by Heather Phillips

In the past couple of years a change has been occurring within me. I used to be (and often still am) a judgmental sort of person. I started noticing myself having negative judgmental feelings toward others who were doing something unsafe such as riding a motorcycle without a helmet, or speeding and passing unsafely while driving.

My natural response to this would be to get angry, and think that the person would “get theirs” by ending up in an accident – so obviously not a very Jesus-like response.

Then one day while I was driving and a young man on a motorcycle popped a wheelie on I-95, I realized that if Jesus were seeing this person he’d want to show love, not judgment. All of us are guilty of using bad judgment somewhere in our lives; and we wouldn’t others to think worse of us, or judge us unfairly because of it.

So, instead of giving vent to my negative feelings of how stupid my fellow man could be, I prayed that God would keep the young man safe. I do that now whenever I see an unsafe situation people are involved in. The people I pray for may never know it. However, I believe it makes a difference not only for them, but it has been transforming me from the somewhat self-righteous person I was to someone who cares about people whether she knows them or not.

My dear friends, Jay and Cathy Robinson, have been on the Young Life staff for a long time now. I get their digital newsletter from Tulsa, OK, where Jay is the metro director. This is an except from the most recent issue, which I thought gave some really powerful examples of what ordinary attempts can end up looking like in the adolescent world. Young Life volunteer leaders know that evangelism is a spiritual practice.

From the Front Lines

When we invite people to volunteer as a missionary with Young Life, we have a four week training process where we give them all the tools they need to effectively reach kids with the Gospel. But as with any “real life” scenario, the theoretical and the practical are not always the same. Here’s what it’s meant to be a Young Life leader in Tulsa in the past month…

* You have a girl in your campaigner group who has recently been in drug rehab. Late one night you get a text message from her. She doesn’t want to talk on the phone, or in person, but she’ll text (it’s what kids are comfortable with). So you spend the next hour texting back and forth as she’s wrestling with addiction and questions. “Why do I feel this way?” “Does God care about my addiction?” “Why shouldn’t I just give in to the temptation?” You don’t have all the answers, but you love her and she knows it.

* You have a high school friend who loses a loved one. You show up at his house late in the evening and sit with him and his family. The four other adults in the room are smoking which puts enough of it in the air that you’re smoking too. You don’t mind because it’s a small price to pay as an expression of love.

* You sit with a group of teen moms trying to have a Bible study. There are 5 kids running around in the room so it’s difficult to lead a discussion the way you’ve been trained. Somehow you end up discussing tattoos, specifically the ones all of your girls are wearing. You don’t really have a personal reference point, but by listening you discover that for each of these girls, the tattoo is an expression of who they are. They want to be known, so they put a little bit of their story on the outside in the form of body art. Now you know them better, and love them more.

* You have a kid that comes from a difficult family situation. You are aware that this kid doesn’t eat on a regular basis (there’s no regular basis for anything in his world). When he shows up at a lock-in, you knowingly ask if he’s had something to eat. When he responds “no”, you give your credit card to another leader and tell him to go get the kid a meal, no questions asked, it’s just the right thing to do.

We can train all we want and we can prepare for every situation, but when real life hits, love wins the day. Thanks for supporting Young Life, and allowing us to love kids right where they are.

Dear Lord, Give us the Leaders

In the above article, you read about the heart of a Young Life leader. We’re praying for 60 leaders by March 15th. There are 8300 students in the schools were we currently have YL and there are 17,500 in the schools where we do not have a YL presence. The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Will you join us in praying for 29 new leaders and 6 new YoungLives mentors by March 15? And let us know if you are interested or if you know someone who is.

Young Life, Tulsa
10010 S 70th East Ave | Tulsa, OK 74133-6221 | 918 665 8525

by Tracey Connolly

I witnessed a random act of kindness today (what we call an “Ordinary Attempt here in DE Land) that moved and humbled me. I was thrifting at the WARC on Keystone (in Reno). This little gal that works there has some special needs. She went to up to a gal that looked like she could use some help. She looked a little sad and tired to me. The little gal said “That is such a pretty necklace!” The gal took it off and handed it right to her.