I am a complete failure. Chandy just informed me that it is my month anniversary since my last blog entry. She also informed me that she and the blogging website staff are considering suspending my membership if I don't do something fast. In my defense I have recently changed my living conditions and have no access to internet at my home. Anytime I desire to check crucial websites such as "myspace", "facebook" and "espn", along with my email, I have to do it at work. So, not to make excuses but I rarely have enough time at work to just sit down and blog (mostly because when I blog I monster blog, not like Chandy's little wussy three sentence blogs. Don't feel sorry for her she has hated on my blogging frequency and style several times).
With this being said, here is my first blog entry in a month.
Over the course of the past month alot has taken place. Lucky for you (and me), Ron and Chandy do a pretty good job of updating the happenings that take place at Cross and Crown and Rock Island. Rather then re-blog about something that has already been told I want to give you a story about one of our young teens that hasn't been told. I will refer to him as John.
As many of you know, a couple weeks ago we took several of our youth from Rock Island to a summer camp called Youth For Christ. We didn't know what to expect and neither did our kids. I had been to a handful of church, summer camps during my jr. high/high school days, but never to an inner-city camp. I wouldn't have been ready for it. Even as a counselor I learned so much. Whether it was about how to discipline rebellious kids or how to "walk-it-out" ( most of you won't know what that means, but if you are really interested then get on youtube or something that has videos and type in "walk it out".....have fun), I learned alot. But the most significant thing I learned during camp came in the form of God communicating to me how absolutely crucial, how there is nothing even close to as important, how indescribably necessary it is that each person come to know Christ. Not only that, but also how equally pressing it is that we be the one's to do just that, let them know who Christ is.
During the last night at camp a dance group performed several dance routines for the kids. In between each routine a member of the group would talk. One guy talked about his past experiences, his previous drug use, his disfunctional family life, his sexual experimentation and his old gang life; all of which all of our kids have or are currently experiencing. I am sure that many of you reading this have been to a church, some meeting, some big production, a concert or somewhere were you heard someone speak and you were just so wrapped up and 100% attentive to what they had to say that you wouldn't have noticed if the room was on fire (bad description, but you get the point, these kids were listening and relating). Towards the end of him telling about his life and how he came to know Christ he told the audience that he was going to have one of his friends come up and play some worship songs and that anyone who needed/wanted/desired to know Christ, anyone who wanted to experience Christ for the first time, anyone that wanted to give Him thanks could raise their hands, stand up, do whatever they felt comfortable doing in order to give praise to Him. Keep in mind this is an inner-city camp. There is no sugar-coated description of the types things and events that these kids have done and are doing. Also, as a side note, the two previous nights we had rap groups perform for the kids and now this guy is introducing one of his buddies to lead everyone in praise and worship songs? Not happening.
Twenty seconds into the first praise song almost all of our kids that we brought stood up or went to the front to receive prayer and advice. Just the fact that some of our kids (with no names mentioned) were willing to make themselves vulnerable for that short time was astonishing. After searching through the crowd to find several of the kids we brought so that I could pray with and over them I caught something interesting out of the corner of my eye. "Jonh", with his younger brother on one side and cousin on the other, was out of his seat, sitting on the floor, left hand raised and head bowed. I was absolutely speechless. John, along with his brother, were two of the first boys that we worked with when we started our after school/summer activities 4 years ago. During this 20-25 minutes I had never seen something close to submission and praise to God as I did then.
After Chandy and I made eye contact and were done trying to take in what we were witnessing we took turns praying over him. Chandy went first and we exchanged positions after she had finished talking to him. I made my way over to John, pulled up a chair behind him and did the only thing I knew to do. I placed each of my hands on his shoulders and pulled him in tight. I begin to pray over John and ask that God would meet him at whatever place he was in his life. I prayed that God would give him the courage, the strength, the bravery to pursue Him. For so many of the kids that we work with family, peer and in many cases, gang, influences and opinions put such a tremendous, negative pressure on these kids in determining whether or not they follow Christ. Even during the worship his brother and cousin were just watching him with this look on their faces, like, "What are you doing." I'm not trying to say that they were discouraging or frowning upon his decision to do what he was doing, but rather the idea or concept of submitting to God and praising Him is so...foreign. As Chandy, Ron and myself have discussed several times, the concept of praise and worship, the "normal" worship that we are all so used to, that we grew up experiencing every Sunday morning and Wednesday night, is completely unheard of to our kids. They don't know what "worship", as we know it, is supposed to look like or be. Needless to say, John nailed the concept of submission and praise directly on the head. What an awesome sight.
As I prayed over John I began to do something I had never done before in my life. I began to weep. Not that I have never cried, because I have (several times), but never had I wept over the soul of another person. I couldn't control my emotions. I could really feel the struggle between God and Satan over the soul of this young man. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the urgency involving John's soul. I don't know if that really make sense or if I am explaining that clearly, but that is what I was experiencing. So, for the next 10 minutes of the worship I just sat over John and wept over him as he sat with hands lifted and head bowed.
All in all, camp was awesome. There were frustrating times, fun times, God experiences, good 1v1 time with some of the kids, early morning, late nights and alot of sunburn. But, the time with John and the rest of the kids this one night was the best experience of all.
Also, thanks again to everyone who contributed thier financial support and prayer time for each of these kids that attended camp this year.
