Grace Upon Grace "Touchdown Lialty High School...touchdown pass number 27 on
the year for quarterback Christian Connor". The public address announcer seemed to almost become bored at calling his name. Christian Connor, the senior quarterback star as well as the homecoming king of the school, was on his way to a football scholarship with the University of Texas where he would become the next Colt McCoy. Whether it was eating lunch with the rejected and unwanted kids at school, being willing to forgive someone who had wronged him, or leading Bible studies with the football players, it was clearly evident that Christian had an amazing personality. Everybody in the town of Lialty knew this young man and could tell you his entire statistical spread. Everybody in the town wanted their piece of Christian Connor, and that got to be a problem at times for the young man.
Never once was CC tempted to conform to what his "friends" were wanting him to get involved in. He was extremely strong in his Christian beliefs and also had the University of Texas to keep him accountable to staying clean and pure. Every time someone would ask him to hang out and smoke a few or have a couple of rounds, CC could always say no because he knew that it was against what he believed as a follower of Christ. Not only that, Christian could envision 100,000 people screaming their heads off as he threw a game-winning touchdown pass at Texas, which immediately seemed so much better to him than smoking weed. CC
was living the dream life: the senior homecoming king who was the star of the state champion football team. However, it only takes one night to completely ruin an incredible life.
Of all the nights to have a homecoming event at school, October 2 was the most beautiful and ideal of any imaginable. Lily was the most gorgeous girl in the entire school: she had beautiful, flowing blond hair, crystal blue eyes, a compassionate smile, and she was also a follower of Jesus Christ, which is what attracted CC to her the most. The couple ate at Maggiano's, and danced the night away at the homecoming dance. Following the event, the couple headed over to CC's "buddy's" house to "hang out" with a bunch of people and chat. Because CC was a stud and cared about little details such as the beverage menu at the house, he felt very comfortable knowing that his "friends" were having a clean party and that he would not have to worry about illegal activity being an issue. As the night rolled along, Christian and the boys decided that they were thirsty, and so the host of the party went and got everybody some drinks: CC ordered a Coca-Cola, a solid choice for a late night sip.
As CC began sipping his Coca-Cola, the fizz from the drink absorbed every taste bud on his tongue, and it seemed to him that everything was in perfect order: his girl happy and asleep on his shoulder, watching his favorite movie (Pirates of the Caribbean 2), and seeing on his IPhone 4 that the Texas Longhorns had just beaten the Texas Tech Red
Raiders 42-38. However, as the Coke began fizzling down into his stomach, Christian noticed that he had a bit of a pain in his stomach. "It must have been the rich food at Maggiano's" CC thought, and kept on drinking.
Other "friends" and guests who were staying at the house for the party decided around 2 am that it was time to get going, and most of them had cleared out by about 2:30. The host saw that Christian and Lily were both asleep on the couch harmlessly, and so he decided that he too would head up to bed. At 2:45 in the morning, the entire house had become completely peaceful and silent.
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Lily realized that Christian was on her shoulder sound asleep and unwilling to be pried from it. Lily began wondering what Christian's problem was, knowing the guy he was, she knew that it wasn't alcohol. Interestingly, everyone else had left at this point, even the host of the party had gone to bed. (describe when and where people left) She had slept until 3 in the morning and just discovered that Christian Connor was seemingly dead asleep on her shoulder. Instinctively, her mom's nursing tips came into play.
An incredibly slow, almost petrifying pulse and a terrifyingly cold face caused Lily to panic.
As the ambulance came to the house, Lily came screaming, the mom came running down in her nightgown obviously surprised at what was going on, and Christian's "friend" came puzzled to the door. The mom
and friend of Christian had no answers whatsoever on the incident, and the emergency staff knew that there was not enough time to investigate. CC was immediately taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed as having taken in far too much poison and "lucky to be alive". That night, Christian Connor had escaped death by a mere .001% of poison concentration. Had there been even a drop more of poison in the Coca-Cola he had ingested, Christian Connor would have been with his heavenly father. As the doctors centralized the poison and pumped it out of Christian's body, they were even calling the whole calamity a miracle, saying that Christian was the closest case to death that they had ever seen. He immediately went under intensive care and observation, and they kept Christian until they were absolutely sure that he was recovered and in playing condition. Christian Connor was in the hospital for a total of two and a half weeks recovering and rehabilitating from the catastrophe, and after three weeks he was back in school.
His first day back from school coincided nicely because it was his scheduled signing day with the University of Texas, and so with Coach Mack Brown, his parents, and high school coaches by his side, Christian Connor signed an official letter of intent to play football for University of Texas. Following his signing, as all big time recruits do, CC had a press conference in the gymnasium of Lialty High School, where he was indeed asked about his nearly fatal accident. Connor responded by calling it "an
act that has been forgiven and that will be remembered in my mind as a memorial of God's faithfulness and mercy in my life". As usual, the press was not satisfied with the answer they received, and so they pushed him to his limit. With the head football coach of Texas and all of his friends and family in the bleachers, Christian Connor was asked, "Christian, do you know who gave you the poison or how it got into your system?" "Actually, sir, I do not. But the fact that the Lord knows everything about the situation and that I forgave whoever did do it should be enough. Christ does not hold grudges, and therefore as His disciple and child, neither do I. It does not need to be speculated or called into question who committed the crime-what needs to be called into question is the ability of people to forgive and forget in today's society, because quite honestly, we suck at
it".