Summer is a crazy time of year for me. Mission trips, summer camp, fun getaways, and running VBS are just a few things our teenagers are involved in this summer.
Our biggest trip begins Saturday. We are spending a week serving in San Francisco. The good news about this is that I'll be able to post updates, pictures, and video from my iPhone. This gets pretty challenging when we are traveling Internationally or out in the middle of Montana. (Granted, this is assuming that AT&T has reliable service in San Francisco.)
Before we leave Saturday, I am going to share a message with my students. I thought it would be fun to post it here:
Christians tend to have a very unfair reputation these days. Teenagers tend to have a very unfair reputation these days.
Granted, there are times teenagers to some very dumb things. And unfortunately, there are times that Christians to some very dumb things.
If your only source of information on Christians and teenagers come from the 24 hour news cycles, it is easy to see why you would have a completely different idea of what Christians are like and absolutely no hope in the young people of today becoming successful, productive members of society.
So as a group of Christians who happen to be teenagers, we have two strikes against us.
The good news? We’ve got an amazing opportunity over the next week to knock a home run.
For the next 8 days, we will travel more than 2000 miles. We will stop for gas and snacks in many random places, be in several restaurants, working in food banks, serving meals to the homeless, sorting donations at the Salvation Army, walking through many public places, be seen sleeping on the floor, and so many more things.
We will be seen by tens of thousands of people. For the vast majority, we will be in their life for a second and then be gone.
What an amazing opportunity.
Because eventually one of those thousands of people, who will be a blip on your radar screen in the next week, will be talking with friends and one of the friends will go off on the "Christians" they saw on CNN protesting at a funeral. Or they will talk about the teenagers who thought it would be fun to bash every single mailbox in the neighborhood with a baseball bat.
I want that person to stop their friend and say:
"Wait a minute, I just saw this group of Christian teenagers from a Presbyterian Church in Washington and they weren't like that at all.”
“They were kind and respectful.”
“Instead of using their summer break to stay up all night playing video games and sleep the day away, they were out there handing out food to the homeless.”
“They were giving food to needy folks at the food bank.”
“They were serving others with all their heart and making this world a better place for all of us to live.”
“While some Christians may do crazy things and some teenagers may do nothing but cause trouble, they are certainly not all that way.”
You are the only Jesus that some people will ever see.
Our mission work does not begin when we get to California; it begins at this moment, in this parking lot.
Represent Jesus well.
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