Case of the Stolen Camera

WOW Kids at BBC!

We took twenty-three kids from East Lake to Brainerd Baptist this past Sunday.  One of those kids was an eleven-year-old BB (Baby Blood) gang member, Federico, who attacked our car with carrots and rocks last time we saw him.  

We expect a lot from our East Lake kids when we take them out and we're strict, but we discipline with love.  For some reason, all the kids went berserk this past Sunday.  When church let out, they scattered and immediately started breaking rules.  We had kids yelling, running, going upstairs, going outside, fighting, etc.

I was very disappointed and the kids could tell.  I knew that my kids were better than this.  Wayyy better.  Most of these kids I've been working with for almost a year - a year of training and getting to know them.

I tell kids all the time, "You can fight on the streets back in East Lake.  I don't bring you to church so you can  fight.  I bring you to church so you can learn about God."  If kids aren't ready for church, we take them home until they are.

I was ready to take all the kids home because of their bad behavior!  Everything we were saying was going in one ear and out the other.  We eventually had to gather all the kids on the stairs and give them a talk.  The plan was to go to Coolidge Park after church, but we told them that we could only do that if everyone agreed to behave.  My mom (Kara Akins) told them, "We're going to see how you guys do in the car on the way over there.  If one person breaks a rule, it will ruin the trip for everyone and we'll have to take you guys home early."

We loaded all twenty-three kids up in our cars and headed to Coolidge Park.  On the way there, Jarvis got angry and yelled out a cuss word.  We had to turn around and take the kids home.

When I finally got home, I felt like it had been a really crummy day.  Did the kids even learn anything today? I wondered.  Or did they just go backwards?  Did I just waste half my day getting nothing accomplished?

I took a deep breathe and me and my mom started planning for next Sunday to prevent this from happening again.  I thought that it couldn't get any worse, but it did.

The next day, Monday, the church called and said that a camera had gone missing Sunday.  

The security cameras had caught a boy taking it.  

It looked like one of our boys.

I immediately thought that it was Federico who took it, but when we looked at the pictures from the security cameras, my heart sunk.

The boy caught on tape was my kiddo who never gets in trouble, my kiddo who has the cutest dimples when he smiles, my kiddo that is superstar material.

He's the kid that everyone loves.

We went to his house and he confessed and gave us the camera that he had taken.  We started talking and somehow Satan came up in our conversation.

"Satan?"  He asked.  "Who's that?"

"You don't know who Satan is?"  My mom asked.

"No.  Is it sin?"  He asked.

She explained who Satan is and asked him, "Have you ever been saved?"

"I don't know what that means."  He said.

It amazes me that, in the Bible Belt, there are kids who don't know this stuff.  When I leave East Lake, I count all the churches that we pass.  On one street there are seriously, like, five.  How can there be five churches on one street in the inner-city and I meet kid after kid who answers my questions about Jesus with a puzzled expression on their face?

I look at this situation with the stolen camera and I see a story in the making.  Who knows, maybe this boy will one day grow up to be a strong Christian and when he shares his testimony it will start with how he stole a camera from a church and ended up learning what it means to be saved.

You never know.

Paris Akins is currently a college student pursuing a degree in Education.  She loves diversity, Jesus, and middle schoolers.  She spends most of her time at school, helping with Chattanooga's Urban WyldLife, and with her kiddos in Emma Wheeler.  She also blogs over at Attempting the Impossible.