Last weekend I drove to Baum Stadium parking lot to find
dozens of kids and leaders dancing around cars as they waited, giddy to head to
Castle Bluff for a retreat called Polar Bear Weekend. For two days each Fall, leaders all over Arkansas get to
spend intentional time with the kids we’ve been chasing after all
semester. I was especially excited
on Friday when I saw that two high school girls I’ve been meeting with had sleeping
bags in hand and playlists ready for the drive.
Over the next two days we sang (yelled, really) at club together, shared dry shampoo (showering is overrated), took a ton of selfies (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=selfie), all mainly while talking in accents. I love how fun Young Life is, but I also love the fact that you get so “real” with people. Sometimes I think the kids teach me more as a leader than I teach them.
One of Jesus’s most challenging commandments is to love
others. It sounds so simple, and I
would say most Young Life leaders genuinely want to love people (or else they
wouldn’t do all that they do).
However, this becomes really difficult when the theory of loving people
is actually a reality, especially if those people are different than you. I am always very humbled when I realize
I will say I want to love the poor, but when the poor aren’t victims in a
far-away place but are people who are around me so much, who test my boundaries,
who annoy me, or seem to poke right at my insecurities, I quickly realize I
have a very big need for the Lord.
So, this weekend there was one of those moments. A very precious high schooler from another area started gravitating toward our kids. Angel* was an outcast among her peers as she did not have the social etiquette that some are taught at home. She was sweet and excitable and absolutely genuine. All Saturday afternoon we had free-time at camp, so our kids wanted to do outdoorsy things, but Angel really wanted to play a game. As she thoroughly explained the rules, hoping peers would want to play, and as she sang Disney songs all afternoon, you could see high schoolers make snide remarks and want personal space. But then that moment happened. As others were backing away and finding other things to do, Alex invited Angel to do the ropes course with her. Angel was scared to do it, but Alex patiently listened to her talk about games and sing songs, and then helped her overcome her fear afterward. Alex genuinely met Angel where she was. Alex got it. Alex was not only a believer in Christ, but a follower. Alex loved the poor in spirit, and she was an incredible example to her peers.
Moments like that are the reasons why I will go through a
hundred moments of sacrifice for a kid.
Jesus changes people, and I believe it. He loves people for who they
are, but He also knows the people they were meant to develop into. It is a joy
to be a part of that—to see a kid changed by the Gospel; to be a new creation. Alex is just one of a ton of kids in
Fayetteville who are EXPERIENCING Jesus.
Praise the Lord.
*All names are substituted to protect kids.
Katherine Haworth, Fayetteville High School Leader
