I’ve been thinking a lot about generations in the last day or two. Baby Boomers. X. Millennials. Honestly I don?t even know under which of those categories I fall under. Pretty sure I can scratch Baby Boomers off the list at least. Honestly though, it doesn’t really matter.
Whichever one I fall in, I think we’ve had a lot of junk thrown at us. That this upcoming generation is a bunch of slackers. Our lives revolve around technology. Materialistic. Too coddled because everyone needs a participant trophy and heaven forbid somebody realizes they aren’t as good at something as someone else. I think it is easy to say that a lot of this rings true when you look at us as a whole. Some of it definitely is true.
But here’s what I also know. We’re idealistic, right or wrong in our thinking. We’re dreamers as to what is possible and could be. We are movers. We are shakers. We have aspirations to see things change for the better. Not only to see it, but to engage and be a part of it. Just the same as past generations.
I have been down here in Georgia since January of this year. I started this apprenticeship program with about 25 others during that time. Last night, the 8 of us who completed the entire year were recognized for doing so. The others? Back home engaging in their communities. Overseas serving where God has led them. One has started a non-profit ministry focused on divorced women. They have a partnership in Uganda and will be traveling there next year to serve. Others have committed themselves fulltime to working with AIM. They’ve already stepped out in faith and are meeting the needs of those they see all around them.
Yesterday the 8 of us gave a presentation for one of our labs (classess), reflecting a bit on this year, but looking to the future. I realized in that moment I was sitting people who are going to make an impact on this world. They already have. Nobody is a superstar though. Not one of us was born into greatness. In fact, most have been through a heck of a lot of crap and only by the grace of God are we where we are today. It all comes back to a simple “yes” each of us said at one point or another. Yes to love. Yes to serve. Yes to fight. Yes to God. This goes for pretty much every person down here working for AIM in Georgia. Regular people in pursuit of an extraordinary God.
I am leaving in less than 3 weeks and I will be meeting up with 48ish others within my generation who have also said “yes.” They aren’t content to just be spectators to the world around them, but are offering up everything they have to follow after God. I’ll be with them for the first 5 months of their journey on the World Race. I can’t understate the honor it is to be with, serve, work with, learn from, challenge, and love them.
Habukkuk 1:5 – “Look at the nations and watch– and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”
God doesn’t need us in order to accomplish His will, but He does invite us to be a part of it. I’m in. And so are countless others. And I am pretty sure that I’ll be “utterly amazed” by it.
