Dear folks,

Today in Sunday School we were reading from 1John 3, about loving others being essential to being true Christians. Then in church both the communion scripture & the offering scripture were from the "lost son"... prodigal son story. I became overwhelmed with the need to pray for two students I've mentioned before. No, not Unloved & Probably Pregnant ... rather the 2 students some of us teachers feel will some day be serial rapists or killers. I was certain that at the end of church, I would get up & ask the church to pray for them, but at the invitation something made me stop. Now for the last 3 hours they've been on my mind still.

One of them comes to Flirty's room (who by the way isn't flirting anymore) during lunch time, & I am there at times too. I always feel very uncomfortable... violated.... in that boy's presence. I have shared that with Flirty, and have tried to explain why. Late this week, the boy came up to me and apologized for not being as nice to me as he should have. I do not know if Flirty talked to him about it, as I've not seen him since early in the week.

Like I've said before, these boys do not say anything that if typed up would be recognizable as threatening in any way. They do not use physical gestures to make suggestive or threatening messages. It is too hard to explain... maybe pheromes... I don't know. I just know we women instinctually are creeped out by their presence in our rooms, and yet I feel compelled to pray for them, and to have others pray for them. I know God tells us to pray for people by name, but obviously I can't give you their names. I don't want to call them "raper" & "killer" because they aren't yet, & hopefully never will be... so our code names for them will be Will & Lloyd.

And I want prayers for me. I will probably encounter Will many more times in the next few months and maybe even years. I need to feel God's presence when he is near. I need to know what to say. Maybe I can say something that will help to prevent violence in the future... I don't know. I just know that the last thing I ever expected from Will was an apology, and though there are manipulative men who apologize to make us women lower our guard, I want to be able to trust his apology. I want it to be a real apology. I want Will to know God & Jesus.

I'd like that for Lloyd, too, but I don't have him in class this year, & he quit visiting my room since Christmas. In the fall, he was constantly asking me if I missed him this year. My standard outloud response has been, "Your absence was noticed." My inward response has been embedded with profanity describing him & praises to God that somehow Lloyd did not have to retake my class even though he flunked it last year. Not a very Christian response, I know.

So anyway. Please pray for Will & Lloyd that they will come to know God & Jesus, and have lives that are blessings to others. Please pray that Flirty & I will know what to say & do so as to have a positive impact on their lives.

Thanks, and may you feel God's presence in your life too.