1 of 2

I sat at my desk doodling mindlessly, trying to relax after finishing a history exam. As I scribbled away, Brandon* walked past me and gave the teacher his completed exam. On the way back to his seat, he grabbed my Bible off the corner of my desk.

Brandon was one of the most popular guys in school and could make just about anyone laugh with his weird sense of humor. He also didn't care much for religion. When he found out I was a Christian, he'd told me something like, "Only wackos believe the Bible—it's full of lies." He even called me "hardcore," because he apparently thought I was this crazy hardcore Christian.

I glanced back to where Brandon was sitting and noticed him flipping through my Bible. I couldn't help but wonder if he was going to make fun of my beliefs. After a minute or two, someone tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a note. It read:

Where's the part about the Devil being loosed from his prison at the end of a thousand years? —Brandon

Looking back, I motioned for Brandon to pass the Bible to me. I thought the verse might be from Revelation, but wasn't exactly sure. So I said a prayer, asking God to find it. Right after I prayed, I flipped open my Bible, leafed through Revelation and my eyes soon focused on Revelation 20:7—the verse Brandon was looking for! As I handed him my Bible, I whispered a prayer of thanks for God's help in finding the verse.

"Whoa, how'd you find that so fast?" he asked.

"Brandon, I gotta be honest," I whispered. "I didn't know where the verse was so I asked God to help me find it."

He stared at me a second with this funny look on his face, like he was amazed by what I'd just said.

"So where'd you hear about the 1,000–year verse?" I asked.

"I had this dream awhile back about Satan," he said. "It was about him being set free or something after 1,000 years."

The whole dream thing sounded a little strange, but I was thankful Brandon seemed interested in something in the Bible. I was also thankful the teacher wasn't paying any attention to us. He was usually real strict, especially if everyone hadn't finished a test. But today he just didn't seem to care that we were talking. It was like several small miracles were taking place.

After Brandon read the passage, I asked, "So what did you think of it?"

"It's kinda freaky."

"Yeah," I said. "That part of the Bible can be kind of strange sometimes. It's mostly about what will happen when Jesus returns to Earth."

After we talked a little bit more, he got up, grabbed the Bible and headed for the back of the room. (Now that all the tests were turned in, we were allowed to move around and talk.) I watched in disbelief as about 10 people gathered around him and he started reading and discussing some passages with them. As far as I knew, none of them were Christians. In fact, I'd once heard one guy in the group say he loved the Devil. But they all seemed to be into Brandon's odd little Bible study! Eventually, the bell rang, the "Bible group" broke up, and we all headed off to our next exam.

next page... |  1 of 2

share this page

				Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip Email Address Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.