Yesterday, I was chatting with many of the youth about their Christmas. Many took advantage of the holiday time to reconnect with family members, to make few changes in their lives, and to generally relax a bit. One story in particular really got my attention...
George came in and shook my hand. I asked him how his Christmas was. He answered, "Great!" Wanting to draw out a bit more information, I asked him to name 2 things that were great about it. He gave me quick responses: "My wife and her father started talking again! And he offered me a mechanics job... I thought I would never get that type of job again. I love working on cars! And we spent Christmas with her father and it was great! I'm so happy! I'm so happy I'm sort of in shock!" I wanted to reinforce that he should and could be happy from time to time, so I said something along the lines of "I'm really glad to see you so happy! You just light up. It's OK to be happy from time to time." He responded very honestly, and without a manipulative thought in his head, "I haven't been this happy since I was six!" Then he walked off to take care of some other things.
He left me in shock and awe. Shock that he could so quickly name the time when he was this happy before! And awe that it could be so long (he's about 20) since he was this happy!
God is so good. We need to live in the moment and enjoy happiness when it comes our way. Time with family, time to do things we enjoy, and time to simply be who we are.
Street Youth Ministry of Austin exists to know, love and serve street-dependent youth. The first step of our mission is to notice street youth. Then we must understand their culture to know how to love and serve them. SYM spends time every day with more than 100 young adults. We provide basic services, counseling, referral to services, and Christian guidance counseling. It it a privilege to know these young people.
No comments:
Post a Comment