Last Wednesday night, hubby and I were asked to help out driving the church van for the youth group. We had to pick up about 13 kids and take them to the church, and then drive them all home when Youth Group was over with.
We decided to go ahead and stay through the youth service, since our kids were in their own kids service, and we had nothing else to do. So we stayed. Hubby used to be a youth sponsor in there with several other adults while he was off work with his injury. Once he went back to work, he just never had time for it anymore. I was in my own small group on Wednesday nights, and didn’t think I was probably cut out for hanging out with a bunch of 6th-12th graders.
Over the last couple months, we knew the church was in need of youth sponsors again. It’s a ministry that is in constant need of fresh faces— handling up to 100 teenagers at a time can wear on a person’s nerves week after week. We had talked about maybe getting back into it, and maybe them asking us to drive the van last week was the sign we were supposed to get?
Of course, the van ride was Ca-RAZY! Seriously, giggling girls, cool boys, iPods, and cell phones with ringtones probably not appropriate for church. We just kept looking at each other wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. After we got to the church and the kids all piled out of the van, we said to each other “Are you ready for this?” and we headed in. I made a mental note to myself that I was going to keep an open mind with these kids, and watch for a sign that this was something I was meant to do.
The pastor that spoke that night was a guest from another church– young 20s, very good-looking, and dressed totally like a teenager. He had their full attention because he was funny and he just “fit in.” I liked him immediately. He was “cool” in my book!
The first thing that raised my awareness was the Scripture he quoted. Of course, I can’t for the life of me remember the chapter or verse, but it referred to “Teach me, O Lord, to number my days…” If anyone happens to know this Scripture, please let me know where to find it!
What does all this mean? He explained it meant that we should NUMBER OUR DAYS – live each day for today, and not worry about tomorrow. We should stop and think every single day – What difference am I making in the world today? Granted it was geared more towards getting the youth to help out and be positive role models in their communities, but I felt like he was speaking to ME.
I left that night feeling pretty inspired, but just one measly sign wasn’t good enough for me, right?
Fast forward to this past Friday night. I got a phone call from the church asking me to help out with Worship Team (singing) at their Friday night service. I wasn’t all that excited about spending my Friday night at church, but I knew they always had problems finding people to help on Fridays, so I agreed.
What was the sermon about that night?
Making a difference in the lives of our youth.
I about fell out of my chair. Our youth pastor (different than the one that spoke on Wednesday night) spoke of how the youth today are known as the
- Blank Generation
- doofus generation
- the “generation that won’t accomplish anything of historical greatness.”
- Nowhere Generation
I listened carefully as the pastor asked all of us adults in the room to ask ourselves – “What kind of role model are you for today’s youth?” Do we argue, cuss people out, bitch about our co-workers. And what kind of example does that set for our youth today? I listened as all of those bullet points soared through the air and landed directly on ME.
Of course, I guess I needed just one more sign.
See the next post for the rest of this story…
