Yesterday I got home from traveling to Ozark Christian College with some of our High School students for a Worship Event. I love and dread going on these trips. I dread them because of too little sleep (on the floor!) and not being able to control my food choices. However, I love them because it allows me to get to know and relate to the kids on a completely different level than as their teacher. It allows me to walk alongside them in a deeper way, if only for a couple of days.
My favorite, favorite time of the weekend is the ride home, but not so much because I’m anxious to get home. Every time, when the kids have settled down, but before they’ve fallen asleep, I ask them, “What’s one thing that happened or was said this weekend that you want to remember? What’s your takeaway?”
Our topic was the image (or imprint) of God. Here are some of their responses:
Vanessa: I was touched by the story of the Samaritan woman. I mean, I’ve heard it before, but not in that way. I really liked how he discussed what might have been her back story, what might have led up to her sinful lifestyle. I could really relate to her in a new way and I was encouraged because God used her in a big way.
Ezri: I wrote down this quote from our workshop leader because I wanted to remember it, “What you choose to believe about yourself and find your worth in will ultimately define who you actually become.”
Grace: I was struck by the idea that in order to keep remembering who we are, how much God loves us, we have to keep our eyes focused on Him. Otherwise, we get stuck in what everyone else thinks about us.
Kelsey: I thought it was interesting how he said the “image of God” can be translated as “imprint of God,” and that we feel empty until we fill that imprint with God. Also, when he was closing and he said, “What you’re looking for is what you’ll live for. And what you live for is what you’ll die for. And what you’ll die for shows what you really believe.” I thought this was important because I don’t just want to have a good experience, I want it to change how I act on the outside.
After we talked for a while, the girls asked us to pray for them, that they would remember what they’d heard and that it would change them and the way they interact with others.
It was exciting. These young people are going deeper and I’m privileged and honored to be a small part of it. Won’t you join me in praying that God would continue to pour His truth into them and that they would be forever changed because of it?
O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 10:17-18