Leave the Light On

Taking a walk after dinner from where we live in Stow means that we carry a flashlight. It's not that we need it to walk--the ambient light of from street lamps, houses and passing cars means we can almost always see where to put our feet. No, we carry the light so others can see us.

You see, we live in the 'country' part of Stow, with no sidewalks. Therefore much of our walking is, of necessity, in the street. We've been around our block many times and pretty much know all the lumpy parts of pavement. We know when our path is going to take us closer to the street and when our path is pretty easy. So we don't really need the light for us. But by carrying the flashlight and moving it around in a natural way, others can see where we are walking.

And sometimes we see others walking around late at night. Flashlights in hand, we can see our neighbors from a long way off and, we assume, they can see us.

As we make that turn onto Plover Avenue, we can see our home--and, of course, most every light in the house is on. Our teens never enter a room without turning on the light and seldom remember in their rush to turn it back off. From a block away, we can see the light coming from the window even though those within the house can't yet see us.

Over the weekend of February 6-8, I accompanied eleven of the 6th, 7th & 8th from our church to a Youth Quake in Cleveland. About 300 more teens were there, along with the youth ministry leaders and adult volunteers.

One afternoon, the adults gathered for fellowship while our charges were doing something else. Leader burn-out was one of the topics raised by experienced youth leaders. Although some said a lack of understanding and sometimes conflict between 'elders' and 'youth' was part of the cause, closer to the heart was frustration.

They said avoiding frustration was tough. Lack of participation from some and unwilling participation by others was mentioned. But stronger than any other cause leading to frustration and, in some cases, leaving youth ministry, was not seeing results from the long hours of work and love and not knowing whether they are doing any good; these were the primary causes of burn-out.

Then the group leader asked us to break off into small groups and discuss someone who was most important to us when we were adolescents. Off we went on a time-journey, retrieving memories of coaches, teachers, parents, parents of our friends, and, yes, the occasional Sunday school teacher.

When we regrouped, the stories were warming and helped create a bond. More significantly, the leader used our stories to make a simple point.

Every survey of this age group shows the most important thing to them is their friends… and years later no one mentions a friend as the most important person.

Leave the Light On
Our kids need to see their way home… it's a scary world out there. Our kids need to see their way home… and they can't do it if they can't find any light.

As we live out our walk, commit to showing our young people what your faith has meant to you. Let them see where you stumbled, where you tripped over a rough part of the pavement. Let them know that you may have failed or strayed, but that someone always held the center, was always there to bring you home. Let them see your faith at work in your life.

Regardless if they are in our church or out, our neighbors or strangers, leave the light on for our kids.

Knowing well that you may never know where or when that light shone for some lost or strayed child, leave the light on.