Skunked?

Particularly disturbed by some of the promiscuous comments made by the middle school boys (see previous blog), I had a fleeting thought they really needed a Jesus-loving, strong man to mentor them, someone who cared about the treatment of girls. But really, I had nothing.  No vision.  No help.  Nothing, except a verse I was drawn to: Hebrews 10:35-36, "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the Will of God you will receive what He has promised."

I was discouraged. It was then that I received an invitation from my friends, Jeff and Shellee, to go clamming.  Ah, yes!  Time away to think, pray, and go on a new adventure!

Since I have a family of guys, I assumed they would be all over this clamming thing!  After all, it must be a cross between hunting and fishing.  You get to use a “gun!” (OK, so a clam gun is just a tube with a small hole on the side, but it is a weapon, right?) Besides, my friends promised great things, “The tides are perfect.  We will probably get our limit in about 20 minutes!”

“Okay you guys, look for a divot; that’s where you dig,” my friends instructed.  The rain pounded. Every drop looked like a divot.  Even with lanterns, we couldn’t see a thing.  After a couple hours, heads hanging, we were only interested in hunting a hot shower. My friend consoled, “We’ve never been skunked before.  EVER!  I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The next day, my family was eager to leave. But Jeff, a father of 4 girls, was really enjoying his guy time and started practicing some martial arts moves on my son.  Jeff was in his element sharing his skills! He talked non-stop about martial arts, showing his assorted real weapons that don’t look anything like a clam gun. “You can’t leave yet; you need to stay for today’s low tide.  We’ll get out there in daylight.  It will be different,” he coaxed. My family relented.

This time we planned for the long grind, going out way before low tide.  With a rainbow overhead, we limited out in about 20 minutes. Full tooth grins accompanied the hunting party home.

Beaming, our encouraging leader Jeff shared, “You know, I’m at this stage of life where I just really enjoy showing kids this stuff.  I just want to mentor some boys and pass on what I know.”

What?  Mentor? Boys? Martial Arts?  Jesus?  Could it all fit together?

At this writing, we are in the middle of our trial Martial Arts program with my apartment kids.  More on that later. 

So, where do you feel skunked?  Do you lack a vision?  Help?  Everything? 

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the Will of God you will receive what He has promised."  

Hebrews 10:35-36

-Annie

 *Names of children always changed.