Check Yourself:

Recently, I read this in a book called Practicing Passion by Kenda Creasy Dean. This is a heroin dealer talking to a youth worker.

“I’m going to explain to you Christians, who are such good preachers, why you are losing an entire generation. Listen, this is really all about being there.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Johnny goes to school in the morning, I’m there, you’re not. When Johnny comes home from school in the afternoon, I’m there, you’re not. When Johnny goes out for a load of bread for grandma for dinner, I’m there, you’re not. I win, you lose.”

WOW! It’s about “being there.” Are we really “there” for the students we work with? Now, another voice needs to be heard here as well. We can run ourselves raged trying to “be there” for every student in every situation. The bottom line here is that we must keep our focus. Remember why we are here? We are here to point students to Christ, the one who is always “here.” Often we think that we can be there all the time and we cannot. But, when we think we have to be we make our work about us, not about Jesus. That’s a mistake.

Kenda Dean, later says this: “Young people are so thirsty for God that they absorb every ounce of prayer, love, and energy we have to offer, thinking that our fidelity can suffice for God’s.”

Go after it – go after students – be there for them – but be there as a lighthouse – a beacon for Christ – a “voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way for the Lord.” Be there for students, but remember, it’s not about you, it’s about Jesus.