On Saturday morning, I slept in until almost 10:00am and that has not happened in a long time. But then again, what happened on Friday night had not happened in a long time either.
Bogdan and Anya had gone away to Anya's mom's for the night and I was at the house with most of the guys and girls. I decided to read at about 11:30 and about 20 minutes later, I heard the gate open and saw five of them leave. The area we live in is not the safest in the evening and they are not supposed to go off like that, especially without asking permission. About 45 minutes later, I had one of the other guys call them to tell them to get a part of their anatomy home. Memories came flooding back of 16 years ago when Scott and Hanne went away for the first time and I was alone at the Straight Ahead discipleship house. One guy took a car in the middle of the night and took off, another didn't go to his school graduation party, but managed to stay out all night, another decided to come back late just because and...you get the point.
Saturday night, we had a meeting with the five of them. Bogdan and Anya were upset, but stayed on the positive: "you've not had a family before and when you are a part of a family, it means giving up certain freedoms and living for others." They also said that they know it is not easy coming from a place of no rules, being 16 or 18 and having to be in by a certain time. When it was my turn, I just asked, "If Bogdan and Anya had been home, would you have done it?" There was silence. Only one said he did not know. I shared how I felt and we wrapped it up.
About an hour later, there was a knock on the door and all five filed in. "John we all wanted to say that we are sorry and didn't mean to hurt you and wanted to know if you can forgive us." Unlike one activist I once heard, I don't believe that forgiveness is yet another "F" word. I said I did and there was relief and hugs all around.
The real blessing came Sunday morning, when we could all look at each other and know that it was a new beginning. For some of those guys and girls, that was the first time they had done that. Lord help that to be a transforming moment for each of them and for me.
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