We put our heart in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. --Psalm 33:20
This weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to be chaperone for our middle school youth at a youth conference/event called Youth Quake in Indy. Using the word "chaperone" still weirds me out. After I got out of confirmation at 16, all of the youth ministers have called me a "tweener". I have gone to so many youth ministry events at my church, traveled around the country for mission trips and done a ton of these events as a youth. Then I moved into a junior guide during high school and a model for the younger kids. Now I'm 22, a real grown up adult in the youth ministry world. I still can't believe it.
God works in amazingly mysterious ways. When we finally got to Indy on Friday night, I ran into a family friend of mine. His name is Ron Goodaker and I've known him since I was 12. Basically he went to our church for four years and made a big impact on our youth group. The last time I saw him, I was 16 and we coached a soccer team together. Ron was one of those guys that every youth looked up too because he took the time to get to know us. He was the first youth leader that really took me seriously. We talked about my faith journey since then and where it has taken me with my life. This just illustrates how He puts people in your life for a reason. No matter if they leave your life for awhile, they will come back :)
At these events there are ministry teams called Captive Free that lead worship and run the show. Basically for a year they have given up their lives to do Vacation Bible Schools, events like Youth Quake, and Zone's all over the country. They are a trained band and worship that are lead through a program called Youth Encounter. Growing up we commonly had these band mates stay at my house while they hosted VBS at our church one week each summer. All of them are amazing and devoted Christians that really live the faith walk. They take faith to a whole new level.
Saturday is always filled with worship, fun activities and what we call "treks". There are about 10-15 hour long treks offered that the kids can go do ranging from talking about surviving middle/high school, learning more about the Bible, interacting with the Captive Free team, listening to people witness and so on. They are always so much fun to go to and listen to people talk about their own faith. I went to one called "Modesty is Hot: Girls Only" with some of my middle school girls. The speaker was Miss Indiana International, a pageant contestant. The really cool part though was that just last year she was on a Captive Free team. We talked about how we are daughters of Christ and when we show that we are, God lights us up-we are truly captivating. (I'm pretty sure that Miss Indiana, Kasi, has read the book Captivating by John Eldredge before.) She ended up coming to dinner with our group that night and Kasi made it her mission to get me to at least apply for the next round of Captive Free teams. It was a blessing to be able to share my own faith journey with her. My favorite part though was when Kasi said Captive Free had been in my life all these years for a reason. Don'tcha just love when God speaks to you through others? It's like the whole world just goes, "CLICK!!"
Captive Free lets each team, usually five members a piece, travel around the country. They are the front line for Lutheran youth ministry in the US. Members sing, play guitar, drums and keyboard. All year they live in churches and a 15 passenger van. With my background in music and youth ministry, this could also be an amazing opportunity. Maybe this is my chance to combine my two loves-kids and my faith.
My mind is still spinning from this weekend. I met some great kids in my group. I love this age of kids because they are awkward, but yet that doesn't deter them from being who they want to be. There a couple of youth especially that got me thinking. One girl, Taylor, is 12. She was the girl that would be in the middle of the mosh pit of youth, doing all the hand motions to songs and encouraging all of the rest to do the same. She clearly wears her heart. The beauty of it is that she doesn't care what others think of her. Taylor knows that God is with her and made her this way for a reason. She is the kind of youth that makes everyone around her smile. She lights up the room. I had the best conversation with her about her faith this weekend. It was deep, no doubt. I honestly have never seen a young one this close to God before. She makes ME inspired.
We also have what we call "junior guides" come to these events with us. They are typically 9-12 graders that serve as the connection between the youth and the adults. Youth Encounter gives them opportunity to lead worship and the church devotions at night. One of our these special young ladies is a girl named Teague. Yeah, I know, awesome name right? I've seen her at church before but never really talked to her. Little did I know how much of a faith powerhouse she was. Teague is a senior in high school and at a large crossroad in her life. She lead my small group during evening devos. Even though the guides have a script for these, Teague made it her own. She got questions that made all of youth, guides, and adults all really dive deeper into their faith this weekend. Teague is such a unique young lady and I can see the light as God's daughter in her. Like in the book Captivating it says, "A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough. She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in him, she is enough."" Teague IS the woman from this quote. It is beautiful to witness.
That's why even though being a "chaperone" is still odd to me, I will accept it. Teague and Taylor are the kind of youth that make me think back to when I was a youth at a Youth Quake....ten years ago I went on my first Quake. Now, ten years later, this was my sixth. It's crazy to believe. I love how God connects us all. Seeing the youth this whole weekend grow stronger in their faith gives me hope. The theme for Quake 2011 was that God is our shield. We talked about how he is our father, protector and leader all rolled into one. He is the warrior that fights so much for us day to day. Faith is a journey of honesty, openness, perseverance and expectations. The speakers talked about how alot of times we expect so much of God. We often say, "If God loved me then why would he make my family member get sick," or "If God loved me then why would he let me go through so much pain." We expect so much of our Lord when in fact, He died for our sins. He put his own Son on the cross for us. The beauty of life is that He walks hand in hand with us. He knows that with His help, we can handle anything. God is our shield and the true warrior. Live your life with hope.
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