“Mom, the youth worship team is hanging out at the mall Sunday after the service. Can I go?” This plea was coming from our 13 year old daughter. Mind you, the youth worship team consisted almost entirely of university students, our daughter having been allowed on the team by virtue of being a good friend to one of the teammates. She was one of the singers. Oh dear, what to do? Amanda was an official member of the worship team. But at 13, we felt she was a bit young to be allowed to just hang out with such an older group. And, there was no way one of us parents could go along. Amanda would have died of embarrassment!
“Wesley said he would stay with me and make sure I’m OK”. “Who’s Wesley? And why should we trust him?” “He’s Ciku’s brother. He helps with the sound system”. Ciku was Amanda’s friend on the team. “We can’t just let you go like that. We have not even met Wesley.”
Finally, after considerable discussion and lots of nearly tearful pleas on our daughter’s part, we agreed to meet Wesley, after which we would make our decision. Amanda had been making her case on Saturday, with the following afternoon being the date in question. So, the only time to meet Wesley was right after the service, after which the team was to go for their event. Amanda arranged to have us meet Wesley in the parking lot of the mall.
We sat in the car, looking around, wondering how we were to recognize this Wesley, wondering if he was a trustworthy guy, wondering if we should just turn and go home. Amanda sat nervously in the back seat, while we nervously drummed our fingers in the front seat. After about 10 minutes of waiting (it felt more like an hour), a well-dressed young man came trotting up to the front passenger window…
I rolled down the window and made a quick mother’s scan of the young man. Hmmm…he seems benign enough. Good looking guy, but you sure can’t go by that! He thrust his hand through the window to shake mine and Chip’s and greeted us in the by now, well-known Kenyan way – very polite. Hmmm…polite’s good. He chatted a bit with us, while Amanda fidgeted in the back seat. I could hear her squirming. We asked all kinds of questions. I’m sure he must have felt like he was getting the 3rd degree interrogation. Wesley gave all the right answers. Hmmm…he also seems responsible enough.
Finally, we laid down the exact terms for Amanda to be allowed to accompany the team to their hang out and the exact time she needed to be returned. He assured us he would be completely responsible for her safe keeping and safe return. At last (I’m sure Amanda felt like it was an eternity) we reluctantly relented and let her go. As we watched our daughter happily trotting off with this young man, I recall wondering if we had just made the mistake of the century. The next few hours would be tense for these two parents.
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