Once Upon A Time: Billy

There was a little boy who loved to play in the back yard that was on the edge of the alley. He found many interesting things back there because he often wandered out into the alley. Billy was his name and he frequently brought some of the treasures he had found into the house. Mother would fuss at him when she would unexpectedly encounter strange items in his room. "Billy, this has got to stop. These things belong outside."

Being a divorced woman her nine year old son was totally her resposibility. His father had taken up with a woman in the office where he worked. Billy at the time was only two months old. No longer was the man's wife or new born son of any importance to him. All he had to do was pay some child support and go on with his life. Not so for this single mom.

Billy had fun in his back yard but there were times when he was very lonely. There were times when Billy thought about kids he knew who had fathers and this made him feel even more lonely. They would tell in school of going to ball games with their dads or hunting/fishing and so on but he never had anything like this to share in class. Classmates would call him names like "sissy" or worse.

His mother worked out of the home and came home in the morning very tired. She tried to spend some of this time with Billy but was so tired that this didn't work out very well. She didn't care for sports so he would watch them alone on TV at night while his mother worked. There were times that he would spend most of the night up watching TV or playing games. Some of the things he watched on TV were not what a boy his age should be watching and the games contained violent things but what else was there??

There was a man at the house next door doing some work and Billy just happened to get nosey. As usual Billy was in the alley playing and the man working on the house next door was having lunch. He was seated in an areaway on the steps leading to the porch. Billy walked right over and began to talk to the man. Since the man was working on the house Billy could see no reason to fear.

“Hi there, what’s your name?” Came the voice from the man nearby eating his lunch.
“Are you talking to me? My name is Billy.”
“Have you had lunch yet?”
“No, my mom will call me when it’s ready.”
“I would have shared mine but I just finished and there’s not a crumb left”.
Billy went over closer to where the man was sitting and saw that the man was now writing with a stick on the ground in front of him. He couldn’t make out the words because he was looking at it from an angle.
“Whatcha writing?” he asked as he moved closer.
“Bet you can’t even read this.” The man moved so Billy could see better.
Billy looked closer and saw words he had not seen except for what is on the walls of the toilet stall in school. These were a bit different though in what they had to say. Usually the words were filthy and this said something different. It was in fact an invitation for a sexual play. Billy told the man, “I can read that but it’s not nice and I wont do that.”
“Come closer to me and I will show you that it is nice, in fact it's very nice.” The man then reached out and touched Billy on his privates as he touched his own. “Don’t you want to feel good? I can make you feel very good.” Billy slapped the man’s hand away and ran from there.

Billy ran home but never told his mother anything that had happened. He had lunch and thought about it. In bed that night Billy thought about this and soon found his hand reaching to where the man had touched earlier that day. Billy found out something about his body that night before he fell asleep that he had never known before.

Billy pondered what he had experienced and began to wonder if this was what boys and their fathers do when they are close. Is this what it’s like to be loved by a man? Is this right? The strong sensations he had gone through the evening before and the things that occurred with the strange man were so overwhelming for him.

Billy never saw the strange man again and so wished he would because he knows he would act differently the next time. Next time there would be sharing of good feelings with the man who could have been father he never had. At least that is how Billy saw it.

There are literally thousands of Billy’s or Elizabeth’s in this world who, through no fault of their own, have had encounters with the same sex individual or the opposite sex individual that take them into territories where no child should ever be made to go. There are thousands of strangers such as the one Billy met who prey on these love starved children. Using their need for affection to fulfil the desires that enslave themselves. Bringing about confusion that will later cause them to make poor decisions.

There are also many older Billies and Elizabeth’s who have underwent some traumatic things in their life that have caused them to seek love in the wrong places and in the wrong ways.

There is nothing wrong with love. Love is good no matter who it is for, with, or towards. The problem lies in the demonstration of that love via sexual means. Since the sexual gift is so deep an expression of our love it is the one thing that for the human says it all. When we love with all of our heart or sense a deeper than we can express in words kind of bond, sex is where we go for that expression.

Someone who has just given you the greatest thrill and the most profound pledge of their heart, according to you deserves the absolute best we can give them in return. Not a wrong thing at all. But should that best be agreeable to God or does it matter?

This is where the rubber meets the road. What is most important to you? Here and now or eternity? Do you know what God has said? Do you believe God said it? What do you not believe and why? Tell me what you believe and what you do not believe.

How about you, the Christian who has sensed the call of God on their life to do ministry with these who struggle with same sex attractions? What are you ready for? Do you believe that God loves them? Will you want to show them that love? Are you interested in souls or quarrels?

The need is for tenderness and love from Christians who have hearts prepared by the Spirit of God to do this kind of ministry.

When I ask these questions, they are for only one reason, we cannot minister effectively in our flesh and we cannot minister to these with a whiplike tongue. I know, I found out the hard way. We cannot compromise truth but it must be seasoned with love. Remember that without love we are no more than a clanging cymbal. Lord help me to speak softly with love that can only be from You Amen.