Runaway!
Well...
I got a call today from my wife at around 2:30pm. The school had called her to let her know that our 4th son had disappeared. They thought he might have run away from the school campus. Apparently he had gotten in trouble with his teacher for lying about completing some work and was getting a demerit. (He has really been struggling with paying attention and fooling around both at school and at home. I attribute most of this to his age and the competition between brothers at home.)
His school punishment was to miss recess (he was to complete the assignment he lied about and also write a scripture concerning lying). Somewhere in that time period, he walked off campus. After a few minutes and some checking by the teachers and principal, they called all hands to look for him on the grounds. I'm not sure if any of the teachers got in their cars or not, but I suspect they were headed that way. They even had a couple of aides go on the roof to try to spot him.
I received a call from the State Police about 10 minutes after my wife called. He had picked my son up on a road about 2 miles from the school. There was a woman from one of the local businesses that had seen him and called the police. She had spoken to him and told him to stay put, but he kept walking after she went to get her phone. The Trooper picked him up within 100 yards of an extremely busy 4 lane highway that he intended to cross on his way. He called me as he was taking my son back to the school. Praise the Lord for His protection and timing!
I got to the school just in time to speak to the officer before he left. It happened to be a K9 unit, so my son got to see the trained German Shepherd as well. I thanked him profusely and he directed me to the principals office where he had taken my son.
When I got to the office, there were three of his teachers and the principal with him in the office. School was over and all the kids had left. My son was calmly seated and had been talking to them. He teared up when he saw me. I nearly cried, myself. We went over what happened and covered some of what could have happened to him had he not been found. When he left the school, he was headed for home. He was following the route that the bus takes when they come home each day. That is a 12 mile trip! I don't know why he was coming home, since he knew he would be in trouble there too. I guess he wanted to be the first one to tell us about his demerit (before his teacher called). He did mention that he was afraid he would be sent to the principal's office and get into more trouble. Not much else came out of the conversations. What else CAN you say!? We prayed together and thanked the Lord.
What's next?!?! This isn't the first time he's run away. He ran from home a couple of years ago. We found him safely that time as well by the grace of God. I don't know how he hasn't gotten the message that it is better to deal with what bothers him with those who love him. What causes boys to run?
Please pray for this little guy. The Lord has His hand on him, I know. Not sure what He is preparing him for, but his Great Grandmother once felt that the Lord was telling her that he would be an evangelist. It's looking like he will be a wandering one if that prophecy comes true. lol!
I know that his leash is going to be extremely short for a long while. He also will need to rebuild trust with us and his teachers. I've got a list of scriptures I will have him write so that he can commit them to memory. I'd appreciate further suggestions from my readers if you think of something.
I got a call today from my wife at around 2:30pm. The school had called her to let her know that our 4th son had disappeared. They thought he might have run away from the school campus. Apparently he had gotten in trouble with his teacher for lying about completing some work and was getting a demerit. (He has really been struggling with paying attention and fooling around both at school and at home. I attribute most of this to his age and the competition between brothers at home.)
His school punishment was to miss recess (he was to complete the assignment he lied about and also write a scripture concerning lying). Somewhere in that time period, he walked off campus. After a few minutes and some checking by the teachers and principal, they called all hands to look for him on the grounds. I'm not sure if any of the teachers got in their cars or not, but I suspect they were headed that way. They even had a couple of aides go on the roof to try to spot him.
I received a call from the State Police about 10 minutes after my wife called. He had picked my son up on a road about 2 miles from the school. There was a woman from one of the local businesses that had seen him and called the police. She had spoken to him and told him to stay put, but he kept walking after she went to get her phone. The Trooper picked him up within 100 yards of an extremely busy 4 lane highway that he intended to cross on his way. He called me as he was taking my son back to the school. Praise the Lord for His protection and timing!
I got to the school just in time to speak to the officer before he left. It happened to be a K9 unit, so my son got to see the trained German Shepherd as well. I thanked him profusely and he directed me to the principals office where he had taken my son.
When I got to the office, there were three of his teachers and the principal with him in the office. School was over and all the kids had left. My son was calmly seated and had been talking to them. He teared up when he saw me. I nearly cried, myself. We went over what happened and covered some of what could have happened to him had he not been found. When he left the school, he was headed for home. He was following the route that the bus takes when they come home each day. That is a 12 mile trip! I don't know why he was coming home, since he knew he would be in trouble there too. I guess he wanted to be the first one to tell us about his demerit (before his teacher called). He did mention that he was afraid he would be sent to the principal's office and get into more trouble. Not much else came out of the conversations. What else CAN you say!? We prayed together and thanked the Lord.
What's next?!?! This isn't the first time he's run away. He ran from home a couple of years ago. We found him safely that time as well by the grace of God. I don't know how he hasn't gotten the message that it is better to deal with what bothers him with those who love him. What causes boys to run?
Please pray for this little guy. The Lord has His hand on him, I know. Not sure what He is preparing him for, but his Great Grandmother once felt that the Lord was telling her that he would be an evangelist. It's looking like he will be a wandering one if that prophecy comes true. lol!
I know that his leash is going to be extremely short for a long while. He also will need to rebuild trust with us and his teachers. I've got a list of scriptures I will have him write so that he can commit them to memory. I'd appreciate further suggestions from my readers if you think of something.
posted by Slicer at 1/19/2006 09:42:00 PM
3 Comments:
Wow!!!!
I'm so glad he's ok. The little guy obviously has some stuff to work through. I can't imagine the frantic feeling you must have had, much less that of elation when he was found.
Is he pretty open with you? I mean, would he be receptive to a father-son man-to-man conversation? Does he (I know this sounds girly...) journal at all? I have NO clue if that will help, but maybe if he won't talk out loud about the things going on, he might at least vent them on paper where no one will see. Maybe one day he'd feel comfortable sharing it with you.
Hey, Franklin Graham did his share of running. You never know :-)
I suppose all you can do is hand him over to the Father when your eyes can't be watching.
I like what those two said and echo them. I will keep him in prayer, too, but would love to hear an update in the future about what worked and what didn't. I have a feeling that I may have to deal with some things like that in my future and tonight I just prayed that God would start to teach me what I need to know for those situations!
Glad he's safe. PTL for police officers.
Just wondering if I can still leave a comment even though my blog is dead...
I am very glad and relieved that nothing happened to your boy. My kids still remember yours - we really need to get together again sometime.
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