Youth Ministry ... No Greater Job in the World

This year I have seen an incredible amount of transition ... great, wonderful, amazing, hard, challenging transition that has resulted in me absolutely loving the south. Because of the amount of time spent taking care of youth pastors and learning a new job/area/systems/culture, less was spent on taking care of MC students and middle school kids. While that won't change considerably, now that I've got the job/area/systems/culture relatively figured out, I will definitely achieve a better balance. However, as I was reminded in a text today, you and I are still preaching even if we get the opportunity to share very few words.

One of my favorite female MC students this past year texted me today...
"I just want you to know that there were a few key people this year that made a huge impact on my life ... not by talking to me or any of that but by me watching the integrity and character they had from a distance that made me want to be better ... and by far you were on of those people. Thank you for that!"

Another middle school student back in Indiana, whom I love dearly, had a rough weekend. Via email, I was able to share a couple of thoughts on how to deal with someone who wounds you when you can't or are unable to share it face-to-face. I gave this simple advice...

"1. Write down my feelings (just like you did).
2. Pray about it and sleep on it overnight (maybe two nights). Sometimes in anger, frustration and hurt we initially say things harsher than we really want or mean to.
3. Sometimes I will throw the letter away in the morning because I was too emotional the day before. However, if I think I still need to send it, I re-read it and tweak the wording.
4. I ask someone else that I trust and feel has huge amounts of wisdom to read it and get their advice and input.

That's about it. I go through the four step process because words are so powerful (the Bible say they have the power of life and death). Once said, I know they are hard to take back, so it's really important to say them carefully."

I don't know if my few words of advice helped, but when I think about trying to navigate the waters of adolescense alone, my heart breaks.

So, we need to learn as much as we can and share as much as we can (and, a given, pray as much as we can). I will never forget the advice Ginny and Mel gave me about what they learned along the way with their own kids. Ginny said her son would write down what he was feeling when he was angry and fly it down to her in a paper airplane. Mel said she and her daughter kept a journal in a drawer so her daughter could write down her thoughts uniterrupted when she was angry, then Mel would write back ... uniterrupted. What wisdom ... glad they didn't keep it a secret, I've used it a gazillion times when talking with parents.

What a privilege it is to impact the next generation. I don't want to ever take it for granted or do it without intentionality ... even if I only have a few moments.