Work Week Reflection

By Maison Lowery

As someone on Young Life staff or as a volunteer Young Life leader, we often find ourselves in some strange situations. Earlier in the summer at work week, I had one of those “what am I doing?!” moments. Our area took seven students to participate in work week at Sharptop Cove. We were the only Capernaum representatives and the rest of the camp was college students. The last night of camp, we, the Capernaum crew, were scheduled to put on a talent show for the camp. Earlier in the day, we asked what everyone wanted to do for his or her talent. One of our friends decided he wanted to slow dance to the 7Eventh Time Down hit, “God is on the move.” After a slight pause and

a scan of the room he points and says, “HER.” Caught off guard he goes on to pull me on the stage. This “her” was apparently my big break. We would now be performing “God is on the move” in front of 300+ college students.

That evening when the time for the show was upon us my friend rounded the corner in a two piece number. Part ninja outfit and part what an older women might wear to play bridge. He had on a top and a skirt that showed his midriff when he lifted his arms. (As we were dancing, his midriff showed the whole time). He also had on a plastic silver chain and an American flag bandana. I also had on a matching bandana because that is what we decided our costume would be. He clearly out shined me in this area.

When it was our time to go out on stage, he took my hand and boldly stepped through the curtain. One other important thing to note is that the program for that week was the “Telle-thuggies” - the rapping telletubbies. At show time I am on stage slow dancing to “God is on the Move” with my friend in his one of a kind outfit and Telle-thuggies dancing on either side of me. What a weird moment. What am I doing?

Our dance was average at best, but when he gave me a final dip on stage, the crowd went nuts! I mean, tied at the bottom of the ninth and your team just hit a grand slam nuts! He left me behind him to take his grand bow, and I couldn’t help but smile. He was beyond celebrated for his talent. Only people that love Jesus would react with such love to an act that normally would be labeled as a little strange.

Work week was full of these moments. Moments where our friends with disabilities got to hang with students their age and be friends. Moments where we were able to celebrate the smallest victories. Victories like successfully spraying down a trashcan or finishing scrubbing yet another mat. This week was a chance to show our friends with disabilities new ways they can serve and new abilities they may not have known they had. Our friends were celebrated and appreciated for what they could do and not pushed aside because of a label.


Thank you to Sharptop for giving our friends a chance to serve. Thank you to energetic and accepting college students for loving our group. And thank you to our friends with disabilities for showing me how to celebrate the small victories and how to see the gospel in the most unlikely of circumstances.