Perseverance won the day. Despite some opposition and general un-helpfullness from some folks at the work sites, our students pushed through and today was a soaring success! Its a strange situation when you have to ask teenagers to be more mature than some of the adults around them, but it provides a unique teaching opportunity and we all benefitted. Today I had the priviledge of watching high school freshman respond to adversity with patience, generosity, kindness, and a huge amount of grace. So cool.
Personally, my highlight of the day came around 9:55pm this evening. As we walked into Wendys for our end-of-the-day frosties, two members of our team – Evan and Noah – pulled me aside and asked me what I was going to order. Thinking they were just looking for some expert fast food advice, I told them that the vanilla frostie is an excellent choice. To my surprise, they informed me that they were buying me dessert tonight!
I didn’t know what to say.
I have been in youth ministry for 8 years and no student has ever offered to buy me anything before! I was completely blown away and still am. I barely managed to stutter out a weak “thanks” as they handed me the cup of frozen goodness. (I think I need to write those guys a note tonight).
Today was a stretching/growing day for all of us and we’re grateful to serve a God who cares about us enough to lead us forward towards maturity. I love New Orleans, I love the work, I love our Lord, and I love these students (and not just because they bought me a frostie!)
-Dan
