Stories of a Mighty Sinner

"The eyes are the window to the soul." - Proverb

In my short time of existing, I've done many things that I am not proud of. Oddly enough however, I can only remember 3 things that so convicted and hurt me, that the memory is vivid even today. In all 3 of my stories, I remember looking into the person's eyes and and feeling instant shame, as I was dealing with a soul; a person made in the image of God. I mention these 3 things only because I feel I had a chance to reconcile them all.

Story One:

Once, when I was a child in the 7th grade, I borrowed a video game from a friend (Street Fighter 2 on Super Nintendo). When I kept the game longer than I agreed on, my friend Ryan approached me and asked me for it. Ryan had been waiting at my bus stop with little brother, who was about 8 to 10 years old. Ryan and I were about 12 years old. Now, because I didn't want to give him back his game, I remember telling him that I'm keeping it and that he should just go home. When he proceeded further to ask for his game back, I remember punching him in his face. There, in the moment that it took strike his face, time seemed to have slowed down. I vividly remember watching Ryan's eyes after I hit him. They were filled with shame and sorrow as he turned to his little brother who asked..."why did you hit him?" and "can you just give us back our game?" It seemed like an eternity had passed as I watched Ryan's eyes and saw the shame he felt, but in actuality it was only a few seconds before I put my head down and walked past him; leaving him and his brother standing at the bus stop. That was Junior High School.

About 5 years later, when I was a Senior in High School, I thought to visit Ryan. Since the time of me hitting him, I was extremely sorry and wanted to apologize to him, but never did. Finally I had made up my mind to do it. On a visit to Queens, I went to the block where he lived and knocked on all the doors until I found his house. When I did find his house, the funniest thing happened. Ryan recognized me, but I didn't recognize him. Apparently I looked the same - just a skinny kid with the same face, no facial hair, no visible change. Ryan, however, looked nothing like I remembered. The guy that opened the door had a fully grown beard, and was twice or maybe 3 times the size of me. He was like body builder! After realizing that the person at the door was Ryan, and after about a minute of going down memory lane, Ryan turned to me and asked..."do you want to hit me now?" I was so blown away that he remembered that incident!

After laughing it off, him and I went into his basement where we talked for awhile. I was a bit apprehensive going into his house, as I thought he would try to exact revenge. However, I felt that it was worth the risk, and so I went. I spent a long time in his house, and had a lot of fun going down memory lane, talking sports (his little brother had become quite the basket ball player, incidentally), talking about his music goals, and a myriad of things. I vaguely remember him telling me that he had become a Christian, and him inviting me to come to some kind of event. I on the other hand was not a Christian, but thought I was. I didn't go to the event that he invited me to, but I did have a chance to reconcile with Ryan.

Story 2 to be continued...
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