You Don't Know What Makes You Beautiful

LBP and Bre

This past semester in the Southern Counties area is a perfect picture of how life normally goes: some clubs appear to be doing well and some clubs not as well; some leaders are excited to be running the race and others are tired; some of our high school friends have been as involved as ever and others have seemed to fall off the face of the earth. The refreshingly good news in all of it is the Lord's steadfast faithfulness. Whether club appears to be successful or not does not stop the Lord from loving us unconditionally and lavishing even our farthest out friends with His love. Whether leaders are excited or exhausted doesn't change the fact that God is graciously using them and molding them into the people He desires. Even if our dear friends have pushed us away, they cannot escape the grasp of the Lord. The only reason we can love Him is because He has first loved us. He doesn't need us to do ministry, but He wants to bless us and change us through the process of ministry, all the while using it to change others.

We had the privilege of bringing a junior to camp last summer who has acquired the nickname "LBP" (creatively using her initials as a nickname, only the most creative people can do Young Life...). She hadn't come out to many events in the spring last year, but I knew her really well from soccer, and knew she loved the idea of Young Life. After going to camp she was committed. Not just to me, not just to Young Life club, but to the Lord. She saw how the Lord had changed people at camp, and she wanted Him to do that to people she knew at school.

Even though LBP is a ball of energy, she's not the most outgoing person, so getting people to club was hard for her. I talked to her all semester about what it looks like to really care for people, and by the grace of God this year on the soccer team we have 7 freshman that she got to love and invest in. All of the freshman girls on the team look up to LBP and think she's the cutest girl ever (if you know her, you know it's impossible to NOT think that about her). So she slowly started talking to girls about club, which they are extra curious about because I'm their coach and the Young Life leader.

Two weeks ago at club was an extremely joyful night for LBP. Two of the soccer girls came to club and had a blast. One of them even brought her older brother that's a senior at the high school. After club LBP was experiencing pure excitement because she actually felt like the God of the universe was HERE to work in people's lives. She felt like their lives were going to be changed and that she somehow got a front row seat to watch it happen. LBP is now learning what it means to make disciples of all nations (or of all classes in her high school), not because someone got up and talked about it, but because someone got to walk through the process with her.

 Please be praying for the freshman girls on the soccer team and LBP. Pray that they would feel loved by her enough to follow her everywhere, even a silly thing like Young Life, so that they can encounter the God of the universe that wants them to know that He loves even THEM.