Youth Group

I’m sharing some excerpts from my in-progress manuscript about Rich’s Ride. You can check out previous posts here.

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After dinner we met in the parking lot of an old warehouse. Bruce and Becky unloaded the trailer while I watched the familiar commotion of teenagers entering the run-down building. Each time the door opened, music blared into the night. These kids were converging on an incredible Youth Group.

Bruce told us these young people arrived mostly by bus from low-income housing projects. We’d somehow overlooked those areas during two days in what seemed like a middle-class university town. I guess we tend to see only what’s familiar, or perhaps what we look for. In this space filled with worship music and adolescent energy, the incredible need couldn’t be missed.

While I waited to speak I spoke to the director of the youth center. He told me that nearly every one of the one hundred kids in the room would go home that night to some form of abuse or neglect—if they had a home at all. Several were homeless, living either in cars or as “couch surfers.” As I watched their worship time I wondered what I could possibly say to impact their circumstances. Then I remembered they were there to worship. It wasn’t me they leaned upon. They’d come to connect with the One who could change hearts and alter the course of lives.

So I talked and tried to be vulnerable. I hope I said something meaningful. They laughed, seemed impressed with the story of the ride, and hung out after to talk and check out the bike. But I was acutely aware that their world wasn’t going to be changed by me or my words. I couldn’t scratch the surface of their needs. But I could do the task Jesus placed before me on that night, and trust Him for the rest. That’s what those kids were doing. In the end, that’s what all of us can do.

You can leave that kind of experience in one of two ways. You might be sad, angry, or depressed about hungry, abused kids who don’t seem to have a fair shake. You can feel impotent in the face of so much unmet need in the midst of abundance.

Or you can choose to be grateful. Grateful for youth pastors and volunteers who don’t ignore these kids, for donors who support their work, for kids whose hearts are still open to Jesus in tough circumstances. You can be grateful for the opportunity to share an evening with these folks, to contribute in your own small way. You can be grateful for the ability to chase a dream and encourage others to chase theirs.

Choosing gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring the needs. It means acknowledging that you can’t solve them, either, but you can resolve to continue to do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

Clear eyes. Full heart.

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If you’ve enjoyed the updates from Rich’s Ride, please check out my blog at BOUNCING BACK.

We’ve got a great circle of folks who look at living life on purpose and following Jesus in the real world. I hope you’ll join us.

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