Father of the Fatherless

Father’s Day.

For many of us this is a happy day with happy memories. We can look at pictures of our dad and think back on times we spent with him. We know our dad’s name, family history, where he worked, we have met him…things we may take for granted.

At Rock House Kids, these are luxuries. So many of our RHK kids do not even know their dad’s name or have never met them.

We had a new 5th grade boy here at RHK. We will call him Ethan. Ethan was very rough. He attended the program but never smiled. He pushed through the crowded cafeteria and, heaven forbid, if anyone would get in his way. Ethan would push the kids out of his way to the point where they would fall to the ground. When spoken to, he would just grunt. There seemed to be no getting through to him. Then it happened…a break through. Ethan’s teacher came up to me after class and told me he wanted to talk to me about Ethan. Ethan was playing with his wallet, throwing it up in the air and catching it. When told to put it away, he got mad and continued to throw it up and down. Then another kid grabbed it and Ethan got very angry.

The teacher took Ethan aside to find out what was really causing the anger. He found out Ethan’s dad was incarcerated and he had made him the wallet. Ethan missed his dad and wanted to see him. He was angry dad was in prison and the only thing he had to feel close to him was a wallet. So, he was protective of it.

I would like to say this is a unique story, but I could talk for hours about kids at RHK who have absent fathers; Kids who ask for envelopes and stamps so they can write to their imprisoned fathers.

Psalm 68:5 states: “Father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.”

We need to be Jesus with skin on.

Are your children grown? Are there things that you have learned that you can pass on to this younger generation? If so, there are kids waiting to be connect to people like you. They need someone like you to speak truth into their lives.

Call Kathy Bartz at 815-962-5067 Ext. 113 to learn more.

Blessings, Dee