A few days pass. You make a decision

A few days later, I was cleaning up my desk when I noticed something underneath a stack of papers.

I pulled it out.

The flyer from the first day of school.

Campus Church Group — Student Gathering, 7 PM.

I stared at it for a moment.

For some reason, seeing it again brought Halloween back to mind.

Mia.

The party.

What I’d done.

I hadn’t been able to completely shake the guilt, even weeks later. Maybe that was part of why the flyer caught my attention now. I wasn’t suddenly looking for an answer to everything, but I thought being around people who took their faith seriously might help me clear my head.

I smoothed out the wrinkles and checked the time.

I still had plenty of time.

So I changed clothes, grabbed my jacket, and headed toward the student center.

When I walked into the room, I recognized the two students who had handed me the flyer weeks earlier.

They didn’t seem to recognize me.

I wasn’t surprised. We’d only spoken for a minute that first day, and they’d probably talked to dozens of students since then.

One of them smiled politely.

“Hey, welcome. Is this your first time?”

“Yeah.”

“Awesome. Grab some food. We’re about to get started.”

“Thanks.”

I took a plate and found a seat toward the back.

Nobody knew me here.

That was actually comforting.

I didn’t have to explain myself or pretend everything was perfect. I could just sit there and listen.

As the group began talking, I settled into my chair.

I still didn’t know exactly why I’d come.

Maybe I was curious.

Maybe I needed something different.

Or maybe some part of me was looking for a way to deal with the thing I’d been carrying around since Halloween.

I listened quietly as the meeting got underway.

For once, I wasn’t trying to figure out what came next.

I was just willing to sit with where I was.