Learning

Where to start? I finished a trip today. This may have been the hardest group of students to see leave. The main reason for that (I’ll be honest) isn’t because I really loved hanging out with them, but rather that I know where they are at with there walk with Christ and have a glimpse of the things they struggle with at home. So many of the kids need a community to help them through their walk with Christ. It was easy to tell that they desired more than just the high you get from being a camp where everything is easy. They want more, but have tough roads ahead of them to find that community. Please pray that God will hear all of these prayers and bless this group of kids with Christians friends and community that will hold them accountable and where they can grow and help others grow.

We setup this trip to include an extended solo time for the kids. God was definitely at work in that one hour of solo time that they had. Each of the guides went around to the students when there was about 2 minutes left to see if they had any questions with anything they’d been thinking about and then prayed for them. I know this was the highlight of the trip for many of the guides. We had such a wide variety of reactions from the kids during this. Some burst out in tears and opened up to the guides with the issues in their lives, another asked Jesus to come into his heart for the first time, and others just hung out and talked with us. I was able to talk with one student, we’ll call him Billy, who was kind of the outcast of the group. He has ADHD and can be annoying at times, especially when you are lacking patience. It may be my highlight of the summer thus far. I was able to find out some of the things going on in his life, his dad isn’t around much because he has to work third shift, his sister doesn’t like him at all, he has a hard time having friends and keeping them. It broke my heart to hear some of the things he had to say. It was so strange to have a conversation with him, or just listen to him talk and notice the difference between that and how he acted with the group. I felt as though so many people want him to act the “proper” way all of the time and never take time to get to know him and see where he is coming from. They don’t have any patience and end up basically ignoring him. I think there is such a need for a good mentor in his life, and a good male figure that is around more often. This is not saying that his father is bad or anything…his dad just isn’t around much, because he’s trying to support the family in a way that he can.

It is difficult to find out where kids are at and then watch them leave, watch them go back to their lives where I can’t be there to help them and give any advice. I know that the things I do while I am with them can make a difference in their lives, but it’s just hard, not knowing what happens after. Very quickly it becomes easy to just not fully give myself to the kids on a trip, because I won’t get to see them again after the week. However, please pray that all of the guides here and myself will be able to pour out our lives and give everything to these kids that may help them to grow in their walk or start a walk with Jesus. Pray that we wouldn’t run out of energy from opening ourselves up and that we would rather give ourselves completely to Christ to work through us for the kids.

I could probably write all night about the trip, but I don’t want to type that much. If you want to know more, give me a call, 269-277-7811.

So what’s up next for me…my brother Marcus is coming down here on Sunday and we are going to hang out together for a few days. We don’t really have plans yet, but it’ll most likely involve some hiking and camping. I’m looking forward to our time together and a little break from the trips. It’ll be good to energize as I go into the last month of the summer.

Keep praying for all of the staff here at YDA and for all of the kids that are going on trips with us. Please keep praying for Alana as her back and neck are still in a lot of pain and discomfort. Thank you for your support and for sending me your updates.

Grace & Peace,

Joe

Boys to Men

Where do I start? Last week I was food staff for a YMCA trip here at the ranch. That means that Thom and I cooked the food for the students and put up the tents and all of that kind of jazz. It was a fun trip, but very tiring. Thom and I were both working with the students on their rock climbing day as well as shuttle driving for the rafting day. That left us with very little time to sit down. The students were challenging to say the least. They came from a lot of broken families and just have hard lives. We did what we could to show them that we cared about them personally and really wanted to know about them. Some of them were definitely searching for something and were asking some great questions about Christ. I can only pray that our staff here was able to plant a seed in these kids and be an example of Jesus to them.

Yesterday I was a rock assistant with 10 boy scouts. This was an interesting group to work with. The scouts were young and you could tell that they were used to only doing things that were comfortable to them. They were scared to take a risk and be brave. Immediately the book "Wild At Heart" came to mind as it talks about how there is something in each man and boy that desires to be wild, bold, courageous and how that is often hampered by others. It was really hard for me when one of the kids got to a difficult place in the climb and didn't see his next move and decided he was done. He told us to let him down and I just told him no, and that he needed to work at it and take a chance at falling. There were others stories just like this during the trip as well. Another rock assistant told a student that wanted to quit that he needed to push himself. If he never learned to push himself he would only do what was comfortable and never be able to stick up for what he wanted to do.

It was an emotionally draining day for me. I just want so badly for those guys to be brave and wild. To take those steps towards becoming a man. Not towards become a "safe" person. I want them to realize that they are warriors and that God has great things set out for them.

If the last two paragraphs were confusing, I'm sorry. There is so much buzzing through my head about those guys and I think that passion for them to live out fully what God has made them to be may have been a little confusing.

Anywho, I have a wide range of prayer requests today, and I think I'm in a list mood today.

Pray for...

...boys to grow into what God has created them to be and shy away from what is comfortable.

...my words and actions to make a difference in kids lives.

...all of the YDA Washington Summer Staff to have energy, to be real, and be ministers of Christ.

...safety on trips.

...my girlfriend, Alana, as she has intense pain across her shoulders, in her neck, shooting down her arm, and numbness in some fingers. That God would bring healing upon her.

...the hearts of students that are coming on a trip this summer to be opened to Christ and His love.

...students following Christ to stick to that faith and not waver. To live above the pressure to be worldly.

There is so much to pray for. Broken families, families hit by our economic situation, all of us to live for Jesus and be more like Him, to understand what it really means to live like Jesus and not be afraid to do that, for my coming trip this week, for all of the other trips going on in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, for God to come and be present, and make His presence known.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Joe

About to Start

I'm about to start on 3 weeks of activity. Tomorrow I start preparing food and gear for a YMCA trip which will include rock climbing and rafting. Right after that I start prepping for my next trip which will include challenge course, climbing, and rafting. Then I start to get ready for a trip similar to the last one I just got back from. I have a day off in between each trip, but it's going to be a lot of work. I'm excited to be out there with the students for the next three weeks. Pray for health, good weather, patience, safety, and God to reveal himself.

You are all a blessing. Thank you for your support.

Grace & Peace,

Joe

First Full Trip

It’s been a little while since my last post. I was on a trip this past week and it went pretty well. I learned a lot from this trip. One of the first things is that you have to be ready for the students to not know anything about God and for them to be walking with Him already. On this trip they all seemed to be trying to walk with God. The big challenge for them is living for God and having a group of friends in high school. I won’t lie, I am glad that part of my life is done. I can only hope that God was speaking through me and that something that was said during our time together will give them encouragement to follow the path God has laid out for each of them. Pray for all students in high school to stay strong to their beliefs and not fall away into the ways of the world that can be so tempting and prominent in our culture.

Another large thing that became very apparent to me was that these trips are work and not just a nice little recreational trip. It hit me when I was backpacking with the group that even though I love being in the backcountry, it is a lot better when there is just a few people. This made me question my purpose in the guide role for awhile that day. However, we had a guy’s small group time that evening and I realized why I was there. I am here for students. To encourage them, to keep them safe, to listen, to be real, to be an example, and to listen some more. 

The hardest part about the trip was finally getting to know the students beyond the surface and then saying bye to them. It was a humbling experience for me, realizing that I am not the end of the story for them. Rather I am just a part of their story and likewise they are part of mine. As part of summer staff training we read the book “Epic” by John Eldredge. If you haven’t read it I would recommend it. It’s a quick good read that explains that we all have a special role in God’s story and we are here to play it to our best ability. Pray that I don’t forget that I am just a part of the story that God has set out for these students. Also pray that these students would see the story God has for them and choose His story instead of the world’s story for them.

There are also some lighter things that I learned. Don’t say something really funny unless you are prepared to hear that for the rest of the trip. Kids these days are addicted to their cell phones and ipods and gizmos and gadgets. They have no attention span and take every tangent that is possible. Sometimes they take perpendiculars and just want to talk about anything else. 

Overall the trip was great. Nobody got hurt, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and it appeared that they all learned at least one thing and were going home encouraged about their walk with Christ. Please pray for these students as high school is a rough time, especially as sophomores. I’m asking you to pray so much because I have seen too many friends stray away from their relationship with God and take the path of the world because it appears to have more to offer. 

God, be a light in every situation for all high school students that are trying to live for you. Give them the strength to choose you and stand up for what they really believe in. Surround them with a community that loves them for who they are and loves you above all. Help them to know who they are and see the gifts that you have given them. Let them realize that only you can fill the holes in their lives and that you are there, ready to fill them.