"The Road Not Taken"
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood- Robert Frost
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20
We have termites and our house is being tented and fumigated. So all of us went our separate ways to stay at a co-worker, a friend, a grandparents while we wait for this process to be over. We are home - less for few days.
I stayed at former YAV's apartment just down the street and it was good to catch up with Becky and her husband. I am jealous of them right now because they about to go to Nicaragua tonight. I want to go back to Nicaragua!! It was nice to have a 2 days break away from my housemates but I miss community times with kids.
A few weeks ago, a teen did some poor misbehaving at the house. I didn't accept that behavior at all. I gave a fair warning and the behavior of the teen kept getting worse. Finally I sent the teen home. I didn't want to kick the teen out of the house but I didn't want the teen's misbehavior to be a example of how to act in front of the little kids. I was sad. The next day I talked to the teen one and one about the issue. "You have a good heart and you are setting a example to the kids how to act." "Do you want the kids to act right or be rude?" I said. You are role model just like the other teens that comes here. It was a good talk with the teen. We both come to agreement. After that week, the teen seem happier now. It was hard for me to give any kid or teen a punishment of their actions at community house. I had to go on the road that was less traveled. I love the kids. So after that talk, it seem like we bonded closer. That made a big difference in 2 ways. One is the older kids know to try to set a good example of a role model to the kids. The other one is that we bonded closer. GOD is AWESOME.
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Also a few weeks ago, 2 guests from Homeboy Industries came to speak at the community house. The guests was 2 former gang members and spoke about their past and how their lives changed after being involved with Homeboy Industries. Homeboy Industries assists at-risk, formerly gang-involved youth and the recently incarcerated to become contributing members of our community through a variety of services in response to their multiple needs. Their free programs - including counseling, education, tattoo removal, job training, and placement - enable young men and women to redirect their lives and provide them with hope for their futures.
Check out their website Homeboy-Industries website
I strongly recommended to get "Tattoos On The Heart" book. Its about gang member's lives, how they changed, and how Homeboy industries got started. It is one of my top 10 favorite books.
There was a lot of neighborhood teens and group of teens from Oasis came to listen to the guest speakers.
I am really pump up for this week. A good college buddy Lauren is coming up to visit plus me and intern youth pastor David taking the FPC high school kids to LA Dodger game this friday night. It will be great to get to know the high school group more outside of church. Hope everybody have a great weekend! God bless!
