First off, I know it’s been several days since I’ve written and there’s a perfectly good explanation for that… I’m in the hospital. I’ve been here for three nights so far, but will hopefully be able to check out tomorrow morning. I know many of you have been praying for me and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for that. One huge lesson I’m learning is to not mess around with your health or try to diagnose yourself.
So, back to the blog and today’s focus, “Greg” and “Fred”…
I debated on writing these two together, but after spending time with them and looking at how many days I’ve missed, I think these two would be good to be paired together. I have to admit, that these two may be two of the boys that I know the least one on one, but they would be two of the boys that I relate to the most. When I just sit here and think about these boys, I wonder how different my situation would be had I been born in their shoes. Would I be driven by different motives? Would those motives have driven me into the prison cell too?
Anyway, Greg is one of the most athletic in the cell, but keeps fairly quiet during most of the other times. He’s a good student, mostly in the middle of the pack, but is just incredibly intelligent in one on one conversations. It’s easy to see what years of being told he would never be a student have done to him in a classroom setting. Greg is also one of those guys that just seems content on being around. He’s not the most outgoing in every setting, but each day he greets me, his confidence grows a little more.
Fred is one of the newest members to the cell and seems to be one of the most advanced across the board. From day 1 working with him, it was easy to see the potential in him, but unfortunately coupled with that comes the years you “You’ll never…”. Fred is just a blessing to be around. We were sitting between lessons one day and heard music from inside the jail and he just started singing at the top of his lungs, and he had some talent. I told him how good he was, and he just hid his face and looked pretty embarrassed. It was easy to see he has never really been encouraged in his gifts and doesn’t realize what true talent is.
Both of these boys have incredible talents and gifts, but have no idea. Not only have they never really heard they’re good at some things, but they’ve been constantly told they’re no good. In social times and games, they walk in such confidence, but they’re just as good at other things, they just don’t realize it yet. It’s fun to watch their confidence grow as the time progresses. These boys are taking huge steps forward…
