A Pleasure To Have In Class, Part 2

November 10, 2011 at 6:19 AM (From the Heart, Honey, Our Boy)

Hi Guys! Thank you for being so patient, and I am sorry to string you along like that. Sort of. It was a little fun!

I do have big news, of course it can hardly compete with The Duggar’s news of expecting their TWENTIETH child, but we are still pretty excited to share.

Here goes.

I may have mentioned a time or two that The Boy did not enjoy his high school experience. His academic performance was less than stellar. He never had a behavior problem, just a report card problem. I went into more detail about it here.

For the last 2 years he has been attending a local community college, taking the general classes that need to be taken, but he was basically just going through the motions. He had no direction, no idea what he wanted to do. He was wasting his time and our money.

Then God performed some miracles. Real water into wine things.

After his last year fall semester he was on academic probation because his GPA was so poor. Mainly because he neglected to drop classes that he was failing.

He was supposed to schedule an appointment with a counselor last spring, before he enrolled for the next semester. He registered for the classes he wanted, we paid, and then he went to his appointment. The counselor couldn’t believe they had let him register, she said with his GPA they should never have let him, but there was nothing they could do about it now, it was a done deal. He had somehow slipped under their radar. Miracle number 1.

As she reviewed his records, she commented that he had a very puzzling history. He either passed a class with an A or a B, or he completely failed. She could see that when something interested him, he managed to do a very good job. She then told him that if he passed this semester with a GPA of 2.7, the whole episode would go away.

So that was the goal. 2.7. He worked hard. He toiled. He tried. We prayed. When his report card came? 2.8 !!!!!!! Miracle number 2.

I have also mentioned that The Boy was volunteering with the middle and high school youth group. This led to the internship this summer and a second internship this fall. He was also getting together regularly with the youth pastor, Ryan, and some friends to talk about theology and doctrine and other big worded topics. He also started reading many books about said big worded topics.

At some point, he started feeling a little direction, a little purpose, some Holy Spirit guidance.

He told us he wanted to apply to a college. Only one. He had never asked to do that before. He went to community college because we told him he had to do something. Honey and I had no idea what would happen. The Boy had some scholastic baggage.

The Boy filled out the application. He wrote his essays. He asked for and got his character references. He mailed it in right before the October 1 deadline. He is still our Boy.

Then we waited. They said they would mail the result letters the beginning of November. He was nervous. He alternated between high hopes and uncertainty. He rode the waves of excitement and then practiced disappointment.

The letter came three days before we left Florida to return home. He did not want The Girls to open it for him. He waffled between wanting to talk about it and not wanting talking about it. He said he didn’t even want to open it in front of us.

After arriving back in The Mitten last Saturday, he endured going out for Chinese with us all, then picked up his letter and left. I said call us right away, don’t leave us hanging all night! A short while later, he called. There was much yelling and loudness. He has been accepted. Miracle number 3.

The Boy is heading off to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago this January. We are thrilled for him!!!!!!! That is 7 exclamation points, God’s number!!!

I called him at work last night to make sure I had all of my facts straight. He said I did. I also asked him for a Bible verse that meant a lot to him. He gave me this.

1 Timothy 1:13-17

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹³though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, ¹⁴and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. ¹⁷To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.^[a] Amen.

So all those years when we didn’t know what was going to become of him? The Lord knew.