By Curt Williams, Founder & Executive Director
Sometimes the stars align, and the Lord provides perfect timing.
A few weeks ago, several of our boys were involved in a small-scale conspiracy that morphed into deception and a failed cover-up. The entire situation was quickly revealed, and those who led the foolishness and those who participated were discovered. What they were about to learn is that here at Youth-Reach, there are always consequences. You can set your watch by this principle. When you do well, the good consequences are sure, and when you make foolish choices, the consequences are just as sure.
So when we needed a few hundred feet of trenches dug by hand for a new natural gas line, their compromise met with a sure consequence. For over a week, these guys dug in hard-packed “gumbo” clay soil, even encountering an ancient oyster shell driveway that required a pickaxe and a breaker bar to bust up enough to continue the trench. It wasn’t easy work, and one boy was ready to quit and leave Youth-Reach, as he deemed the project too hard. Yet he stayed, and all of the boys involved in the compromise took on the consequence.
At each stage of the trial, these guys pressed through. It was a test and a rite of passage. It was another waypoint in their journey from boyhood to manhood, and they passed the test. In the end, we had a proper, deep, straight trench that looked as though a machine had carved it. Then the gas line was laid, and it was time to fill in that trench. A job is not complete until it is finished, and the tools are cleaned and put away.
One day, these boys will recall a Rockets playoff game, a wonderful Christmas, and blistered hands from shovels used to dig a trench because they made a foolish choice. All of these memories will matter, but only one will have built character.
