I just cannot help but repost this entry I wrote a year ago about “Books I Should Have Read Instead of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories”.

This is related to a strange but fruitful day I had yesterday while i was inside the mall. To my mind, i did a small but significant step in influencing the lives of two teenage girls.

I was stuck in traffic for two hours just to get to the mall. But strangely enough, my temper wasn’t rising with the heat and the length of that trip. I even managed to read a book while the jeep was stationary and was capable of making small conversation with the driver.

To make the long story short, I got to the mall at about 4 P.M., went through the list of items to pick-up and and stores to go to. When finally it was about time to go home, I passed by National Bookstore. I needed to drop by and see what book I had to buy and read after I finish “One Day At A Time (Book 2)” by Francis Kong. I bought the book for about a week now but I only have 60 pages left. I bet, i will finish it before the middle of next week.

While inside the store, I skipped the Fiction section, scanned the Current Events section but none interested me. Went over to the Culinary Arts and pondered on starting a new hobby but had not decided yet.

Then on the far end of the bay, I cannot help but notice two teenage girls in school uniform flipping through dating, courtship and relationships pages of some books whose author I am not familiar about. Then I found one book by Joshua Harris “Boy Meets Girl” on the bottom of the shelf which these girls has not even touched.

Memories of me being convinced by Ate Adora Balili to read the book and even share her copy flowed though my mind. The lessons and insights I got from this author are too valuable to be neglected. These are the kinds of books that our teenagers have to read to build a foundation of character. At that moment I realized  that I have the same opportunity of changing the lives of these teenage girls or influence them at the least. I knew at that moment I have to do something.

It was a little awkward coz, I was trying to distract these girls by getting the “Boy Meets Girl” book, trying to read it and make impressions that it is good. I tried to do this many times making myself a little suspicious to these girls. My thoughts were confirmed coz they transferred to the other rows.

When they left the shelf, doubt was already in my mind to a point that I can let this pass. Me and the girls had nothing to gain nor to loose either way.

But I was thankful to the books I have been readings all these years that gave me wisdom. One audiobook I was listening to earlier part of this year was “When Heaven Invades Earth” by Bill Johnson. He was talking about the Holy Spirit. He mentioned that “When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you just have to trust it and do what it says”. The voice telling me I had to do it was so loud that I cannot ignore. What made me decide of my next move was the to answer the question “Am I just going to live this boring life or make a little spice to it?”

Spices in life is a thrill but I am not used to it. But with the Holy Spirit as my guide led me back to my task at the moment. I circled to the other side of the shelf to observe the girls if they were leaving. Thankfully, they were not. It seemed they have  a research assignment and was not yet able to find what they were looking for. Taking advantage of this, I approached them and asked, “May I ask? Are you looking for something? I just cannot help but notice you were scanning the books from the other shelf. Whatever it is, I just would like to make a recommendation. (I got the Boy Meets Girl Book of Joshua Harris and gave it to the girls). Joshua Harris, he is a very good author. This book is very good especially at your age. You should read all his books.” I smiled. Before the girls were even able to respond, I already took a few steps away.

Then I went back, “This is based on personal experience. Cos this one was also recommended to me”. Then I finally left.

I was not able to get their reactions nor what they did with the book. I thought I can only do so much like what Ate Adora did with me. The decision to read it and apply it to ones life is a personal decision. I hope and pray that the girls would do the same.

To read my previous post on “Books I Should Have Read Instead of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories”, click on the link.