As I have been spending more time on the high school campus I am increasingly aware of the drama that consumes their lives. I have been asked by students at different times this week how? or why? I put up with them. For the most part I laugh it off and make a joke about how what seems like the end of the world to them is so amusing to me. And its true, I think that in many ways it is funny how they break down with the simplest things, well at least what seems simple to me. In Youth for Christ something often stated is "to live life with the students", at first hearing this I was like "Duh, in youth ministry how else are you going to get to know them?" But now having spent more time IN their world (school) and not just at church or Campus Life I am convicted. In high school as the smallest things shatter their world some of the most serious, and heartbreaking things are laughed about in the event of being "cool."
I have a girl that is on the cheerleading squad who was bragging to a friend about having sex with her boyfriend in the back of his mom's van. And they both laughed and joked about it as if it was the greatest acomplishment she could of had this semester. It broke my heart to hear this....Is this what living life with students really looks like? Another girl who I have spent sometime with has been concerned for a friend of hers who regularly comes to school drunk and leaves at lunch to get "high." Being in their world breaks my heart. I have always known that this job is much bigger than me, and now knowing the faces and names that go with these stories I am humbled and broken that the God of the universe would even think that I could "live life" with these students. I am consistently overwhelmed by the favor that God has given me with these students, that they would share any part of their story with me. I am convinced that not only do I need prayer and strength from God to approach these stories, but the entire youth population needs prayer to get through their stories and their drama.
