Do you ever have it that you look at the calendar and all you can say is WOW? That is how I felt today as I realized that tomorrow in Valentines day, Feb. 14, 2012. Where has the school year gone? I'm not sure if it's the lack of snow that makes it seem that we are still in November, or that I'm getting older and time is going faster, (probably the latter) but here it is Feb. So many things have been happening at Open Lodge. Around 30 students come on Tuesday and Thursday to build relationships with volunteers. It is so much fun for me to watch as volunteers and students play board games, basketball, volleyball, nukeem', pickleball, pool, the WII, or just hang out and talk. What a difference they are making in students lives as they take the time to do these things. Elementary Open Lodge has been going great as well. Around 20 students come to hang out with volunteers. My heart warms when I see these students coming in not only to have fun but to get help with homework as well. Praise the Lord for these volunteers who see their mission field right here at Open Lodge.
I have been taking some time to read a book called, "hurt 2.0, Inside the world of today's Teenagers." by Chap Clark. What an eye opening book, and yet so much of what he has written I see in "my kids." One of the quotes I want to share with is:
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Today, however, adults have fewer standards, values and beliefs and hold on to them less firmly than was true in the past. The adolescent must therefore struggle to find and identity without the benefit of this supportive adult envelope.
On the surface, the adolescent world appears to be relatively stable and healthy. Yet beneath the calm waters presented by positive empirical date there is turmoil that is difficult, painful, lonely, and even harmful to our young. Even among those who argue that adolescents are basically fine, virtually no one would question the need young people, and especially adolescents, have for adults who are available, who care and who come to them without a hidden or self-centered agenda. The fact is that adolescents need adults to become adults, and when adults are not present and involved in their lives, they are forced to figure out how to survive life on their own.
The young have not arrogantly turned their backs on the adult world. Rather, they have been forced by a personal sense of abandonment to band together and create their own world—separate, semisecret, and vastly different from the world around them.
Wow, if you've read it, please read it again. "The fact is that adolescents need adults to become adults...." We take for granted that all students have these adults in their lives, but I can tell you from experience, this is not true. After 16 years of ministry, I still have students/adults call me for help. These "adults" did not have a parent in their lives to help them learn how to be "adults" and they are still struggling to get there.
Why do I bring this up? Because this is what Open Lodge is all about. It's not just playing games with students, or talking with them for a few minutes, it is about taking the time to help them become adults. To guide them through the decision making process. To encourage, correct, and love them through it all. Is it easy, no way, I will not lie to you. Is it rewarding, you bet. God calls us to be missionaries right here in our back yard. Open Lodge is right in our back yard. Please if you could give a few hours of your time to help a student become and adult contact me. I'd love to talk with you more about serving Him in our back yard.
