Burrito Anyone?

As everyone knows from their own lives, Spring is a really busy time of the year. That manifests itself in different ways, but in the Young Life world it often means lower club numbers; as a result, I often find myself changing plans on the fly.

Take Monday night: we were planning on having a Guatemala Club to celebrate the WyldLife leaders who are heading out on the mission trip in a month. We were going to start outside with an egg toss and burrito relay, move inside for some songs and a spicy rendition of "Dance or Dare," and end with leaders sharing about their experiences in Guate last year. The rain changed the first plan, and numbers changed the rest.

Instead of doing this club, we opted for an intense game of catch phrase (girls won) and then a few rounds of the game psychiatrist. In the middle of psychiatrist I realized that I had all the ingredients for burritos from the relay that never happened, so naturally, I offered to make kids and leaders burritos. Pretty much every guy took me up on the offer.

My walk aways from the night? I love that I have a job where relationships matter. In the corporate world my numbers would be disastrous, but the kids who came felt loved and cared for by leaders, and we all had a great shared experience. It was a huge success.

I also love that I work a job where I can procure all the ingredients for a great burrito from a brown bag and no one asks any questions.

Welcome to spring in Young Life!

My Only Victory

Easter was really overwhelming for me this year. The reality of a resurrected Savior is indescribable so I've just been reveling in it. Often the reveling ends in tears. Good ones, but tears none the less.

In the context of Easter, I've also been reflecting on my first 8 months on WyldLife staff. I have lots of great stories of how God is working in the lives of high school and middle school kids in Hinsdale. There are 77 kids signed up for WyldLife camp this summer. I've learned countless lessons about life and ministry. Each story could be seen as a victory; but, thankfully victory isn't defined in terms of numbers and success stories. If worth in Christ depended on day-to-day results we'd all be in a lot of trouble. Enter this song/video. Justin McRoberts (who has YL history) sings this really great song called "My Only Victory." The chorus goes like this:

My only victory is Jesus/His life and death and resurrection/I place my hope alone in Jesus/and the coming of his Kingdom

I've been living in this song--literally on repeat in my car as its truth resonates in me. My only victory is Jesus and that's what drives everything. His life and death and resurrection fuel daily ministry and kingdom growth. Even writing this post I know that I'm not conveying the emotion inside of me, the joy from celebrating ministry in light of our resurrected Lord, so I decided to make a video. I paired some of the images of the past 8 months with the truth that my only victory is Jesus. Take some time to watch and rejoice over what God's doing around here!

(aside: the clip in the middle is from Bob Mitchell...hosted the first YL club back in 1941, was a club kid, went on staff, later was president of YL...)

Semana Santa

I was trying to explain to a good friend what it's like to spend "Semana Santa" in Guatemala. This friend doesn't speak Spanish at all and gets frustrated with me when I do. So, in order to do her a favor, I translated "Semana Santa" to it's English counterpart: Holy Week. In the process I managed to convey the assumption that she'd never heard of this Christian phenomenon called Holy Week. We laughed, I apologized, and proceeded to reminisce.

Good Friday in Guatemala was one of the most powerful experiences I've had. People spend hours and hours creating carpets of colored sand, flower petals, fruit, and other materials to line the road in order for the statues of Christ to pass over...they create beauty for ruin because they know it's an honor to do that for Christ.

Today is the day we remember Christ's sacrifice--I don't even know what to say about it right now--the thought is overwhelming. I'm humbled and wondering what I can offer Christ out of response to his sacrifice. Often I'm tentative to fully release areas of my life, my future to the Lord because I don't know what the result will be. If only I could cling to the truth I found on the streets of Guatemala--ruin in the eyes of the world is beauty and privelage in the Kingdom of God. As Paul sums it up in Philippians, "whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ."

May we all lose today because loss is gain in our risen Lord's economy and because the mercy Christ is offering from his place on the cross is so much greater than anything we create or comprehend on our own terms.