Dog Days of Summer

I feel a little weird about the title of this post, if not only because I don't think we should be allowed to have them in the first half of the summer. But I'm no meteorologist... If there is anything these ridiculous temperatures have done, other than scorch our lawns, it has driven us to the lake to escape the dense never-seen-A/C air of everywhere I live, work, and drive. I think I've been to the beach more times this summer already than probably the last 3 combined. Living in a small town means that often everyone has the same idea, which for us means huge ministry opportunities. 


Over the past few weeks, we've taken kids hiking on the mountain, to the beach, and met up with them at the skate park, pier, and lots of other places around Collingwood. What an incredible way to reconnect with our youth after 3 weeks away for training and holidays. Being able to meet up with them, planned or informally, during these times allows us to remind them how much we care for them and how much we enjoy being in their presence. We talk a lot about the sense of family and community, and how we seek to build positive memories with our youth, and these connecting points that we all share together. 


We have about 8 youth that we see nearly every day of the week. It's amazing how our relationship with them grows when it moves beyond our drop-in or high school connections to really living our lives together. We spend lots and lots of face time with our youth, and that is an incredible privilege. We find out what is going on in their lives. We support them as they need to find housing, jobs, or reconciliation with family and friends. But far more important, we pray for them, and with them, and we share the hope of Christ with them, in hopes that they receive God's strength to persevere for even the next minute. 


Those type of moments don't typically happen in the midst of a busy drop-in program (although they do), or a quick stop to chat on the sidewalk. They happen when we spend hours and hours growing closer together and sharing in this wonderful, weird community. 


In a couple of weeks, we will take a group of our youth to CampFire. My goal this year is to have 10. I'll leave that in God's hands, but we know that regardless of who comes, they will become a part of our wider Youth For Christ family. They will join the mix of crazy laughter, poignant stories, and sometimes intense self-reflection. And through it all will be a mix of loving staff and new friends who welcome them, no matter what is going on in their life, and who will become a part of that youth's summer story. The dog days of summer are so much easier when we can live them together. We bear the humidity a little more gracefully, splash each other in the cool water, and look forward to our days spent together. And that is why I love this time of year. 

I'm Going To Punch Her Face In...

Anger is nothing new to me. I dealt with it many times growing up, and it's something I'm not proud of. As with any struggle in life, I still see it creep up from time to time, and have to deal with it before it rears its ugly head. Perhaps its the heat, or the stress of the end of school, but anger has been a common theme here over the last couple of weeks.

I used to think that being filled with rage was just a matter of youth not being able to deal with their issues in a constructive and healthy way (although there is lots of truth to that). But as the years and number of youth that I see increase, I have realized something really important: sometimes they have a lot to be angry about. There are members of The Door community who have been told by their parents that they were a mistake, and that they shouldn't be a part of their own families. There are youth who have experienced years of abuse, bullying and neglect. Labels, names, and rumours begin to take their toll on these lives and souls. 

I sat down with a couple of our girls this past weekend, and as we talked one of them said to me, "I'm on my third assault charge. If I get one more, I'm probably going to go to jail." She breaks the idea of who we "think" should be angry; she has a supportive family, she does fairly well in school, and appears to have it all together. It's amazing how often we miss the fact that any youth can struggle with this, even when everything else seems all together. 

One of the painful parts of being a person in conflict is that often we don't reason well, or in my case anyway, keep people at arm's length because we are ashamed of what is actually happening inside of us. This is the ministry environment that we are working in right now: a number of very angry girls who can't see things objectively, or have the courage to walk away from a situation instead of making it worse. I've been there, it's not fun. 

We want nothing more than for them to experience true freedom from this weight in their lives. We pray that while they can't change all of the circumstances in their life, they can begin to face them in a more healthy way, one that leads to resolution and restoration instead of causing more pain and brokenness. And in our case, we believe that the only way to experience this is through Jesus Christ - I know this to be true because I have experienced it. I have experienced coming to a breaking point and giving up my anger to God, and experiencing the grace of having it replaced with, well, grace. 

Some of this is just stuff that needs to be worked out as our youth mature. But we are so honoured to be walking alongside them in this difficult time of sorting things out, and pray that we are making an imprint on their lives, equipping them to deal with conflicts as they arise. And we pray that they come to know the freedom of giving it up, letting it go, and experiencing transformation and becoming a new person in Christ. 

Transforming a Generation... One Life at a Time.

I just got back from Tim Horton's. In what was supposed to be a 2 minute pit stop, I left 20 minutes later, having run into 6 of our youth and one volunteer, all there for different reasons. Maybe this is why some weeks I don't get much work done. This is one of my favourite parts about Youth For Christ, that we are not chained to a desk, or even a youth centre for that matter, since we have the freedom to meet those we work with right where they are. There are definitely times where they come to us, The Door is a prime example of that, but the rest of our ministry involves meeting them at lunch for Campus Life, grabbing a drink at McD's, or even just running into them as we are out and around. And that is where our best ministry happens. 


I once read through the Gospels where I focused on all of the times that Jesus was interrupted in what was "important" and "necessary" ministry. It happened a lot. Think about all the times that Jesus and the disciples were interrupted by those needing real ministry, now. People crashed into meetings, grabbed hold of him while he was walking, and even dug through ceilings just to get his attention. How differently we would perceive Jesus' ministry if He had said, "I'm sorry, you'll need to wait. I'm really busy right now" instead of acknowledging their need in that moment. If he had ignored those who were unclean, broken, sick, and full of sin, what would His ministry have looked like? Would there have been any ministry at all, or would it have been lost in the midst of a fantastic miracle? 


And of course, I can't think about that without looking back at the times where I have been like that. Times where my to do list has outgrown my "to care" list, my "to love" list, my "to listen" list. That's happened often, and sadly, sometimes recently. But as we head into summer, where we always get excited for how much time we have with our youth, I hope that I can keep Jesus' example in mind. Some of the best times of ministry are the times separate of any program, free of any need to impress anyone, and with nothing planned. Some of the moments when we can be most present with our youth is over the simple things, where little thought is given to what we're going to do next, but instead turns to each other, and towards caring about our friends. I hope I have more days like today. And I hope that I am aware of the Spirit walking alongside me to lead me into those areas of ministry, where Jesus can shine through me and allow me to unconditionally love and encourage those I walk with. Our statement here in YFC is "Transforming a generation... one life at a time." Today, that is a good reminder for me.