Little Robert

It's been a while since I have posted. I've had a very busy few weeks. Last week was MissionFest....a gathering of youth from all over Mississippi that come to Millsaps College to stay and to do mission work in Jackson for a few days. Part of my job is to set up the worksites, supply needed tools, take pictures and put out any fires that spark up during the week.

The majority of the work of MissionFest gets done during the last few days before the kids arrive. My friend Earle and I get together to work out which kid goes to what site and the transporting of the kids. When you have 130 people to drop off all over Jackson, it can get tricky. In the midst of all of this chaos, I received a call from another agency in town. They had a client that needed a size 9 pair of shoes. I knew that I had them so I told them to send the person to Galloway.

In a few minutes, Little Robert walks in wearing a ripped pair of rubber flip-flops. I have know Robert for some time now. He was in prison at CMCF for while in his late teens and he came to the church for help when he was released. Little Robert is, well, little. He is 21 and about 5 ft. tall. The man that brought him to the church found him on the roadside cutting himself on his inner arms so that he could go to the emergency room. This guy picked him up and took him to the Stewpot Opportunity Center. They then called me.

Little Robert has also been in rehab several times and in many transitional houses. He can't go back to his family because of years of physical and sexual abuse. He is on the street again now because he was caught having sex in the half-way house.

I gave him a lunch bag and the shoes. We had to stuff paper towels in the toes because they were a little bit too big. I could see the numerous cuts on his arms. Situations like Robert always leave me frustrated because there is no place to take him that can really help. He needs a family and has needed one his whole life. The Little Roberts of the world are like scared animals, doing what has to be done to survive. When you are damaged at an early age by the people that are supposed to love you the most, what chance is there for recovery? I couldn't help but think of my own son, only a year older that Robert. Where would Robert be if he had been born in a different family? a different circumstance? a different time? Life is not fair. More than that, life is sometimes quite brutal. I am so thankful that our God is a God of redemption and second chances. I pray that Little Robert finds his way into the presence of God, the Healer. Only then, we he truly be at home.