Wonderings--July 18

This morning I opened my email and began reading through a number of newsletters and daily blogs that I receive. Midway through the list was the most recent entry from "The Daily Coach." This is a leadership and sports daily email that talks about the challenges of success that we face each day. Today's post was about the British Open which concluded on Sunday morning.

As I read the post, I came across the following summary point in the middle of the article. The author writes: 

"For growth to occur in any facet of our lives, we need to experience the pain of the problem in order to enjoy the ecstasy of the solution."(Emphasis in original). 

I thought about those words for a moment as I looked across my desk at the devotionals the youth and I are going to be working through this weekend on their summer retreat. As I re-read my notes and saw some initial thoughts that I jotted down, I began to wonder about the applicability of The Daily Coach's words for them? 

Some of the youth are excited; some are apprehensive. A few have a sense of how the weekend will run and others are just along for the ride. 

But in either case, and regardless of how they feel as Monday begins, God is with them. And yet as I affirm that God is with them, I know that we will be asking them to do some deep faith work. I will be asking them to hold the prophetic mirror up to their own faces and linger over what it reveals.  I will challenge them to articulate how God comes close in their time of need and be vulnerable, not to myself and the other adults on the trip, but be vulnerable to God. Let him continue to mold and shape them.

And this will be hard work. For much of their personalities and choices have been informed already by their culture and their worldview. School friends, work friends, social media, and other things have a strong influence over their lives. 

With the truth of this conclusion the words of The Daily Coach come back into focus. Growth requires some work--some pain at times. It requires breaking off, chipping away, that which does not bring glory and honor to God. Yet as we do this there is also a vulnerability that is drawn out of us. We stand bare before God in these moments and it can hurt to be this open before him. 

So I wonder as we the youth prepare for their retreat if you would say a little prayer for them? 

I wonder what words God might bring to your mind right now as you read this post and think about the hard work of the faith that your young people will do this weekend? Having already received your support for their trip physically at the pancake breakfast, now they need your prayers. 

I hope you will take a moment today and think of them. . . 

Blessings