How This Book Came to Be

"Mister, what's God like?" That's the question that started this book. It was asked several years ago on a trail leading to the campfire circle at Camp Vick, the Western New York Baptist Camp. The answer to the seemingly simple question came without the slightest hesitation, and with the authority of a theological education, plus several years' experience as a pastor, and above all with the confidence that was expected of an "adult leader." "God," was the answer, "is like a father."

The reply from the boy came slowly and devastated the adult leader, his experience, his theological education, and the confidence that is expected of an "adult leader." "Hah," the boy said with much venom, "if he's like my father I sure would hate him." The rest of the trip to the fire circle was made in silence. The "adult leader" was never the same again."

Try this one. An eight-year-old girl, abandoned on the streets of a large city, asks, "If God loves me like you say he does, why did he let Mommy and Daddy go away on me?" If you try to answer this remember that you are speaking to an eight-year-old who has never experienced parental love–a girl who has known little of family relationships except that she is not really a child–she is an intrusion.

Or what about a boy whose parents are "winos" or "junkies," or a combination of both? He asks about honoring your father and mother. There is of course, a Christian answer to this. The problem is, how do you verbalize it? How do you talk of the love of a father to a boy whose concept of a father is that of a "drunken bum" who often wakes lying in his own vomit and who fails to provide for his children? How does one honor him? Or when the same thing applies to a mother and some of "her men," where do honor and respect come in? Honor, respect, love: for many of the children who have shared in the writing of this book, these are merely words that have no meaning in demonstrable concepts.

[The author, in his ministry to inner city children, chose to tell stories from the Bible, then invited them to re-write the accounts in their own language and setting.]

*******

The version of the Twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord is Like My Probation Officer...," was done by one boy and myself. The young lad was the victim of what psychologists call a "rejection syndrome." He was quite convinced that no one in the world had the slightest interest in him, and he expressed a longing for someone to whom he could turn. We were seeking for something that would have meaning to him. About the only one he could think of who had shown interest in him was the Probation Officer, for whom he had great admiration. Thus by our working together, this boy was able to express his feeling and establish a relationship with a person, which he could then translate into a relationship with our Lord.

*******

The Lord is Like My Probation Officer... Psalm 23

The Lord is like my Probation Officer,

He will help me,

He tries to help me make it every day.

He makes me play it cool

And feel good inside of me.

He shows me the right path

So I'll have a good record,

And he'll have one too.

Because I trust him,

And that ain't easy,

I don't worry too much about

What's going to happen.

Just knowing he cares about

Me helps me.

He makes sure I have my food

And that Mom fixes it.

He helps her stay sober

And that makes me feel good

All over.

He's a good man, I think,

And he is kind;

And these things will stay

With me.

And when I'm kind and good

Then I know the Lord

Is with me like the Probation Officer.

–God is for Real, Man, by Carl F. Burke, Chaplain of Erie County Jail, Buffalo, New York; Association Press, New York; ©1966 by National Board of Young Men's Christian Association.