From Our RHK Executive Director: A New Creation

I have a question for you. Do you let your past define you and keep you stuck? I have met many people who are stuck in their past. When I speak to people about RHK I often hear people say, “Well, the kids are stuck in their circumstances.”

Those are hard words for me to hear. Yes, some of our kids and their families are in some difficult circumstances. (How many of us have not landed on hard times and made some terrible decisions?) If people knew some choices I’ve made in the past, I don’t know if they would want to talk to me. I know, for me personally, I had people who stood beside me and prayed for me. They didn’t give up me, and yes, they even had to give me tough love when I needed it.

That is exactly what we do here at RHK. Yes, some of our kids are making choices we are not happy about. But we will walk through those times with them. There are kids who are walking through deaths of friends from suicide. I am talking about 10-year-olds. We are here for them. Our doors and arms are open for them. Open for them to question why. Open for them to cry. Open for them to be angry. Open for them to just sit quietly.

We are here when families are torn apart and the kids don’t understand why. Why is one sibling taken out of the household and moved far away while the other one stays. Again, we are here to listen, give a hug, wipe a tear, brush their hair and be silly with them just to make them smile, or just sit quietly.

We rejoice when a teen returns from juvie and we see them walk back through the door of RHK. We welcome them back, check on them and see how they are. We also let them know we KNOW where they have been. We KNOW what they have been up to, but we also let them KNOW we missed them and we love them.

Then, there’s the 10-year-old who has been a handful since second grade. People called them the “troublemaker.” I may or may not have called them one of my favorites (ok…I may have about 200 of them). Recently, our memory verse station’s leader was not in the station and one of our 4th/5th grade leaders told this kid to lead the class. You know what they did. They led the class. I was able to watch. They did AMAZING! They took charge. They engaged the rest of their class, and the rest of the class had fun and learned the verse. This was all done by a kid others wanted to give up on because of the past experiences they had with them.

In each of these situations, and many more, we are blessed to spend time with the kids who come to RHK. We get to be a small part of their lives. We get to encourage them, build them up, set boundaries, pray with them and, most of all, point them to Christ.

When a kid makes changes in their life, it isn’t RHK that makes them change. It’s the work that is being done here. It is the work of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; The old has gone, the new is here!”

Now that we are in March, hopefully, the weather will start showing signs of spring, signs of new birth - life breaking through from being stuck under the hard soil of winter. Let’s pray for the kids at RHK, that their circumstances will not hold them down like the hard winter’s soil. May 2026 be their year, where they will breach through with new birth and become the new creations spoken of in 2 Corinthians.

Blessings,

Dee Lacny, Executive Director, Rock House Kids