Friendship Lived Out

I know a high school student named David*.  David is a good student, a decent athlete, and a fun guy to be around.  Most of his teachers don’t know his name, but he has a group of guys that he hangs out with during lunch.  By all appearances, David leads a normal life for a teenager filled with academics, sports, and social gatherings.  However, David doesn’t have many people in his life that he feels close to.  In fact, there are only a handful of people on the entire planet that David trusts enough to talk about his feelings, his doubts, and his painful times.

David lives in my neighborhood and we hang out multiple times per week.  He comes to YoungLife events, we go to the movies with other guys, he visits my house for dinner.  One afternoon, David told me that he had something important that he wanted to talk about.  He came to the door, looking nervous.  We sat at my dining table and I asked him, “What’s up?”  David went on to tell me that he had met a youth pastor who had invited him to their youth group meeting.  David wanted to go, but was scared that if he went he would no longer be welcome at YoungLife.  I chuckled a bit and explained to him that we are here for him, and that I would gladly drive him to that youth group, which happened to be led by a friend of mine at a local church.  We went on to talk about faith, life, and what it means to love yourself as Jesus loves you.

As David headed for the door to leave, he turned around with another nervous look on his face.  “Josh?  What are we?  Like, what is this that we’re doing?”  I laughed a little more and told him simply, “This is called being friends.  I learn from you, and you learn from me.”  He liked that.  David told me that he doesn’t have many friends that act like this.  “Well,” I said, “we’ll just have to find you more friends.”  As David left my house, I realized that this act of understanding and caring for my friends is what ministry is.  This is what YoungLife is.  This is what love is.

*Name changed to protect identity.

-Josh

A New Start

My dad was a coach for over 40 years.  He was always good at teaching a sport and growing kids into skilled athletes.  However, I was never that great at sports.  I lacked the “killer instinct” that so many of the best athletes seem to have.  I grew to be tolerant of sports because I like being around people.  By the time I graduated from high school, I had pretty much sworn off of competitive sports in any official capacity, and I figured that was the end of it.

Flash forward a few years and I find myself looking for ways to get on the San Juan Hills High School campus and meet the students there.  I kept hearing that one great way to start relationships on campus was through sports, and so I asked to become a volunteer for the track and field team.  On my first day, I was introduced to the team as Coach G., the new coach.  I stumbled my way through drills and techniques that practice, but somehow, I gained the respect of the kids.  

On our first home meet, I was assigned to help out with the starter and the timers, running around whenever something needed doing.  I was there at the beginning of each and every race, checking the lanes, encouraging the runners, and covering my ears as the gun went off.  I was able to cheer on my runners, and congratulate them as they finished.  I was proud of them, and they would each say “thanks Coach G.” as they passed by.  At the end of the night, our team had won and our kids were happily exhausted.  I told them goodbye before driving home with that word echoing in my head, “Coach...coach...coach.”  

I had never imagined that I would be a coach, much less for such a great team.  But here I am; encouraging, cheering, screaming, giving advice.  Some of these kids are my friends, some of them live in my neighborhood.  Some of them have even started to talk to me about their lives, their families, their thoughts on God.  Every day I get to be with them is a blessing, even if it is as a coach.

-Josh

Dana Hills Young Life- Contact Work

Contact work is a huge part of what makes Young Life different from other youth ministries. We go to where the kids are and build relationships. This involves trips to campus and going to many sporting events. This past week one of my girls invited me to the formal pictures. I had a chance to meet a ton of her friends I'd never met before. The relationships begin before a kid ever attends a club, hopefully making them feel more welcomed if they do come.

-Megan