Yesterday, at Safehouse Outreach, we had our monthly Advisory Board meeting. As in
each of these meetings, one of the staff members will share about their department and their latest work. This month our Mentoring Program Director
Errol Boyland was invited to share.
He began by saying, “It has been said, ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend.’ We men like them every now and then too.” The room had a good laugh and then he continued to share this story about a young man who was a shining diamond in the dust.
This all took place earlier in the week at the gathering Errol and his wife, Darlene, lead at the Forest Cove apartment complex. Just to set the tone, Forest Cove is one of the darkest places I have ever visited. When we did an outreach there on MLK day there were about twenty to thirty drug dealers hanging around as we began setting up. I can remember seeing beer caps ground into the sidewalks all around the complex. Many of the apartments I got a glimpse of were dirty and in need of much repair. We were told by some of the people that gun shoots are heard in the area on a regular basis. Forest Cove is a dark cave of despair.
Each week Errol and Darlene go to Forest Cove to lead a gathering in one of the family’s homes. When it came time to read the scripture, a seven year old young man asked if he could do the reading. Errol was slightly hesitant to let him as he was not looking forward to a seven year old stumbling through the words. However, he agreed and the young man began to read. Much to everyone’s surprise this young man began reading like a pro. Even the big words were no challenge for him.
Once the gathering was over, Errol took the young man to his mother, as his father is in prison, to brag on him. After they told the mother, she went to back room and got a notebook full of this young boy’s achievements. This seven year old is an amazing student and is even being considered to transfer schools to one more challenging for him.
Errol wanted to reward the young man’s academic achievement and show some positive reinforcement in his life. So he went out and bought the boy a skate board, helmet, and pads. When he delivered the skate board the young boy was so excited. Tony Hawk, the pro skater, is one of this boy’s biggest heroes and now he too has a skate board.
When Errol shared this story, he kept coming back to the idea that this boy was a diamond in the ruff. As dark and dingy as Forest Cove is, it had produced an amazing diamond. Errol finished by asking the entire room, “What if this young man had the right influencers around him? What if he had a mentor to help lead him in the way he should go? Imagine what an amazing shining diamond he could be.”
As I walked away from the Advisory Board meeting, a different perspective came to my mind. That is the perspective of the diamond miner. There are diamonds in caves all over the place. The problem is that there are not enough miners willing to get dirty enough to dig them out. You see, we all want to wear the shiny diamond around that has been mined, sized, cut, and polished, but how many of us want to go into the dark dirty mine to get it? I am so thankful that Errol and Darlene love the children of Atlanta so much they they’ll go into any mine to look for diamonds sparkling in the dust. I am challenged by their constant commitment to live love in the lives of these kids.
Perhaps Errol is such an amazing miner because he is such a beautiful diamond himself. Through his life he has risen above homelessness, addiction, gang banging, and more. He came out of a dark cave, has been cut and shaped and now is a shining diamond who seeks to mine out the beauty in others. Thank you Errol!
If you are interested in becoming a mentor please contact Errol or Darlene. This brilliant seven year old boy still needs a mentor. Become a diamond miner yourself.
