The Awakening of John - Episode 20

“How’s Trev?” John asked Bob in the morning – partly to avoid any questions Bob might have for him.

“He wants to share something in housegroup on Tuesday…”

“Oh, oh… what did you say?”

“Yeah, he’s determined… I said I’d talk with you about how to support him best...” This took John by surprise – of all the possible things he imagined God saying to Trevor, asking him for advice wasn’t one of them.

“Oh, Bob, it’s going to be hideous for him – he’s seen as such an outlier anyway, there’s a real risk he gets badly hurt here… I honestly don’t know what I think, what I should think about the issue, but I know how I feel about Trev…” Bob smiled, “I know, that’s what qualifies you to advise.” Then slapping John on the back, “Maybe you can pray about it during the notices like you normally do.”

This simply served to spike John’s anxiety about the morning service – it felt like housegroup writ large… he’d got his introduction to John down to a fine art now and he was much less worried than he had been that Bob would do something embarrassing… cleansing the temple, shouting ‘brood of vipers’, and water into wine didn’t seem likely. Nevertheless, he thought, geniality must give way to something else sometime – it certainly did for himself…

His thoughts were interrupted by Bob, “How about you then, how did last night go?”

“It was… lovely… I really like her, Bob… she really enjoyed the meal, really liked you… she teased me… said maybe she was going out with the wrong flatmate…” Bob laughed, “Oh that’s precious! I like that she felt confident enough to tease.” Encouraged, John decided to be open, “Really? When I knew you were going out, I thought maybe we might end the evening with a kiss…” then laughing, “but we washed up instead! It was the best date… no pressure, no expectations, just being together…” Bob nodded and smiled, “Any more dates planned – I assume she wants to go out given what she said?”

“Yes, I said I was tied up today… I almost invited her to church – I think she guessed what was going through my mind… she said ‘I’d happily come to church with you if you ask me sometime, I’m confident enough in my faith not to be afraid of that. Would you come to Mosque with me?’” Bob laughed,

“She’s got you there John – come on, time we were headed if we’re not going to be late…”

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