My Experience as Youth Pastor

Katdish would probably come up with a really funny title for this post, and then promote it until a publisher decided to pick it up just to get some peace and quiet, but last I looked I wasn't an ADD half Japanese Texan female so …

Anyways, I wanted to drop in a quick update on S. She went home after camp and honestly I was worried for her. Camp is a great place. I think it is pretty darn close to what happened when the 3 amigos saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain top. They wanted to stay there forever but Jesus told them they had to get down to where the people were. I get that. I didn't want to leave camp and S said she didn't either. Kind of funny considering she was trying to run away just a few days before. She didn't want to go back because of her friends. She admitted she didn't feel strong enough. She was going home late evening so I figured she would crash and wake up late. I invited her to the movie night that I didn't really feel like doing. Between waking up and going to the movie night I was probably more worried about the temptations she would face.

Let me share how that went. She called pretty much all of her friends. Why? She wanted to tell them her good news. They gave her a hard time but that didn't slow her down one bit. One of her friends came over and offered her a cigarette. The fact that she said she was quitting smoking garnered more laughs than saying she was a Christian. When her friend offered her the cigarette she took it.

I can't tell you I wasn't disappointed when she told me that. It wasn't because she had given into temptation or that it was so soon. No she had a big smile on her face when she told me. If she was bothered by it I would have understood and tried to encourage her, but she seemed happy.

Of course my disappointment was short lived when she told me what she did with the cigarette. She took it into the kitchen and ran it through the garbage disposal. "I guess she won't be giving me any more cigarettes," S laughed. I laughed so hard tears were in my eyes. OK I'll admit I might have had tears in my eye despite the laughing.

Keep praying for S. Tonight and tomorrow she won't be surrounded by Christians. I don't want to smother her but I do want some Christian women and teens girls to stay after her. I've talked to some of the girls that were at camp, but they are all close friends so it is easy to forget the newbie.