#3
The Boy in the Window

A few years ago we noticed that every time we would pull up to the gate at crossroads there was a little boy in the window across the street. At first, he was still in diapers and would just watch as we would pull cars in and out or take the kids to the yard to play. It wasn't long before he yelled down to us asking to play on our swings and slide; and one day in the middle of a Barbecue we invited him to come down and play. He showed up excitedly with his mom at the front gate, and before too long he was a regular. At first we weren't sure what to do, he was quite a handful (it turned out even thought we thought he was 5, he was only 4 and in pre-school which made things interesting to say the least) but we really started to get to know him and his mom. Ann, our director, took a special invest in his mom, really spending time to know her.
But one day, the boy didn't show up, and for the next few days he was missing too, we wondered what must be happening, when Ann got a phone call from his mom. She was in the hospital, and Ann was the only one to come and visit her there. This is when we learned that she had suffered a heart attack, undiagnosed diabetes, and they had found breast cancer as well. Worried that her son would be left to the foster care system, or worse her own mother who is a drug addict, this mom turned to what she called her only friend, Ann, for help. Our staff prayed for the family, picked up prescriptions, and did what we could to help, and before long she was out of the hospital an reunited with her son. Though her health is still failing, she is a devoted mother doing everything she can to provide for her son. They have both become a part not only of our city crossroads family, but of our church family as well. We still see the boy 4 times a week for crossroads and church, but everyday when we go to open the gates at crossroads he is still there waving in the window, a reminder of how friendship and love can break through a prison of loneliness. The boy in the window and maybe even more importantly his mom are why I am running the extra mile.