Charger (an article I wrote for last year's school newsletter, Echo)

One rainy day, as I lay in bed with no intention of getting up, I looked over to my bedside table and found that my cellphone was low batt. 19 messages received, the display on my phone read. Everyone sends these so-called "group messages" these days (myself included). I was far too sleepy to read or delete any of them, and my phone was probably gonna turn off anyway.

Nevertheless, I stretched out luxuriously on the bed, and got up to find the tangled mess that is my charger. I found it underneath a statement tee that says "TAKE A PICTURE, IT LASTS LONGER". I plugged it in and stared at the battery display grow from 1/4 to full. It didn't take long for me to get bored, what with all the staring. I had a bad day. And it couldn't get any worse.

And it all started with a promise I made that I couldn't keep. The decision I made affected so many people, and I couldn't help but think that the whole enchilada was my fault and my fault alone.

Now, for my cellphone to regain its original joie de vivre, all I had to do was charge it, and it would be back to normal again. I could then stay up all night sending nonsense quotes to everyone in my Contact Groups list. But me? Unfortunately, I had to go through emotional toil and tears streaming down my face as I asked God, "Why me?" I didn't know why I had to go through these things, I was only a kid. I didn't understand why people blamed me for something I didn't do, and why they thought I was the one with the problem.

My phone's battery was full, and I unplugged the charger. You are so lucky, I said to my 5310 XpressMusic, that you don't need to go through what I'm going through. (Then again, it has to endure the endless pounding of my thumbs on its poor overused keypad, and scream out my favorite songs all night, so I guess we're even.)

Cellphones, when running low on battery, can simply be plugged in to a source of energy to help them become whole again. And right at that very moment, I realized that I was just another cellphone in a sea of cellphones, waiting desperately to get charged. I had an epiphany--call me crazy, but I felt a gush of energy speeding throughout my system like a stray boomerang. Right then and there, I knew that I had my Charger all along, my Source of energy and inspiration.

God.

So if you're feeling a little 'low batt', why don't you plug yourself in to God? He will replenish you and cleanse you of your sins. He's my Charger, and He'll gladly be yours.