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top of the other side of the ditch. The only thing there was a wall of a gated community, but he was certain that there was no entrance into it and he doubted the small girl could scale the eight foot concrete wall.
     
    Antonio shook his head. Something about the girl bothered him. He didn't know what it was, but he didn't like it. Somehow, some way, Courtney was in trouble. He would get to the bottom of it as soon as he could.
     
    Antonio ducked into his car, turned the key, and listened to the engine roar to life. “God,” he said as he bowed his head. “Be with that girl; protect her from whatever demons she is facing. If it be your will, let me help. In your son's name, Amen.”

Chapter 5
    Antonio was up and out of the house early the second day of school. He knew he had responsibilities that he took on and that meant a few compromises. Instead of staying up late as was the norm with many teens, he was in bed and sleeping by ten o'clock.
     
    He had woken up, went to the gym at 5 am and returned home to shower and get in Bible reading. He read the familiar passage, had the verses all but memorized in the hopes that they would be an automatic part of his life that he didn't have to struggle with.
     
    “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them,” Tony read the words slowly, absorbing each one individually. “If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.”
     
    Antonio sat back in his chair and thought back on the two guys that pushed the chubby freshman kid down the day before.
     
    “Did I intervene because I wanted people to think that I was more righteous than they were?” He asked God while looking at his ceiling.
     
    He went through the scene in his own mind. Would he have done the same thing if people in the school would've thought that he was a jerk for doing so?
     
    “I'm not more righteous then they are,” Tony continued his conversation with God as his mind jumped around the issue. “I fail more often than I succeed.”
     
    The issue nagged at him. Why was he so eager to display his faith? Why did he want to be looked at as an example? What would happen when he failed, or people thought that he failed? He knew he was the same when he was by himself as he was with other people around, but he knew he came short in his behaviors more often when no one else was around.
    “Lord, ” Antonio bowed his head. “Please help me stay humble,” he said in a small whisper. “Help me to not be hypocritical and do things for the wrong motives. I want to do things because they are what you would have me to do, not so I can receive praise from others. It is easy to want that pat on the back and be told what a good guy I am, but I'd rather the rewards come from you. Let my mind conform to your word. Let me not do what is good in the eyes of others so they think I am a great guy, but let them see you working through me, guiding me against my own sinful ways. In your son's name I pray, Amen.”
     
    Tony stood up from the chair and looked at his Bible again. “Easy to read, hard to implement,” he said, repeating something he heard a visiting preacher say one Sunday morning earlier that summer.
     
    The teen checked his alarm clock. It was time for him to leave for school. He had to be their earlier than the other Christians who met for the morning prayer meeting if he wanted to set up and have time with the youth pastor from his church. Pastor Bob would be unable to lead the meeting himself. There was talk that Pastor Bob wouldn't be in the room in to protect against the appearance of impropriety.
     
    The car roared to life as soon as the key was turned. Tony loved the sound of the engine as he revved it. When he was satisfied the car would stay running he backed out of his driveway and made his way towards the school.
     
    Traffic was light, which suited him fine, but he found himself growing impatient when he came to the light to turn on Michigan