Ladera WyldLife: The Importance of the Hang-Out

A part of having meetings outside is that sometimes you gotta think on the fly and make some changes. It doesn't rain too often here in Souther Orange County, but with Storm Watch 2014 on high alert this week, we decided to make the switch and move from the park to Cinnamon Productions. Good thing, because it was definitely wet out there this morning.

Its always tricky having a big group come to a restaurant in the morning, and we pretty much filled up the whole place. This morning was just a mellow hang-out time, but sometimes that is just what is needed. When we have times like that, it really allows us leaders to get to know the kids better, and, most of the time, it is the relationships that do the deepest work.

WyldLife is not about programs. We do have them, and we try to make sure they are something that kids really want to come be a part of, but they aren't the only way we seek to share the love of Jesus with kids. While I love playing games, talking to a group about Jesus, and leading small groups through different stories about Jesus and his crazy love for them, I know that sometimes the most important moments happen when you aren't really trying to do anything, when you are just being yourself with a kid.

In my own life, my Young Life leader changed the course of my life in a conversation he had with me that he doesn't even remember. I don't remember many of the talks he gave, I don't even remember many of the talks I heard at camp or anywhere else while I was a teenager, but I remember the relationships. I got to be pretty close with my Young Life leader. I got to see how deeply he loved Jesus, and how his life was an outflow of that. I also got to see him make mistakes, and I saw that he was anything but perfect. He didn't always say the "churchy" things, and on several times he actually used colorful language in front of me. It was one of those times that changed my life. He used a word that I won't repeat, but because I knew him, knew how deeply he loved Jesus, knew how deeply he loved others, and knew how deeply he wanted to be more like Jesus it made a significant impact. It showed me that he was real, he wasn't pretending, and his love was true. It showed me that I could be the same way, that following Jesus wasn't about being perfect, or being super religious, or even "churchy," but about truly knowing and loving Jesus. Up to that point I thought following Jesus was about having the right answers, using the right language, following the right rules, and going to church. After that, everything changed, and I realized that Jesus loves us, all of us, and that we can be honest. It showed me that I can open up to Jesus in every part of my life, and that being in relationship with him was real.

This is what Young Life and WyldLife are about. Relationships, and showing kids that Jesus loves all of them, and that they can actually know him and be themselves, warts and all. It shows them that they don't have to be perfect, but that Jesus loves them as they are, and as they get to know and love him, they will become more like him in a very real and true way.

My life would be totally different if I hadn't gotten to know my Young Life leader. I don't know where I would be or what I would be doing. I am so thankful for Jesus loving me through my leader Joe Bahr. I am so thankful for Joe letting me see that he wasn't perfect, and that following Jesus wasn't about acting a certain way, but about true love and true life.

I hope we get to do the same for some of these kids, I was transformed from an insecure kid, to a kid with confidence in the fact that Jesus loved me exactly as I was.

Ladera WyldLife: Christmas Club

Christmas Club at the Wrights'!

Last night was Ladera Ranch WyldLife's first annual Christmas Club! It was such a great night! We had over 50 kids come ready to have a good time. There was hot coco, handmade by the talented Steve Wright! There were Christmas cookies and candy canes as far as the eye could see, and enough good cheer for the whole block!

Grant and Noah doing work on spike-ball!

The girls got into slam disc.

We had a couple new games set up as kids started showing up. Spike-ball and slam disc. Apparently I am behind the times on these games, and the kids taught some of us leaders a few new moves. It was a lot of fun hanging out before all the crazy games got going.

Mr. Christmas Tree, Jake Cruzen.

One of the games was a Christmas tree decorating contest... the only twist was that guys were the trees. Each grade competed against each other decorating one of the guys as a Christmas tree. They got pretty creative, and there were some really good looking "trees" but in the end Josh Dunphy was chosen by our team of expert judges as the winner of the Mr. Christmas Tree Pageant. 

Mackenzie really likes Christmas cookies!

Marlee looking a bit like the Grinch

The girls got to have a pageant of their own as well! They got to be human sugar cookies.  We had teams of three decorate each brave volunteer! There were some very interesting results, and I think the girls might be smelling and tasting vanilla frosting for a few days.

Alexa

Kayla's team went for a more abstract approach.

Matt Wright taught us how to make his favorite Christmas Spaghetti!

The grand finale was a cooking class/eating contest hosted by our very own Matt Wright. He instructed us all on how to make his favorite Christmas Spaghetti! The sauce was the secret, a potent mixture of syrup, chocolate sauce, M&M's, marshmallows, and gummy bears. I am not sure how any of them were able to eat any of it, but Shane stepped up and almost ate his whole tray!

Syrup, chocolate sauce, M&M's, marshmallows, and gummy bears... 

At the end of the night I got to share about what all the messy games have to do with Christmas. We enjoy getting messy at WyldLife. Middle school is a messy time in life, and letting kids have fun getting messy is something we enjoy.

Its hard to go through life without getting messy... because no matter how clean you try to stay, life is messy. Its just a part of being human. 

I shared a story about a time when my oldest daughter was a few months old. While changing a "blow out" diaper, she had another "movement" and I ended up getting some of the mess on me. I quickly realized that wipes were not going to do the job and started getting the bath ready. As I was holding her, with baby poop on my arms, I felt a warm sensation begin to flow down from where I was holding Hazel. I quickly realized that I was totally covered in my daughter's mess... and I started to laugh. Honestly, its one of the best memories I have from when she was little. Don't get me wrong, I never thought I would react that way, but, as most of you who have kids can attest to, when it is your own kid, its just different. It brought me closer to Hazel, and it made me realize more about the depth of my love for her.

Its the same with God.

Sometimes it can be easy to think that God doesn't want to get involved in our mess, or be close to us when we are messy. But that is what we celebrate on Christmas Day. God came to earth as a baby, a messy baby, and entered into our messy human experience. 

Its hard to think that the God of the universe would want to get involved in our mess, or would be willing to hold us even when we are covered in filth... but he does. In the beginning of the New Testament book of John, John writes, "The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus, God, entered into our mess. He became a human and moved into the neighborhood. He knows what it is like.

And, like with my experience with my daughter Hazel, when God enters into our mess with us, it deepens our relationship. As I held my daughter, my love for her grew. God loves us perfectly right now, so its not that his love grows as we let him come near when we are messy, but we learn more about how much he does actually love us. We realize that there is nothing we can do to make him drop us, there is nothing we can do to make him hesitate in coming near.

Paul writes in Romans 5:8 that "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."While we were at our messiest, God drew near. This is why I get so excited about Christmas. God came near! God comes near... always! He is not afraid of my mess, and as I let him come near, he begins to clean me up, from the inside out.

So, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season. I hope that as the pace of life gets crazier, and as things begin to get hectic and messy, that you would remember how deeply God loves you, and how, at Christmas, we get to celebrate that God became a baby, a messy baby, and isn't afraid to come near when we are at our worst.

Best part of the night, sharing about Jesus jumping into our mess with us!

Ladera Ranch WyldLife: Hope in Jesus

Some nice shirts! 

While it was nice to have a break for Thanksgiving, I missed Campaigners and seeing all our middle school friends last week. It was so great seeing everyone this morning, and even meeting a few new kids.  This morning we even had a new girl leader come out! Kate, RockHarbor Mission Viejo's middle school director, came out to see what happens in Ladera on Friday mornings. It was so great having her dive in with the girls, and I look forward to working with her more.

Not too sure what carol this was...

Because it is Christmas time, and I have been listening to a ridiculous amount of Christmas carols (what can I say, I love Christmas music) we played a game dealing with classic Christmas songs. It was a game of charades where groups of kids had to act out certain Christmas songs and everyone would try to guess what song it was.

Founders is always fun on Friday mornings.

It was fun seeing what these kids came up with when it came to acting out the songs. For instance, for "Joy to the World" the group of guys just started frolicking around, and doing a really creative version of ballet. It was pretty funny seeing 6th grade boys acting like ballerinas!

"Joy to the World"

One of the other highlights was watching our leader Riley and Jackson act out "Grandma Got Run-over by a Reindeer." Christmas is such a fun time of year. I love that during a cold month with some of the shortest days of the year, we get to experience hope, joy, love, and celebration. What a welcome break this season is for these kids. You can feel it in the air.

After the game we made a transition into our small groups. Before we broke up I asked everyone what their favorite thing about this time of year was. We got so many different answers. From friends and family, to candy canes, to presents... almost everyone had something to share.

Jackson and Riley showing us how Grandma got run over by a reindeer 

I shared a story with the whole group about Christmas my 8th grade year. There was a certain thing I had asked for, something for archery (I was really into archery and bow-hunting that year). I had been asking my parents about it all month. I had researched it and figured out exactly what I wanted and which one was the best. I had all my hope for Christmas in getting this one thing.

I ended up getting it, but, as with almost every gift a kid gets at Christmas, by the next year it was long forgotten. I don't think I used it for more than a few months. But, that Christmas, it was all I was hoping for.

Hope is extremely powerful. Hope can get us through some extremely difficult times, and stoke the excitement in good times. Hope can literally fuel a person. Christmas is about Hope.

Hope is complex though. We hope because we know that there is something better, or there is something that could make life better, or there is something wrong that can be made right, or something is missing. A part of hope is often pain.

Its not hard to look around and see that things are not right. Bad things happen, often. People die, people get sick, there is great pain and suffering all over the place. Perhaps this season brings up some of this for you. Perhaps this season is a mixed bag for you. I know for me it is. Along with all the joy and laughter is the pressure of this season, and with all the parties and family, sometimes a feeling of loneliness can begin to grow, or the realization that things have just been pretty tough.

But this season is about HOPE. There is every reason to HOPE, even if its hard to see it.

This world is beautiful, and love abounds, but it is not the way it was supposed to be. People should not die because they can't afford to feed themselves. Natural disasters shouldn't be able to kill thousands at a time and completely destroy communities. Disease shouldn't be able to bring people full of life down. Families shouldn't fall apart, and pain and suffering shouldn't be a normal part of life.

This is where Jesus comes in.

Over the course of this semester we talked about some of the incredible things that Jesus has done. He healed a paralyzed man, brought a man that had been dead for 4 days back to life, calmed a storm, walked on water, gave a blind man sight, gave a woman no one cared about purpose, and countless other things. Jesus came into this world, and started making everything right again. I have talked a lot about Jesus restoring life, and making it possible for people to live full lives. Another way to talk about this is that Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to earth, and started making everything new.

Each time Jesus healed someone, restored someone, or loved someone others didn't, we see the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth... and this continues today. The Kingdom is coming, and in this we can have hope!

We read some verses from the Old Testament book of Isaiah today. This book was written long before Jesus was born, but the author of this book was told that God would send someone to begin making everything right again. When this book was written things were very wrong, and hope was hard to come by, but God whispered to one of his children the following words that are as true today as they were then: "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have... increased their joy... you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warriors boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for fire. FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, TO US A SON IS GIVEN... AND HE WILL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end."

What hope can be found in this! Jesus is alive, he was born about 2,000 years ago, and he lives today! He has come and has started something that he will finish. No matter where you are in life, your life was meant to be so much more, and in Jesus it can be. Jesus did not come to bring us a heavy burden of rules and regulations, but freedom in love, and the path to live a truly human life. Life as it was created to be lived.

Things are not the way they should be right now. Of this there is no question. Maybe its easy for you to ignore this, or maybe this fact is staring you in the face each day, and its a battle every day, but a day is coming when everything will be restored, made new. Have hope!

In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, towards the very end in chapter 21:3-5 we get a glimpse of something I hope for daily, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe EVERY TEAR from their eyes. There will be NO MORE DEATH or mourning or crying or pain, FOR THE OLD ORDER OF THINGS HAS PASSED AWAY." Then God said, "I am making everything new!"

Misplaced hope can be deflating, and it can begin to make hope seem silly... but in Jesus and the Kingdom that he has brought and is bringing, HOPE IS POWERFUL, and it is very real.

I pray that this year you experience hope. I know what it is like to be hopeless. It is dark, and it is ugly, but hope can begin to make everything seem lighter. It can give a dying heart a reason to beat again, and give energy to a tired body. Hope in Jesus is real.

Talking about hope

Prayer in High Rollers

A couple times a year club will end a bit sooner than expected. One of my favorite things to do when that happens is to ask for Prayer Requests. Our students love this! It gives them a time to share whats really on their hearts. It gives them a time to know that what they request is heard and will actually be prayed for. 

I know some people don't realize the power of prayer but I promise you that these guys do. They know they can give their requests to God and it will be honored. This is just one of many lessons I have learned from the High Rollers in the time I have spent with them.

Below was the prayer requests from the other night.

-Dave

High Rollers Halloween Club

High Rollers is up and running! Halloween is always a fun club because we all get dresses up. I love seeing that our friends come as. Some come as scary creatures and others are princesses, I love the dynamic of that!

-Dave