7.02.2015

Young Life Beach Trip

For those of you who have spoken to me for more than 10 minutes, you probably know that I am a Young Life leader in South Austin. I didn't ever intend to be part of Young Life coming into college, but thanks to some divine appointments and Kendra Harrison, I got involved with UT Young Life during my freshman year of college. Becoming a leader at Travis High School has been my favorite thing that I've ever done in my entire life.

The role of a Young Life leader is to build relationships with kids and tell them about Jesus. We are not a group of people who try to "fix", convert, or change kids. Young Life exists to love people and share the Gospel. It's a very simple ministry and I like it that way because it gives Jesus a whole lot of room to work in a whole lot of lives. The kids at Travis are some of my favorite humans that have been born. They are beautiful and wise and hilarious and they've taught me so much about the character of God. I am forever thankful for the opportunity to know them!!

Just last week, Young Life went to Port Aransas with a group of freshmen in South Austin! The trip was exhausting and busy and joyful. Here are some of the girls who went on the trip with me!

Elizabeth- You are fiercely loyal with a heart of gold.

Krishonna- You are a strong leader with so much wisdom.

Desirae- You are sweet and charming and your dimples are precious.

Azzy- Your humor and honesty make my heart overflow. 

Clarissa- Your wisdom and your courage make me feel braver than I am.

They're the absolute best! We have so many wonderful memories from the trip, but I think my favorite was from the first night we got there.

We were tired and antsy from the bus and everyone was getting a little cranky. The luggage was hard to carry and cell phones had just been taken up, so everything was a little bit more tragic than usual. I was frustrated because I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect so everyone could be in the best possible mood, and honestly, I started to worry that this trip was going to be a disaster. I tried my hardest to pep up my girls and that ended up being more annoying than peppy (a common theme), so I felt discouraged and inadequate. We finally decided to put down our swimsuits and see what the beach was like before our first official activity, so after some hair straightening and make-up touch ups, we headed down to the ocean. The walk was long and tensions were rising. Some girls were talking about sharks and how the notoriously "dirty" Texas beaches scared them too much to actually get into the water so they didn't know what they would do when we got to the beach. The girls were realizing that they were stuck with me for three days and were doubting all the hype they heard about the trip. But, as we got closer to sound of ocean waves, the walking turned into jogging and the jogging turned into running. Before I knew it, my girls were sprinting to the ocean and screaming with joy as they caught the first glimpse of the ocean. The waves were huge and the sand was warm and all was right in the world again. They ran at top speeds into the huge and scary ocean with complete assurance that all the fuss and doubts could not touch the appeal of the joy that the ocean brought.


What a perfect picture of our relationship with Jesus. God could not have chosen more beautiful people to show me the pure joy that comes from running at full speed into His arms. 

I went from feeling down and fearful to feeling absolutely ridiculous for ever doubting the Lord. Our God, who worked absolute miracles to get these incredible girls on the trip was not going to let us down. Letting us down isn't in His nature. No, no. I was laughing with God on that beach at the fact that He chose me to be a Young Life leader at Travis. In spite of my reluctance and over-bearing nature, He chose me. I felt broken and silly and thankful that God chooses people like me to take kids to the beach in hopes of them knowing Jesus better. 

Jesus, thank you for hand picking the kids who went to beach trip and teaching me more about you than I ever imagined. Thank you for being a Father who loves to embrace us and splash us with waves and make us laugh and cry and laugh until wee hours of the morning. Thank you for loving us more than we can comprehend.

Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment