Lucretia and I are striving to follow where God's Spirit is leading us. While driving, especially on long trips, we are in the habit of reading from books that we found or that have found us through suggestions from friends. We have often felt led by the Spirit through the thoughts and writings of others, even more so in direct conversations with others as we discuss the directions of our lives. To imagine that people only randomly enter our paths at the right time with the right words would say that we control the world around us or even that God has no plans for us. We believe that He does have plans, often made clear through our interactions with others who are walking in Him. We have set our goals toward living in the Solms community. The momentum and flow of life is leading us there, we believe through the guidance of the Spirit.
An example of our day dreams being crystallized by our night dreams into a solid vision of a Spirit step is seen in our embrace of the term HIS in our life. We have struggled some with a few middle school boys who express their rebellion through their strut. The clothes they wear, the attitudes they reflect point toward boys on the cusp of following in the culture of gangs or thugs with little respect for authority or parents. Some of these are the same boys we have taught for years. We see the influence of peer pressure leading them down the wrong path.
While this was apparent to us, the urgency of the situation wasn't made clear until one of the mothers of a boy in this age expressed her frustration with the rebellion and disobedience her son was showing as he sought to fit in with other kids in the neighborhood. The next morning I awoke to the clear vision of what could be done. The term HIS echoed in my head. My dreams or waking thoughts had outlined that we needed to reach these boys in other ways from what we were trying. Our structure to this point was to organize the vans to pick up around 43 kids for the Wednesday night classes. The boys who were most at risk really didn't seem interested in these classes and actually when they did come were often a serious distraction to the teachers and other students. But all of these kids were HIS (belonging to God). My thoughts dwelt on how we could keep them involved in other ways that would benefit them. What could guide them away from the disrespect which they now so often displayed?
It seems that they could be guided toward respecting others again using peer pressure but for good this time. What for me has meant that I am HIS was now also revealed in this "dream" to mean:
Honoring God In Solms
Honoring Family In Solms
Honoring Others In Solms
We could start our own "gang" of sorts with subtle direction toward HIS. I felt these boys would respond best if men would lead them in adventures and explorations outside of their experiences. Not so hard to do as many of these young men have not been hiking in the woods, or driven to nearby state parks, or gone down into one of the nearby caverns, or taken a trip to the coast.
And so HIS began. We invited 13 boys to come out to our 5 acres for an afternoon. Eleven were able to come. I recruited three other adults to hang out with the boys, and we had a blast. A day spent away from the apartments and trailers that they are so accustomed to became a real outing. Our promise to them is to continue this regularly and extend the distance and degree of adventure depending on how they as a group showed respect to others. My good friend Jim had described earlier how respect can be modeled and ensured by having all of the group experience consequences when any one person steps out of line. We didn't discuss our new notion of HIS during the day, but this did begin that day.
Lucretia and I were able to expand on this concept a couple of weeks later by bringing 12 of the middle school range girls to our house for an afternoon and then involving them in a memorial 5k stroll in honor of Madelleine, a young lady who had died this summer. We felt it again went very well and helped to bond these girls in our HIS model. The following week, 13 of the younger kids from these neighborhoods were brought out to our house for a day play followed by Christmas lights viewing on our way home.
I fixed up a small, rough sign to hang outside our new home which is to be built in Solms. It reminds us of our reasons for moving, giving of our time and money, giving up our quiet life in the country. In one word it expresses that what we give isn't ours to give. The sacrifices we make don't even start to compare to the one that He made on the cross. This isn't our new land and new home -- these aren't our kids and new friends-- this isn't our new neighborhood --- it's H I S
