Nigel

I was on the way to work today, and I stopped at a local gas station to get some breakfast. As I'm pulling into the parking space in front of the store, there is a guy there, smoking a cigarette, half standing in his car's spot and the empty space I was parking in. He moved out of the way.

I got out of the car, nodded at the guy and started heading for the door. I hear behind me, "Mr. Kelly." I turned around, looked at his face, and recognized him as Nigel. A guy I taught in Banks County when he was in the 7th grade. He would be 17 or 18 now.

I talked to him only for a minute. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade. He has a baby, and two more on the way this year. (And I don't think by the same woman.) He response to that was "I gotta straighten up".

That was a real downer. Even though he was heading for that life when I had him, and he was in a group of the roughest boys I have ever taught, it still hurts my heart to see that previous life forecast come to fruition. I cared about that kid, and I hate to see it turn out that way. Now he's working doing roofing, and he's got child support ahead of him that his foolish mind can't even begin to imagine. That was tough to see. I pray that someway, somehow, God will pull him off the path he is blindly heading down, to a place I wish no one to go.