Abby and Amy grew up living next door to each other, quickly becoming the best of friends. When the time came for the girls to enter high school the girls were eager to find extracurricular activities to participate in. Eventually, the girls agreed that trying out for the cheerleading squad sounded the most fun. Both girls were excited because they both liked sports and wanted to show their school spirit. When the day came to sign up for tryouts the girls each were given an instruction manual on how to prepare for the tryouts.
Right away Abby began practicing. Every day she was in her backyard learning the cheers and the motions and the jumps. Exhaustively working to perfect every aspect of the requirements. She read her manual every night before bed and every morning when she got up. She also attended all the meetings that gave detrimental information for making the squad. And since she was in school all day she had to improvise for time to practice and study. So, in an attempt to make time where there seemed none, Abby decided to sacrifice some of her favorite things so as to make time for those preparations. She stopped watching her favorite television shows and gave up attending all the upperclassman's parties. She didn't spend time with the other girls gossiping or worrying about her popularity. Instead, Abby was focused, determined, and aggressive about making the squad; and the harder she worked the more she wanted it. Nothing could deter her from her goal!
Amy on the other hand didn't sweat it. She decided that her friendly nature and her sweet disposition would earn her enough votes to make the squad; so she played instead of practiced. Never did she even consider giving up any after school activities because the parties were just too much fun to miss. She quickly became preoccupied with enjoying all the distractions of high school. The parties, the boys, her girlfriends, working on her popularity, learning to wear makeup and shopping for the perfect clothes. And certainly she couldn't be bothered by all those cheerleading meetings either. After all, who had the time, or even the desire, to sit through those boring things?
So it was that Amy remained in her disbelief that not memorizing a single cheer or mastering a single jump or perfecting a single motion would really disqualify her from cheering on the squad. And as for her instruction manual? Well, she couldn't even remember where that thing had ended up. Honestly there was just too much to be done and her schedule was just way too busy for her to prepare the way Abby was preparing. In fact, truth be know, Amy silently thought Abby was silly for her devotion to practices and meetings and reading manuals. What was high school for if not for fun? She would sometimes joke Abby about her diligence but Abby would only encourage Amy to strive harder lest she be disappointed when tryouts came.
And so it went, Amy focused on Amy and Abby focused on preparing. The end achievement of cheering in that stadium was never far off in either of their minds. The girls would occasionally see each other in the halls of the school but there was now a separation between them. A distance that was formed from having two opposite understandings of how to achieve the same end.
Eventually, the long awaited day came to try out for the squad. Abby and Amy each headed towards the girls locker room anxious, nervous and fearful of the possibility of rejection. They each individually prayed they would make the squad. Soon the locker room began to fill up as many girls were trying out. Abby and Amy finally noticed one another across the crowd and began to make their way toward each other. They looked around, shocked to see so many. Abby whispered to Amy, "Boy, I sure pray that the Cheerleading Judge isn't too tough!" Amy gasped! "Abby, what do you mean? I thought the tryouts were popularity vote only? I had no idea that we would be trying out for a Judge!" Abby looked stunned at her friend's lack of knowledge. She couldn't believe that Amy hadn't understood the requirements for tryouts! After all, Abby herself had told her! With wide eyes she leaned over to Amy and said, "this was never by popularity vote, it had always been a vote based on preparation, performance. I've told you that many times!" Yet, because Amy hadn't attended any of the meetings, never read her manual, or even just listened to her friend, she had missed out on all the information. She had always assumed there would be more time to prepare, even going so far as to doubt that this day would ever come.
Quickly enough Amy's time before the Judge came. Her heart was pounding so loudly that it echoed in her ears. Time seemed to stand still as she slowly walked out of the locker room. Trembling, Amy stood before her Judge but she didn't know the cheers, nor had she mastered any of the jumps or motions. She was a blundering mess and she knew it. The Judge's response to her disastrous tryout was harsh and biting. His righteous anger against her raged, causing her to cower. Finally, the Judge finished His severe chastening of Amy for her wasted days that should have been spent preparing for this day. She had failed to attain a spot on the squad and that devastation crept within her.
As the other girls each tried out in front of the Judge they, like Amy, were told immediately if they had or hadn't prepared enough to join the squad. Each girl stood on her own merits before the Judge with the student body sitting in the bleachers all around.
Soon it was Abby's time and when her name was called she approached nervously. She was full of anxiety and thrill. Her mind raced with the wonder of if she would be found pleasing in the Judge's sight? Abby felt encouraged though because she knew that she had done her best and it showed. She excelled with every aspect of the tryout. Her preparation shined through! The Judge was pleased with her performance and soon enough the Judge recognized Abby for her diligence and rewarded her by extending to her a spot on the squad! Abby couldn't believe she had made it! Her excitement literally jumped within her. Her joy seemed to manifest a personality all its own! She trembled with the utter awe that originates from achieving all one's ever wanted! A dream come true! With eager anticipation, Abby, along with the other girls who had made the squad, were each given the most beautiful uniforms to wear on the field.
Sadly though, the same wasn't true for Amy. Abby watched as Amy seemed desperate to make justifiable reasons for having not been prepared for this tryout. It was too little too late though. Abby watched in sadness as Amy was removed from the gym and cast out. She was forbidden from any participation.
She was sent out to the dark parking lot outside the stadium. There, on the very outskirts of the lot, was an old FFA shed. The shed had long since been abandoned by the school. It was old, smelly, dark, and humid. Amy reluctantly entered her doom, focused on the horror of this shed! She recoiled from the smell of old dried animal feces that hung so thick she could taste it. The air felt drab, heavy and Amy could hardly breath though engulfed by the thick, stinking blanket of this building.
Alas though! There was a small opening through one of the old walls! "Oh blessed light" Amy whispered to no one as she inched over to that tiny pinhole opening. She could just barely make out the stadium off in the distance. From where she was the balloons used to usher in the season seemed like tiny dots against the brightly lit sky! She could just barely make out some of the people too! She was sure she could just vaguely hear their laughter and almost sense their joy. But after a few minutes her remorse was magnified as she realized that she had possessed the potential to be on the inside of that stadium, even on the very field!
Through the floating swell of tears her heart broke and her vision doubled. Still, she couldn't pull her eyes away from the beauty, joy, and peace coming from that stadium. It was so incredibly bright! But what of Amy in the darkness of that shed? She couldn't feel pity for herself because her regret was far too great! She knew she was getting even better than she deserved for the flippant way she had discarded what the cheerleading Judge had offered.
Finally, she tore herself away from the small pinhole opening and sat down on the dirty, molding floor beneath her. Her body shook with tears at both the way in which she had lived as well as the painful realization of all she had given up. After a while, her mind crept back to the stadium and all the activities there. She wondered how the hot dogs tasted and popcorn smelled at the concessions stand? She imagined if she looked hard enough if she could see the excitement and thrill of those on the inside of the stadium! Finally her mind settled on the beautiful cheerleading uniforms the girls had been given!
Thinking of her tremendous lose, no party seemed worth it now! No car, no boy, no item of clothing! Literally nothing would ever be able to stand in comparison to what she could have had, to what she could have been! The remorse and guilt she felt at having been such a disappointment, such a fool, was all magnified because she knew she had known. Abby had warned her, told her many times to prepare, to get ready! Undoubtedly she should have redeemed the time given her then as there was certainly none available to her now. Clearly, there would be no returning, no do-overs, no second chances. In her mind the same words echoed over and over "you knew and still you wasted!" She had no one to blame but herself and her broken heart would remain a tremendous burden of testimony to her opportunity lost. Even worse, the racking regrets were not just for this night but for all the nights of the entire season - which would last 1000 years!
Interpretation:
{Note: There are some Scriptural references so that you may seek for yourself a perfect understanding of that which, by man's involvement, becomes imperfect}:
1.) Entering the High School represents the girls coming to spiritual salvation in Christ. Entering into life from death at the moment of belief in Christ. (Eph. 2:8,9).
2.) The instruction manual the girls are given upon signing up for tryouts represents the Word of God, the Bible; (2 Tim. 3:16).
3.) Abby is portraying the faithful believer while Amy the unfaithful.
4.) The meetings that Abby attends represent church and/or fellowship with other Millennial Kingdom believer's for edification.
5.) The pleasures of this world are exemplified by all that directs Amy's focus away from preparing for tryouts; i.e. parties, want of status, shopping, socializing, watching endless t.v., etc.; (1 John 2:15-17).
6.) Abby being in school all day represents the adult working 40 plus hours a week at a job. Through Abby, we clearly see that no schedule should be so busy as to not include daily study time, prayer time, and meditation time with our Lord. If our schedules are so full that there literally leaves not an ounce of time for God, then we need to reconsider our schedules. Make no mistake, it is often by our own omissions that we become distracted, hence stumbling, which, if not corrected, will lead to forfeiture of a position with Christ.
7.) The parade of girls in the locker room represent the Body of Christ, the Church; (i.e. all the spiritually saved individuals in the world).
8.) The spots on the squad represents the Bride of Christ; (i.e. all those spiritually saved individuals that are taken out of the Body, or Church, to make up the Bride. The Bride is the faithful Christian that will reign and rule with Christ during the 1,000 years in the Millennial Kingdom; (Phil 3:14; Matt. 7:13,14; Rev. 20:6).
9.) The "Judge" represents Christ at His Judgment Seat; (Rom. 14:10).
10.) The tryouts themselves represent the Judgment Seat of Christ; (2 Cor. 5:10).
11.) Each girl standing before the Judge based on her own merits is indicative of how we won't be able to play the blame game when we stand before Christ to give an account of our lives; (Rom. 14:4; Gal.6:7).
12.) The cheerleading uniforms represent the wedding garment that will be given to those who are found qualified to reign with Christ in the Kingdom. (Rev. 19:8).
13.) Amy's being "cast out" represents the banishing of the unfaithful Christian to the darkness outside of the Millennial Kingdom for the 1,000 year reign of Christ and His co-heirs. (Matt. 22:13; 25:30).
14.) The old FFA shed represents that darkness outside the Kingdom, (In Scripture referred to as the "Outer Darkness" or "Gehenna"); (Matt. 24:51).
15.) The stadium represents the Millennial Kingdom of Christ; (Rev. 20:4-6 and Luke 22:28-30).
16.) The bright lights represent the glory that shines forth from Christ as He begins His 1000 year reign; (Rev. 21:23).
