The Hardest Thing - My 14th Blog

These are the blogs of my last month in youth ministry and some lessons and things God has taught me:

THE HARDEST THING ABOUT YOUTH MINISTRY

If I had a time travel machine first of all I would be the coolest and most popular nerd in the world!! And second of all I would take it and travel back in time over the last 13 years I’ve been working with kids and use it in my youth ministry to travel into the future with each and every one of them. Go back in time just to travel into the future?? I am just that crazy.

This is what I would do. I’d take two separate trips with each kid. The first would be with them making the very best decisions that they could make in every aspect of life. I’d take them to say age 40 which is really really old. I’d have them staying in church, growing close to God, reading their Bibles, praying, staying 100% away from any form of alcohol, no premarital sex, no addictions to pornography, dated with a purpose, smart with their money, clean mouths, etc… And I’d let them see what their life looked like, every aspect of it.

The second trip I would make would be the total opposite. I’d still take them to when they were ancient and 40 but this time they have made the total opposite decisions. Out of church, never read their Bibles or pray, alcohol socially and alcohol recreationally, sex is just a casual thing not a spiritual thing, addicted to pornography, dated just for pleasure, horrible money managers, etc… And I’d again let them see what their life looked like, every aspect of it.

Now I know the Christian life ain’t easy street and nowhere does God promise a life of luxury for making all the right decisions. In fact I believe it is harder to be a Christian than it is to not be one. But I would make these two trips every single time and know that the outcome of the first trip would ALWAYS be better than the second one because I know 100% of the time that being in the will of God is better than not being in it.

So this brings me to the subject of my blog today. The hardest part of being in youth ministry is most definitely seeing your kids make bad decisions and the consequences they have to live with. If I had a time machine I know I could convince them to make good decisions but all I have is my words and I’m not very good with those. I know I don’t make the decisions for anyone but myself but you still can’t be in this job and not take things personal that you see people you love doing.

I like Facebook and Twitter for keeping up with people but I also hate it for being able to see what goes on outside of Sunday morning and Wednesday night. I love hearing from former students and running into them when I’m at Wal-Mart :) but I also hate it because of some of the updates I hear from them not only about themselves but also others I have taught in the past. Divorce, DUIs, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sex how God did not intend it, drop-outs, financial issues, arrests…I can put a young name and a young face to all of those things.

I have a theory that one of the reasons that the ministry of Jesus on Earth was so short was because He constantly kept seeing all the bad things people doing despite Him teaching them firsthand the ways of God. I might be wrong about that and it won’t be the first time, but I think it was hard for Jesus to see those things. It had to be because He hates sin. Just a thought.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go work on my Flux Capacitor.