What can I tell you? It just never gets old.

We just celebrated our annual Award Night, honoring young people for their achievements in school, sports, music and the general program. We watched young people who were labelled with every learning disorder in the book receive Honor Roll awards, former street punks and drug addicts receive awards for their character and leadership on the sports teams, and kids who everyone had given up on receive awards for their improvement in the program.

Take Rafael, for instance. He grew up without a dad and basically threw away his high school education while he was living like the devil. On one report card, he received a star (*) to indicate that his average was too low to be listed. Yet this year, with his mom at his side, he received the award for doing the most work in school, as well as for being the Most Valuable Player on the football team.

Miracle after miracle.

I’ve often said that Freedom Village is a great place to hang around. It is so neat to watch God turn a parent’s tears of sorrow into tears of joy, as their child is honored for their hard work and character. God is doing a great work in the lives of these young people.

It just never gets old!