Advice to a teen

Yesterday at lunch I had the opportunity to share a pizza with a 16 year old young man that has been struggling greatly. He has been trying to make it on his own and has found that life is really hard. He knows that he needs to make good choices if his world is going to change so I really challenged him.

He had not been in school for the past day and a half and he was out riding around on his bike during that time. When I was discussing with him what he wanted in life he talked about a job he would desire. I spoke very directly to him and told him that if he wanted to have a job in the future that he needed to be in school now. I told him I would help him if he chose to get back in school, beginning yesterday afternoon.

We also talked about drinking, cigarettes and smoking weed. I asked him if he was doing any of those things and he told me he was smoking some. I asked him if he was willing to stop smoking and he said he would. I stressed to him that it was and is important to be willing to listen to the advice of those who are trying to help. He agreed to try and that is all I could ask for.

I really enjoyed meeting this young man. He is very smart and has somewhat of an understanding into what his situation is and the underlying things that have caused him to be where he is right now. I have great hope for him and look forward to seeing another young man succeed.

By the way, I got a text from him a couple of hours after we met and it said, "Thanks for talking with me today, it helped. Just want to let you know I am at school this afternoon."

God is using us in a mighty way. It is a blessing to serve Him through this ministry!!!