Parent Me

"I'm young and just a child, I need my parents to parent me!" -Json

Though I currently work in college ministry, for years I worked with kids and teenagers. Most of my time working with them has been as a camp counselor. Usually I have had at least one kid in my group during camp who was annoying. He just drove me crazy! He cursed, he mocked, he picked fights, and of course he never listened.

Then I got that kid alone and discovered something: his biggest problem was at home. Abusive, neglectful parents. Parents who talked down to their kids and never once said, "I love you" or showed any sign of affection. The parent who wasn't there the most was their dad. I worked with inner city kids in Willimantic for two summers and discovered that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM had no significant father figure in their lives. So many parents medicate their kids instead of lovingly discipline them. So many parents discipline and forget about the love part.

I've met a lot of orphans.

Orphans who had biological parents

Parents they lived with

but not parents they needed.

To be honest, I don't feel qualified to talk about this issue. One reason is I'm not a parent. I'm a single guy who doesn't even have a girlfriend. I also do have loving parents. My parents would easily take a bullet for me and have no trouble showing needed affection to me. I'm thankful for that. So it feels weird for me to talk about this issue.

But it's been nagging at my heart.

So is your home life hard?

Are you one who has never heard the words, "I love you" ever come out of your parents' mouths?

Do you have parents who you feel like you're parenting because of their childish behavior?

Did he hit you tonight?

Did she tell you that you'll never amount to anything?

They never encourage you, do they?

Do you even remember what your dad's voice sounds like?

When Dad stumbles home drunk, do chills run down your spine?

You miss Mom when she goes out clubbing, don't you?

Did your parents show up to your graduation last summer?

Did Mom kiss you goodnight last night?

Did Dad pray with you before bed?

Do you go days without saying a word to your parents?

Did he touch you? Are you still afraid to say anything?

You're angry aren't you? They make you angry, don't they?

God is that Father you've always dreamed of. He doesn't just want to call you "friend", but "son" or "daughter." Praying you'll know what true Fatherly love feels like. Praying that He will give you the strength to forgive and love those who failed to love you.

I'm praying for you tonight.

Reflections on Last Wednesday (3/30)

Photo: Students socializing in the Student Center at ECSU. This is where a majority of my time is spent ministering to students, including where I met students for follow-up last Wednesday.

Last Wednesday was an amazing experience. For YEARS 180 Christian Fellowship, the club at Eastern I work with has been trying to implement successful follow-up. Ever since Spring 2006, when we had the band/ministry Holyfire (now the band is called Out Of Hiding) do an outreach concert at Eastern. Roughly 20 people made a profession of Christ that night at the concert and NONE of them were followed up successfully. The club tried again almost every year, doing an outreach event to freshmen, calling it the Hoozamadingie. In the event, they handed out spiritual interest surveys, and once again failed to follow-up with ANY of the students who were interested in knowing more. If Dawson Trotman, the founder of The Navigators, were alive today and working at ECSU, he would be one unhappy man.

A few weeks ago, we tried once again setting up a table and handing out surveys to students. We had hundreds filled out, some good conversations, and 19 students responded saying they wanted follow-up. This time I started making phone calls and sending out e-mails, just praying for a breakthrough. Out of the 19 students who replied, ONLY FOUR said they wanted to actually meet up in a group setting and discuss their questions, issues, etc. with God, Jesus, the Bible, Rebecca Black (if you don't know who she is...good) and much more.

We decided to meet last Wednesday at 6:00pm over pizza. If I were one of the students, I would be incredibly confused and nervous meeting a total stranger in the Student Center, especially to talk about the Bible. However, contrary to popular belief, FIVE students bravely wandered into the Student Center looking for a guy in a black hoodie with a box of pizza. One student called out sick, promising he would be there next week and another student brought two friends. That makes SIX people total for the group! The group meeting went VERY well, and the students felt comfortable sharing their questions and expressed interest in wanting to explore the scriptures in future weeks to see who Jesus actually is! So for the first time EVER (at least from what I remember) successful Christian follow-up was finally implemented at ECSU.

What I heard about behind the scenes before, during, and after the meeting though was probably even more exciting! TONS of people, more than I even know, were praying fervently for these students. My e-mail box got blown up by lots of responses from people. My church had a prayer meeting that night, and THEY were praying (they usually gather to pray and such on Wednesdays...it wasn't just for me!). The pastor at my parents church had a STRONG burden to pray that night for me at a Bible study he was leading that night. I heard later that another local church in town actually sent out the news in their congregational prayer chain and they were interceding for me. It was so exciting, and I think for the first time in my life, I can actually say that I FELT prayer. I felt a "Holy Spirit supercharge" all day long. It was so exciting to see the prayers of saints WORK right before my eyes!

So if you prayed Wednesday....THANK YOU! If you're praying right now....THANK YOU! Your prayers are NOT in vain. God hears you, and I thank you so much for your support!

Stay tuned and please continue praying!

Praying Old Men

One morning this past week I was reading in the book of Ezra, a small book located just after 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament. At the end of 2 Chronicles, it described how the nation of Israel fell through invasion by the Babylonians. The surviving Israelites were herded off to Babylon where they would spend a prolonged period of time there.

There were people that day who witnessed firsthand the temple of Jerusalem, a temple they had gone to many times to seek God and fellowship with His people, be pillaged, burned and fallen. How heartbreaking that must have been! I'm sure many of those people were mourning much like Jeremiah, in repentance and sadness, thinking that day would be the last day they could ever freely worship God in a temple.

Israel screwed up majorly. She was a nation chosen, rescued and blessed by God in so many amazing ways, and at the same time she was a nation that was so unworthy of that blessing. From the day she was rescued from Egypt onward, many Israelites complained, bickered, argued and rebelled against God. He could have very easily snuffed them out, but being a God who is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Psalm 103:8), He did no such thing until that day when He no longer could take their rebellion anymore.

Then in the book of Ezra in the craziest way possible, God opens up a door for the exiled Israelites to venture back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and city they saw get burned to the ground. Imagine being an old man, who maybe as a boy, saw the temple burn to the ground. Imagine the hardship he lived in as well while in Babylon, barely holding onto the God who loved Him. Then one day this boy sees what he thought would be the impossible: the temple he saw get burnt to the ground getting restored.

Ezra described the reactions of these old men: "But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid" (3:12).

No, I do not think those tears they were shedding were tears of mourning. They were tears of joy! Maybe some of them were praying fervently for decades that this day would come. And now....there it was! The temple that they knew and loved was being rebuilt!

So maybe you're someone who has been praying fervently for something amazing to happen in your life. Perhaps it's that a friend or family member can come to embrace Jesus Christ. Perhaps its financial troubles, sickness, or whatever. Maybe you've even been praying for some serious breakthrough in a ministry you serve in. My encouragement to you is this: KEEP PRAYING!

The all-knowing, all-powerful, completely sovereign God of the universe hears your prayers, and He can and will come to your rescue. Maybe it'll be instant, and maybe it'll be a process that takes decades, and you'll be an old man or woman when these things come to pass. Hey....that's okay! Regardless of this, rejoice that God is in control! Keep laboring for Christ and keep going. God will glorify Himself through what you're doing soon enough.

God bless you for your work!

Laboring with you,

Steve