Troy, not quite knowing what to do, followed Haru back into the Fellowship Hall and saw that everyone was already claiming seats at the longest table in the middle of the room.

Haru sat in between Arron and Sophie, Mark on the other side of Arron and then all of the boys wrapping all the way around the table back to Mike, sitting on the end. Brooke was sitting on the other side of Sophie, where on her right was the only open seat.

Troy sighed. Of course he would get stuck with the crazy one. He sat down, expecting to get glared at, but when he glanced at the shorter girl, she was too busy getting her books and pens out of her messenger bag to even notice him.

"Take out your bibles and turn to James 1. If you don't have a bible, you can share, or listen very carefully." Said Mike. Some laughed as he said the last part. Troy watched curiously around the table as everyone did as told and got out their books from bags, purses, and pockets, opening them and turning to the correct page.

It was awkward, really. He was the only one in the room without one. Even the Phone Boys had their own hard copies. He could share one, however... He glanced at Brooke, surprised that she was taking notes, with her bible open as well. He expected her to be drawing, but she was actually writing words and thoughts, though he noticed that her spelling needed some work.

After finishing writing the date, she noticed his gaze and looked up with a raised brow. He changed his gaze to her bible and she seemed to understand what he was curious about, or rather, that he didn't have one of his own and moved her bible a little to where they could both read it. He nodded as thanks and started skimming the words. What did any of this mean?

It was like a different language.

Or maybe even like hearing a word or phrase he didn't know the definition of?

Mike's voice caught his attention away from the book and he turned to listen. "As this is the beginning of the summer, I thought we should start out with a new book, from beginning to end, going verse by verse until we reach the end of the book, which hopefully, will stretch until the end of this summer."

The students laughed and Mark gave him a look. "Knowing you Mike, we'll be lucky if you finish the first chapter."

Mike rolled his eyes and put his hands up in defense, still smiling. "Alright, alright, so maybe I like to talk a little."

Brooke's brother, Scott from what he remembered, laughed the loudest at that. "A little?"

Mike let them laugh it off to tell them to start on verse one. "So we're going to skip verse one, as it's just a greeting." His gaze went over some of the younger boys and Troy as he explained further. "We read James as a book of the bible, however, much like many of the books in the new testament, James, the brother of Jesus, was writing this as a letter. This letter as you can see in verse one, was written to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The first verse is a greeting just as if I were to write to somebody 'Dear so-and-so this is Mike from Seaport Baptist Church' in a letter today."

Some nodded silently to the explanation, some were looking at their bibles reading ahead, and some were taking notes. Troy was glancing around the room, surprised that they all paid such good attention. Sure the boys would whisper and the girls would giggle every now and then, but mostly, they all kept silent when Mike spoke.

"Now verse two says 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,'. Now let's break it down. Starting with 'my brothers', to who is he referring?"

Troy glanced around the table again, wondering what they would say. Surprisingly, the shorter twin ,Blake answered. "Brothers in Christ?"

Mike met his gaze, nodding. "Yes, and in this case, specifically the Twelve Tribes. But we, as brothers and sisters in Christ are also being addressed." He shifted his gaze to the other students as he went on. "James is writing to the future generations, including us. Of course, certain things are different now, with our culture developments and such, but overall, as Christians, everything in the book of James can still be applied to our lives now."

Troy blinked, wondering if his face gave away how confused and conflicted he was feeling. From what he remembered hearing, everything that happened during 'Jesus' time on Earth' happened over 2000 years ago. So how could anything it said be applied to their lives now? Was this something that only people who were 'saved' could understand? He was starting to realize that he just didn't get it.

Mike went on. "With that in mind, we'll go over what the verse says and then apply it to our own lives. 'Count on joy when you meet trials'." His tone turned joking. "You're all teenagers, so you deal with many of life's problems, right? School being the number one, then home: siblings, parents, friends. The list keeps going."

Troy found himself wince slightly at the mention of 'parents'. He switched his gaze back down at Brooke's bible, not wanting to risk meeting his new youth pastor's honest and knowing eyes, then looked over at Brooke's moving pen. He was surprised that she had written quite a bit with a small doodle here and there. She must have felt his gaze, because she stopped and looked up at him with that same raised brow. He blinked and then glanced away, back at Mike.

The older man's tone changed back to his teaching one. "Whenever any of those things go south: school gets tough, you get into a fight with your siblings or your friends, maybe even your parents, isn't it hard to find a bright side? In those times we're what?"

The twins shared a look. "Mad."

Mike nodded. "Angry, upset, during those times, and what about afterwards?"

Troy almost jumped at Brooke's sudden and firm reply, looking to her with the other students. "Guilty."

A knowing smile crossed Mike's lips. "Yes, most of the time, after a fight, we feel guilty that it had happened in the first place, even if we didn't start it. What else? When things aren't going well, we start out upset and mad, then we feel guilty either that we caused it or that we reacted to it. It sounds pretty sad right? But our Flesh wants us to feel that way. That's what it'll do to drag us away from God. Away from our Joy. "

After a breath he continued. "Our Flesh is our sin, even after we're saved, it will still try to trick us and tempt us away from God. The Spirit within us after we're saved will guide us back to God, because after you truly become one of His children, God isn't just going to turn you away, and disown you. Once you're saved by salvation, you can't just be 'un-saved'. Though that won't stop our sinly nature from making us go astray, we just have to be mindful and take our thoughts captive. Return to our Joy. No matter how bad the situation, we need to try and allow the Holy Spirit to remind us that God is there with us. He is an Omnipresence, everywhere at once all the time."

Mike gestured toward the twins "So when we get into a fight with our brothers and sisters-" He turned to Scott with a wink. "Or get yelled at for not doing what you were told-" Then he turned to Mark before looking from face to face as he spoke. "Or getting stressed out over exams- We need to remember our Joy, that we are children of God, and that he loves us as such. No matter how bad it gets, no matter what life throws our way, we have the unconditional love of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, who died on the cross for all of us." After a few thoughtful seconds, he bowed his head. "Let us pray. Our Father, we humbly come before you-"

As he prayed, Troy bowed his head and leaned back in his seat, not even realizing that he was leaning forward in the first place. He was perplexed, flabbergasted even. What kind of church was this? Every church Troy had ever been to seemed almost...wrong in comparison to everything Mike had said. What was all of that about the Flesh and the Spirit? Wasn't it supposed to be God verses Satan? Or were they the same thing?

What was it about this place, these people, that made him suddenly want to question everything he thought he knew?

Joy and Love? These were things Troy didn't experience often, not even in simple forms. His life seemed to be ran by disappointments that he had just learned to accept over and over again. Though he was starting to wonder if it had to be that way. Was he missing those things because he wasn't 'saved'? Because he wasn't right with God?

A tap to his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts in a jump as he snapped his head up to look at Brooke. She had stood, books and pens already off of the table and into her messenger bag. When had Mike ended the prayer?

She had an amused smile on her face, but he might have saw a hidden hint of worry flash through her eyes, if only for a second. But maybe that was just the reflection of light on her glasses. "Falling asleep already?"

His eye twitched as he stood, still marveling at how short the girl was, her eyes barely even with his shoulder. "I was lost in thought, that's all." He wasn't sure why he told her the truth, but he felt he didn't want to lie either.

She stared up at him for a moment, as if to consider what he could have been thinking about, but didn't press the matter and he was glad for it.

So the shorty was a bit aggressive at first, but he was glad to know she could mellow out. Her punch had hurt earlier and he was not looking forward to being a constant victim. He glanced down at her. "So then, now what?"

She looked up at him then forward. "We just kinda hang out until Mike stuffs us all in the Church Van to drive us home in about an hour." He nodded slowly as she started to walk and not knowing what else to do, he sighed and followed behind her.

Part of him wished the hour was over so he could go home and think, the other part was telling him he needed, and maybe even wanted, to stay and hang out with these people he couldn't seem to understand.

Maybe being weird and crazy was contagious.