This... is something I am proud of:
One year in college, during the summer, we had a chance to join with other student leaders from other campuses for a month-long spiritual retreat. The place we stayed was a mission organization and they had dormitories at their world headquarters. We were allowed to meet and stay there for a month (room and board provided) in exchange for working outside around their campus in the morning hours. The afternoons were planned out with activities. I remember at the start of our month our campus director was very explicit with us: “Do not waste this time and opportunity. Because once you are out of college and working jobs and raising kids, you won’t have opportunities like this.”
The mission organization where we stayed had a full-time staff counselor to help with the needs of staff and missionary families on furlough. A couple of my friends had met this counselor at a conference and had consulted with him on a few things. This man was about 6’4’ tall, had white hair, and had the face of an angel. I have no other way to describe him – his face glowed, and he was extremely caring and empathetic. Most of us who got to know him tried to make sure we had a counseling session with him. I got my chance to talk with him as well, and I told him about what had happened to me and about some of my struggles when I was younger. He was so caring, and so encouraging.
Sometime after I met with him, he received a call from a dad in Texas. The dad wanted to bring his 13-year-old son to talk with this counselor. The dad had been referred to him by someone who said he was an excellent, caring counselor. After talking on the phone with the dad, the counselor agreed to see the dad and his son, so they drove up to meet with him. After their counseling session, this counselor approached me and told me a little about the boy and why he was there. The boy had attended a camp, and one night the boy’s counselor masturbated the boy in his sleep (the boy woke up, and only pretended to be asleep). This counselor asked if I would be willing to talk with him and the boy. The boy’s dad said it would be okay. Of course, I said, “Yes.”
The boy was aware I knew what had happened to him, and I don’t think the counselor asked him to recount it for me. But the counselor did ask me to share with him what had happened to me. So, I did. The counselor then asked us both a question. It was something like, “When you think about what happened to you, how do you feel?” I think we both answered with something akin to, “Bad.” I wasn’t really in touch with how I felt deep down about my own abuse, and I think being 13 and having had it just happen, the kid was probably unsure as well. But “bad” wasn’t what the counselor was trying for, so he tried asking us the same thing a couple different ways. Finally, he just had to tell us: “When someone does something like this to you, you can feel ‘dirty.’ Did it make you feel dirty?” Well, when he put it that way… I think we both confirmed it did. Then he turned to me and asked me this: “When you look at (I can’t recall the boy’s name, so I’ll call him Matt) Matt, what do you think of him?” I smiled and said, “I see a kid who does well in school, plays baseball and is really cool.” Then the counselor asked me, “Does what happened to Matt make you feel any different about him?” and I said, “No way.” Then he turned to the boy and asked him the same two questions about me, and he responded with something equally encouraging.
What an amazing gift that counselor gave to me and that boy that day: for the boy, he gave him freedom from shame – spoken over him by a college guy (me) who had been through the same kind of thing when he was a boy. For me, he gave me the opportunity to help a kid - who could have been me. I am thankful for the opportunity to help a kid like that, and am proud of that kid and myself for having the courage to do that.