She’s five foot seven inches and full of humor. When she walks into the room, her blue eyes light up the room and they’re always beaming with joy. She appreciates everything God gave her and views everyone as her equal. She’s my best friend, Paxton. She’s the one person who was able to change the way I thought about life.

I sat there, pondering, in Paxton’s house in front of both Paxton and her sister, Mackenzie. Something had to change. I take everything my best friend thinks into consideration, and her thoughts could and very well do impact my life. Flashing back to a few weeks ago, I had just joined her Venture Crew, which is a religious group that gathers together to help others. Paxton texted me one day and it was unusually long, “The Venture Crew Beach Party is this weekend, you can come if you want, but the people that are going, do bring their religion with them and some things you say embarrass me and hurt my feelings.” This one text caught me completely off guard. It was like a punch in the gut that makes you double over in pain. Embarrass her? I never thought I did that, especially to someone I care about. Maybe I should have been watching what I say more carefully, but I knew I had to reorganize my thought process and my views of Him. I folded my legs on Paxton’s wooden, kitchen chair and I turned my gaze toward the both of them. Religion was a touchy subject for me. It just all didn’t make sense when I put it all together.

I discussed my problems with Paxton; her sister was sitting there as well to help out with this issue. I explained to her why it was so difficult for me to believe, and apparently, it was just a leap of faith. You either believe, or you don’t. My mind only believes logic. That’s what is so hard. I need hard facts that I can hold in my hands, and the Bible just doesn’t cut it. I decided to bombard her with questions to make sense of all this. I glanced over to the edge of the table and stared at the front cover of Paxton’s flimsy old Bible. This may have been just a stupid question, but I really was curious! “Couldn’t anyone have just written this and called it the Bible?” Two pairs of eyes just remained fixed on my face. They told me that different people wrote different sections of the Bible. They were true events. I digested this information and continued to ask dozens of questions in their direction.

It was time to load up and head to the Lake of the Ozarks for the Venture Crew Beach Party! We pulled up after four or five hours of driving and I hopped out into the complete darkness to stretch my short stiff legs. It was already after midnight, so we grabbed our bags and headed up to the top floor and we snatched a bed before the underclassmen could.
Paxton sat in our soft bed with her Bible while the thin white sheets were wrapped tightly around her. I just stared at it until I plucked the Bible from her lap, “Which is the best section to read?” I asked her. I opened the leather cover with the elegant script on the front. She thumbed through the pages until she reached the New Testament. Finally, she found what she was looking for, Ephesians, and pointed to a section on judgment. We decided to study each word on these delicate pages together, and as we read, I slowly began to understand the life God created for me.
The next night, we agreed to hold a Bible Study. It was a great idea and by the third night, Paxton’s sister and her friend Katie were part of our little study group. My goal was to start feeling a change in myself and how I feel about other people. I want to be able to look at someone and not immediately draw conclusions about that person. God says we are all equal.
Still today, I try to work His words into my actions in everyday life. It’s not easy trying to change the way you act and talk as I have in the duration of my life. It will take a lot of hard work, but I know that if I take each day at a time, I could become a much better person in this world.