Thursday, November 13, 2008

Word Diahrrea (sp) and Young Life


So I have this lingering thorn in my flesh that I battle with daily...word diahrrea (sp)! I tell people what I really think and am brutally honest. Which is refreshing at times, but horrible at other times. God has given me a gift of honesty. I am grateful for it! But Satan tries to counter-fit it by me not keeping a guard on my mouth, and I'm sad to say that I fall prey to that a lot. I wish everyone told you what they really felt...but then also, I don't. So you can see my battle. Right now however, I am gonna tell you what I really feel. (THIS PART UPDATED LATER): And I pre-warn you now, that I'm not trying to preach to non-Young LIfe supporters, nor am I condemning the church...I just said what I said b/c I am just that passionate about what I do, so I hope that no-one takes offense. But please read my heart.
I love Young Life! I was involved with Young Life (YL) when I was a teenager, I have volunteered for YL for 10 years now, and I am now currently employed with YL. Now I am not one of those people who join one ministry and stick with it for forever and never branch out. I have my hands in several others....like Pray The Word, Living Proof, my home church (HFBC), Camp Life in Zambia, James and Betty Robinson's Life Today, Samaritans Purse, World Vision, assisting in nursing homes, free baby-sitting, etc., etc. However, YL does take most of my time and energy. But I and God would have it no other way for now. (see my pic of some of us on top of a mountain that we had just climbed in Colorado this past summer!) You see, God used YL to help save me when I was a lost, hurting and rebellious teenager. And now I want to give back. The problem is, no-one "gets" YL and so they don't support it. AND WE NEED SUPPORT!!! YL is a non-profit, Christian organization geared towards helping un-churched kids (and they're are several out there....there are even churched kids out there who come b/c they don't get church and their dysfunctional family.) Anyways, when you go on staff, you have to raise your own support. Well, since going on staff September 1, I have received a whopping $300! And someone graciously committed to giving $100 a month (but it was my parents!) The thing is, we are not a church so we don't take in over a million dollars a week in order to make our building look prettier. Don't get me wrong. I understand that God intricately designed the Temple and all...but doesn't that symbolize more of our hearts anyways? But I am not a church hater! It's just that most people are giving that much a week for basically that, and nothing to YL, bc "they don't understand it, we work with bad kids, it's not really missions, and it's not a church" (yes , those are the lame excuses that I hear.) Are you kidding me?!? I have done misisons in Africa. In fact, I raised over $5,000 in 2 weeks to go! (Praise the Lord!) But now that I am asking for money to do missions in America....no-one steps up! And it is misisons! Yes, the Africans are VERY SADLY deprived of material posessions and are oppressed by the enemy. And yes, the Americans have material posessions. However, the American kids are just as oppressed by the enemy, just in different ways. You see, I'm not trying to judge, but you probably don't know (b/c you are probably not on the front lines with teens, everyday, hearing their personal business that they are not telling their parents.) But they are struggling....STRUGGLING BAD I tell you! And Jesus didn't command us just to build houses for people and feed them for one week. No, His commisioning was actually for us to solely GO AND PREACH THE GOSPEL to all the nations. Well sadly, what was once a Christian nation in America has now slipped into a nation that no longer sees it's needs for God anymore. Africa sees their need for God more than we do, I think. So I am doing the Great Commision across our globe, but also with YL, but people don't think it's missions.
You see, before I worked my own trade as a Dental Asst. and did YL but it was hard, I was struggling and tired, and the result was no fruit. Now I am employed and freed up to do what I love and there is so much fruit. I am not tooting my own horn here, just being HONEST. And it's not b/c of me. I tried me before and there was no fruit. Now old, tired Corrie is filled up with Jesus and energized (b/c she doesn't have another job keeping her down) and there is fruit! I am about to train 25 new leaders to work with kids. Tons of kids are not just accepting Christ as their Savior, but following Him finally as their Lord. And these are kids who just a few months ago were addicted to drugs, selling drugs, buying prostitutes, getting kicked out of their house by a parent who wanted to either bring their boyfriend home for the night, or their boyfriend was beating the kid. And that is not ministry b/c we don't have church walls or aren't feeding kids in Africa? I think not! But sadly I find countless times that the "church" doesn't want to help these kids. They are "bad" kids, they say. But these are your future leaders! Or the "church" will tell me that I am competition and am stealing away their kids for youth group. To which I laugh, these kids would sadly never step foot in youth group or a church. But that is why YL got started in 1941...to grab the un-churched kids and get them in church. It's sad that it ever had to start in the first place but there was a need so it did. These rebellious kids like YL. We come to them, not have them come to our "institution." And it works! We have no building or millions coming in, but it works and has for years. But I want it to continue. We want to partner with churches but very few want to partner with us, or will support us. And the spiral continues. But if I don't get support soon then I can't keep doing what I am doing. And not only do I love what I do so that would be so sad, but I'd have to quit, find another job, try and volunteer while tired, see ministry fail b/c lack of time, not enable kids who don't have money to go to camp for free, etc. Honestly, that sux!
I will share one true YL success story with you, out of the many, without using the name. There was a girl whose parents were un-believers, they had affairs on each other, ignored her, and home was emotionally unstable. She was raised in church but they sadly didn't teach her anything other than legalism. She was hungry for Jesus but couldn't find answers at church, or at home. So she looked for answers from the world and her friends, and they were talking so she listened. So she then found herself filled with sex, alcohol, depression, an eating disorder, lies, etc. And then an older boy, who was what they call a "Sr. Leader at YL" invited her to come and be apart of YL. She did, solely for the boy at the time, but she found herself feeling loved finally, purely, and she found her answers. But was she too late, she thought. You see, her church had already labeled her a sinner, and she was. But weren't they all? But she ended up accepting Christ through YL, being discipled through YL, and becoming a Sr. Leader with YL and leading many of her lost friends to Jesus through the tool of YL. And now this girl is old and in ministry. That is why I do YL! And that is my word diahrrea for the day! I speak with passion b/c my and Jesus' heart bleeds deep for these kids! PLEASE pray for YL in the Houston Bay Area...or please help us financially! Thank you for reading. Please just hear my heart and don't mis-understand me. I don't hate the church! I am just a bit dis-appointed. I love you...and YL obviously! :)

3 comments:

Manda said...

AMEN Sista! love seein your heart and to see the desire God has put in you love ya!

The Ugly Beautiful said...

Thanks my sweet Amanda...another one blessed by YL and therefore now giving back to it! :) I was afraid I would offend so many, but I'm so glad that you of course got it. I hope that the rest of my 2 blog readers do! :) I love you!

Manda said...

good update on the blog, and i finished mere christianity and then read screwtape letters and am now reading some ortberg. those books may get a lil blog by me haha me and Jesus love it when you dont hide your passion and gifts