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This weekend I spent an amazing time with hundreds of youth at Sagemont Church near Houston, TX.  They are the ones who corrupted me and convinced me to myspace lol.  What an amazing weekend.  I have spoken at what seems like a zillion events.  So many have been so blessed by God. In some ways, this was the most significant ever.  Why?
First, I sometimes wonder what in the hay I am doing speaking to teenagers. I am a 47 year old professor dude, fighting (and losing) the battle of the bulge, over the hill in many ways.  But I love youth.  I love my kids who are 18 and 13.  They are the most remarkable young people I have ever known.  And I love their peers.
This weekend the students received what I had to say remarkably.  The amazing youth pastor Matt Setliffe encouraged students to write me a card.  So many did.  So many awesome and underserved words.  I connected so with this group.  So many individuals.  God let me get to know a few really well, and this has in some ways changed my life (props to the Motley crew).
Also, I am more than ever convinced that I am to pour my life into the coming generation.  These young people are passionate, hungry, and so want their lives to matter.  But they need encouragement and direction.  They need someone to believe in them.  I believe in them.
Finally, I love being a dad.  I think being a dad actually helps me communicate with youth.  No, I am not the young, hip dude, but I love youth.  And they can tell.  I love being a dad to those who don’t have a dad in their life.  No, there is no way anyone can be more precious to me than my wife Michelle and my kids Josh and Hannah.  God has so blessed me with them.  But I have a big heart and room for more.  Espcially if I am not paying their college bills lol.
So here is to the zeal of youth–to students who long to serve God but fight the apprehensiveness of what that means in terms of friendships and the future.  I will love students.  I will encourage students to change the world.  Because they can.  And I believe they will.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.