i have been a youth worker here at my church for about 6 1/2 years. in that time i have come across some interesting kids who do weird things and make weird decisions. for everyone that graduates to a new season of life there is another one waiting in the wings to take their place. it is a neverending cycle. but i love the kids; they help me mentally stave off the impact of getting older. so where i might be 29, i am free to be much younger when i am around the kids. i get to shed my adult clothes for a getup that would be great for playing in mud. this last wednesday i had an encounter with a young lad that totally contradicts what i have found to be my youth experience. my experience is that as an adult leader you have to pry long and hard at most of these kids in order to initiate conversations that delve way deeper than whoopee cushions, family guy or the latest video game on the latest system. surface level talk grates on my nerves after a while. anyways, back to my kid. after every wednesday there is always a large group who go and eat at some cheap place to continue fellowship, play cards ect….. i hate driving so i typically will hop in the car of ethan (whose parents were missionaries to africa for years). this particular night, ethan brought a friend from school with him (former school, he starts college in the fall). i had never laid my eyes on him much less talked about the christian life with him. the first question he asks me is “so, when did you become a christian”? i have known this kid for all of 3 minutes and immediately he jumps into level 5 conversation. i have never had a student ask me my testimony, not even ones i have spent countless hours with. i found that refreshing, but that was not the end. i give a popcorn version of my testimony (about 4 minutes worth, though i could go on for hours in great detail recounting my story). he follows up his question with the following statement: “great story, i will be honest with you, i am finding pornography hard to overcome”. what just happened here?? did you really just tell me the biggest worldly struggle and how it impacts your walk with Jesus a mere 10 minutes after hearing me say this “hi, i am zach, what is your name”? my first thought was, wow, that took guts. my second thought and reaction was here, these are some tactics you might want to try to help overcome a powerful addiction that i believe most men deal with (christian or otherwise). my third thought was “this kid is really seeking accountability or he is just out in left field chasing butterflies instead of fly balls”. then i began to wonder how other christian men would have handled the situation. i have detailed my general experience with the youth, but my general experience with christians throughout my life is how incredibly judgemental we are. i wish that my experience with most christians would allow me to have the kind of freedom this young man felt he had with me. he told me his struggle and did not even bat an eyelash. down deep i am hoping that he understands true christian community; that the body is here to edify and come alongside fellow believers instead of telling us to keep quiet about our sin or point fingers, gossip and ostracize. i hope that this young man’s honest episode with me is something that he continues to live out all the days of his life.
that was very refreshing for me and i hope that the lesson this student taught me is something i will put into practice much more often than i do. i know that i am about to get the chance to practice what God taught me through this young man.
