Zack

One of my favorite pictures of Zack is also one that has some very painful memories.

I took this picture at our school's Christmas concert when Zack was in fifth grade.  

Why is it painful for me to look at?  See all those people to his left?  They are his classmates.  And, for some reason, they decided that Zack was not worthy of their attention.  On this day, as was usual practice, they went out of their way to flock together and leave him on the outside. This, in fact, was one of the main reasons I decided to get him out of that environment and bring him back to the 4th grade in January.

It was a difficult decision to make but, in the end, I knew I had prayed about it for months and that God kept leading me to make this move.  

And it has turned out to be quite simply the BEST.DECISION.EVER!

His classmates are outstanding.  And he has grown so much in the past three years.  He has gone from liking Pokeman to being crazy about sports and from a small, skinny kid to a tall(er), teenager who is pretty well developed muscularly. He has gone form watching cartoons to watching Sports Center 24/7.

I believe his knowledge and interest in sports coupled with his success on the basketball court has contributed to his rise in popularity among his classmates. But whatever the reason...he has quite a few friends!  

At the retreat I was talking to a father whose son is struggling socially right now.  And as i was telling him about the difficulties I went through with Zack, he seemed genuinely surprised. He said to me "Really?  My son always talks about how popular Zack is."

I hate that word popular and all that it implies.  But whatever you want to call it...Zack has come miles from where he used to be.

In the Computer Room on Friday I can't tell you how many times I heard "hey, Zack" because his classmates wanted his attention for some reason or another.  Yesterday, he had a friend over in the afternoon...even as he was getting a phone call from another friend who wanted him to come over.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for bringing him to this point.  But one reason that picture above is so important to me is that it is also so important for me to remember where he was..and thank God for that to.  It is all part of that painful growth I wrote about. 

Zack is only 13 and I know he is not finished with that painful growth...but for today, I am thankful that things are going well for him.