Young Life was SO much fun tonight. It's nights like these that make me so thankful that I get to do this, that make me wish we could do this every night of the week, that make me realize how important all of this really is. I love that I get to overlap with all of these kids and leaders at least once a week. I'm thankful that this is a place that they call home and that they look forward to coming. They know that they belong here.
I flipped out when I saw Mikaela walk in tonight. I miss seeing her everyday like I did last year when she was still in 8th grade. She's hilarious, quirky, precious, kind, insanely creative and so fun. I love when Haleigh comes and we get to share life together. And I love her wolf shirt.
The very best surprise tonight was when Abby, Carly and Caitlin walked in. I had all three as 7th graders and they were three of the most sweet, hard-working, kind-hearted and secretly awesome kids I had. When I think back to their grade they stick out as some of my best students that year. I haven't seen them since the end of last school year so I was thrilled when they walked in the door. They were all smiles and had a great time tonight.
I'm thankful for these guys. For more leaders that continue to show up and tell these kids that they matter. I'm thankful for guys like Chad, Jacob and Mitch that have been here since day one and lead by example. I don't work with these guys one on one but I can see how God is at work in them, some of them it's incredibly obvious and others I know that they're growing when they show up week after week.
Sometimes YL kids are crazy i.e. when we walk outside to round them up and find them climbing all over the log cabin playhouse. yolo... carpe diem... something like that...
As we sang worship songs together tonight I noticed that so many of these kids don't have to look at the words anymore. They've memorized these lyrics and these truths about who God is have been written on their hearts. It's powerful to see all of these HS kids confidently singing, "I know who goes before me, I know who stands behind, the God of Angel Armies is always by my side. The one who reigns forever, he is a friend of mine, the God of Angel Armies is always by my side."
Tonight we wrote love tanks. It's hands down my favorite activity to do with a group of kids. Everyone's paper bag represents the love tank they have inside of them that gets filled up when people encourage them. We spend about thirty minutes writing notes of support, encouragement, compliments, prayers, apologies, love and gratitude to as many people as possible.
When I called out that there were only four minutes left everyone groaned because they wanted to keep writing. Once you start spreading that love you just don't want to stop or leave any one out. This practice of selflessly giving out compliments is so cool to see kids latch on to.
Tonight we took care of each other. We used our words to build one another up. People stepped up to speak truth to each other. This community had a bible doing instead of a bible study.
They didn't read their notes until they went home, as soon as they did Instagram was flooded with young life and love tank images. I've done this activity with so many different groups of people in the last ten years but it never becomes any less meaningful to me. Every time I get notes from people I didn't expect, feel uplifted and encouraged, realize that I am making a difference and that my words matter.
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