Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride

It's always difficult when we spend time, energy, and emotion pouring into someone, praying for someone, and they graduate still being unhappy with life. They are still confused about a lot of things, and don't want to follow the Lord. Thankfully, God is bigger than us.

Tom has a friend, Jake (name changed), who got very close to Tom. He came to club a few times, but mostly just liked talking to Tom. He dropped out of school before he graduated, and got in trouble very often. Last time we saw him, we all had lunch together and he shared stories of having to get people out of his home with a gun.

A few days ago I saw Jake and a few of his friends at the grocery store. I said hello, but no conversation really sprung out of it. A day or two after that Jake called Tom and said something happened and he thinks it has to do with God and his life is forever changed. Tom invited him to the young adults group at his church.

Jake actually came, which is a good sign because he normally disappears pretty quickly. It was a beautiful picture that night for any Young Life leader. There were 5 guys there that graduated from Solanco and were heavily involved with Young Life. All them are growing in their faith, and participating in their churches.

What a wonderful picture of the body of Christ. What a wonderful picture of what this ministry should be doing: feeding people back into the church. Young Life ends after high school, the church doesn't.

Hey, I just met you...

Ministry can get very complicated because there is no "off the clock". There are no clear boundaries of when ministry starts and stops because it's a lifestyle. Luckily, I'm not in it alone. I'm not even close to in it alone. Day in and day out there is a community of people in Solanco that intentionally care for people. The leaders, the senders, and other Christians in the community attempt to love to the best of their ability. That means we try to be there for people. We try to be there through joyful times and times of sorrow.

Tom, Justin, CJ, Chris, Lexi, Taylor, Sarah, Zeb, Brian

Most of you know a few weeks ago there was an unfortunate accident where Kenny Meeder, going into his junior year of high school, accidentally killed himself while messing around with a gun. Tom is pretty close with Kenny and the "Little Britain Crew," as they all live out there and are such a close group of friends. Naturally, this accident hit them all pretty hard. Tom and I got to be there for them because we have been there for them in the past. One of Kenny's best friends, Justin, came to camp this summer. Tom has had countless conversations with Justin and Chris after club, and just hanging out. I've taken Lexi out to lunch and talked to her in the halls about what's going on in life. I spoke about WyldLife to a 6th grade class and met Kenny's little sister, Taylor. And now, tragedy has come. Heartache, anger, confusion, and pain has set in. And we get to be there for them. We get to hug them at the prayer vigil, we get to look them in the eyes at the funeral and just nod in agreement over how hard this is, and we get to take them to the beach and just relax.

(Back)Rufo, Tom, CJ, Justin, Chris, Zeb (Front) Lexi, Taylor

This past Sunday Tom, myself, and the newest leader at Solanco (and my fiancee), Brian Rufo, got to take 6 of our friends to the beach. There were conversations about Kenny. There was typical drama. But mostly, it was just fun. We played in the waves, we ran in the sand, and we laughed. We finally got to be together and laugh. Taylor has been adopted by this group of friends, composed of 4 juniors and a sophomore in high school. They have become somewhat of a family. While out to dinner at Grotto's Pizza, we were talking about how great the buffalo chicken pizza was. Chris commented that he didn't have a slice, and Zeb, who was about to put the last slice in his mouth stopped and handed it to Chris. Tom almost fell out of his chair laughing saying "this is why I love you guys!! You care for each other so much!" Zeb just shrugged his shoulders as if to say "Of course we do, we're family."

Lexi, Taylor, Zeb, Sarah

There has been a roller coaster of emotions over everything that's happened. But something most people don't see is how much support all the Young Life leaders have had through every step of this grieving process. Our senders team has given money so Tom and I can just lavish love on our friends. They have covered gas, food, and even offered to donate meals to the family. Most of our senders team was at the funeral and met the families of all the kids effected by Kenny's death. I've been handed money on the fly in a parking lot, at a soccer game, or when I stop by someone's house so we can pay for the beach trip. We've been in prayers, and we've been asked countless times how we're doing.

This isn't about Young Life leaders entering into kids lives. This isn't about whether these kids come to club in the fall. This is about the the Body of Christ being obedient to our call to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that is only taken seriously when we love the Lord with everything inside of us. We cannot express how this community has shown us Christ. We cannot express how thankful and humbled we are to be around so many people that are pursuing the Lord and allowing us to see them do it. This is a true community: We are broken sinners, redeemed by Christ, trying to pursue Him and love our neighbors.

Thank you all so very much. We are honored and humbled to be in your lives.

Love,
SLC YL