What do you do with a bipolar kid?

That's the question that I was asked tonight. And I can't get it out of my mind. 

I work for a nonprofit health center. Part of my job is to go out into the community and make people aware of the services that we offer. It's one of my favorite aspects of that job. I get to meet a lot of people from our neighborhood and generally get to have some pretty cool conversations. 

Today I was at an open house for one of our elementary schools. A family came up to our display and I struck up a conversation. The crew consisted of two a few adult females, a teenage girl and a few younger kids. I told them about our health center and some of the services we offer. When I mentioned that we offer behavioral health services, one of the adults quickly pointed out that she (the teenage girl who was standing with her) goes to a shrink. I felt a little uncomfortable about the way she talked about the teenager at that moment, but I just kind of went on with the conversation. 

The crew walked away, but came back after just a few minutes. They wanted to grab a flyer with our information and, of course, grab another 8 or so water bottles that I was giving away. But as they approached the table, I was asked the question. One of the younger girls, maybe ten or so, looked at me and said "what do you do with a bipolar kid?" The entire group was there, including the teenage girl; the subject of this question. I was flabbergasted that they were talking like this about the girl with her right there. How humiliating for her. My heart broke for her as she was being belittled right in front of me. It was almost as if her struggles were a scarlet letter. 

I fumbled over my words to come up with an answer and something came out of my mouth along the lines of "I'm not a medical professional, blah blah blah."

Then, God kicked me in the nuts.

And when God kicks you in the nuts, you notice.

I quickly changed my answer to simply say "you love them. Just like any other kid, you love them."

She heard me, and I don't really know what she did when I said it, or if she even thought twice about it. But I've thought more than twice about over the last couple of hours. And it's challenged me. What do you (I) do with...

... A bipolar kid

... The kid in youth group who knows how to push all my buttons

... The homeless guy who is always asking for money, and doesn't spend the money on something necessary 

... The girls I drive by on the streets every day on my way to work who have a scarlet letter of their own

You love them. Because that's what Jesus did to me.