Monday, August 26, 2013

Missing in Action


 An update from my summer...

Well, it's been over four months since I've written on here & a lot has happened. You could say I've been "missing in action." Another school year of YL ended with new leaders, new ministries and new lives changed. I went to Europe for 3 weeks with 6 friends from BHS Young Life where we backpacked around 4 countries & worked at a camp in the French Alps (I know, not too shabby). I went to YL camp for 4 weeks where I dressed up like a penguin, wore a camoflauge dress with sequins and hot pink netting, lost my voice from too much singing, talking, and screaming and saw hundreds of teenagers from Raleigh and all over the US cross over from death to life as they heard the Gospel. And I spent a very fun week at the beach with my whole family and only slept in my own bed about 4 times all summer. 

                                         Documenting the sites we were seeing in Barcelona! 


                                 Laughing & trying to stay dry during a bike ride through Paris! 

                            Raleigh kids & leaders at Sharp Top Cove- a YL camp in North Georgia.


                              One of my program characters- "Sunny"- about to go on stage.


                                                 Yes, this is my job. I get paid to do this! :) 

                    And my 6 cute, hilarious, wild, playful nephews at our family beach week.


 And there are some changes in my life...

Since about 1995, I've been doing ministry with high school students- mainly through Young Life but also at my church and even in Uganda. This summer I made the leap into college ministry with the start of Young Life College at NC State and Meredith. A lot feels the same, but there are many differences. I'm sure, when I can actually find some time I will write about those differences here. 

One of things that feels the same is that we're still dealing with adolescence (and adolescents). Does that sentence even make sense? Well, if you need a reminder, adolescence is the period of development when a person moves from being a child to being an adult. Fifty years ago, adulthood started at 18. Today, adulthood seems to start at 22 or 25 even. Many may frown on this shift and think parents need to stop enabling, and kids need to start taking responsibility. Well, I'm choosing to look at it in a positive way- A longer adolescence means there are 4 (or 5) more years of development, where young people can actually grow and learn and discover and be shaped into people who love, serve and give. 

I want to be a part of this development at every stage- because I see so many lost and searching teenagers being shaped by the dead end pursuit of popularity, partying, materialism, and success, to name a few. These pursuits seem to temporarily fill that longing for eternity, but we all know, they never satisfy. And so many young people have taken what God created to be good- relationships, work, money, pleasure, learning and sex- and perverted His intentions. I want to be one of the truth tellers- of God's goodness, so that they can quit fumbling in the darkness and enjoy the freedom of the light.

Because of this trend and need we've seen in young people, in the past 2 years we have widened our focus in Raleigh Young Life to include outreach to middle schoolers and college students. While this has been extremely overwhelming personally, I am beyond excited about what God is doing and how He is using us to share the love of Christ to more people. 

The more I learn about the freedom, the fullness, the completion that Jesus gives, the more I want to share it. As many think that it's about God's rules and religion around us, I am convinced that it's about God's passion and power for us.

Please pray for me, for wisdom and generosity, for faith and reliance solely on the Lord.