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.