Richard yawned and stood up, “Hey, thanks for inviting me.   This Bible study on telling the truth is epic.  See you guys in church this weekend.”

The next day at lunch Richard chose to sit alone as he had some work he needed to catch up on.  He sat down at an empty table and arranged his lunch to accommodate the laptop.  He had just settled into working when he heard a noisy group enter through the cafeteria doors.  They laughingly went through the lunch line, then walked to a table near his and set down their trays.  Richard groaned silently, this was not the quietest bunch of people and working through lunch would be more of a challenge now.

Richard took a deep breath and forced himself to concentrate on the laptop in front of him.  He typed a few line before over hearing the talk from the table near him.  He paused to listen to the conversation, “Haha, you should have seen the boss’s face when I told him it was Jim who had broken the new copier.”  One of the other guys chimed in, “Thats a real hoot.   Jim, the boss’s ‘favorite can’t do anything wrong employee’, getting blamed for breaking the new copier.  Good one, considering you’re the one who did it!”  The first guy smirked, “Yea, well don’t let that get around, Jim will keep his job, but the boss would probably fire me for doing that.”

Richard remembered what he had learned at the Bible study the night before.  He glanced over at the guys, they were all a good foot taller than he was and he didn’t feel like being knocked over like he had been thru all 12 grades of school.  He remembered the sermon he had heard last week about God writing a warning on the wall for King Belshazzar.  That was it, he picked up a napkin and wrote the words of  last nights study text on it:  “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in men who are truthful. Proverbs 12:22”

Richard  wadded up the napkin and tossed it over to the table.  It just so happened to hit the liar on the back of the head.  “Hey, what was that?”  Richard quickly returned to his work doing his best to look absorbed in his typing.  The man reached down to pick up the napkin and unfolded it, then read the text out loud to his lunch companions.  “The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in men who are truthful.  Proverbs 12:22.”  He looked around the cafeteria. “Where’s the person who wrote this?  Richard’s fingers shook as he typed.  The man wadded the napkin back up and threw it on the floor.  “Christians just hiding behind the Bible.  I’d like to meet a real Christian for once, one who wasn’t afraid to stand up for what they believe in.  Thats why you won’t find me in a church.  They are all hypocrites.”

Richard said a quick prayer and managed to stand up and walk over to the table of giants.  He took a deep breath a stuck out his hand to the man he had hit on the head with the napkin.  “Hi, I’m Richard and I threw the napkin at you.  I’m sorry I didn’t just come over and talk to you, but after being beat up all thru school by guys like you I was a little afraid of being knocked down again.”  The big guy reached for Richards hand, then looked around the table and said, “I can’t believe it, I actually met one.”  Then looking back to Richard he said, “Sit down with us, lets talk.”

When lunch was over Richard walked with his new friend to talk to the boss.  The boss listened to the confession then picked up a piece of paper off of his desk and tossing it in the trash said, “You know I had just finished writing your letter of dismissal, but I have just thrown it out.  I knew you had done it because we have a surveillance camera in the copy room.” 

Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.  Psalm 119:11 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:21

I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”  Psalm 40:8