The happenings at The Wave tonight both shocked and encouraged me. The majority of the students we serve rarely listen to the "talk" part of the evening and of the few that do listen, even less participate in any sort of discussion. That wasn't the case at all tonight...praise Jesus!
Tonight, Patrick told the story about the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) and the aim was to share that Jesus can and will forgive anyone of any sin -- I love how Jesus expresses his gentleness and love in this story! Anyways, it didn't take more than a couple minutes for hands to start popping up and asking questions...I'm not sure where they all came from or why the students chose this week to speak up, but I'm thankful. We did our best to keep everyone on topic and not dig too deep into the "hard stuff" -- you know, the classic theological debate questions. It's so, so, so much more important that we help them understand Jesus' love and forgiveness and the fact that we've all been given the chance to be right in God's sight.
After splitting into smaller groups, we took a few minutes to break things down and give an opportunity for discussion and questions. My girls were FULL of questions! It was really cool to get them thinking about what forgiveness really meant and how serious the love of the Lord really is! It was only a few weeks ago that one of the girls pretty much told me I was wasting my time being there -- she literally told me that maybe if I was "like them" people would listen to me (the neighborhood we serve --Riverside -- is predominantly black). I won't lie and say that thoughts like that have never entered my head, but walking away over skin color makes no sense to me. After asking the girls if they've ever felt if they were "beyond" forgiveness there was some hesitation, so I thew out the fact that I've had those feelings more than once. As soon as I shared a couple examples of things I've struggled with, girls began to sit up and look at me like they understood. Then the conversation got rolling again...and this time I felt like they were listening and were no longer thinking I was some crazy white girl trying to butt into their lives and tell them a bunch of irrelevant garbage! It was question after question after question at this point...Weren't there really 11 Commandments? Does the Bible talk about other planets? It's okay to lie to other people, just not God, right? What if you want to ask for forgiveness after you die? And...one girl shouts out, "But, I eat apples!"...I wasn't ready for that! Her concern was the "fruit" in the Garden of Eden and what kind it was and what if she eats it today?
These young ladies (and gentlemen) could benefit tremendously from opportunities to spend time in the Word. Please pray that they would hunger and thirst for more and continue to ask questions and seek out the answers. Any frustrations I've had over the last couple months were completely stamped out by what I experienced tonight...these kids really are looking for that "something more" out there, whether they've realized that yet or not! I'm excited to see how God is going to use The Wave and move in the lives of the kids in the Riverside neighborhood.
Tonight, Patrick told the story about the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) and the aim was to share that Jesus can and will forgive anyone of any sin -- I love how Jesus expresses his gentleness and love in this story! Anyways, it didn't take more than a couple minutes for hands to start popping up and asking questions...I'm not sure where they all came from or why the students chose this week to speak up, but I'm thankful. We did our best to keep everyone on topic and not dig too deep into the "hard stuff" -- you know, the classic theological debate questions. It's so, so, so much more important that we help them understand Jesus' love and forgiveness and the fact that we've all been given the chance to be right in God's sight.
After splitting into smaller groups, we took a few minutes to break things down and give an opportunity for discussion and questions. My girls were FULL of questions! It was really cool to get them thinking about what forgiveness really meant and how serious the love of the Lord really is! It was only a few weeks ago that one of the girls pretty much told me I was wasting my time being there -- she literally told me that maybe if I was "like them" people would listen to me (the neighborhood we serve --Riverside -- is predominantly black). I won't lie and say that thoughts like that have never entered my head, but walking away over skin color makes no sense to me. After asking the girls if they've ever felt if they were "beyond" forgiveness there was some hesitation, so I thew out the fact that I've had those feelings more than once. As soon as I shared a couple examples of things I've struggled with, girls began to sit up and look at me like they understood. Then the conversation got rolling again...and this time I felt like they were listening and were no longer thinking I was some crazy white girl trying to butt into their lives and tell them a bunch of irrelevant garbage! It was question after question after question at this point...Weren't there really 11 Commandments? Does the Bible talk about other planets? It's okay to lie to other people, just not God, right? What if you want to ask for forgiveness after you die? And...one girl shouts out, "But, I eat apples!"...I wasn't ready for that! Her concern was the "fruit" in the Garden of Eden and what kind it was and what if she eats it today?
These young ladies (and gentlemen) could benefit tremendously from opportunities to spend time in the Word. Please pray that they would hunger and thirst for more and continue to ask questions and seek out the answers. Any frustrations I've had over the last couple months were completely stamped out by what I experienced tonight...these kids really are looking for that "something more" out there, whether they've realized that yet or not! I'm excited to see how God is going to use The Wave and move in the lives of the kids in the Riverside neighborhood.
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