As
we wind down the 2013-2014 school year and I look back over the past semester I
am reminded over and over again how faithful the Lord has been to us and to the
dream He has given us and each of you. Young Life is PLANTED… stake in the
ground, not going anywhere kind of planted! This is exciting, not because it is
Young Life (though we all know how much I love this ministry), but because
adults are loving kids in the name and GRACE of Jesus and watching them move
from darkness to light!
Before I give an update I want to share with you a verse that we talked about in our last club at Central: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John, and realized that they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and took note that these men had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:15)
We had just finished a semester of a semester of talking about who Jesus is and a couple weeks of what sin, the cross and the resurrection mean for us. Alot of our high school friends have been to church before and have heard scripture read but Jesus is not the focus...they do not have a clear picture of who He is or what the cross means. A relationship with Jesus is a foreign concept to most, but it also the most life-changing when it is grasped. Jesus is being made tangible; kids can relate to him. We are getting to demonstrate this scripture to kids as ordinary people that offer extraordinary love because we have been with Jesus. And kid's hearts are opening up to the idea of what it means to "be with Jesus" themselves. Pray that these awesome conversations continue and we look to the Lord continuously for direction as we walk through this with our friends.
At Windermere our combined Wyldlife/Young Life Club is going great and we have exciting plans to start a Young Life small group in the fall! This was a bittersweet last club for me because it will be my last time leading at this school…bitter because I’ll miss those kids but so so sweet because it means that our leadership team there is ready to take over fully. I am beyond proud of them and the way they love Jesus and those kids, please join me in praying with them this summer as they prepare for this new adventure!
In other exciting news, we will be starting two new clubs this fall, one
in Spanish Wells (led by a potential new staff) and one at North Eleuthera High
School. We have had people praying to get Young Life into these two schools for
years now and the dream is becoming a reality! Please join us in praying for
more leadership to come alongside these schools specifically and for us to be
sensitive to how the Lord is leading us in these places!
I
will follow this next piece of news with a separate blog post when we have more
details in place but what we do know is that after two years of people in
Nassau praying to get Young Life started there, the Lord is showing us that the
timing is right. I just interviewed and went through training with our new
friend Tyrra, who will be our first ever staff in Nassau! Please pray that the
meetings we have with committee and potential leaders there on June 1st
go well and that the Lord’s direction is clear as He leads us in these next
steps!
And finally, a personal note. Thank you so much to each of you who have
been so supportive of Ben and I and our family and we walked with my Aunt
Brucie to meet Jesus face to face. She was such an incredible woman and her
legacy is that she loved well and unconditionally, the same way she knew Jesus
loved her! She taught us to do the same. Her loss is unbearable at moments for our
family but friends like you guys have loved us so deeply and pointed us to
Jesus and His promises…and for that we will be forever thankful!
It has been a big end of the semester and I am still amazed and thankful that Ben and I get to be a part of all that the Lord is doing here! Thanks for being in this with us, making our work here possible through prayers and financial support and for being a part of getting to walk with kids into the incredible LOVE and GRACE of Jesus!
