He pushed the happy thought from his mind. The approaching meeting needed all his attention.
Tonight he would tell the parents how Hamilton High had changed, and how students now had a vision of commitment to high standards. How so many more students were actually succeeding. How their lives had been changed. And he would tell them that he couldn’t take credit for the dramatic changes at Hamilton. Not when it was the Lord alone who deserved the praise. He would tell all of this to the parents—some of whom were bound to be shocked or even angry.
And then Wendell would trust God for whatever happened next.
8
One of the best things Cami loved about her new life, since she’d given her heart to Jesus, was the way she walked through her days not in the presence of anger. But in the presence of God.
Last week their after-school club had talked about the fruits of the Spirit. As people developed a friendship with God, the fruit in their lives showed. Love and joy, peace and patience. Kindness. Gentleness. Self-control. They were an outgrowth of believing the Lord and obeying Him. The fruits were the most amazing thing Cami had heard in a long time because they were true.
Cami was already feeling all of them. More love toward her friends and her family, a joy that couldn’t be described—even on days when all she could think about was how much she missed her mother. Cami felt peace over her father’s drinking and her little sisters’ constant questions about their mom. And patience was so much more a part of her routine.
Patience hadn’t stood a chance before, when anger was her constant companion.
Cami could be kind and she could be good—even when her father was mean to her. She wasn’t perfect, but she desired only to grow stronger in her faith. Self-control was another thing. Most of her senior classmates still didn’t attend the Raise the Bar meetings, and often they asked Cami to join them at parties on the weekends.
But drinking with them was the last thing she felt like doing. When she finished her homework and studying each night, she only wanted to read over the Bible passages from the week.
School was out for the day, so Cami took her books and her backpack to the football stadium, where Jordy and the team were practicing. This afternoon she was especially glad for the peace that filled her heart.
Because truth be told, she should be a little more afraid.
Yes, her life was better than it had ever been. But her father had no idea who she was or what she had become. And he definitely didn’t know that Cami liked a guy in the club. She settled on the top row of the bleachers and found Jordy. He was the quarterback. Number 7. Easy to find among the mix of players.
Never had she imagined a year ago when she attended the first Raise the Bar meeting that she and Jordy would ever like each other. No one at school seemed to mind that she was white and Jordy and his family were black.
What mattered was their hearts, the way God had brought them together. The closer Cami drew to God, the more aware she was of Jordy’s incredible qualities. Next year, they both wanted to attend Liberty University.
Cami wanted to study professional writing, and Jordy wanted to play for Liberty’s football team. Then he wanted to earn his master’s degree in business administration.
They weren’t dating yet. But their feelings grew stronger every day.
There was just one problem—Cami’s father.
Her dad didn’t know about the Raise the Bar club, and he didn’t know about Cami’s newfound faith. He certainly didn’t know about her feelings for Jordy. Cami felt bad not talking to her dad about any of that, but what was the point. Her father’s hatred toward all things Christian was steadily growing. He blamed the Lord for losing his wife to a church man, and he was becoming more outspoken about having God’s name removed from public conversation.
A whistle blew on the field, and Cami watched Jordy take charge of the huddle. The players clapped and then lined up in front of the ball. Jordy yelled out a few commands, and the ball was snapped into his hands. He danced back four steps, and then unwound his six-foot-three frame in fluid motion. The ball soared across the field and into the hands of one of his teammates, who ran straight for the end zone.
“That’s what I’m talking about, Jordy!” the head coach yelled as he ran onto the field. He smacked Jordy on the back. “Just like that.”
Cami smiled.
Everything was going so well for both of them. A gust of concern made its way over the otherwise calm landscape of her soul. So long as her father didn’t come to the parents’ meeting tonight.
Practice ended and Cami left for the library. Principal Quinn had told all of them to be there a few minutes before Parents’ Night began. Cami had homework first. Her heart pounded as she walked across campus. What if her dad did show up? She tried not to think about it.
The meeting, she told herself. Think about that. The last time they got together, Principal Quinn had explained that he was going to talk about the Raise the Bar program with the parents. He had been waiting for statistics on the improvements. But he already knew how dramatically the lives of Hamilton High students had changed for the better. That’s when Principal Quinn had asked Cami to share how the club had helped her. She was happy to talk to the parents about the changes in her own life.
Unless her dad showed up.
Cami swallowed her fear. It wasn’t likely. Her dad probably didn’t even know about Parents’ Night. Of course, other moms and dads would be there and any of them could have a problem with the club. Which was why every student in the program was praying for the coming hours.
Cami’s dad wouldn’t come, though. Of course not. For most of the last year, he had come home from work and downed a six-pack before thinking about dinner or whether the girls had homework. There was no reason to expect he’d remember a meeting tonight at Hamilton High. But if he did . . . if he heard what Principal Quinn was doing, if he heard what Cami was planning to share . . .
Cami didn’t have to wonder what her father would do.
He’d be through the roof livid. As her dad liked to say, heads would roll. And the first head would be that of Principal Quinn.
Cami shuddered at the thought. Please, God . . . keep him out of this school tonight. Let him go straight home. But if not . . .
She found a table in the library and waited for Jordy. As soon as he arrived, Cami pulled her history book from her backpack. They were using a new text this year, a decision made by Principal Quinn and the History Department. Jordy had explained the situation to her at the beginning of the semester.
“Lots of schools teach what’s called revisionist history.” Jordy always had the inside scoop. Principal Quinn was his father, after all. “What that means is that some people have rewritten history to remove God from the text.”
Now they were using a textbook that drew its information from original letters and documents written by the founding fathers.
“I found this quote.” Cami opened her history book and lifted her eyes to Jordy. “It’s one of my favorites.” The quote was from Alexander Hamilton, the school’s namesake. Hamilton said, There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.
Cami smiled. “That’s what your dad did for us.” She looked at the quote in the history book again. “For the sake of liberty, your dad started the Raise the Bar program. So that we might know God.”
“I never thought about it that way.” Jordy’s eyes softened. “Like what he did for us has been an act of bravery. Heroism, even.”
“Exactly.” Cami loved this, the way she felt being with Jordy. The way they had so much in common now.
One hour blended into another and the two of them finished their homework. The whole time Cami tried not to think about her dad. But occasionally her fear won out. What if he’d learned about Parents’ Night? What if the school had emailed him and this time he read the letter?