Being the man for a fatherless boy

My young friend has come with his mum to church for a year now. The first time they visited was Easter Sunday last year and God saw fit to chasten my pride in what I thought was a truly inspirational sermon by permitting its frequent interruption as the lad jumped up and down in the front and turned the platform behind me (which I prefer not to use) into a climbing wall. There was no tender pastoral moment where I picked him up in my arms and kept preaching - I was ticked off. Not worried about the usual small church pastoral fear of "what if they don't come back", I interrupted my sermon with an important message to the smiling mum, seemingly oblivious to the inappropriateness of her son's behaviour: "Can you control your son, please." I suppose I don't actually regret it, as it seems it was the sort of strong lead they (or at least mum) wanted! They returned the next week and have only rarely missed a Sunday morning meeting since.

The boy is very well behaved in church now, normally sitting away from his mum on the front row. Sadly he continues to be badly behaved at school and home. The mum has complained to me and relayed the school's complaints. Neighbours have complained to me. What is to be done? He is a very naughty boy, but I am not the Messiah - that would be Jesus, who both this boy and his mum need.

I may not be the Messiah, but this boy also needs a man, and I am one of those. I'm told my young friend's father abandoned him and his mum around the time of his birth and is nowhere to be found. Few men are to be found as teachers these days. That means I need to be the positive male presence in his life. As someone who was one, I know that a boy needs to run, jump, and play like other boys. Sadly this boy is often indoors in a tiny bedsit flat, which only fuels bad behaviour as he can't expend his explosive energy. I have therefore taken to kicking a ball with him in front of the church and chatting with him when he feels like talking (not often - for a while I wrongly thought he could not speak).

Today I was immersed in study and wrestling with the text for my Sunday evening sermon when I heard his unmistakable yelling at his mum. I phoned her, asked if it was him, and left to play with him in the sun. He eventually ran out of steam so we sat and talked. We covered obedience, friendship, and in the above picture I think I'm talking about fear, after he mentioned being afraid of something or other. I don't know that any of it sunk in, but one day I pray it - and bigger subjects he hears about every week at church! - will. Will you also pray?