"Tim LaHaye - Left Behind Kids 01 - Vanishings" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

hair, his clothes, and his friends.

Worst of all, he was grounded if he didn't get up for Sunday school and church every Sunday. Just the
Sunday before, he had put up such a fuss that his mother had come into his room and sat on his bed.
"Don't you love Jesus anymore?" she asked.

What a stupid question,Judd thought. He didn't remember ever really loving Jesus. Oh, he had liked all
the stories and knew a lot of verses. But loving Jesus? Loving God? That was for little kids and old
ladies. But what could he say to his mother?

"If you want the truth, I only go to church so I can go out on weekends and use the car."

That was clearly not what she had wanted to hear. "All right then, just forget it!" she said.

"I can stay home from church?"

"If you don't want to go anywhere for a week."
Judd swore under his breath. It was a good thing his mother hadn't heardthat . He'd have been
grounded for life.

In Sunday school, Judd copped an atti-tude. He wore clothes his parents only barely approved of, and
he stayed as far away as possible from the "good" kids. What losers! They never had any fun. Judd didn't
smile, didn't carry a Bible, didn't look at the teacher, didn't say anything. When the teacher asked his
opinion of something, he shrugged. He wanted everyone to know he was there only because he had to
be.

In church, he slouched when his father wasn't looking. He wanted to burrow within himself and just
make it through to the end of the service. He didn't sing along, he didn't bow his head during prayer, he
didn't shut his eyes. No one had ever said those were rules; Judd was simply trying to be different from
everyone else. He was way too cool for this stuff.

As usual, Pastor Vernon Billings got off on his kick about what he called the Rapture. "Someday," he
said, "Jesus will return to take his followers to heaven. Those who have received him will disappear in the
time it takes to blink your eye. We will disappear right in front of disbelieving people. Won't that be a
great day for us and a horrifying one for them?"

The kindly old pastor talked about how important it was for everyone to be sure of his own standing
before God and to think and pray about friends and loved ones who might not be ready. Judd's little
secret was that he had never really believed any of that.

He'd had enough chances. At vacation Bible school, his friends had prayed and received Christ. He was
embarrassed. He told them he had already done that at home. At camp a few years later, Judd felt guilty
and sinful when a young speaker talked about church kids who weren't really Christian believers. He had
wanted to go forward; he really had. But he had also just been named Camper of the Week for
memorizing a bunch of Bible verses and being the fastest to look up some others. What would people
say?

Judd knew he didn't have to go forward or talk with anyone to receive Christ. He knew he could do it
by himself. He could pray sin-cerely and ask God to forgive his sins and make Jesus the Lord of his life.
But later, when the meeting was over and the emotion wore off, he told himself that was something he