Day 54 - Geoff

Geoff gave me my first and only bible. That is the biggest impact he had on my life. He took me to teen bible studies, gave me Five Iron Frenzy and other Christian teen music, but most importantly was that bible.

Geoff and I were in band together, but we really became close while we were in France. The very first day, our group toured the Eiffel tower. He and another girl and I were sitting in the gravel under the tower staring up in amazement while our group moved on. When we realized it, I was annoyed that a) we only spent 30 minutes at the Eiffel tower and b) the teachers couldn't count to 20 on the first day. We caught up to the group only five minutes later about 100 feet away and teacher looked surprised, then reprimanded us for lagging. She was so clueless.

Back to the point: Geoff and I spent a lot of time talking on that trip. There were hours and hours to pass sitting in a bus or walking through castles. Geoff could make me laugh, appreciated my jokes and we found a lot of similarities in our childhoods to talk about. We also talked about religion which I don't discuss with a lot of people. I told him in general, I wasn't interested in religion because of it's negative aspects, including the way the majority of my Christian peers behaved. He argued that religion is about a personal connection with God and I admitted I had never read the bible, but had always been curious.

One day that same summer after France, Christie was visiting and we were washing my car (still a new and fun activity) when Geoff called and asked if he could come over. He gave me an "Extreme Teen" bible and we chatted for a little while, then he left. I was a little weirded out, but Geoff never said I was wrong and he was right, or that finding God is the only search worth pursuing, or any other such narrow-minded comments that I usually found off-putting. He simply said I might want to read it.

I made a decision to read the entire bible that year.

I got half way through Genesis and quit.

Even though I have yet to read the entire bible, I still thumb through it from time to time and read the explanations and comments that accompany this version. I can't fully commit, but I find it sometimes interesting, sometimes provoking and sometimes calming. I still truly respect Geoff; I know he will do wonderful things in this world and be faithful to God throughout.