One time when I was very young, probably six or seven, I was at my best friend Parker’s house, playing. He only lived across the street so we were together all the time. On this particular day, we were in his room when I noticed $2 just lying on the floor. When I saw what it was, I just put it in my pocket and kept playing. When I got home later that night and pulled out the money from my pocket, my mom noticed. She asked me where I had gotten it because $2 is a huge amount for a six-year-old kid. I immediately got flustered. I was so embarrassed. I tried covering it up but eventually I told her that I had stolen it from my friend. She encouraged me to walk back over to Parker’s house to not only return the money that I had taken but to ask him to forgive me. I didn’t know what I was going to do or say when I saw Parker. In fact, I don’t even remember what I did say, but I do remember that Parker didn’t even bat an eye. He was not mad at me for anything. When I got home, my mom helped me to pray and ask for forgiveness from God. This whole experience may have been the most traumatizing thing that I had ever done at that point in my life but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was my first real experience with the atonement of Jesus Christ.
