Thursday was a good day. As Delia put it, things were at work, both temporal and eternal. Thursdays are early days for me and it was a good sign that I only needed to snooze once before getting out of bed and preparing for my day. Joaquin and I got ready for school and read Purpose Driven Life over breakfast. It was fitting that today’s topic dealt with time and how we invest our time in the things that are important to us. After breakfast I had enough time to wash and start the rice for lunch, and Galen and Fidel had already prepared the chicken (or so I thought!) In my mind, lunch was ready! But that’s not why I had a good day… remember temporal and eternal?
Well, I stayed at school a little longer this morning. After working with J during his free period, I had it in mind to stay and check e-mail (I found a free wireless connection), do QT, and read. But wouldn’t you know it, God had other plans. During his class, J walked into the room I was using with his books and papers in hand (none of which were for the class he was supposed to be in) and shared with me that he had already spoken to his teacher and that he was going to use class time to finish his homework for another class so he could be free for the weekend to spend time with God and the family (it’s half-term and I’ve learned that the kids get a few days off).
J’s going through a pretty significant period of growth and transition. He fully wants to serve God and is deeply committed to his family, but he’s also 17. A music-listening, movie-watching 17 year-old. In his mind, it made perfect sense that he would do his school work at school so he could have a completely free long weekend. We had a pretty lengthy discussion about school and the responsibilities of a student, but it wasn’t until we started discussing his future plans and what he feels God’s calling him to do, that things began to register, for the both of us. J feels that he is being called into ministry as a pastor, and a rapper, and has shared on several occasions that there are different schools and programs he wants to attend to receive training. We discussed that as overwhelming and uninteresting as school can seem at times; the benefits are learning how to study and how to use our time wisely for when he ultimately attends the programs he desires. We also framed our discussion around the different men his life that are in ministry now. Did he think they did their homework during class? Did they walk out of class when they felt like it? Or what did he think they did during class? As he began to speak of his mounting school work, J mentioned that he may want to quit school. I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to push or influence him in either way, but to encourage him to seek after what God wants him to be and to do.
After lunch and our afternoon study session, J and I went for a walk. We walked through the Enchanted Garden and talked about his strengths, passions, future plans (both from his perspective and what he feels God is calling him to do), and the courses of action that are needed to reach those future plans. I know that this discussion isn’t over yet, but I think we both came out of Thursday feeling heard, important, and loved. Isn’t that just God?
