Walking with the Wise

This week, one of our 5th grade boys (I'll call him Camron) was brought to my office because of his disrespectful attitude. Camron often struggles with his attitude and making the right choices. He is in that tough place of being pulled in two different directions - that of following the "in" crowd that are making the wrong choices or doing the right thing. In C4S language, it's like Pliable who can't make up his mind if he is going to be on the King's team or the Wicked Prince's team. Anyway, we were talking together and I was at a loss of what to say. I felt like I have talked to him numerous times (actually I have!) about the same issues and I was tongue-tied. The only thing I could say to him was, "We need help right now. It seems like you end up here alot lately and we need the King's help." He agreed and we prayed to the King for help.

Literally, right during the prayer, I felt the King say to me, "Show him Proverbs 13:20". After the prayer, I said to Camron, "The King just gave me a Message for you." He looked at me quizzically and seemed intrigued. I opened up the Bible and let him read it: "Anyone who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." We talked about what that meant and I asked him to tell me who his companions are. He listed them and as we did, we categorized them as either being "wise" or "foolish" (according to the King's standards) and talked about the real-life consequences of hanging out with both kinds of people. He realized that the reason he kept ending up in my office was because of the companions he was hanging out with. Together, we brainstormed different King's Kids that he could hang out with that would help him to "grow wise" instead of "suffer harm." After we prayed to the King to help Camron to choose his companions wisely, he quietly asked, "Um, Ms. Jackie? Could I have that verse written out for my pocket?" I was happy to oblige.

P.S. I saw Camron in the hallway today during C4S and asked him, "Are you walking with the wise today?" He flashed me the biggest smile! Guess that means yes!!