Last weekend there was a Young Life regional committee weekend where volunteers from around the state came to Sitka to learn more how to better facilitate Young Life. One of our speakers said something which has really stood out to me. He said the reason he is involved with Young Life is because God has put the young people in his community on his heart.
"...what wakes me up in the middle of the night is the thought that kids in my community would graduate high school without having a chance to hear the good news of the gospel of Christ "Personally I have had far less noble things that wake me in the middle of the night. Hearing our speaker Eric Protzman say these words reinforced the importance of the mission of Young Life for me. In his final address to staff in 1970, Jim Rayburn (the founder of Young life) sums up all of what Young Life is all about:
"Its a group of people bound together with the single-minded purpose that there is no price too high to pay to see to it that young people have a chance to know the savior."
Young Life to me is a faith based group of people who care about kids and want to demonstrate to young people that each young person is important and is also infinitely valuable to the heart of God. Young Life is all about forming relationships and we focus on: being with kids (going to where kids are ), sharing life together (being a support, sharing fun experiences), and discipling kids who make a decision to follow Christ (while still loving the kids who chose not to follow Christ.) Young Life tangibly represent who Christ is to kids.
Jesus reminds us in scripture that their is a cost to following him. The world is full of people who God wants to reach and he uses people like us to reach them. He wants to reach the people at your work and people at the store. He wants to reach your neighborhood aw well as places like Alaska, Africa, and the Middle East. He uses people everywhere as he transforms hearts and lives.
My prayer is not that every person would support Young Life, my prayer is that we all would be faithful to seek God and serve God where he call us. My hope is that we would be faithful to respond to Christ's words. My prayer is that we would count the cost, take up our cross, follow Christ, and be transformed. There are so many noble missions, great organizations, and wonderful people into which we can invest our time and energy. I pray that none of us would be so busy that we would put off God's calling.
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