Published 10/23/19
By Greg Johnson
What If...
Dad is in the military. That means our family has to move around a lot. About every three years Dad gets a new assignment and we have to sell our home and find another—usually in another state. That also means you have to make all new friends at a new school.
Just as you finish fifth grade, you find out you have to move. The new school you’ll be attending isn’t a grade school, but a middle school. No more recess and lots more studying! Well, you take it in stride and try not to look too disappointed.
The first day of school you make friends with a couple of guys who play football at lunch time. You are a pretty good athlete, so you know that by getting involved in a game, you can meet some new guys. As usual, the athletic group at school seems to be popular. If you can be friends with a couple of the top athletes, you will be friends with all of their friends, too.
Not only are you an athlete, but you also play trombone in the school band. Though you aren’t as good on the trombone as you are at sports, you like it all the same. The second day of class you get to know another trombone player. You really hit it off. He invites you over to his house and you find out you have quite a bit in common.
That week, however, you discover a slight problem. This band guy as a reputation of being a nerd. He doesn’t hang around with the athletes; they don’t even know he exists. As the weeks go by, you begin to notice that the athletes quit calling you. They even quit saying hi to you in the halls. The reason: you spend most of your lunch hours with your band friend. Now it looks like he is going to be your only friend.
Questions to Think On
• What do you value most in a friend?
• Do you think once you hit junior high or middle school that popularity will be important?
• What would you do in this situation: go back to the popular group or stick with your one buddy?
• Mom and Dad: Did you ever have to make a choice about what group to hang out with?
What Does God Have to Say?
A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
(c)