Hello, Sir. How are you , Sir?
I don’t get called “sir” very often. I don’t take it lightly. I know that’s what they have to call the staff all week, so I expect it. Perhaps it makes it a bit unreal. I would imagine they wouldn’t call me sir on the street.
Here I am, a 56 year-old white guy. Here they are…a mix of faces, of colors, of backgrounds, of faith…I wonder if God can use me to make a difference with these guys. I wonder. I have no clue sometimes. I can’t know them well enough when I only see them once a week and then in a group of 8-10.
Most of them like rap music. Sports are seldom mentioned. Movies are a commonality.
At one sitting, 5 of the 11 had seen someone die–all violence related. “Who did you live with?” I ask, attempting to find something upon which to draw experience. ” Mom, my uncle, my mom, mom and her boyfriend, mom and my stepdad, myself, myself, myself..”
I’m guessing 15-20% of these 15-17 year-old males at this boot camp setting are fathers of children. Some haven’t seen their kids. All of them still are kids. We discuss Jesus.
A few look forward to getting out when they have completed their program. They want to start life out right, get a fresh start. Others weep in fear, fear of failing again, fear of falling back to what brought them here. Others worry about their family members, worry about their mother’s depression, or her drug addiction, or both. Some pray for all their nieces and nephews every week. When was the last time I did that? I can’t remember. ” My dad’s (or sub brother or in one case brothers) in the pen….I’ve been in (fill in the blank) placements…I finally woke up…”
“God brought me to this place,” one animated young man said to me Sunday. “He brought me here to turn me around.”
There is hope.
Thankfully. I learned something Sunday.
[...] Woodward Academy Randy Holl, one of our Bible discussion group leaders at Woodward Academy, shared on his blog the perspectives of some of the young men that he works with at Woodward [...]