The Everyday Club

3/1/10 Andrew, 24
For the second day in a row, I was again able to speak with a former participant at the neighborhood youth center I ran for many years. Andrew had just bought a hot chocolate at Starbucks in a grocery store as I walked in, and we sat down to talk. The last time I saw him was ten years ago, just before he had run away from his grandmother's house. Both his parents had died, and he was becoming heavily involved in a gang. He had come to a weekly Bible study I ran for several months, when he suddenly disappeared. Today, he looks pretty rough for being only 24, full of scarring from the removal of various tattoos. He has dropped out of the gang (Satan's Disciples, of all things) and although he isn't involved in a church he showed a surprising amount of spiritual maturity and insight. He said he had been mad at God for taking away his parents and then an older brother, but has since come back to faith in Jesus. He remembered lessons from our Bible studies like they were yesterday, and would like to check out my church. What an encouragement that conversation was for me.