I'm just gonna be honest and say that, for me, those moments have happened most often among big kids. You guys, they are incredible. They are real. They are honest. They are kind when you show them how to be and sometimes even when you haven't shown them how. I mean no offense to the grownups out there...well, unless you are guilty of a steady stream of being UNreal and DIShonest and UNkind in which case I guess you may be justified in taking offense.
Back to what I was saying, though...one of my VERY fave moments with some big kids happened about five years ago and I wrote about it here if you are just wanting for more things to read. Another took place tonight, with a few grownups and about sixty big kids. It was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, but the fog cleared away from my eyes and my heart and mind screamed "Yes! THIS is REAL life. This is what we were made for." The things I am preoccupied with on a daily basis are really just stepping stones between the REAL moments of life, when life makes SENSE, when I remember the REAL why of our existence. Tim lead us straight up to the throne in worship, like Jesus himself was sitting in the middle of us, listening to our voices tell him he is the bomb. The boy/man Nathan (boy because I feel he is still that boy in our own youth ministry, but, alas, he is the man in charge) was real and honest and vulnerable as he answered real questions from the big kids. The big kids were brave as they asked questions and brave to be considering living fearlessly in those buildings we call junior high and high school.
Loving people and making God's name great as we journey...this is the real stuff. I wanna live like that.
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| Mr. Wood, our boys, and big kids...all of my favorites! |
