Tyler

There is a young boy who comes into the store a lot where I work. His name is Tyler, age 14, though I had put him at 12, as he is small for his age. Cute kid. He seems like a great kid... and honest. Recently, the coke maching outside gave him a pop and his money back. He came inside and gave it to us instead of keeping it. He often comes in and helps my co-worker out by putting bagged groceries in a cart for her. One day as I was filling the ice box outside, he walked up and asked if I needed help. It is a one-man job, so I thanked him and said I had it covered.

Last night, my co-worker, Shelly, paged me to the front. When I got up there, I saw Tyler and his mom waiting. He smiled and waved at me. I walked over to see what Shelly wanted. She said that Tyler wanted to tell me something. He proudly informed me that he had placed third place in an art contest in this week-end's Johnny Appleseed Festival. I patted him on the shoulder and congratulated him. His mother informed me that he was also keeping his grades up and was getting straight A's.

After they left, I commented to Shelly what a great kid he is. She replied "Yes, but he doesn't have a chance."

Why not? His homelife. His real dad isn't even in the picture. He has had several stepfathers.... how, I'm not sure after seeing his mother. They live in a small appartment with some other people. People who smoke, drink, do drugs. His mother is a chain smoker on food stamps, who has complained more than once about hardly having any groceries in the house.... yet can afford cigerettes and most likely beer.

What chance DOES a kid like that have? By age 16, he will most likely be smoking himself, drinking, and doing drugs. What chance does he have of becoming a normal upstanding, moral guy? And all across this nation, across our neighborhoods are tons of kids just like him.

I would like to try to get the kid into church, but am not sure about it. What if he has no interest, plus..... I am a single guy. What if my insterest in him is misconstrued. If you read this, pray about it. And meanwhile, let us pray and see what God wants us to do about the countless Tylers across this great nation of ours.