Once Upon A Time . . .

Originally Posted: Monday, March 31, 2008

I promise someday I'll write about something other than my work downtown -- but today is not that day - Today, I want to tell you a little story . . .

Once upon a time there were three little boys who I loved: Quadree (7 yrs), Jonovan(aka "junior" - 6 yrs) and Jauntez (3 yrs). They lived with their mom in a small apartment in the Atlanta Housing Project of Herndon Homes. Unlike many of the other kids in the neighborhood, all three boys have the same father, they know who he is, and they even see him on special occasions like Christmas. Their mom works at Mrs. Winners Chicken for minimum wage, making it difficult to provide for her sons' needs.

All three boys use language to describe women that is best reserved for female dogs, and throw around curse words like they're nothing. They throw full-on temper tantrums if they dont get their way, they know more about sex, drugs, alcohol and violence than I do (and I'm almost 20 years older than all of them) One time at church, I caught the five year old pulling a picture of a naked woman out of his shoe.
In short, they have had to grow up far too fast. Quadree and even Junior are often responsible for taking care of Jauntez; they dont always have clean clothes to wear or three meals a day, and they dont really know their father. I'm not sharing all this to say that their mom is not a good mom, or so you'll feel sorry for them, but because I realized something about these boys this week at Canvas.

Matt talked on Friday night about the resurrected Christ, and specifically how God is the God of restoration. And all I could think about was how excited I was that one day, these boys (hopefully) will get to sit on their REAL daddy's lap. And if that isnt a picture of restoration and hope - then I dont know what is!
Posted by Becca at 5:40 AM
Labels: mentoring, Vision Atlanta