Over the course of the last year I have really come to understand that no matter how different people are, deep down everyone has the same needs. Each one of us wants to be loved, to be accepted, and to be heard. Whether it's a nursing home resident, a stay-at-home mom, or a teenager. We like to put people in categories, and as soon as we do that, we treat them differently because of their label.
But kids don't know this.
One of the incentives Bridges has for their students is a field trip every Friday. If a student fulfills the requirements, they get invited to the field trip. This Friday was the first field trip of the school year, and I wanted to go. The initial plan was to go to a local pool and swim after school, so my kids were pumped about it. But that morning we found out that the pool's filter had broken and would not be open. Long story short, we went to the Kokomo Reservoir for the kids to play in the water and hang out. Honestly, I don't think I've ever gone to the Reservoir, and it ended up being a really nice place to hang out.
I got there a little late (big surprise) with my kids. Noel was super excited about swimming (he doesn't quite grasp the whole idea of how much nastiness is floating in a creek like that). However, Elise wants nothing to do with swimming. It's been hard all summer taking the two of them swimming because you really can't leave either one alone. So, when we got there, I was just trusting that someone would help me with one of the children.
And those "someone's" turned out to be Anthony and Jessica.
Now, Anthony is one of my sweet Bridges boys. He is short, sweet, and chubby. He is really kind, but doesn't really have a close group of friends in Bridges. When he saw that Noel wanted to go in the water, he immediately said, "I'll take him out." I thought for sure that Noel was going to say no.
Anthony looks different than him.
He talks different than him.
He's older than him.
But against all of my expectations, Noel just ran right out into the water and played with Anthony. It was the most wonderful sight. Here is my little boy, looking for someone to play with him, and here is my student Anthony, looking for someone to be with as well.
And then there was Jessica. I had never met Jessica before, but she is a middle school student who you can tell has a lot of developmental issues. She was playing in the water by herself, too. She and Noel hit it off, and they ended up finding all kinds of "treasures" at the bottom of the reservoir.
Now, I write all of this not to praise my son, because in most circumstances, he is very uncomfortable with new situations. He's not one to open up to strangers. I truly believe this was a God-ordained moment. Here there were two students and one young kid. God knew each of them needed something special that afternoon, so He put them all together.
And I just sat back and watched God move.
Sit back today. Look around. Where is God moving?
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