Saturday I had the opportunity to serve alongside some Apex house churches at a Christmas party for local foster families. About 80-90 people were packed into a small room and the temperature was around 85 degrees in there. Half the time, you had to shout just to hear yourself. A lot of these foster kids had never been to a Christmas party before so it’s understandable why they’d be so excited. There were smiles, laughs, and connections happening everywhere. It was a lot of fun!!!
While there, I met Sam. He is 12 years old and hopes to finish 6th grade this year. Sam has only been in foster care for about 4 weeks. I spoke with his case worker and she said that Sam’s case was “one of the most traumatic we’ve seen.” Apparently his home was pretty crazy. Sam didn’t have much in the way of social skills. That’s not meant to be a knock against him at all - truthfully, I don’t think he’s ever had much of a need for them. From the way his case worker talked, I think he was neglected or abused. He was a 12 yr. old kid, probably about 200 lbs. and was still scared of Santa. When Santa walked in, he whispered to me “do you think I’m gonna get anything?” In my head I’m thinking, “this party is for you, kid! Of course you’re going to get something!” He followed that with “I’ve never really gotten anything.” I usually don’t believe people when they make blanket statements like that, but this time, I believed him. I believed that someone had probably robbed him of a lot of joy throughout his life. I believed that he probably never knew the joy of Christmas the way my family did…or anything even close to it. One of the presents that all the kids got was a knit hat. Every kid got one. They probably only cost about $2 apiece and they were all blue. That didn’t matter to Sam. He saw that hat and his eyes lit up. An ugly, $2 winter hat that most of us wouldn’t ever be seen in…a hat that 40 other kids in that room had as well…and he LOVED it. He put it on immediately and wore it for the rest of the party…in the 85 degree room.
I spent most of my time at the party talking with Sam. Well, let me rephrase that, I spent most of my time at the party hanging out with Sam while my son entertained us and gave us much reason for conversation. Through my sons eyes, there was no difference between foster kid or any other kid. He was just Sam. To Gibson, Sam was just a nice kid who had big numbers on his shirt and Gib really liked that! (sam was wearing a football jersey)
When we left, I found myself grateful for the fact that Sam had been placed with a good family, the Flowers. They had already adopted 2 foster kids, and had 3 other foster kids living with them as well. I really hope that the Flowers family knows Jesus. I hope that they teach Sam about love, peace, and joy. I hope he truly gets to experience real care and affection. Most of all, I hope that he gets adopted by Jesus very soon so that he can understand what it really means to have his past wiped clean forever.
Thanks to my time with Sam and the sermon that Jason challenged us with this past weekend, I’ve realized that my problem isn’t just that I’m not doing enough or giving enough. My problem is that I haven’t cared enough…
…God, please change that in me…and please save Sam very soon - spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally…