Friday, September 9, 2016

Who Is My Neighbor? One Additional Thought!

Summer camp June 1970 - a rainy day- moved dinner inside rather than under the tree!

“The Lord of hosts said, “Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. ”BUT THEY REFUSED TO PAY ATTENTION”.  Their hearts became like flint” (Zech. 7:9-12).

Hey Gang:  I just could not say no.  In the first days of Eagle Village we could not afford to hire house parents for our first living unit of twelve boys so my family moved into Starr Home and became its mom and pop for the first years.  Our plan, after opening Starr Home, was to slowly increase the number as we gained experience until we reached the capacity of twelve, perhaps reaching the capacity of twelve within the first year.

But, how many know there are ‘if’s’, ‘ands’ and ‘buts’ that frequently show up and change the ‘best laid plans of mice and men’.  And some come directly from the Throne Room of Heaven.   One of the first lessons that God taught me was “Stay loose and be prepared for rapid changes and my way is so much better than yours!”

I confess, in those early development years God had to do a work in my heart to convince Me that His ways were far superior to mine.  I grabbed hold of Isaiah’s words “For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways MY ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than our ways. And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). 

Today, as I sit here in the quietness of my prayer closet/office, and relive some of the wars I had with the alligators, I can shout a resounding “Amen” to Isaiah’s words.  In those early days I said “Yes, Lord, I want You in charge over everything, but what I meant as long as you do it my way!   He was not impressed and I spent a lot of time on the Potter’s wheel going through major surgery of the heart.

My plan to gradually increase the number of residents, during year one, was rapidly reduced to three months and then the capacity was increased and filled at sixteen.  My problem was I just could not say no when a judge or community worker would call and say, “Hey, Kermit, I have a boy sitting across from me that desperately needs what you are offering at Eagle Boys Village.”

Shortly after we signed the incorporation papers, making the Village a living entity, I received a call from a judge who said, “We have kids on the street that need to be off the streets in the coming summer. Can you do anything to help.  That resulted in our first summer camp involving over a hundred kids.  At the end of the summer we had five boys left over with no place to send them. 

That was the beginning of the Foster Care Program – it just seemed right that we develop these programs, even though I did not have a clue what leadership skills were. 

I just could not say “no”.  One night, when the boys had been put down for the night, I was completing the ever demanding paper work when I sensed someone in my room.  I turned to find a very small twelve-year-old boy standing in the doorway.  I asked if he would like to come and sit in my lap; he readily accepted.  He came loaded with a question that would add yet another road to our already bludgeoning path.

He said, “Mr. H., you tell us you love us.  Do you really love us?”  I answered in the affirmative, to which he said, “Do you want to show us how much?”  Again my affirmative response, to which he said, “Help my mother!”

Now hear me, my friends, a summer camp with over one hundred kids for ten weeks, our residential program growing by leaps and bounds, a foster program that was also in the formative stages and now we were going to add support to the total family. We already had had families camped in the yard during the summer.  There was no way we could pull this off in our own strength.  During those early years I learned what spoon-feeding was all about.  His counsel, “Why don’t you let the driving up to Me?” 

Does that mean -from that time on- everything was smooth sailing and no alligators snapping at my heels? Not on your sweet Bippy.  Learning what He meant in Malachi 3:10-11 was a chore that required total trust, but I can say “Praise God” I am a heap closer to total trust today than I was on the day we signed the incorporation papers.  

I just could not say “No” for it seemed like that is what God told me I should do.  I became a seed-planter for Christ and I pray He will use me in that capacity until, He says, “Eenough, time for you to come home.”

One more time, are you a priest or a Levite or a Samaritan.  Will you hear Jesus say, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine., even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40).

Blessings,


Gramps

PS: Pray for Staff and teachers at Eagle Village who continue to reach out to youth and families needing help.  We see many victories, but the enemy continues with roadblocks." Greater is He in us than he that is in the world."

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