The Veritas Conflict Read Online Free PDF Page B

catalogs, a handful of SAT practice tests and score sheets, and her admissions applications to eight schools. Funny. Such a small space to hold so many big dreams.
    Claire suddenly breathed an exultant sigh and giggled. She had gotten into Harvard University! She, a middle-class girl from the Midwest! In the eight years since her Christian high school had been chartered, only a handful of graduates had gone on to Ivy League colleges, and she would be the first one at Harvard. Unbelievable.
    Claire rolled over and grabbed the threadbare Eeyore that had been her companion since birth. She hugged it to her chest and stared at the other members of her well-loved Winnie the Pooh collection.
    At lunch yesterday a bunch of her girlfriends had lamented the closeness of graduation, wishing that high school could last forever. Claire had looked at them like they were crazy.
    She knew she was different. It wasn’t just the schoolwork and the grades thatseemed to come so easily, or the fact that she was just as eager to investigate genealogy or to volunteer at the crisis pregnancy center as she was to hang out at the mall; it was her yearning for life . She wanted to see the world, to venture beyond the boundaries of church, school, and family that had defined her for so long. Some of her college-bound friends talked more about finding a husband than finding a career. She wanted to get married someday, of course, but she also wanted to do great things with her life, to make a contribution, to change the world. Her father and mother had always told her she could do anything she set her mind to, and she believed them. They had weathered a few big storms as a family, and she knew she was stronger for it.
    Claire twisted Eeyore’s floppy ear around and around her finger. As far back as she could remember, her parents had assumed her plans would include their alma mater: Wheaton, the Harvard of Christian colleges. In the last year or two she had tried to drop hints that she might want to look elsewhere, but they never really heard her. She knew they wanted her to go to a Christian college for the same reason they had scraped and saved to pay tuition for her private high school: They didn’t want their eldest daughter corrupted by the world.
    Well, maybe I can use a little corrupting! That thought was followed just as quickly by a sharp sense of shame. O Lord, forgive me. You know I don’t mean that. I just want… What did she want? She lay quietly for a long moment, fighting with the turmoil that had been her constant companion for the last few weeks. I just want more!
    She sat up, pounding Eeyore’s nose into the floral duvet covering the bed. Her mom and dad might not want to recognize the truth, but it was plain as day that no matter how great a Christian college was, an Ivy League school would open far more doors for her. They needed to trust her and the values they had instilled in her.
    But how could she make them see that? Suddenly, she was filled with a piercing fear that they wouldn’t see it, that they would present her with a choice between their helping to pay for Wheaton and her paying for Harvard. The whole family had sacrificed to build up a small college account for her, but her father called it the Wheaton fund. What if they weren’t willing to use it for a non-Christian school? She could probably get a partial scholarship and a job, but no way could she earn the thirty-five thousand dollars a year it would cost.
    Claire jumped to her feet and circled the room. Her foot thumped against something heavy on the floor by her backpack. She bent down, flicking away quiz papers and magazines, and saw her student study Bible. She hadn’t picked it up since Sunday.
    Claire was suddenly flooded with conviction … and longing. She had so many anxieties, but she hadn’t prayed. She hadn’t spent time in the Word. She hadn’t turned all these concerns over to the Lord. Instead, she had griped and complained and let fear take