Bobby Rattoe, a 21 year old orphan, is one of the funnest guys to be around. He is always making jokes and loves to make people smile...when he IS around that is.
See, in Liberia, young boys make money by driving motorbikes as a form of taxi. This is what he does and he is very good at it. (I rode on his bike several times!) Riding a bike in Liberia is the most expensive way to get around. Every time I saw Bobby he had a wad of cash in his hands and it became his biggest obsession. He would leave early in the morning and come home late at night. In Africa, after dark, is never safe. I didn't notice it was a serious problem until I heard he wasn't going to school. I told him that if he was staying in the compound he had to go to school! While I was back in America, he gave up the motorbike and started back in the 11th grade!
I was so proud of him!
When I returned to Liberia this past December, he had broken some rules (stealing) and left the home and stopped going to school. My heart was broken.
The Wednesday before I left, Bobby surprised me one night and showed up on my front porch at the home! I was so happy to see his smiling face but more happy because now I knew I had the opportunity to talk to him.
We talked for half an hour and he assured me that he would start doing the right things, go back to school and apologize to Mother. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Sis Molly...this is my home."
I left Friday and he was still on the compound. I gave him a hug and told him that I believe he could change his ways.
So now, here I am 5,000 miles away and I get a phone call. Bobby left, again. My heart once more, breaks for him.
I think of him daily. Asking myself, Bobby what are you thinking? Where are you sleeping? And who is feeding you?
I was troubled with all these thoughts going through my head at 90 miles an hour and I read Allison Whitley's status at the perfect moment. It said:
"Parents have an amazing influence over their children, but there isn't a formula or an algorithm that guarantees a positive outcome. Consider this: If perfect parenting were possible and always resulted in perfect children, then Adam and Eve should have been flawless. Not only did that have the perfect Parent; they also lived in a perfect world. And yet they still chose to walk away from Him."
-Carol Barnier
There is no formula for the perfect child. Mother has raised Bobby just like her other 72 kids. I have treated and prayed for Bobby just like I have the other 72.
You will always have that one (or a couple) who walk away from God. Just like Adam and Eve.
I was that one, I walked away from God. As my parents did for me, I will do for Bobby...pray. Just pray that Bobby somehow finds his way back to the light. Pray that God protects him through this rebellious time.
I know God holds Bobby's future.
I know Bobby will find his way back home.
