Project Destiny Update 3: Samson, Medical Fiascoes

The second week of PD has concluded and I have a few stories to report. One of them involves one of my students from JQUS-- an 8th grader who was my 7th grade student last year. We'll call him Samson. I remember one day last year, Samson got upet at me during class and challenged me to a fight. "Meet you afterschool and we'll settle this," he had said.

"Ok, you want to settle this? We can settle it," I had said, agreeing to meeting him. What have I just done? I remember asking myself. I've accepted a student's challenge to fight! When Samson arrived afterschool, I tried to think quickly. I wondered what he was thinking. Suddenly, inspiration struck-- I had two play swords mounted on my walls for our drama unit. I challenged him to a fencing match! I got to teach him the rules and beat him a few times before letting him win. Thank God we turned that situation around!

Since then, a lot has gone on with Samson-- he started coming to our Friday night youth groups regularly and he's in Project Destiny this year. Just this past week, I got to "go to bat" for Samson when he unexpectedly found out he had to go to summerschool and thus miss PD. He was pretty upset when I called him on the phone that night. I reassured him, saying I'd go find out what was going on, and that he should not worry too much.

The next day, instead of going to the field trip with the camp, I met with some of the administration at my school. The details of that conversation are not subject to public disclosure, but after talking about a few inconsistencies, we sorted out the fact that Samson would not have to go to summer school. When I finally arrived at the field trip site, several hours later, I got to talk to Samson, whose appreciation and thankfulness could not have been more evident. It was definitely one of the blessings of doing this work. I can see how Samson is becoming a lot more comfortable with church and the people there.


On another note, we sent two students to the emergency room this past Friday. One of them fell off a swing and crashed, chest first, into the ground. He soon started coughing blood. Fearful of a Drew Bledsoe type injury-- remember when he tore one of his arteries in the 2001 season, just before Tom Brady's ascension?-- I called in an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He eventually checked out ok.

The second student had a random piece of debris fly into his eye and it got stuck there. He said the pain rated an 8/10-- 10 being the worst pain you could ever experience. Ouch. So I accompanied him to the hospital, where they removed the debris and gave him medication. The nurse, who had seen our staff there earlier commented, "You're keeping us in business today. What are you doing to those kids?" Maybe she could ask, what are they doing to us? In all 6 years of doing PD, I've never had to talk to our Medical Consultant. On that day, we called her 3 times!

On another note, I am now completely funded. Again, thankyou so much for all your financial generosity and your prayers. Please pray this week for continued energy and health, as I've been feeling a little under the weather. Thanks again.