Adam leaned over and whispered “hey, Chad and I are friends now.”  I was perplexed as to what he meant.  Adam could tell that I was a bit confused so he continued, “yeah, we are friends, we worked through our problems!”  Wow, I did not think that this kind of change could have happened so quickly especially with the history between these two. 

Adam is an 8th grader at Truman and one of the student leaders from the Truman Campus Life club.  He and Chad have been at odds with each other ever since they started middle school in 6th grade.  Adam has been picked on, teased, pushed around and ridiculed by Chad.  Adam has even found himself in the school office because of Chad’s antics!  The anger and frustration has been building over the period of 2 years that these two students have known each other.

As a student leader, I have challenged Adam along with all the Truman leaders to view their relationships is a different way.  We have been studying a cirriculum that calls us to begin to see those around us as Christ sees others; to love the outcast, loner, popular or troubled as Christ loves us.  There has been a lot of push back when certain peers were mentioned.  Chad was one of those students that I challenged the leaders to begin to see from a different perspective.  For Adam this was a lot to ask becuase of their history.  Yet, I asked them to at least pray for their peers by name.  We prayed for Chad; and I prayed that Adam would be able to reach out to him.

When Adam said to me that he had worked out the issues with Chad, I was surprised to say the least.  Now I know that there is more to work through with these two, but a seed has been planted in the heart of Adam to see “irritating” people differently and to realize that even students like “Chad” need Jesus.  This is a beginning and my hope and prayer is that Adam will continue to view his life as an extension of Jesus to influence his peers and be a catalyst for enternal transformation!