Jesus sure loves these kids

Over the weekend, I was on the phone with my brother, discussing some of the things that kids in middle and high school go through.  I  has telling him about a particular student, who has a remarkably broken past.  I won't go into any details, but imagine the most heartbreaking story you have ever heard, and then make it about five times worse, and that is this girl's life.  At fifteen, she had been through, seen, and done more things than any person should ever have to go through in their lifetime.  I know a lot of kids like that.  So much brokenness, so much pain, so much hurt, and so little joy in their life.  Sometimes it can get very discouraging being around so much brokenness.  Part way into our conversation my brother says "Geez, do you have any happy stories?"  And my response was "Yes. I got to tell that girl about how much Jesus loves her." 

The story doesn't have a remarkable ending.  The girl moved away, but still keeps in touch now and then.  I don't know if she has accepted Christ as her Savior.  But I know she knows about how much Jesus loves her, and I pray that the seeds that were planted in her heart will eventually grow, and that she will choose to have a relationship with Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.

Every Monday night is a happy ending, because every Monday night, a group of kids hear about how much Jesus loves them.  Eventually, they are going to hear it so much that they will believe it in their hearts.  Every other Thursday night is a happy ending, because a group of middle school kids hear about how much Jesus loves them.  Those are happy endings.  It used to be scary to tell kids about Jesus.  Okay, sometimes it still is.  But right now, it's just exciting.  We are so excited to tell kids about how much Jesus loves them, even if we don't see the immediate fruit.  I believe what the Word says, "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to carry it to completion."  I believe that a good work has been started in these kids.  Even if I don't get to be there for the ultimate happy ending, even if I'm not there when they begin a relationship with Christ, I know in my heart that these kids have heard, repeatedly, how much Jesus loves them.  We can't force them to believe it.  But we can keep telling them, and keep showing them that love.  So that's what we do.  And it's working.

There is a kid, let's call him Bob, who I used to see at the high school all the time.  Whenever he got an invite to Young Life, he would firmly say no, and eventually asked us to stop asking him to go.  That was last year.  This year, he comes every Monday night, has started going to church with one of our leaders, and helps with the middle school group on Thursday nights.  Bob used to go to church with his family, but they stopped going several years ago.  Bob is now active in his relationship with Jesus because of this other kid, who we will call Joe.

Joe started coming to Young Life when he was in 8th grade.  Joe became friends with Bob in high school, and Joe kept asking Bob to come to youth group, and this year, Bob finally agreed to come.  Now Bob and Joe come together every Monday night, and they both help on with Thursday nights.  When Bob started going back to church, Joe started going to church again too.  Bob and Joe both have an active relationship with Jesus, and are both plugged into a church. 

The day before we left for camp over the summer, someone couldn't go, so we had an open spot that was paid for.  This kid, lets call him Fred, got to go to camp, and ended up accepting Christ as his Savior.  Fred has a friend that lives with his family, who started coming to youth group with him.  Now they both come.  Fred's friend doesn't know Jesus yet.  But we are praying he will soon.

There were 2 best friends at the high school, who would never come to Young Life last year.  They were very against the idea of coming.  But then one of them moved to a different school, and when they couldn't see each other every day, they realized if they both came to Young Life, they would get to see each other at least once per week.  They were both very open about the fact that the only reason they came was to see each other.  Now they both come every week.  When I texted them to let them know we weren't having Young Life on Veteran's day, their responses were "That just ruined my night" and "Noooo!!!!"  Every week they hear about how much Jesus loves them.  Now they both bring friends with them each week, and those friends get to hear about how much Jesus loves them.  One of the girls is trying to start turning her life away from partying, and start relying more on Jesus than on alcohol.  Even if kids don't come for any reason other than to hang out with their friends, I'm okay with it.  Because they are going to hear about Jesus whether they like it or not.  And they are beginning to hear it so much that they are beginning to think maybe it's true.

We don't always see immediate  fruit.  We don't always see the change we want when we want it. But these kids are going to keep hearing about how much Jesus loves them.

Zombie Apocalypse

Even the leaders have become zombies!

The Zombie Apocalypse is upon us.  Personally, I'm not a huge Zombi fan.  I don't understand all of the hype behind this new fad.  But let me tell you, middle schoolers LOVE zombies. The night was full of eating handfuls of cold spaghetti (it look like they are eating guts, see pic below), zombie tag, fog machines, strobe lights, and as we always have at our Wyld Life event, Pie Your Leader in the Face.  Kids get to vote who they think should be pied in the face.  This week instead of whipped cream, the pie was made out of cottage cheese dyed pink, so it looked like brains.  It was disgusting, but the kids loved it. And what is Zombie tag, you ask?  Zombie tag is when you take a fog machine, fill the room with smoke, turn off the lights, turn on a strobe light, and choose one person to be a zombie (or "it").  The zombie has to walk like a zombie, groan like a zombie, and try to tag, or in this case "infect" everyone else.  When you get "infected" by the zombie, you also become a zombie, and have to infect other people.  It's quite the sight.  The night ended with Emily Simons talking to the kids about how sin can be like a virus that infects us - and can spread to every part of us, until it has completely overcome us, just as a virus turns a person into a zombie.  She discussed how sin can completely ruin us, and we don't even know it.  A person doesn't consciously realize they are no longer human, and have become a zombie.  Overall, it was a great night. Next week - Fake Injury Night.  Can't wait. 

The winner of our Zombie costume contest!

Zombie eating guts

Wyld Life Update

An update from Emily Simons, our Wyld Life (middle school Young Life) leader


 I wouldn’t say that little demon is the best way to describe a middle school student. Neither is wonderful angel or angry porcupine or hyperactive squirrel or distracted puppy or playful kitten or cupcake. A combination of all these things would be perfect, but the word comes out as demangporsquirpukicu and that’s just too long. Middle Schooler really is the perfect description; after all, how many people get chills down their spines when they hear that there were 40 Middle Schoolers at one event.
At the last club I was supposed to be the only adult, so it was decided that a Movie Night would probably be the best option, just so there wouldn’t be more craziness then I could handle. The flyers read: “Movie Night, Toy Story 3, Popcorn, Soda, Prizes.” Expect the unexpected, or in this case expect the expected. What was I thinking?! Give them soda and they’re all going to be perfectly content sitting down and watching a movie? One kid was so hyped up he couldn’t stand still long enough for me to grab him a bowl of popcorn and the majority of them couldn’t focus on the movie. Before I knew it they were playing foosball, pool, and they had a game of Ultimate Frisbee going on outside. Thankfully I did end up having two adult leaders there that night. I’m not sure what I would have done. One of them managed to break up a fight before it really happened. I talked about forgiveness that night, about how choosing to not forgive someone can cause a lot of bitterness and that Jesus has given us forgiveness the ability to give it to others.
Despite all the craziness, the night was a success. The students who went got to have fun and all of us leaders were able to build relationships and to get to get to know 16 students a little better. It may not have gone how I had envisioned it would but it did turn out the way God had wanted it to. Also, I learned something: if there is ever a night where I need everyone to be super crazy, bring soda.