There is Hope!

One of my teens is now attending a school that looks and feels more like a prison. As you walk into the schoolyard entryway there are security guys who frisk you and scan you with a metal detector. If you have anything, anything on you it must be left with them and placed in a large envelope that is kept. As you leave school you can reclaim your cell phone, wallets, etc….

I had taken my teen to school on Monday and was hoping that he would follow through and take this as an opportunity to get back on track. When I discover, after calling the school, that he missed Tuesday, I was rather upset. So I call him only to discover that he was sleeping. AHHH – yes sleeping. So I let go and don’t worry about him for the rest of the evening.

The following morning I’m at my Starbucks blogging and get a call from him at 6AM, yes 6AM and he says, “You called?”. I was ready to scream at him; of course I called you little …….I quickly ask him, “Why weren’t you at school?” He quickly replies, “I was SICK.” Yeah, sure, I really believe that. Regardless he was up early and I asked if he had talked to the bus driver to see what time he would get picked up. He was clueless. I tell him to get ready and wait for the bus. He obviously wasn’t thinking that school would happen that day.

I finish my blogging and then call the school to talk with the social worker. As we are talking he actually comes into the school! He had gotten on the bus and gotten there even in time for some breakfast. That afternoon he calls the second he gets home, not to talk about school but to ask for some food. So I quickly put together a food basket. I am off to see my dad and then do some errands so I call and tell him to be out. He is on his driveway ready to get his box of food.

My hope is that my teen friend who has been through lots and could make excuses for his absence instead will get up, be ready and just do it! I don’t usually give up on people but sometimes it is easy to let circumstances get in the way. I am in there for the long haul for my teen friend. As I am typing I’m receiving texts from an older friend who just left her boyfriend/husband. Tough situations abound and what abounds even more is God’s grace and mercy, which can and will touch and transform.