sitting, who was around and the time of day. Jane also sort of liked Thomas, and Thomas liked her. But Thomas was in no position to start a relationship. His last one wound up sucking, he was still dealing with his mom's passing, and he had an adventurous idea. Thomas was tired of school. He was overloaded with make-up work and overtime studying. He didn't feel like he could make another semester.

So Thomas talked to some friends of his that were missionaries in Kenya. They discussed details and decided that Thomas would come and teach chemistry in the school and help them out on the weekends. But this wasn't a summer thing, it would be during the next semester of school. Thomas was stoked. He started learning Swahili. And he realized that after a summer in Kodiak Alaska and a semester in Africa he was in no place to start a relationship with Jane. So he didn't.

I remember sitting around on Friday night with Thomas and Josh making up random love songs. It was crazy, crazy fun. We talked about ladies. Josh and I thought Thomas was a little crazy for not jumping at his opportunity with Jane, but in the end, we understood it wasn't feasible. At least not right now....