The encouragement that I received was simple…

Resist the urge to reign down moral judgement on others, but rather focus on sharing the hope of Christ. Seek daily the ability to pour mercy and love on others as freely as Christ has poured his love and mercy upon you.

Take a moment to watch: Jesus Wants The Rose – Matt Chandler

Paul found himself on the street within 2 weeks of high school graduation after a series of disagreements with his mom. Needless to say, we did not know what we were getting into, but God had intersected our paths. The details of his life were very complicated, and I could go on for pages explaining it all. However, what is worth mentioning is that Paul was a bright kid who needed a break.

That night that we met Paul we hooked him up with a hotel room until we could regroup and determine how to serve him.   Within a week, some mediation between Paul and his mom had him back living in her home with some agreed upon terms of engagement. This was the first break that God gave Paul in this situation.

Next, Gordon began negotiating with the High School to let Paul do what he needed to graduate. This is where it became complicated. Paul was a bright guy, but he was lazy and irresponsible. There is no way to sugarcoat the description of Paul’s habits at that time in his life. Paul had overrun the high school’s allowable unexcused absence by 20 days.  Technically, he deserved to fail his senior year and repeat it all. But, God showed mercy to Paul for a second time.  The high school administration was willing to forgive the absences if Paul would pass all of his final exams.

Within a week, Paul had taken all of his final exams and the verdict was returned. Paul would not graduate with his class that spring.  He had not passed his British Literature final exam.  But, amazingly, Paul was shown another measure of grace.  The administration agreed to allow Paul to take the British Lit class over during summer session through the pleadings of Gordon on his behalf.  So, a summer of British Literature commenced.

During this summer term, another series of blessings came Paul’s way.  He became engaged with our fellowship of believers at Sovereign King Church.  We found that Paul had been gifted faith in Christ some years earlier and wanted to renew a pursuit of growing in his faith.  He began to form many mentoring and supportive relationships with the men of our ministry.  Paul began to attend worship services regularly.  He plugged into weekly men’s study and fellowship events.  And, even got a summer job working for one of the small business owners in the church.

But, what about summer school? How was that going….The answer was…not too well….

As Gordon checked in with Paul’s guidance counselor he found that Paul was continuing his habits of skipping class. Ultimately, he did not meet the terms of the agreement with the High School and did not graduate by the end of the summer session.  But, the breaks that God had cut Paul up to this point were not squandered.  Additional leniency for Paul was asked of the High School once again.  And, amazingly, he got one more chance during the fall semester to make good on passing British Literature.

Many men, with Gordon leading the way, came together to  provide Paul with some uninvited accountability.  With some Old Testament weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, he completed the class and received his High School Diploma in December. The Sovereign King Church Family rejoiced with Paul.

Now what to do?  Where would Paul go from here? What would Paul pursue after high school?

The answer from Paul was — The Marine Corp.  One small problem though, Paul was packing 260 lbs on a 5’8″ frame.  The Corp requirements for that frame was 185 lb.  So Paul began to work on his goal.

From January through April Paul put in the physical work to drop down to 205 lbs. At the end of April, he signed as a Marine Corp recruit on a weight waiver.  Today, he graduated from Parris Island 2nd Battalion boot camp as Pvt Paul Pagan, USMC with distinction as a sharpshooter.  He now walks confidently at 185 lbs with a gait that exudes discipline. To top it all, he was tapped to be trained as a Computer Data Analyst and will be shipping off to California for training in this field after a month of Warrior Training in Camp Lejuene, NC.

I thank God for his mercy and grace in Paul’s life. Today I am as proud of Paul as if he were my own son.

Private Pagan and Gordon Duncan