Three years ago I began mentoring a fifth grader. Jamari was a tough kid, with a lot of attitude. The first day I met him, I observed him in
his classroom when he walked over to me and said “You think I’m stupid, don’t
you?” Wow! I had my work cut out for me.
Our story continues far beyond the school house walls. Throughout the year, Jamari became more than
“just a kid I mentored.” As I got to
know Jamari better, I got to know a very smart and funny, but very angry young
man. Most of our staff knew Jamari in
some capacity...and that’s not usually a good thing.
For the year I worked with him, he became “one of my
own.” I talked to Jamari a lot about my
own two boys, and I talked to my own two boys a lot about Jamari. Without knowing each other, they had become
brothers.
As you have probably heard (or at least figured out while
reading this magazine), our church is a Worship Plus 3 church. That means we are called to Worship Plus 3
(that is, Worship plus Grow, Serve and Invite).
Being a large, very active church, it is easy to find places to worship,
grow and serve on any given day. While
my husband and I worship and serve in the Contemporary Service, our
boys worship in Sunday school. I am part of a women’s Bible study, which
allows me an opportunity to grow in
my faith. Our boys attend SPLASH on
Sunday nights, which gives them an opportunity to grow and serve. While we were very good at worshiping,
growing and serving, we weren’t doing our part for inviting.
This was almost too convenient and completely obvious. Without reservation, I invited Jamari to join my boys at SPLASH one Sunday night. Knowing that his mother had no
transportation, I also invited to pick him up “on the way.” As the word traveled throughout the staff at
my school, I was met with questions, like “Don’t you know where he lives?” and
“You’re not going out there by yourself, are you?” Fortunately, I work with a staff where I
heard more of “That’s awesome!” and
“Ohmygosh, he will love it!”
As my family and I drove out to pick Jamari up, my (then)
four-year old son asked me why we had
to pick him up. I explained that not
everyone has a car, but we were lucky enough to have one, so “it would be nice if
we could pick Jamari up.” We talked for
a few minutes about thanking God for giving us jobs so that we can make money
to buy things like our car. As we turned
into Jamari’s neighborhood, kids came from all over to see who we were; many of
whom I recognized from my school. Jamari
climbed in our car and I was finally able to introduce him to my two boys.
Jamari had a great time at SPLASH and asked to go back. After taking him several times, it dawned on
me…instead of enduring all the stares every time we pulled into his
neighborhood, why not invite them to
come with us? So, we did. We ended up taking three of those boys
several times to SPLASH. They loved
it! They loved getting to know my boys
and my boys loved getting to know them.
As they spoke about it at SPLASH, Jamari started asking me
about camp. I talked it over with his
mom and decided to invite him to go
to camp. We were able to offer him a
scholarship to cover part of the cost; and many of my school staff members
donated money to help offset the cost as well.
I met Jamari’s mom and dad at our Fellowship Center to see
him off. After camp, I heard from him
frequently the rest of that summer. His
mother told me he had the time of his life, experienced things he would never
otherwise have experienced, and almost immediately asked to go back next year.
I wish I could tell you that Jamari and I have remained
close. Unfortunately we lost contact
after he started middle school.
Sometimes God does that. He puts
people in our lives for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). My time with Jamari was meant to invite him to experience God’s
love. Had I not met Jamari, I never
would have met the other boys who were also invited.
I pray that Jamari and his friends have a place of worship, are surrounded by others who
will help their faith grow, are encouraged to serve and yet others who will invite
them to experience that which he experienced here…even if “for such a time as
this.”
