The Chosen Three.
We sat around the table, immersed in conversation as we had so many times before. We planned out the series for next semester and challenged each other to dare to speak about the topics that intimidate us. We talked about our thoughts regarding the internship this semester; our fears, trials, and triumphs.
My mind flashed back to the couple of day span whenever I had an offer to be a middle school youth leader back home and then a couple days later, finding out that the internship I had committed to up here, Living Hope Church, would no longer have a youth pastor. I was so torn that I took some time to be alone and went hiking in the Ozarks. During that time, I received a strong "no" as I sat upon a rock after a 15 mile hike. Even though I had literally spent that whole time asking for a strong answer, once I received it, I questioned God so greatly. Why, God? I have an offer with a church that I'm familiar with, a youth pastor I'm close with, the teens that I know, versus an internship with no youth pastor and I'd be working with two males that I don't know super well in a church that I don't know hardly at all. It was one of those moments that even though I had received the answer I had been asking for, I wanted to refuse it. I wanted to accept the offer back home. Man, I wanted to.
However, as I was striving to grow and be more faithful, I listened and refused the offer back home. I walked into the internship at Living Hope, confused as to why it was working like this.
In my mind, an intern was one that was supposed to work directly under someone else...an intern wasn't supposed to have very many responsibilities and sure as heck wasn't supposed to be doing everything we were doing. Well, I was wrong.
I quickly learned that Mario, Nathan, and myself have vastly different personalities and leadership ways; of which we learned to mesh and appreciate each others leadership styles very quickly, because we had no choice. I learned that this youth group meant so much to Mario, as he has been there for a few years, so for him to hand us the reigns and allow us to lead was huge for him. I learned that Nathan is one that pursue's relationships so greatly, and has one of the biggest hearts I've ever had the privilege of seeing. I learned that Mario is "type B" personality, and Nathan is "type F" (he named himself). Me, being type A, found this to be challenging at first, but we learned to mesh and make things work.
We learned that as I was being mentored under Sarah and Mario and Nathan under Jorge, the things we were learning from them were to be applied in our lives, as we learned to be gentle and humble leaders and servants, together.
We learned that we do actually have common ground among us; We love the Lord with everything, and want to push these teens to go deeper and to think harder and to love fully.
So as we're sitting around the table, I confessed that at first, I didn't trust these guys...because they were guys. I confessed that it intimidated me to be around them at first because they truly and fully loved me. I then thanked them for the huge part they've played in my healing process, which is leading to deeper trust.
The way we all ended up at Living Hope ranged from needed an internship to needing a change in church to God saying "no" to one thing, and man am I glad we were chosen to serve at Living Hope.
Sharing life with Nathan and Mario has been one of the greatest honors and joys to occur in my life. In the midst of one of the most difficult seasons of life, these guys have provided great encouragement in ways that they will never know.
Through these guys' willingness to be patient with my extremely organized ways and my seeing their laid back ways and us meeting somewhere in the middle, we have been able to mesh and collaborate in ways that I've never witnessed before.
To Mario and Nathan:
Philippians 1:33 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
My mind flashed back to the couple of day span whenever I had an offer to be a middle school youth leader back home and then a couple days later, finding out that the internship I had committed to up here, Living Hope Church, would no longer have a youth pastor. I was so torn that I took some time to be alone and went hiking in the Ozarks. During that time, I received a strong "no" as I sat upon a rock after a 15 mile hike. Even though I had literally spent that whole time asking for a strong answer, once I received it, I questioned God so greatly. Why, God? I have an offer with a church that I'm familiar with, a youth pastor I'm close with, the teens that I know, versus an internship with no youth pastor and I'd be working with two males that I don't know super well in a church that I don't know hardly at all. It was one of those moments that even though I had received the answer I had been asking for, I wanted to refuse it. I wanted to accept the offer back home. Man, I wanted to.
However, as I was striving to grow and be more faithful, I listened and refused the offer back home. I walked into the internship at Living Hope, confused as to why it was working like this.
In my mind, an intern was one that was supposed to work directly under someone else...an intern wasn't supposed to have very many responsibilities and sure as heck wasn't supposed to be doing everything we were doing. Well, I was wrong.
I quickly learned that Mario, Nathan, and myself have vastly different personalities and leadership ways; of which we learned to mesh and appreciate each others leadership styles very quickly, because we had no choice. I learned that this youth group meant so much to Mario, as he has been there for a few years, so for him to hand us the reigns and allow us to lead was huge for him. I learned that Nathan is one that pursue's relationships so greatly, and has one of the biggest hearts I've ever had the privilege of seeing. I learned that Mario is "type B" personality, and Nathan is "type F" (he named himself). Me, being type A, found this to be challenging at first, but we learned to mesh and make things work.
We learned that as I was being mentored under Sarah and Mario and Nathan under Jorge, the things we were learning from them were to be applied in our lives, as we learned to be gentle and humble leaders and servants, together.
We learned that we do actually have common ground among us; We love the Lord with everything, and want to push these teens to go deeper and to think harder and to love fully.
So as we're sitting around the table, I confessed that at first, I didn't trust these guys...because they were guys. I confessed that it intimidated me to be around them at first because they truly and fully loved me. I then thanked them for the huge part they've played in my healing process, which is leading to deeper trust.
The way we all ended up at Living Hope ranged from needed an internship to needing a change in church to God saying "no" to one thing, and man am I glad we were chosen to serve at Living Hope.
Sharing life with Nathan and Mario has been one of the greatest honors and joys to occur in my life. In the midst of one of the most difficult seasons of life, these guys have provided great encouragement in ways that they will never know.
Through these guys' willingness to be patient with my extremely organized ways and my seeing their laid back ways and us meeting somewhere in the middle, we have been able to mesh and collaborate in ways that I've never witnessed before.
To Mario and Nathan:
Philippians 1:33 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
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