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10 Minutes Peace

    by Susan McGrath

Pep Club Alumni
Date Posted: May 28, 2005

Although I think they have more sophisticated names for them now, most of you know what I mean if I talk about a "Pep Club."

Those would be the kids who wear the team colors (sometimes painted on their faces and in their hair) and cheer madly for their team to be victorious. They are usually led by very outgoing and personable people, like the junior class vice president/class clown. Someone who is just naturally happy.

Once in awhile you come across someone who is past their high school years, but still exudes that joy -- that Pep Club Captain mentality.

I remember several years ago as a drove my youth group home from a week-long retreat, we were all exhausted and ready to see our families. But of course, two hours from home, we had to make one final pit stop.

We pulled into a gas station convenience store which, according to the sign, was right off the interstate. The sign lied.

After driving over half a mile, we finally spotted the place. By now I was in no mood to mess around. I told the kids to find the bathroom, get their sugar fix and get back to the van.

I decided to get check out the soft drink selection, and as I browsed I kept hearing a genuinely cheery voice speaking to customers. Some, it was obvious, were friends or acquaintances, but she had the same smile and cheer for those she'd never seen before.

Realizing we had come in a pack, she asked the kids where they were from and seemed truly interested in their experience of the past week.

She made an impression on those teens. Not easy to do. They had spent the week with well-known and experienced speakers, awesome bands and youth leaders who were there for the sole purpose of teaching them and helping them know God. Yet this woman got to them enough that they talked about her for weeks afterward.

I don't know if any of them remember her now. I hadn't thought of her in a long time, and I wish I could remember her name, but I don't. I questioned what would give her so much joy in what was most likely a minimum wage job with many stresses.

Maybe she is one of those rare people who can find joy in anything. Maybe her joy came from the Lord. I don't know what her relationship with Christ involved, if anything, but she was a shining example of the love and care Christ followers should show one another and the world.

I'll bet she was the captain of her Pep Club in high school.

"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." -- 1 Peter 1:8-9

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Biography Information:
Susan McGrath is:

a recovering journalist trying to encourage others and glorify God through writing;

living the small-town life with husband Tim and sons Lincoln, 12, and Sawyer, 6;

completing a few put-off writing projects while using chocolate for therapy.
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