Her response? "Why should I go with you?"

"My mom says I"m cute," I replied.

"Then why don"t you go with her?" she said, which was a mean thing to say because my mom had already said no.

"I"ll go with you!" Marion said.

Marion went to our church, but everyone thought she was crazy and left her alone. Crazy or not, though, I needed a date.

"Uh, great!" I said.

Marion then put down her Psycho Weekly magazine, walked over and wrote her phone number on my hand. This would"ve been more romantic if she"d used a pen instead of a paper clip.

I suddenly noticed a guy glaring at us through the church window looking like that "Garfield-stuck-on-a- car-window" thing. Marion quickly said, "Ignore him. That"s Jimmy, my ex-boyfriend. YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT, JIMMY! And if you hurt this guy like the last one, Jimmy, you"ll so get arrested!"

"The last one?" I squealed.

"Don"t be afraid," she said. "He has a bad eye. Can"t shoot straight."

I"ll Never Forget That Night
The date turned out to be as horrible as it sounded. Marion talked me into a movie before the banquet. She wanted to see a girly movie called Baby"s Day Out. I wanted to see a manly movie called The Little Mermaid. We compromised and saw Baby"s Day Out.

Now, I barely knew Marion, but during the movie she turned and said, "Wow, our first date. We should write notes to our kids right now so they"ll know what we were thinking on our first date!"

I was thinking my note would read, "Dear kids, your mom"s crazy!" but I continued to be nice. I also used the word friend a lot, which made Jimmy, who was sitting right behind us, calm down.

Finally, after the banquet, I walked her home. I thanked her for going with me and for not letting Jimmy attack me. Jimmy leaned out from behind a tree and said, "The night"s not over yet!"

"I can"t believe you took me to the banquet," Marion said. "No one at church even talks to me. But you were nice, even when I was messing with you about "our first date." "

"You were just messing with me?"

"Yeah, I just act crazy because everyone"s already judged me," she said. "But you showed me friendship. You reached out to me like Jesus did. He reached out to help, not to point and laugh."

She said other things too, but that"s when Jimmy tackled me, so I missed most of it. But I left reminded that sometimes people only see Jesus through our actions. This month reach out to help, not to point and laugh! Go, be Jesus!