Drama

I thought I had seen the height of drama in my life with doing work in the ‘hood’ over the last three years but last night took the prize! I have to be careful with names, so please don’t assume that the names I am using in my blog are real, the stories are true though. We had a traumatic experience a few months ago when I was leaving to go to San Diego via Southwest Airlines. I am getting ready to take her to the airport and we can’t find her phone. I am ready to ‘kill’ Terrance because my assumption is that he had used it and didn’t put it back. The last thing I wanted to do was send Anne off on a major trip without her phone. I had a painting project that morning and didn’t want Anne not to have a phone.

I gave up and assumed that we would find the phone after she left. The unfortunate thing was that she was going to be with her family for the next 6 days without a phone. So we had a great start off with our painting project. I quiz a few of the kids about the phone and soon discover that we knew who the culprit happened to be. We attempt to find Joe but have no success but talk to his mom and grandma. I am left with the choice do I call the police, file a report, get another phone or?? I decide to get another phone because I am leaving on Monday to eventually connect with my Anne and she needs the phone.

Flash forward to yesterday and Joe, who had taken the phone, shows up on our front porch with an apology. I explain to him that after trying to get a hold of him over the last 6 weeks that it was rather late to show up and just say SORRY. I explained the total shock of having him come into my house and take Anne’s Iphone off of her desk. Then basically, running away and then selling it to another kid, who made big bucks. I asked him if he understood how serious this whole thing really happened to be. He said had been going to church and then now he was different. He sounded genuine and a little repentant. So I said I wanted him to list out all of the things he had stolen, names of people and that we were going back to apologize to all of them. I said that saying sorry only made sense if he did something that showed he was truly sorry. I was busy with getting ready for our bbq so I left and let Anne finish the time with Joe.

I returned and assumed that God had done something really amazing in Joe’s heart to get him to ‘fess’ up and get on the right path. Little did I get the bigger picture that day that Joe’s life was going to crumble before us into a real mess. He hangs around for our Sunday night BBQ that usual has around 50-60 attending. Over half of these are usually teens. It is typically for the kids to get loud as they are talking and hanging out. I had already asked them to quiet down and stay in front of our house.

Just as we are getting ready to take a group home one of the visitors is being carried to our place and is saying that he was hit by a car. I quickly get the crowd away and try to check him to see how serious he is. As I check I don’t see any blood or sign of broken bones. I pick him up and take him in the living room and we double check. He seems ok but claims to have been hurt. I decide that we better be on the safe side and call 911 and have him checked out. I decide to take most of the youth home with Terrance helping out.

As I am driving home Anne calls and explains what happened and says he is at St. Joes and I should go get another one of our older teens that went with him. I now know that he was ‘faking’ it to get the attention of one of the girls. I am ready to scream at such a crazy unwarranted display of pure stupidity. I know that his mom will explode and also hope that the Police and Hospital Staff will get on his case.

As I pull up to the ER and go in I get my nametag and am directed to the back area where the ped unit is located. I eventually find his bed and see his mom there. He was sitting up on the bed. I quickly explain to him how I am ‘blown away’ by his actions and how he has put others in harms way. He is slow to look at me and admit to what he has done. I also ask him to confess to his mom his list of thefts. The nurse in his area also gives him the what for with his foolish actions tonight.

My hope as I had told him was to see him turn the corner and not do anything else like this. If he really had found God then why did he just do this crazy thing? I walk away sensing that Joe is still not there yet. Drama is always part of life’s’ process of transformation through the gospel. No one wants to let the old man die, myself included.