First off, I must thank all those who were praying while we were gone at camp. What an amazing week it was. I must be honest and say going into the week I was not excited. I was not feeling the best physcially (and still don't...in bed sick currently), I had a mountain sized list of things I could be doing instead of being at high school camp, and emotionally I just wasn't ready. Regardless of everything I was feeling God still used this week. Looking back I am very happy that I went.
Not only did I get to invest more in the lives of the 8 high schoolers I took from our ministry, I also got to invest in the lives of 6 other young men who were placed in my cabin. My eyes were truly opened to the rawness of the pain that these kids are experiencing. From pressure to be the best in everything they do, to drugs/sex/partying pressure, to having a lack of a solid father to be their role model, to the realness of being a Christian yet admitting they don't live it, to deaths within family, broken homes, parents with illnesses...the whole nine yards and then some. Going into the week I really didn't feel equipted spiritually where I was at to go and mentor these teens...but I again God showed me how He uses broken people to help other broken people. There is something about understanding what a kid is going through and validating how they feel...not just validating to validate but because you honestly, whole-heartingly understand what they are going through.
God really challenged me to look deep inside myself this week and see all the garbage that is filling up my life and to see how that garbage seperates me from Him and seperates me at times from being able to see His purpose in my life. There are times when I honestly just want to throw in the towel. Youth ministry is hard, and honestly I don't think I ever expected it to be this hard. In past weeks I have really been questioning if this is where I should be or not; in that God used this week to say, "Derek, you are fulfilling My porpose, its not about you, its about Me".
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2 comments:
Don't ever let someone tell you youth work is easy! They just don't get it!
I enjoyed praying with you.
I know it has been a full week and an exhausting one, but praise God for what He has done through you!
With you in His Ministry,
Hey my niece just got back from camp with her church. She is 15 and lives in Prunedale, just outside Salinas... Any North Monterey County HS students there? If so, what a small world. Let me know
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