Listening Carefully

A guest post by Pam Harmon

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14: 12-14

“Every time you choose to participate in a loving response, in bringing order where there is disorder, in bringing reconciliation where there is dis-unity, in bringing better service to others, in bringing integrity where there is lack of it, in an act of kindness, in a loving thought, in forgiveness - you are manifesting the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth.” - Tim Kreutter

            I consider myself a school friend of Jay’s. He likes it when I sit by him; he cranes his neck to find me when I’m in the room but not right beside him. He shows me his latest skills and favorite music each week when we hang out.

            I like it when I’m at Jay’s school because I have the opportunity to slow down, to focus on a small number of friends (there are 5 students in Jay’s class with an aide, a nurse, and a teacher), to listen carefully, to focus and learn how to best love and care for each individual in that classroom.

            Jay and his classmates are probably never going to thrive in a Young Life club with 100 students, loud music, bright lights and awesome talks. Instead we are exploring new goals and what proclaiming the Gospel looks like in a school where everyone is non-verbal, where everyone is medically fragile, where very few students are ambulatory, and where many students are overly stimulated by loud noises and crowds.

            We know that Jesus wants Jay and his friends to hear about and experience His love, and we know that Jesus wants to give us the opportunity to be blessed by seeing Him work in and through Jay and his friends. So we do what Young Life leaders all over the world do - we spend time in classrooms weekly, we build relationships with students and teachers, we pray and listen, we build a team of volunteers, we help whenever the school needs help, we dream creatively, and we are confident that God is going before us.

What are you doing this semester to reach new kids and maybe even kids that need a creative experience of the gospel verses the club we know so well?