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Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

For anyone about to give up

Stephen M. Miller
Smashed mailbox
STRIKE TWO. This smashed mailbox is the second of three I’ve had in the past year. Teenager angst, not directed at me as far as I can tell. But certainly at my mailbox. Maybe white’s not the best color in this location. I’ve given up on protecting the mailbox; I’ll just replace it as needed. But no one should give up on the kids.

I HAVE A NEIGHBOR with a troubled son about to turn 18.

Strangest thing. The boy’s dad, who’s a wonderful neighbor, told me the judicial system gave up on his boy.

The youngster was on probation for drug possession. He also had some problems with a temper. I wrote an earlier blog about how he smashed some mailboxes, mine among them: Police at the door, 3:30 a.m.

Last weekend I saw the boy across the road, while I was changing oil in my mower. He yelled a hello at me.

“Hey, how ya doing?” I asked.

“I’m wearing a cast.”

“You gotta stop hittin’ things,” I said. “How’d you do it?”

“I got mad.”

He punched a wall.

Girl troubles.

Punching the wall is better than punching the girl.

But if you’re going to punch the wall, you should probably go to the garage, get the stud finder, and find a part of the wall that doesn’t have a stud.

By that time, you’d probably be calmed down enough to realize that if you break the wall, you’re going to have to fix it. Repair the drywall. Then paint the entire wall. Maybe the whole room.

The dad told me that his son didn’t complete any of the requirements of probation. The boy simply refused to go to the sessions or to perform the work demanded by the court. He got fired from his job, too.

In the short time I’ve known him, he has been in at least three different venues trying to help him finish off his high school education.

Probation was supposed to last another six months, extending into the fall. But the court ended the probation and tagged it “unsuccessful.”

The court stamped two drug possessions on the boy’s record and simply said that once he turns 18, they’ll try him as an adult for any further offenses.

It sounds like they’re expecting to see him again.

I don’t know enough about the law to understand why the court would pull the plug on probation early and call it “unsuccessful.”

Give up on a kid?

It doesn’t seem right.

When the dad was telling me about that, I had one thought pop into my head:

“God doesn’t give up on us.”

Others will give up on us. And they’ll give up on the people we care about.

God won’t.

We shouldn’t, either.

Once upon a time when I hit a rough spot, and felt that people had given up on me and God had taken a hike, I read these words:

“How can you say that the Lord doesn’t see your troubles?….He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint,” (Isaiah 40:27, 29-31).

Good to know.

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About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

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