"Jesus said to them, "Let the children come to me, for
the Kingdom of God belongs to such as they. Don't send them away! I
tell you as seriously as I know how that anyone who refuses to come to God as a
little child will never be allowed into his Kingdom." (Mark 10:14-15
Living Bible)
Hey Gang, His name was Tony and he was a spit-fire
that could turn a peaceful and tranquil day into a roaring fire in a matter of
minutes. How he packed so much hatred into an eight-year-old body was
beyond our comprehension but then we learned what "the bottom of the
barrel really meant".
At the time we received a request to consider taking Tony into
our very young and inexperienced program, we had visions of grandeur and
believed there were no troubled young folks that we could not love and provide
a "shirt tail for them to hand onto". But, as we gained
scar tissue, we also gained understanding that some children were beyond our
experience level to deal with.
Tony was one of those children. I might add here the
younger the referred the more damaged the child. On arrival, we found a
zombiezed child. His mom kept Tony locked in a closet and fed him the
equivalent for a month’s supply of control drugs in a matter of days. As
the drugs wore off the temperature began to rise. There was no way that
we were going to place this child in one of the houses so, we did as we often
did, we accepted the challenge and moved Tony into our
home.
I could give you a running log of the time we had Tony in our
home but it would fill many blogs and that is not the important point I want to
make here. Within several months my kids, who were the real treatment
people in Tony's life, began to make huge inroads into his heart. Tony
became an integral part of our family and was soon functioning as an eight year
old should.
But,,,,,Toni provided his mom with a welfare check and
found that if she moved to an adjoining county the judge of that county would
return Tony to her. This she did successfully. Toni was taken from
our family and returned to the same environment that had nearly destroyed him
before. She was very adept at keeping the legal beagles at arm’s
length, moving frequently.
We lost contact with Toni for two years; then one day we
received an application for a summer camper by the name of Tony. Could it
be our Tony? Miracle of all miracles it was.
The cabin he was assigned to went on a two day camping trip
several miles from the Village. On pick up day, I notified the
transportation person I would go and pick up the campers. On the return
trip home, I noticed that Tony's eyes were glued to the back of my
head. I invited him to come and stand beside me. After several
minutes he asked me a question that continues to hurt deep inside my heart.
He said, “Dad, why did
they take me from you who loved me and sent me to a place that hated me?
I will not try and explain the pain that cut deep into my soul at that moment.
Sooooo, As I relived this tragic experience in my life,
the Lord directed me to a passage of Scripture that I believe that every
believer needs to place on their bathroom mirror, refrigerator door and the
rear view mirror of their vehicles, shortly before the Lord ascended to
the Father he ask Peter three questions,
“Do you love me, do you love Me, and do you love Me?" Peter's answer was
the same, “Yes, I love You.” Notice Jesus answers to those three
responses: Tend My sheep, shepherd My
sheep and thirdly Tend my sheep. (John 21:15-17).
Now tie- bar that passage with
Matthew's words, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe
in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy mill stone hung
around his neck, and be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matt. 18:6).
Has a Tony crosses your path lately?
Blessings.
Graamps
No comments:
Post a Comment