Back in 2004, when Sarah and I first joined the work here in Tulsa, there was a teen girl that I was trying to reach out to and build a relationship. Her birthday came up, so I decided to surprise her. I got up that morning before school started and placed a pink flamingo in the ground right in front of her door. I put a "Happy Birthday" note on the plastic bird. She was surprised. All day she tried to think about who did it. She called around after school and finally found the guilty party.
I was reminded of that as I saw her again this past week at our annual church camp. A group of college students from the University of Southern Florida come over and run a camp for our Contact youth, first grade to high school. It is quite the highlight of the year. She and her brother now live in Florida with their dad. Since they have been there, there has been transformation. They are in far less toxic environment with stability and support. The college group is an hour away from them in Florida, so they have lots of interaction. We are praying for them to find a church family to be connected to as they go home this week from camp.
They don't make pink flamingoes anymore, at least the last factory closed down here in America. As I saw this young lady little did I know that a pink flamingo would be a sign of hope as she and her brother now live in the land of pink flamingoes, Florida.
