Francis

Yesterday was Francis' 21st birthday. What a special day for a special person, whose life has been changed by some force we can only gladly identify as God.

I first met him on the streets fronting Delta; he had just gotten out of rehab, and wanted nothing more than to go back home to his mother. I must admit that I was a little afraid of him - I remained so for a few months after that first encounter - because, although I already knew most of the "hardcore" street teenagers, Francis was their recognized ringleader. But that late evening, as we sat on the sidewalk in front of Red Ribbon, I saw tears flowing down his weathered, Apache-Indian-like face, and my heart melted. In the next several weeks, as he adjusted to life back in the Center and I tried to adjust to him, we "levelled-off" in an area both of us were well-familiar with: meal time. He would ask for seconds, and I - even though there was hardly enough to go around - would never refuse him. It got to a point when his request and my response became a familiar refrain: "Ate, pahingi pa po ng kanin," and "Basta ikaw Francis...alam mo namang malakas ka sa akin."

And he has remained malakas in Ate's favor all this time. I must add that the feeling seems to be mutual - I remember one day during lunch when the "natives" were particularly restless. I only had to "sssst! sssst!" softly, and Francis immediately shushed everyone else up. One day, over mealtime Bible study, he got so caught up in Kuya Joe Dean's sharing about using what was in our hands for God's greater glory that he never took his eyes off of Kuya, his mouth agape in awe...I wish I'd caught that moment on film! We started calling him "Saint Francis" soon after that.

Francis was eventually adopted into the boys' household, where he had to adjust painfully to a regimented life with all sorts of "prohibitions," where he is no longer "the boss" or the kingpin everyone has to kowtow to. But - praise God! - in a matter of months, the morose, violent young man addicted to rugby and dangerously sensitive to issues relating to his domestic past, has become a healthy, smiling twenty-one year old given a new lease on life. He recently graduated from a welding skills course conducted by a Canadian expert, and is a valuable player of the local basketball team. He even has a girlfriend who lives just across the street from the household, and seems to have adjusted to his new life in the Lord. A far cry from the tearful bully of Delta - and more like the tearfully joyful Saint (one of my personal favorites) he was named after.

Basta ikaw, Saint Francis...alam mo namang malakas ka sa akin. :-)