a taco...and some....

it was about 2 years ago. i was still working at the other church.



they had an afterschool program there, run by someone who apparently
(well not apparently, in actuality) had no desire to maintain any sort
of discipline. he had been the fat kid when he was younger and still
weighed 300+ pounds. he was afraid to be the adult—instead chose to
maintain no discipline, so as to not be thought of as "tough", or
"mean" with the kids he wanted to be popular with. he was still the fat
kid no one wanted to hang around with. we (the other leaders) even
overheard some kids saying, "don't worry, he never does what he says"
when he handed out a consequence. the kids knew he was a pushover!
(DUH!) the other volunteers and the oversight committee had to call a
meeting to deal with the lack of follow-through.



this came to head when i went to our pre-meeting one day, and left my keys on a
table prior to the youth group meeting. (this was after the afterschool program has
closed, and YG started)



the LARGE set of keys i carried were stolen off the table. (the kids
had taped a latch to a perimeter door open, so they could return later
and break into the computer center and go online (a regular occurrence).



i discovered the keys missing. about the same time., the "leader" heard
the kids trying the keys on the perimeter doors, trying to find the
master. (actually, a sub-master, i didn't have a grand master) they
found it, we were to discover later. the "leader"went out and
confronted them. they ran, he did nothing.



i called the po-lice. duh. the keys were to the entire church.



they came out, took a report, went to talk to the kids. i happened to
mention the name of the kid whose house they ran toward. one cop looked
at the other, and rattled off the address from memory. heh. surprise!
they were known in the neighborhood.



i mentioned to the cop that we could call it a night if the keys
"somehow" ended up in the mail slot of the church. they did a little
door-knock, and sure enough, within a half hour, they ended up in the
mail slot. cool!



not so fast...



a girl came by needing into the meeting room...i went to let her in,
and, sure enough, all the keys were there, except for one. the sub
master. i called the po-lice again, and asked them to send the same
cop out, which they did. we then told them the story.



they checked the area for the kids to no avail.



i was cleaning up the kitchen and two of them came by looking for a ride.



i gave the cops another call, letting them know that two of the kids had returned.



the same cop showed up, ad read them the riot act—"if anything happens
here, or is stolen from here, you guys will go up for commercial
burglary..that's a felony!" (the cop had an ace up his sleeve—he had
busted one of the kids for drugs..and he was on probation.



long story short, we got the key back. another kid had buried it on the church campus.



one of those kids was the same one the "leader" had butted heads with. he yelled
at the kid—alot. he also kicked him out of the afterschool program
several times.



he had always seemd a little different than the other kids. street
smart, yeah, but without the hardened side to his personality.



i never had any huge problem with him. i had to talk firmly with him a few times, but i didnt yell. there was no need.



he made a bunch of calls and got the key back. he took care of it. i made sure that i told the cops he took care of it.



as you can tell, i had kind of a soft spot for this kid. he had a kinda
tough life (immigrant—legal) very strict parents, and some problems of
his own making..drugs, and some theft stuff.



he got ahold of me online once and told me he was a new man, that God had changed his life! wow, was that great news!



the next thing i heard, he had fallen back into drugs, was kicked out
of his house, and was staying @ friend's houses as long as they would
have him.



made me a bit sad. life of a youth worker, i guess. even when you are
no longer in active ministry. you still are affected a bit by kids who
went astray.



fast-forward to two fridays ago. i'm with a friend from my current
church. we go into the local taco bell. someone calls my name. i look
at this kid behind the counter, he has a name tag on with a name i
don't recognize...but it's....him. (wearing another person's nametag).



turns out he was in placement..for a year or so. (a few
miles from where i work—like within 10 minutes!) wish i would have
known.



apparently another theft thing. alas. but this time he 'got' it. a year in a group home'll do that to ya. make ya wake up.



he's back at home, working at taco bell, up the street from his
house. we talked for a bit. (as much as you can talk to someone
working behind a register) my friend got the nachos bell grande' thing.



i got a taco. i also got a bit more.









a little hope.