From the Youth Director, Jimmy Smith November 2008 One of the highlights for the previous month was our participation in another Youth in Action project. Youth in Action is a group of area church youth groups that come together to share their time, talents and resources in order to fix up homes that are in disrepair and that the owners are unable to fix up themselves. This past project involved both yard work and painting. The lady we assisted had recently had surgery and was unable to maintain her property; the property had become very overgrown. We had a dozen Our Savior youth working on the project along with kids from Holy Cross and other community churches. Imagine in a world that preaches it’s all about me and I deserve this and that, there was a group a teenagers who gave up their Saturday to make a difference in someone else’s life. Believe it or not these kids actually believe they can make a difference. I have to agree with them. Four or five of them scraped paint for hours before they even got to the highlight of the day… playing in the paint. (Most of it did get on the house.) The others did yard work. Our resident fisherman landed a marlin—it was a statue that had been knocked down and over grown. The only rodent to make an appearance this time was supplied by yours truly. Our youth had a lot of fun, but they worked hard too. I have to give a special thanks to Dillon. This young man has been doing these projects since he was in sixth grade. He’s already graduated high school and still helps out. He’s picking up items days before, and completing deliveries long after the rest of us have gone home. Sometimes I overlook that our youth ministry is one of the greatest outreaches our church has. It is amazing that a group of 12-19 year olds preach the Gospel in the way they live their lives. These are some of our best sermons. And yes, they do see it as living out the Gospel and showing Chris’s love. We took a break at 10:30 as a time to cool off, get a drink and have a devotion. During our break I asked them why they would give up a Saturday. They responded with things like: “to make a difference in people’s lives,’ “ to spread God’s love,” “Christ sacrificed so much for us, we can sacrifice one day even though its not much of a sacrifice.” These young people get it! Wow! It’s November! Man, where did the year go? Holidays are just around the corner. A temporary reprieve from political advertising. The stores have had their Christmas display up since before Reformation Sunday (or Halloween on some peoples calendar). Well, I say bring on Thanksgiving, bring on Christmas. We need to celebrate and give thanks for God’s Divine providence for us. And yes, this year has been financially rough, not just for my small business and me, but also for my customers. So I’m glad that it is going to be a tight gift-giving season so we can focus on what we are celebrating. 4Given Jimmy Smith |
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