The Divine Crash

Recently I was asked to write a blog as a “contributing author” on another website called “called to youth ministry”  They are a new site helping youth workers.  I am honored to help them and I guess this now makes me “internet-famous?” Either way here is what I wrote for them, but if you are a youth worker be sure to check out their site too.

The parable of the good Samaritan, chances are if you are reading this you know the story.  If you were to try to fit your job description into one of the characters who would you be? Most youth leaders, directors, pastors, volunteers will tell you they are the Samaritan who goes around pulling teens out of ditches and helping them with everything they need at great expense to themselves (How often do you not get reimbursed for that soda you bought your youth while you were talking with them?).

However there is a problem with being the good Samaritan, actually there are several problems.

1. Sometimes the teens want to be in the ditch.  Some teens like where they are and no matter how hard we try nothing seems to get them out.  No matter how good our programming is or how “cool” and “relevant” to the culture we are those teens want to stay there.

2. We can’t get every teen out of the ditch.  Sometimes a new youth shows up and we don’t say high, because we are dealing with the teenage girls having a crisis of the hour, and as result that new teen never comes back.  Or we go on vacation and miss something important or the parents move away or there are just to many kids.

3. Some youth get back in the ditch.  I don’t understand it.  You know the youth.  The ones who are the leaders of the group and the ones we spend years pouring into and you know on senior night that they will “make it” and their faith is strong.  Then you see them six months later and they have flunked out of college and they spend their time drunk or hung over.

This all leads to some very burned out, broke, tired, and guilty feeling good Samaritans.

So then, what if Youth workers were not the good Samaritans in the story but what if Jesus was the good Samaritan and we were the inn keeper?

What if instead of us trying to pick up everyone out of the ditch we let Jesus save the world, which is what He is good at, and those that Jesus brings to us we take care of with what Jesus has given to us and promised us more of when he returns?

If we do that then suddenly numbers, salary, hours, and our budget, don’t matter.  All that matters is who Jesus has us taking care of.

Certainly it means we still go out and meet youth and we are still active in the lives of youth.  We don’t sit behind a desk and wait for a youth to walk in but it means that every youth we see is not our responsibility to save, they are Jesus’ responsibility to save. They are now our responsibility to disciple and take care of until he returns.

This takes a tremendous pressure of our backs because we no longer need to try to save every kid, Jesus is working on them in His time, not ours.  We no longer need to worry that a teen fell through the cracks because Jesus is already on the other side of those cracks waiting for that teen with open arms.

So then, are you a tired, worn out, exhausted youth worker?  Maybe you need to stop trying to be the good Samaritan and be the inn keeper who takes care of those Jesus has already put in your life and work on healing them.

At the same time, in your tired, worn out, exhausted shell of a youth worker let Jesus be your good Samaritan who pulls you out of the ditch (that ditch of “gotta do better, or need a promotion, or Jesus wants me to work harder, or any others) you find yourself in and let him bind your wounds and carry you to a better place where you can be taken care of so that you can rest and heal so you can then be the best inn keeper you can be.