The Kid At The Pavilion

What's going on you guys? Tyler, your wandering therapist here today. Just wanted to get on and share a couple of thoughts with you a couple of experiences that have just happened over the last couple of weeks and hopefully leave something of value for you to be able to use with your own lives in your own day to day. I I've been thinking a lot over the weekend about a scripture that comes to me comes to mind. And it says when you've done it under one of the least of these you've done it under me. And of course we've all heard that scripture probably before. If you've read any of your Bible or. Any verse of scripture it's a pretty common thought. But. I've been really wrestling with that concept. Today and thinking about how it applies not only to. The service of other people but what it does for us when we serve other people. And I remember. This is confession time for me right now. I remember being a young man. A couple of times where I was presented with an opportunity to stand up for the underdog to fight for the kid who maybe didn't quite have it as good as I did. And there were a couple of times in my life when I absolutely failed. And I still regret those things to this day. When I think about them and I wish that there was some way that I could track down some of those couple of those people and try to make restitution because. I was in a position where maybe I could have been the big kid to include somebody else or stand up for somebody who was being picked on and I wasn't I didn't do it. Or maybe in some occasions I was the actual person being the bully and. And. When I think about those things I do I wish I could change those things but something happened this weekend and in my world that brought all this back to the surface for me and I think all of us probably have our own regrets and feelings of things that we could have done or should have done in our relationships with other people over the years. And this weekend we had all of my wife's family in town. We had you know Rihanna and had her mom and her sister from Florida with all of her kids and my brother in law. Chase was in town and we decided to get together Lindsay. Her other sister came up from about an hour and a half drive away. We all got together for a family dinner we were going over to a pavilion over in a little park to to meet and have dinner. And when we got there my family was the first family to get there and we pulled up to this pavilion and we started walking out. And as I was walking into the pavilion I noticed that underneath one of the tables there was a young man about 16 years old that was kind of hunched up underneath one of the tables and I could see that he is his eyes were red and puffy and I could see that he'd been crying. And as soon as he saw us he decided to take off. He I'm sure he was embarrassed and I felt like he probably felt like people were gonna say Hey this is our place. This reserved you need to leave and there there's a piece of me right on the right at the beginning when I saw him and I got up and started to leave. I thought OK good. Like yeah this is our spot for the day. Like let us just do our family thing like stay out of the way. And then there was something inside of me a voice that said you know what you gotta do something Tyler like that looks like another human being who's in need of some help. And so I said Hey where are you going. Wait a second. And. And he kind of slowed his walk. He's going over to get on his bike and he kept his back turned and his. Body was hunched down. And I said What's going on. Do you need any help with anything. And as I started to walk closer to him his. Body started to shake and I could tell it was crying and I put my arm around him. And as soon as I put my arm around him his whole body just sort of like sunk and he just started to sob and. I pulled him around where no one else could see that he was crying and we went in for a little walk and I talked with him for a minute and I came to find out that this kid 16 years old he lives in a home where. He doesn't have the same resources that I am accustomed to. He doesn't have the same good parents that I've had. And in fact he comes from a home that's actually pretty abusive and and has parents who don't treat him the right way and treat them with respect and so here I was hearing about all of this stuff that had happened to this poor kid that had led to him running away from home and he had ridden his bike about eight miles away from his home and found this pavilion to hide and he said it was his safe place because when he moved here a couple of years ago it was where he had a few friends and. And since then he's moved and he's been homeless and all sorts of things since then. And so I invited him to stay for dinner and while we was having dinner he kind of got to know some of the family. He's just a really gentle hearted really soft spoken young man. And then he got be done with dinner and. I said Well where are you going to go. Like what are you gonna do. And he said I don't know. Like if if I feel like it's safe enough to go home I'll go home but if it's not safe enough to go home then I don't know what I'll do I might just sleep out here tonight. And of course. That just hit my heart Mary. I recalled all of these other memories from boyhood where you know my parents had foster kids that I was jealous of and I wasn't always nice to and there was always a kid in the neighborhood that didn't quite have the same home life that I had had and he and I felt bad that I hadn't reached out and been his you know support. And I thought this is my chance. This is a shot at redemption and I heard that scripture in my head go through that says when you've done it under one of the least of these you've done it under me. And so I said well if you don't feel safe enough to go home. Why don't you just come stay at my place tonight and. I'm sure I was breaking all sorts of protocol and probably get in trouble for whatever I did. But I had him come back to my place and had him stay the night and he stayed out and slept and then we woke up. We gave him some breakfast and went on a little hike together and eventually he said he felt safe enough to go home and he told me how things were gonna go and he went home. He said he'd walk in the door and he'd instantly be attacked and barraged by his stepmother and that they would probably because it doesn't show up with a child protective case they'd probably dump a bucket of cold water on him to punish him because they can't hit him and show bruises. And then he would be okay and he'd just continue to go about his day. And my heart was just breaking inside. And. As I was driving him home we had a conversation about his value as a human being. And the fact that because he's treated in certain ways sometimes he might come to believe. That maybe he's unworthy of love or there's something wrong with him or that he's doing something wrong. And I just wanted him to understand that. That sometimes people are just put in really crappy situations and. That has nothing to do with his value and that I would hope he would hold strong to his value and I tried to give him my phone number. I offered to basically become a mentor to him. I don't know if he'll reach out to me or not I don't know if I'll ever see him again or not. But as I drove away. I recalled a poem that I memorized a long time ago called the touch of the master's hand that says. Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer Thought it scarcely worth his while. To waste much time on the old violin. But he held it up with a smile. What am I bid good folks he cried. Who'll start the bidding for me. A dollar a dollar now two only two. Three dollars once three dollars twice going for three. But no from the room far back a gray haired man came forward and picked up the bow and wiping the dust from the old violin. And tightening up all the strings. He played a melody pure and sweet sweet as an angel sings. The music ceased and the auctioneer with a voice that was quiet and low Said What. Now in my bid for the old violin and he held it up with a bow. A thousand dollars. Who'll make it to two thousand who'll make it three. Three thousand once and three thousand twice and going and gone said he. The people cheered but some of them cried. We do not quite understand. What changed it's worth. Swift came the reply. A touch of the master's hand. And many a man with a life out of tune and battered and scarred with sin. His auction cheap to the thoughtless crowd. Much like the old violin. A mess of pottage a glass of wine a song and he travels on. He's going once going twice he's going and almost gone. But the master comes and a thoughtless crowd can never quite understand. The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought by the touch of the master's hand. My challenge for you guys today is to take a look around at the people in your life or to be open to people you may not even know that you get a chance to be the touch of the master's hand. I don't know what's going to happen with this kid that I met. What I hope is that he had a day where he understood that someone even a total stranger could show him love and that he was valuable. I don't know what impact that has on his life but I believe firmly in the idea of the touch of the master's hand and that every one of us has the opportunity to be that touch for somebody else if we simply look for the opportunities and then not dismiss the impressions that we have. When those opportunities present themselves. And the real richness comes in understanding. Who I am as a human being and understanding that I can operate from a place of truth and try to make the world a little bit better place and so that's my challenge for you today is to look around find somebody who might use the touch of the master who might use a little lift or a little bit of light. And I promise you that if you'll follow those impressions you'll you'll find a great value in your own life a deeper sense of confidence and a deeper sense of peace. And I hope you guys have an awesome day. Thank you so much for being here with me. If you found this to be valuable for you please hit the Like and Subscribe button. If you're facing particular struggles that you need help with or roadblocks that you're running into. Please submit a question I'll be happy to answer it for you.