I just spent a weekend with 30 middle school students. Yes… on purpose. This image pictures so beautifully the wonder and amazement that I continue to have as I work with this age group. They teach me more than I could ever hope to teach them. This weekend I expressed that the thing that scares me most about leaving The Chapel & ministry geared specifically to teens is that I may grow old in the exchange. Working with students has forced me to see things as only teens can. I have been blessed to be surrounded by their enthusiasm and refusal to accept anything that is less than real.
Teenagers demand authenticity. They have forced me to be who I am… nothing more… nothing less. As I have attempted to live honestly with them, I have seen their progress. But more importantly I have seen mine.
Students confuse many people. They seem to be disengaged and floundering in their stabs at maturity. Yet I see them as fluid and ever desiring to become what they were intended by God to be. In the middle of what would frustrate most people I have found Jesus in the chaos. Thanks to students for teaching me what it means to follow Jesus.
re:THINK 