This is Why

So apparently I am still not very good at this keeping up a blog and staying in touch thing.

Oh well.
I will keep trying!

I have been making all these plans of what to blog about and pictures and topics and stories, etc, and I just haven't taken the time to do it. Mostly because a lot of what I want to blog about is knitting and crocheting and I've been more interested in actually knitting or crocheting than blogging about it... So I will work on getting that blog post up soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a beautiful moment I experienced a couple Sundays ago...

Every 5th Sunday of the month we gather in small groups to pray for our missionaries and for our brothers and sisters in persecuted nations (such as North Korea, Somalia, etc.).

Now for the life of me I cannot remember which country I was actually praying for (which is slightly embarrassing, but not the point of the story so I will confess it and move on), but I was honored and blessed to be standing with two of the most beautiful young ladies I have the privelege to know.

They were both in high school and a part of the youth ministry when Tom and I started as directors over 3 years ago and have since graduated and moved on in life. One of them went to YWAM for 6 months and is now back in town and going to beuaty school. The other is going to college in California and is home for the summer. Both have beautiful hearts and are such a blessing.

Standing in this group with these girls and listening to them pray, pouring their hearts out to the Lord on behalf of these brothers and sisters who are suffering, brought tears to my eyes.

This is our legacy. This is why we do what we do.

I'm not bragging or even claiming that who they are today has anything to do with anything we have done. I am simply marveling in the honor the Lord has given us to know these young people and to come alongside them and spur them on to do the great things the Lord has called them to do. And the blessing it is to watch them step out and walk in that calling.

Some people think we are "crazy" for working with teenagers and giving up a Friday night to spend the night at the church with 21 young people, getting very little sleep and playing silly games. Some people don't understand why we are so super excited about little triumphs like: a teenager remembering a point in a lesson we taught on something they are dealing with in their life; or a 16-year-old girl wanting to put together a power point slide show for her parents that she is willing to share with all of the parents because she is so passionate about the call of the Lord to go to Thailand; or one of our students wanting to draw a narwhal on the van we are driving to Denver in for a 3-day adventure of loud music, late nights, and crazy praise.

Some people wonder why Tom doesn't get a "real job" to "provide for his family."

Some people wonder why we are still in this little town in the middle of the desert at this small church with so many struggles and trials.

This is why we do what we do.

This is what the Lord is doing in Altared Youth Ministry.

This is the joy that keeps us going.

This is the beauty and the wonder that the Lord Jesus Christ sees in this generation of young people.