The Great Escape

My reflection on this week has been demanded, so I will try and walk you through the process.
I was asked to spend a week in the woods at a camp with kids that I had never met before. To be an agent of “space creating” in their exploration of the God that loves them enough to show up in that space.

So we were there, trying to connect with these kids and use the space to reconnect with God….

I was excited and nervous.

As I tried to jump from being a stranger, to someone that they would follow I quickly realized that this week would not be easy and that this was not Boston.

Not youth ministry like I knew it, they were hard…hardened….this was different. The air was different, the stories were different…
The problems were the same
Same hurt
Same tears
Same needs

The whole week felt like a roller coaster ride. We had different intentions, but our deepest hearts desire was the same, stated or unstated, conscious or subconscious

An escape.

A way to deal with the pain that seemed constant. A chance to be loved by people who thought they were beautiful. A chance to look for healing outside of the concrete jungle. And we were there to provide that.

The drama was immeasurable, the negative perceptions about our kids was a minor challenge compared to the “hands on” things we were dealing with…

Three kids sent home in two days and between the zip lining, tubing, and free time it was sometimes hard to see how a difference would be made…challenged to meet them where they were and allow them to identify with their deep need for God.
The process was masterful. Now we just had to
lead them,
walk with them,
represent Gods love for them.

It was a process of them opening up and letting the tears flow… only to shut us out and stop their emotion because the idea of feeling out of control was too much. The pain seemed unbearable as they identified with their deep need. There was a desire to swoop in with all the answers but the idea of letting them identify with what they were feeling was more important. We were not trying to use Band-Aids or introduce them to the concept of God and church that they were used to. Not trying to hear the “ God knows”, “only He can judge me” and “ He loves me” if it doesn’t deeply resonate with them….if they can not identify with the true warmth of his embrace…if they had not first stood face to face with their undeniable sickness.

They didn’t need a temporary fix
They didn't need to hear our opinions
They didn’t need the judgments

Life hasn’t been easy and although they have learned to fight, now it’s all they do.
They fight for respect,
for status
for love.

They fight because they don’t want to lose themselves to the drama. They fight to stay alive in hopes that their fighting will not just yield more scars and bruised egos. They desire to get out the hood but it’s all they know so regardless of their intentions, their actions speak volumes about their situations.

My heart cried for them, I shed tears for them because they wouldn’t.
I listened to their rants and stories. I tried to follow them as they went on journeys and hid their emotions behind tough skinned masks.

The talks, the tears, the fights, turned them from just Red Hook kids, to my kids. Kids that I care deeply about. The countless activities set up to have them see us as their leaders, helped me to see them as mine. There is work to be done, and now, I’m committed to doingit.