I wish I could share individual stories about these boys we've come to love. We keep getting 10- year- olds!!!! 10- year- olds need to be at home with their mommies arms around them!!!! It breaks my heart. And when we hear darling boys say, "We don't know how to have fun like normal kids- we've used heroine since we were 14!"- again, it is devastating! We work so hard and are so emotionally involved with these kids and then they move on- either their funding ends or they age out. Some graduate not just from the program but from high school. And then they leave. And we ache and miss them and ache some more for their future. We hope they can survive. We teach positive motivational lessons with a mixture of mostly non-denominational scripture. I love sharing stories with them from the New Testament. I feel like knowing these stories and ingraining them in your heart is having power in life's hard moments.
Recently I taught about Zacchaeus- a little story found in Luke- that most people don't really dwell on. I LOVE this story!
Zacchaeus was a despised tax collector- and not necessarily honest (in other words, not perfect.) He had heard about this man Jesus and felt something inside and rushed to where Jesus would soon pass by. Since he was a very short man, he climbed a tree to get a better view. Now, I've been to Israel and there are olive trees everywhere....so I imagine that Zacchaeus wasn't the only person in a tree. But when Christ walked by and stopped, turned and (wait for it)- He called Zaccheus by name! That's the part of the story I love. Jesus knows us EACH, individually, by name. It wasn't that Jesus didn't know the other onlookers by name but he reached out to Zaccheus because Zaccheus was "seeking for Christ" and the other people were probably interested in this man of miracles or hoping he would give them food like He had done before. When we want to KNOW Christ- He will come to us.
I hope these Sideways know that God loves them individually and will help them individually and they don't have to be perfect to have Christ in their lives...just willing.
