Investing

No, this isn't about money or how to get rich off of investments. Anyone who knows me knows that I am clueless about such things. What I want to talk about is investing in people.

There is a little boy in our community who is the oldest of three. He is in first grade and happened to be in my oldest daughter's kindergarten class last year. His home life if far from what it should be - they don't have enough money for food and decent clothes but they do for cigarettes and beer - and this young man is always getting in trouble at school.

His mother makes all sorts of excuses for him - the school is too strict; he's a boy let him play; they're out to get me - and he really has no father figure in his life (his mom just married a man who has his own share of issues). It breaks my heart to see this young boy struggle and I have done my best to love on him and bring him to church so that he can grow in a better environment.

Then, there are the girls that I know who have given themselves away to guys who aren't worth 2 pennies. You know, the guys who care only about themselves and who wind up in trouble with the law or bolting at the first sign of real commitment. Yet these girls stick with them hoping beyond hope that these guys will change.

What many of these girls hold in common is a lack of a father figure in their lives. One girl in particular never knew her father and another one that I know has a father who is very demanding and works way too much to spend enough time with her. As a result, both of these girls have holes in their lives that they are filling with other things.

I long to see the day when these kinds of students have parents who are willing to invest in their lives. It doesn't matter if a parent can't help all that much with homework or if he or she isn't very gifted at teaching certain skills. What kids need is an investment in time. I do all that I can to encourage and teach them, but as a pastor I am so limited in what I can truly do. I can't go home with them each night.

My priority is let them know that they have a Heavenly Father who adores them and that they are always on His mind. Yet they also need to know at least some kind of that same love here on earth. Investment.