I recently took a much-needed vacation with my two kids, ages 13 and 10. And it was great.
We went to a water park one day. We careened down waterslides, got noses full of chlorine, and dislodged wedgies (a waterslide hazard)
If you think back to when you were a teenager and what you learned from your youth leader, I bet you'd say you didn't learn nearly as much during the planned learning times, like Sunday School or Bible study.
At the end of the day I reached into my bathing suit pocket and realized (horrors!) the rental locker key was gone.
I instantly had that sinking feeling.
For 50 cents we'd locked all our dry clothes, my wallet with credit cards and cash, and the keys to my car in a locker inside the park entrance. I tucked the locker key safely in my bathing suit pocket that was secured with Velcro. What could go wrong?
So we trudged back to the locker, figuring I'd have to pay a fee to have park officials open it for me. I hoped it wasn't a lot. But when we got there…the key was in the lock. Someone had gotten into our locker, and our stuff was gone. My keys were gone. My wallet was gone. It was all gone.
The kids were upset, and both began to cry a little. I hugged them and told them we were going to be all right. Inwardly, however, I wasn't sure how we were even going to get home, and I hoped the person who took our stuff didn't also find my car and take it, too.
So we went to Guest Services, and they comforted us, called the police, and gave me some paperwork to fill out. They also looked up some phone numbers for me (because my cell phone was locked in my car) and let me use their phone to call a friend who could get my spare keys in my house and bring them to us. The police officer took me out to find my car still intact (and safely locked up).
As we went through the process I felt overwhelmed with all the stuff I was going to have to do—on vacation—like calling banks to get new cards, getting a new drivers license (oh what fun to wait in line for that), and getting new keys made. But at least it started to feel like we could get home. The police officer even gave me some words of comfort: “Keys and licenses and credit cards and clothes can all be replaced.”
When all the paperwork was filled out, the manager of the water park took us back to the locker and opened some of the nearby lockers to see if our stuff was in them. She also had us look in the garbage cans in the area. Then she said for us to take a look through the locker rooms (which we hadn't been in) to see if the stuff was left there.
And there, sitting on a bench, was our bag full of stuff. My keys were there. My wallet was there. My credit cards were there. My license was there. Our clothes were all there. The only thing missing was a little bit of cash I had in my wallet. Personally, at that moment, I didn't care about the cash. We were elated!
The park manager was also excited, and she then said, “We feel so bad for you that we're giving you these free passes to return any time the next two years, and it includes free tube rental, too.”
I was so excited I hugged her.
My daughter said, “Let's come back tomorrow!”
Well, we didn't go back that next day, but we did go back a couple days later. And I secured the key inside my pocket with a giant safety pin. It worked out great!
But on the way home from that traumatizing experience I talked with my kids about it. How did you guys feel? You know your dad would always take care of you, right? How are you feeling now?
I felt I had a perfect teachable moment to talk to them about how God cares for us. And I did. On the way home there was even a giant rainbow in the sky from a passing summer shower, and I reminded them of the story of the rainbow from Noah's story in Genesis.
But wait, there's more.
Coming out of a store on the last day of vacation, I found my car had a flat tire. “Well,” I said to the kids, “this is a good time to teach you how to change a tire.”
So I went through the process of where the spare tire and jack equipment are in the trunk, removing the hubcap, using the hubcap to hold the lug nuts, jacking the car up, removing the lug nuts, putting on the new tire…and so on. Then we went to a tire store and got it fixed.
And on the way home I passed a friend whom I knew had lost his job, so we pulled over and hugged while I hurt with him and offered some hope and a smile.
In all these things I realized there were opportunities to teach my kids important life lessons…important spiritual lessons. I pointed out to my daughter how difficult it would have been had we gotten the flat tire during our long drive the next day through the middle of nowhere. I talked about how God cares for us. I talked about how we care for other people when they're going through bad times. I talked about my friend, Jeff Goody, who was going to drop everything to bring my spare keys to come get us at the water park. “e a friend like that,” said.
The same is true about working with youth.
If you think back to when you were a teenager and what you learned from your youth leader, I bet you'd say you didn't learn nearly as much during the planned learning times, like Sunday School or Bible study. I bet you'd say you learned more through just being around the person.
I don't remember a single thing my junior high Sunday School teacher, Betty Lane, taught us. But I do remember very well how much she loved us, playing cards at her house, sitting around talking with her, and chatting on the phone.
When life provides teachable moments, outside the planned and expected, we as youth leaders (and parents) have opportunities to make a difference in a young person's life. I'm sure my kids will remember my point about there never being a problem so big it can't be solved after we got our locker broken into than if I'd pontificated it at the dinner table.
Some of the great things about mission trips are the oodles of teachable moments. There are the travel experiences that happen along the way (oh, do I have stories I could tell!). But there are also the issues you deal with being away from home, encountering poverty face-to-face, dealing with things that go wrong completing your service project, living in cramped and sometimes uncomfortable quarters, and seeing God use you to make a difference in someone else's life.
The wise youth leader will capitalize on all those experiences, debriefing, getting kids thinking, applying biblical truths, and modeling for them what mature Christianity looks like in stressful situations. The wise youth leader will ABT…always be teaching.
I hope you don't get your stuff stolen on your vacation. But I do hope you'll use every opportunity you experience with your teenagers to show them Jesus.
Doc Newcomb is a pastor, youth pastor, and Program Manager for Group Workcamps Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides a variety of short-term mission opportunities for church youth groups. www.groupworkcamps.com
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