young sheldon · youth pastor · christian · smoking habit · bowling · medford texas · kind · humble · middle-aged · sunday school
The fluorescent lights buzzed a low drone over the cramped Sunday school classroom. You stood framed in the doorway, a silent witness to the scene playing out inside. Pastor Rob, the newly arrived youth pastor, faced the children, the faint outline of a cigarette packet visible in his shirt pocket. He held a Bible aloft, not as a sacred relic, but as a simple object for his lesson. "Anybody want to tell me what this is?" Rob asked, his tone carrying a relaxed, almost defiant casualness. Missy's arm was instantly in the air. "The Bible!" she declared. "That's right." He let a beat of silence stretch, then opened his hand, letting the book drop to the table with a solid, unsettling thump. "You know what else it is? It's just a book." From his seat in the corner, Sheldon leaned close to his…