Ministry

Ministry is a roller-coaster, I’ve found. As I prepare to walk with one young man through his amazing
successes, another young man is in the middle of a moral failure. I’ve been beside guys before as they
are forced to deal with heavy, life questions for the first time. I’m hoping this young man will begin to
see his weakness, his sin, and his Savior in a brand new way.
We deal with ‘little issues’ all the time on our soccer team, in the brass band, in church. Kids want to
have a haircut that the adults don’t like. It’s no big deal, but it is connected to a rebellion question. Kids
want to wear their clothes a way that parents don’t like. Kids listen to music their church leaders say
they shouldn’t listen to. It’s all a bunch of details, until you arrive at a moral failure and look back at the
trail of little rebellions. They all really are part of something bigger. A rebellious heart is rebellious.
There’s a revelation! A submissive heart submits. You can argue all day long about details, but the issue
is rebellion.
I tell kids : “If you were a model in the way you live, love, and serve God, people would not see your hair.
(Though, in Haiti, some leaders would see it.) The problem is always much deeper. You talk to two kids
about their hair…no pressure…just ideas. One kid goes back to the haircut that bothers no one. The
second kid makes his hair even MORE of an issue. It’s not the hair. It’s the heart.
The young man I mentioned at the top had a series of little red flags going up. When I approached him,
he constantly laughed off my ideas and claimed he was in complete control. I was making a big deal out
of nothing. I’ve been down that road before. I hoped it was true…that he was in complete control. It
wasn’t.
I asked him if he recognized that Satan had fooled him. He said no. That’s not encouraging.
Now I’ll be beside him as he deals with the big questions before him. I’ll help him (hopefully) to make a
serious evaluation of how he got to where he is, and how he can make positive steps moving forward. ​Every day is an occasion to trust God…or not.