About a few years ago, 15-year-old Joshua Bell had just finished school for the day and was practically dragging his book bag home because of how full it was. See, Joshua was a very good student and got A’s on almost everything, but when he received B’s on anything, he’d think it was the end of the world! Joshua was a very good and talented student, but he was also a very lonely one. He devoted his life to schoolwork and didn’t want anything to do with anyone! This made him very sad and lonely although he hid it well. Why did he do this? Well that’s where his story begins…
That day, walking home from school, Joshua stopped to look both ways at the crosswalk, but when he was in the middle of it, another boy nearly crashed into him with his bike, but Joshua was too absorbed in a book to notice until he heard the boy yell!
“Look out!” someone warned as he swerved the bike to miss Josh and crashing onto the curb!
Joshua, who had fallen back while trying to avoid the collision, shook his head, got up, and ran to the stranger. “A-Are you ok?” he asked in bewilderment.
The other boy got up from his small wreck and shook his head. Then, he laughed! “Ha ha! I’m alright my friend! This isn’t the first time!”
“Are you sure?” Joshua asked amazed on how the kid wasn’t hurt.
The strange boy answered with a grin, “Of course! I get hurt all the time! Ha! Ha!”
Josh couldn’t help but smile at this stranger’s happiness, but his smile faded away a moment later as an old memory of the year before came into his mind. He remembered the last day he was in PE class at school. He had been having a very bad day that day and didn’t like playing sports, and to make matters worse, it was his turn to shoot the dreaded basketball! He tried to put his body in shooting position and, holding back tears, he shot the ball, but it didn’t even come close to the hoop. Everyone just looked at him, and Joshua was so embarrassed that tears began to stream down his cheeks and he ran into the locker room and sat there the whole period.
In the present, Joshua shook his head and looked coldly into the strange boy’s eyes. “Well I’m glad you’re okay.” And with that, he walked away to do homework.
The next day, in his Bible class, Joshua was about to turn in his homework when the door opened, and Josh almost screamed a little. It was the boy he’d met the day before! What was he doing here?
Although Josh seemed to be a grim student, his imagination was wild, and in his mind, the stranger boy was there because he tracked him down to apologize for almost running him over! How did he find where he went to school? Was he a government spy on a secret mission?
“Who are you?” asked Mr. A., the teacher.
“ Jonathan Lopez Hernandez. I’m new.”
“Ok, Jonathan. You may sit wherever you’d like.”
Jonathan saw Josh and, of course, sat by him. Oh great, Joshua thought because strongly disliked people sitting next to him because he was insecure.
“Oh!” Jonathan exclaimed, “You’re the boy I nearly ran over yesterday! Hola!”
Josh rolled his eyes and answered coldly, “Hi,”and looked in another direction.
Jonathan’s smile disappeared when he realized that Joshua wasn’t the most talkative person; after the lesson, Mr. Parks had everyone get together with their table partner, but Joshua refused to enjoy himself. Jonathan, on the other hand, loved working with his new acquaintance! They were assigned to write a paper about how God is always with us no matter what and how He blesses people with friends. Joshua definitely didn’t like this subject, but why?
“Now the due date is the end of the school year, and I want you are your partner to take this prompt and write what you learn about it through the school year.” the teacher said.
“Well, what do you think we should write?” John asked a bit intimidated from Josh’s stone cold attitude.
“We’ll read and copy a few Bible verses easily.”
“Copy? I-I think it should be at least a little more meaningful!”
“ We should do what we can for the grade.”
“But- don’t you think that we’d get a better grade if we actual mean what we write?”
Joshua gave out a low sigh and was about to give a rude remark when the bell rang. So he just gave Jonathan a stern look and left.
At the next class, English Class, Jonathan proved to be as imaginative and smart as Josh which slightly annoyed the boy. He tried to believe that no one could do better than him! That’s what his proud self thought at least, but this hyper new student proved him wrong. Jonathan wasn’t afraid to suggest anything, and the somewhat scary thing was that he had almost exactly the crazy ideas for stories like Josh!
Then came Spanish class, and it turned out that Jonathan had been adopted from a foreign country, and he’d been teaching himself Spanish, and was taught it at his old school. Josh could not believe how fluent he was!
“ Hey, Joshua,” John said, "Do you want me to teach you Spanish?”
Josh looked at him with disdain, “No! I don’t need anyone.” and he turned away with slumped shoulders.
This is the moment where Jonathan realized something in his companion. He saw that there was a hint of sadness and anger instead of emptiness in Josh’s eyes.
What could’ve happened to make him so angry? Jon wondered.
Later, in math, Joshua was being the normal math wiz that he was, answering every question and not giving anyone a chance. Jonathan did not exactly like this because it made him feel dumb, but on the other hand, he knew that there was something hurting in him. There had to be something he’d lost.
It was the last week of the semester, and Jonathan was now one of the smartest kids in school. Everyone liked him, but he was nervous around people and usually tried to stay around Joshua. That’s what he’d say later at least. For now, he’d just hang around with Josh.
Josh secretly enjoyed Jonathan’s company; he’d not talked to anyone since he was 13, and this new kid was amusingly (and annoyingly) hyper and imaginative.
One day, Jonathan asked the question Josh had really hoped he wouldn’t.
“Hey Joshua? We’re amigos (friends) aren’t we?” Jon asked with a nervous smile.
Josh lifted his head from his workbook, “What?"
“We’re friends?”
Joshua wanted to say yes and let himself feel happy again, but he remembered what happened last time he had a friend and pushed that hope of joy out of his mind.
“No,” he answered bluntly, “Now let’s start writing this paper. We’ll run out of time.”
Jonathan looked down at his feet, “Well, I was afraid we’d get a bad grade if we didn’t work on it all year- so I’ve been writing it.”
“ You what?” Joshua asked in bewilderment, “You started already?”
“ Yeah, I thought-”
“Where’s the paper?” a now angry boy commanded, “ I need to read it!”
So Joshua gave the paper to him. He was sad that Joshua was neither happy that he tried to help nor his friend. He’d just made him angry.
“Here it is,” John answered gloomily handing his angry companion a paper.
Now Joshua acted like he was angry and like he expected a terrible paper, but inside he knew that the smart boy in front of him had written something good. He just couldn’t shake his habit of doing everything himself off! After school, though, Josh decided to read that paper while he walked. It was entitled “Alone”. What did that mean? That question was soon to be answered as Joshua began to read...
“Alone”
by Jonathan Lopez and Joshua Bell
My name is Jonathan, and this paper is about how God shows His great love for us. Let’s begin. For one, and most importantly, God sent His one and only son to save us from our sin and the death it brings. “Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him will be saved.”- John 3:16. Also, he gave us people. He gave and still gives us friends, even if those who receive those friends are cold for some reason. I know this happens, and in this paper we will show you His Truth through this...
Joshua found himself touched. He hadn’t felt this for a long time. He’d forgotten all about God’s love and what he and his old friend’s verse was. “ It is not good for man to be alone.” That day the Spirit touched Joshua Bell’s heart. He remembered everything that made him mad and alone, and then realized that God did just what the paper had said. God sent him a friend!
The next day at lunch, Joshua went to sit by himself, but as usual Jonathan came to sit with him. This was the day that Josh decided to open up for the first time in 2 years!
“Friend,” Josh murmured.
A flash of happiness and confusion came into Jon’s eyes, “What?”
Should I really tell him? Josh asked to himself, Yes! It's what God wants me to do! So Josh took a deep breath and exhaled saying, “The reason I’m so cold is... because I lost my friend, and don’t tell me I’m not cold. I KNOW I am… Do you want to know what happened?”
Jon nodded his head.
“A long time ago…” from there, Josh told the story but he relived it in his mind.
It was a Monday the day Joshua let his life be ruined. He was doing math with his best friend, Lenny. They’d grown up together and had so many hobbies like drawing and writing- using there sci-fi and fantasy imaginations. Joshua was content and loved God and everything around him, but this door was about to shut.
That day, Lenny said, “ I’m sorry, friend. But- I’m moving away to California. I’m sorry…”
Joshua, at first thought he’d be fine because there was always texting and vacations, but that never happened. They lost contact because Lenny got caught up with his new life and forgot about his old friend, and poor Joshua felt as if he had no been betrayed. He felt alone and became very insecure and soon ignored the fact that God was always there for him- that he wasn’t alone; So he became bitter and filled that gap in his heart with schoolwork and stress.
He recounted how he never was good at sports and how he felt like his classmates would judge him because of it! This made him feel even more angry, and he remembered how he’d cry and complain that his friend was no longer there! Then, he ended his story and burst into tears. He was still sobbing when he felt a hand pat his right shoulder.
He looked up, but Jonathan was sitting on his left. Josh heard a low, echoing, and kind laugh- like that of God. Joshua then looked at Jonathan who gave him a reassuring smile and patted him on the shoulder. Josh then wiped his eyes and from then on, he knew he was never alone- not just because of Jonathan, but because God who he knew was there.
Finally, at the end of the year, Joshua had made very good friends, and his relationship with God was strengthened. He was still a good student but was not so uptight, and as far as their Bible paper? It was so good, they got an A+ and a publication in the school paper. Here is the last paragraph that so inspired everyone:
So that’s the story of how Jon and I became best friends. God showed us to each other, and we were reminded that He is always there for us no matter what the circumstances! We are never alone. Yeah. Jon’s right. As it says in the Book of Genesis (Chapter 2 Verse 18), It's not good for man to be alone. See? God blesses with His love like when he sent Jesus to take away our sins, by being there with us no matter how bitter we are, and by giving us crazy ( and sometimes annoying) friends.
And I know that for a fact...
God loves ALL of us
no matter what!