Hanging with the Young at Heart

I am on a trip to the Amish country in Ohio as I type this.  Our fearless leader, Pete Tackett, the pastor at Antioch Baptist, Johnson City, told me when I got on the bus "Once you go on a trip with the Young at Heart (aka Senior Citizens) you'll never want to go on any trip with church youth again."  And I am thinking he is so, so very right!  I am having a great time.   

As I went to bed last night I thought about the differences between the Young at Heart and the Youth and how trips have been in the past and now that I have been a part of one with the YAH..  Here are several things:

1.  The YAH know how to be ON time for activities and the use of a shared  bus.  Youth ...well, just add about 30 minutes to the requested meeting time and you might have them all there.  Actually the YAH will be on the bus ready to roll 5 minutes ahead of the requested meeting time'.

2.  Youth ....especially more than 2 together will have 'drama'.   Whereas YAH don't have drama with each other.  They think 'drama' is something you watch on a stage  or TV.

3.  One of the reasons the YAH don't have drama is that you hardly ever hear them complain about the foot, the accommodations, the agenda, etc.  Oh my, Youth they can quickly get to complaining about something.  

4.  Youth take pictures and put on Facebook of them and their girlfriend or boyfriend.  YAH take pictures of the great food they are having and  post on Facebook.  Now that gives tells you a lot about priorities right there.

5.  Youth drink energy drinks in cans and YAH drink coffee in cups.

6.  You ask a YAH how old they are and they will avoid telling you their exact age or something like "I am old enough to be your parent!"; whereas Youth will say "I am 17 and a half".  Those half years really count when you are young, I guess.

7.  YAH men use belting or suspenders to help keep their pants up.  Youmg men have no idea what to do with a belt.  And they think it is OK to wear the waistline of their pants/shorts anywhere above their ankles and below their hips.

8.  Young girls dye their hair to stand out in a crowd.  YAH women  dye their hair to blend in the crowd.

9.  YAG appreciate help with their technology.  Youth expect the YAH to 

get it the first time.  Youth would rather not say they 'don't get it'  than to ask a YAH to help them with just about anything.

These are just a few things i came up with concerning differences in Youth and Young at Heart.

Would You Regret Not Having a Better Relationship with a Team Mate?

Several years ago, I attended the basketball or volleyball regionals (I don't remember the specific occasions) for Carol's team in the Tennessee  Athletic Association of Christian Schools.  As part of their participation in a tournament they had to attend chapel at least once during the multi-day event.  So for chapel at a this organization, the girls have to wear a skirt or dress and the guys have to wear a tie and button up shirt.  As you can imagine this is not one of their most favorite thing to do.

At this one tournament chapel time, I was there and had to wear my skirt and attend as well (I was a chaperon or assisting in volleyball).   I remember we were all together at first to sing some songs and then they took the girls and me, to another room.  There  a young lady spoke to us about her former team mates on a championship team out of Chattanooga.   She most spoke about where they were at the time some 10 years later  and the activities in which they  were involved.  What I remember was her joy in describing many of her team mates were  now mothers of children, happily married and involved in their churches.  But what struck me is she told about one girl on their team who was kind of stand-offish, and she was the only one from their team mates that they could not find out where she was and what her current status was.  And you could sense that it really bothered that young woman.  She said several of the other girls on  the team tried to find this one particular young lady's-a-where a bouts, but to no avail.

So many things could have happened to the loner on the team, and the young woman telling us this said she was most concerned because she didn't know if that one young lady was a Christian or not.  She regretted not keeping in touch and being a part of that girls's life.  She questioned whether the young woman could have been involved with drugs or in a bad relationship.  Perhaps she dealt with a serious depression over a life situation.  Or maybe she just wanted someone to come and be concerned about her, and what would she have done if no one around her reached out to her.

I think there is a good lesson here.  How hard is it to talk to someone who may be sitting at a  lunch table by themselves; or why is it so easy to  judge them ....at all?  Why can't we let them know they are valued and loved?   Will our other friends be so shallow as to  ridicule us for speaking or being kind to someone who they deem unfit to  be in their social circle?

It is time to step out and just be Jesus to these who seem to want to avoid all contact.  If it is not meant to be that you can reach them through some sort of common ground, God will let you know and He will take it from there.  But if you will recall,  Jesus often interacted with the down and out of humanity in His time here on earth.  He invited them to eat with Him, to be healed by Him, but mostly He wanted them to feel like a special person because they met  HIM!

Just think about how it could be if you wasted an opportunity to plant a seed of curiosity about Jesus....maybe one day you might be standing in front of a group of young people telling them about the great team you had and how so many have gone on to do great things for Jesus, but that one person--who no one really got to know...you heard they got pretty depressed  and committed suicide.  I hope you don't have to regret not keeping tabs on your team  even after you play ball together.  And maybe you can say something like "It took us a while to find out where the young lady who seemed kind of distant was at because she gave her life to Jesus and is now a missionary in a remote part of Africa.  We know from a few  letters from her that she would like to join her old team mates for a little reunion, but we know she would so appreciate your prayers for the people she is attempting to be Jesus to in that country."

Will you step out of your comfort zone?  Will you share the love of Jesus with another person?  Will you build and keep a relationship with someone who might be trying to find their purpose in life?  This challenge is for me, too!  I can do better, and I want to do better.  Please God point me to those who I can be kind to and let me realize when the right opportunity comes about to share your love with them!

Judy
Oct. 19, 2015