Well a month has past and I have not updated the blog. Sorry. Things have been really busy lately with work and Timoteo and Zen's school. Hopefully Zen will be posting soon since she will have a break between semesters next week.
A lot has been going on and in my last post I mentioned sharing another story from that day but honestly I don't remember it. That proves why I need to blog because we forget so many of the stories and interactions we have during our day. So I will give a short update and share a story I recently had.
Timoteo Flag Football is going strong and I suggest you check out the website www.timoteofootball.com. Please keep the league in your prayers and that Timoteo is a positive influence for the young men that participate and a light in the community. We have come up against some issues of tempers getting a little out of hand but have also seen forgiveness and grace at work. We are already hearing about some stories of youth asking about God and a few are near excepting Christ into their lives. I do hesitate to share this because I don't want to use these stories to simply raise funds or make the league out to be some perfect amazing thing because there are a lot of things we are trying to work out and make better. However, I do think we should rejoice as followers of Christ when someone hears and receives the good news. I am sure there will be many more posts about Timoteo in the near future.
The story I wanted to share with you was about a 6th grade kid I worked with when I was teaching chess a few weeks ago. His name was Maleek and he was decent at chess but could be a handful at times to deal with due to his rowdy behavior. However, I still got a long with him pretty well. This one week in particular we just finished playing chess and Maleek had a really good day and did well. His mom walked in to the room and Maleek turned to me and asked "can you tell my mom I did good". Not thinking much of it I said sure and proceeded to tell Maleek's mom that he did well and had a really good day today. His mom smiled and said that was good to hear and then Maleek and his mom left. Why Maleek asked me to tell his mom this could have been for many reasons. Maybe Maleek wanted to be rewarded, or avoid a punishment or maybe just wanted to feel some love from his mom and have her be proud of him. I still am not sure. However, I walked away thinking about how much more I need to praise the youth that I work with. I am currently working at one after school program and there are some really difficult kids to deal with and we (the staff) are always correcting, yelling or saying no and rarely congratulating, celebrating and thanking the kids when they do well. Discipline is needed I don't see the yelling or correcting stopping anytime soon but I feel I need to do better reconizing these youth and the gifts that God has given them. I feel that any time a kid has to ask you to tell his mom he did well it is a sign I have not been saying the positive things enough. I know I won't be perfect with this but it challenged me to check my attitude with these kids and to search for their gifts and talents no matter how buried they are underneath the pain, anger and hurt that they often act out of. Recently I heard Tony Campolo speak and he reminded me of this as he shared the need for there to be celebrations in communities and especially those that feel the weight of oppression and pain. There is a lot of rough stuff happening and ugly things that take place but do we look for the celebrations? Do we rejoice with others even if they have wronged us in the past or said something disrespectful?
Oh Lord help me to forgive so that my unforgiveness does not hinder me from rejoicing with your people and celebrating the gifts that you have given them.
Nate
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