Why do we do, what we do?

Twenty-four years of YL Capernaum! Why do we do what we do? For me it still comes every moment of every day in the face of my club kid Antwon when I turned him in his bed at camp 24 years ago. I hear Jesus voice everyday, “It is me you turned. It’s me you stood by.” To this day that gives me chills and sustains me. It is only knowing that our kids are Jesus in disguise that can sustain us through deficits, disappointments, and struggles with leaders or committee, our own failures and weariness. Yes, we are sustained when we are able to look a kid in the eye and see the face of Jesus.

There is so much we have to do: GPS Stats, strategic plans, goals, meetings, training, conferences and T.D.S., to name a few. So much we are called to and charged with, but if we ever lose sight of the face of Jesus in a kid, we are irrelevant. Our mission is to pursue the Jesus who is rejected, alone and miserable. The Jesus in a wheelchair, sentenced to suffering and an early death. The Jesus that lies in a hospital bed and whose parents have abandoned Him.

It’s this Jesus we have been granted the privilege to serve, feed and care for. As we do, we enter into sharing His suffering as Paul says in Colossians. Is there a greater honor? It’s the honor that can sustain us when along with our kids we feel ignored, misunderstood or rejected. At that point we rejoice because we have this ministry by God’s mercy (2 Corinthians 4:1) to draw close to Jesus.

May you be blessed with joy this week as you see Jesus in a kids’ face.

Sharing in His sufferings,
Nick