Wisdom of a Child

My relationship with Luke is a gift from God. I teach him, he teaches me. Some background. He has not had a win in bike racing in 9 months (since my last blog post also). This week, he raced at Lake Perris, came in third in the first preliminary heat but was able to take the lead in the final race and hold off other bikers for a win. A great experience. That's the "good". The "bad" is that he has been less than energetic getting chores and schoolwork done and when I have to remind him, he gives out a big sigh, rolls his eyes (he says he doesn't) and groans while he has to do it. So this tension between him and I has been growing and we talked about it with no clear conclusion. Sunday, as we sat watching TV, out of the blue, he said, "I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but I want to apologize if I have been rolling my eyes and being disrespectful."

That's the heart of my son. I was so proud.

So we go on. Luke loves to have discussions and will always say, "So, what do you want to talk about?" He does this when we are alone or when we have a bunch of guys driving to a BMX race. So we are coming back from a new track in Chula Vista last night and we start a discussion. As it goes on, I ask him if we should feel bad about not taking some neighbor's children to church with us more often since these kids really enjoy it and their parents don't attend a church, have an known relationship with God, and are definitely not believers in Jesus Christ. Luke said that it was the parent's responsibility, not ours. Then we talked about the fact that all people, some day, must address their relationship with God, either now or sometime before they die. These parents just haven't done that yet. Since we have a relationship with the Lord, we should step in with these children. We also talked about conversations I had with my brother Billy, just prior to his death, with the hope that my brother, in a coma, may have given his life to Christ gefore his death. We talked about this some more then Luke talked about a movie he saw about Christmas. He talked about how a kid was being a bully all year long knowing that he was going to ask God for forgiveness just before Christmas. The bully knew that God would forgive him. Luke saw the analogy of my brother never relating to God, possibly till right before his death. He didn't think that was fair, in either case, for the person to live a life of bullying, or indifference to God, knowing that God would always forgive them, no matter what. Luke said, "It is like you are abusing God, knowing that whatever you do, he will forgive you, because he's God."

Abusing God. Never thought about it that way. But Luke did. We have some things to work out in his theology, but the fact that Luke, at 10, is pondering the gift of God's grace and forgiveness is the part that makes me proud of the heart God has placed in him.

Luke may struggle at reading. We may battle over responsibility and maturity. But he has a heart. My Lord thank you, this boy has a heart for You.

Luke's Heart and a Jedi mind trick



A lot of times we have to to work with our children when they come up against issues that they have never faced before.  With Luke, I can learn from him as much as he can from me.

As we were talking one night before he went to sleep, Luke told me about a situation in one of his classes.  A teacher, known as a "mean teacher" by some of the students in the school, had been in the habit of handing out test papers and commenting as she handed them out.  One of Luke's classmates was struggling in the class, and according to Luke, the teacher would make a joke or a unkind comment that the other students would hear and sometimes laugh at.  Luke thought the teacher was being unkind and we left it as an item we would talk about some other night.
 
A week or two went by and I finished my breakfast one morning and asked Luke what was the latest with that teacher.

His reply,"I talked to her this week."

Shock.

I immediately sat down and  asked for details.  Luke said that as the teacher was passing out papers, she made a comment about the student's results.  Apparently Luke decided to do something.  He stayed after class and spoke to the teacher.  He said that what the teacher  was saying to the student wasn't kind and that it would be better, if the student didn't do well, to maybe she should work with the student some more.and not say things out loud to the student when he gets a bad grade.

Double Shock.

"So" I said, " what did the teacher says."  He said that she she said in all of her years of teaching, no student has every confronted her like that,  She also said that she will try to do better in the future.

I am so proud.of Luke.  On his own, he decided that the situation wasn't getting better and that he needed to act.  He responded discreetly and respectfully.  He described the action and the result of that action.  He suggested possible corrective action.  This is classic mangement in a loving, caring way.  I have to study and learn these behaviors.

Luke has them in his heart.

So I told my friends about Luke, I told his grandparents.  I thought that was it.
The next weekend, I asked if there had been any changes in the teacher's behavior.  He said she was passing back test the next week ands as she came to the student who always has difficulty.  She was ready to say something, then she looked at Luke, smiled and just gave the student his test back quietly.

I asked Luke how he felt.  He said, as he saw the teacher getting close to the student and then walk away and he felt like the scene from Star Wars where Obi-Wan used a Jedi mind trick to convince a Stormtrooper to tell Obi-Wan and Luke to "move along."

Obi-Wan: These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-Wan: Move along.


Only Luke