- Laughter is essential: if you're not laughing at some point, it may not be worth hearing, learning, or experiencing. God is in that laughter, which brings joy, bonding, and care.
- It doesn't matter if you smell bad: let's be honest, teen hygiene is a work in progress. But I was astonished and thrilled to know that no matter how peculiar our guys room smelled or where the dirty socks fell, everyone was still more than willing to crowd in, eat pizza, share, and pray together. Simply put, no one, not even the girls, cared. They knew there were far more important things to pay attention to, as we joined our hearts and spent time with Jesus.
- To desire is often times better than to succeed: as adults we pride ourselves on how mature and quick we are to "get it" in comparison to teens who seem slow to learn. But perhaps that's because we're better at dressing up the outside. We have learned the art better of looking like we're all put together. In contrast, I learned a powerful lesson from the youth of having that desire be more important than simply completing another "growth" task.
- Looking at others should start with the heart: of course, whether we're teens or adults, we're all caught in the whirlwind of the visual age. But I was reminded by the youth this weekend to look just as much with my heart as I do my eyes. Every time I was feeling crabby, tired, excited, curious, mischievous, spiritually charged, or otherwise, the youth knew it. Often, they knew it before I did, and it wasn't because it showed in my face. My young friends saw it with their hearts. I need to do some more viewing with my heart as well.
If you EVER have a chance to join the youth, fusion, confirmation, or DZ students on retreat, mission, or summer camp, please assure me you'll consider it. It's life-changing, without doubt!
More to come!
Jason <><
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