I’m usually the last 5/8 Club leader to leave on Monday nights, and as I pack up my car I tend to ask myself questions to judge how the evening went: How many kids came? Were there any discipline problems? Did we as leaders demonstrate the love of Jesus to the kids? Did they (and we) have fun? After a 5/8 Club meeting this past winter, I received a text message from Matthew just as I pulled into my driveway. It simply said, “Call me.” Since Matthew is the 5/8 leader who drives kids home on the bus, and the bus tends to be our most frequent site of misbehavior, I knew this probably wasn’t good.
I called Matthew and he explained to me that one of the 5th grader’s fathers waved him down as he returned home after dropping off the kids. He said that his son came home crying because he had been hit in the face with a ball of ice in the parking lot after the meeting. Matthew apologized and said he didn’t know because he didn’t see it and the boy didn’t tell him, and that he would have me call him. I got off the phone with Matthew and quickly contacted the other leaders to find out if anyone had seen anything. None of them had. I then called the boy’s father. He was justifiably upset; his son had a welt on his face and scratches, didn’t know who hit him, and was scared because he thought someone may have done it on purpose. I apologized, and because it was after 9pm at this point, I told the father that I would go door-to-door to the boys’ houses tomorrow and try to find out what happened. I assured him that we would hold the person who threw the ice responsible for his actions and asked if he thought an apology would be helpful. He said yes.
The next afternoon I started knocking on doors. The first kid I talked to said that another boy, also a 5th grader, told him that he had done it. I immediately began thinking about consequences, such as taking away the field trip that the boys earn for attendance and good behavior. That boy wasn’t home, so I went to another home to verify and get more of the story. The next boy I talked to said that that day at school, the boy who threw the ice confessed to the boy he hit that it was him, assured him that it was an accident, and apologized. A great sense of relief swept over me. My emotions turned from disappointment to joy that without adult intervention, this 5th grade boy took responsibility for his actions and made things right. I went by the house of the boy who had been hit by the ice; his face was still swollen and scratched. He told me the same thing as the previous boy. I asked him if he was mad at the boy who hit him and he said no. His father’s demeanor had completely changed; I could tell that he was no longer upset and was satisfied with the outcome.
At the risk of embarrassing the two boys, I shared that story during circle time of our next 5/8 Club meeting. I explained that normally the ice thrower would miss the field trip for such actions, but in this case he would not because he did exactly what he should have done in that situation. I hope that his example encourages the other boys to take responsibility when they mess up. And for me, this demonstration of repentance and forgiveness is an encouraging reminder that the Kingdom is at work in the boys’ hearts and in the community.
