Our Other Kids.....

In a past life.....Pat and I were "youth leaders." As surrogate parents for scores of kids over years of time we developed precious relationships that have been maintained over the years. I met Stan while I attended the University of Akron in about 1980. Stan was a pre-med student. He was interested in my views about God which led to conversations with he and other of his friends which in turn led to a series of bible studies. He came home with me on the weekend and became a part of our family. Since then he has changed careers....moved to LA but has continued to stay in touch. On this visit he brought his friend Bless who now also becomes part of the Weaver extended family.......and on it goes......

Kevin was a 17 year old who as a teen was in a very disfunctional family in Texas. Having escaped from being held hostage at gunpoint in his home, he thumbed to his Dad's in Ohio. He came to our youth group as a troubled young man and found....Christ and people who "took him in." He fell in love with Tanya......became a youth leader himself and now worships with his family with us at Newark Naz.

..........and then there is Chris.....I first met Chris at our youth camp here in Newark. I was asked to speak to a youth group in Fork, Maryland where at about the age of 16 he was the youth leader. On one of his trips to Newark he discoveed a girl from Springfield who stayed in the girl's dorm in which Pat was "Dorm Mom." The two fell in love, got married and now have their own teenage kids.....

The moral of this story to me is.....invest in the lives of others.......it pays great dividends........eternal dividends..... in your life....and the lives of others........