The Best Leaders Were Broken

Now that I'm back home, I've been lucky enough to think over my summer and process some of the little things that I learned during my time in DC. One distinct trait I observed this summer was that all of my favorite groups had very broken leaders. Let me explain :)

Over the course of the summer, I had a smorgasbord of youth groups with an innumerable amount of different pasts. I had leaders from all over America...Kansas, Indiana, Texas, Long Island, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Virginia and Maryland. I might be forgetting a few. Needless to say, they came from everywhere. Each group was different. Some were homeschooled, some went to public school, some attended private schools. Some came from rural areas, some from urban areas, most came from the suburbs. Some had seen the ocean, some hadn't. Some had been to the nations capital, some hadn't. You get the picture.

It was a common recurrence for my groups to have leaders open up about coming from very difficult pasts. One leader was sexually assaulted, as an adult. One leader had a homeless father who he had only maintained scattered communication with up until his father passed away. One leader group up in the slums of inner city Atlanta. One leader came to America from Argentina and spoke perfect English because he had been so regularly beaten up in grade school for being 'too spanish.' The list goes on.

The more time that I got to spend with these specific leaders, the more I was drawn to them. Because of my job, I was only allowed the privilege of entering these leaders lives for a week at a time. The more time that I spent with each leader the more in awe of each individual I was. I saw each leader serve as a strong leader to their youth groups. None of them let the brokenness of their past define them. They instead let the victory of Christ proving himself in the midst of difficult circumstances define them. It was interesting to me that as each adult told me their stories, they spoke openly of their brokenness but they emphasized how God used that brokenness to shape them as the most important part of their story.

What did I learn? It's beautiful in its simplicity: no matter what I go through, I will take my brokenness and allow Jesus to be glorified in it, so that when others meet me they can see my story as a testament to the glory of God, just as these leaders did to me.

I Don't Want the Stink to Leave

To start off, I must first apologize to myself, and anyone crazy enough to be following this blog. Now that I'm heading home, hopefully I can get back in the swing of things :)

Today, I get to go back to Massachusetts. I have never felt more emotionally confused than right now. I am living in two emotional extremes. I am absolutely thrilled to go back home and see my family, as well as my friends. On the other hand, I am disturbed at the idea of having to leave my new home in Washington DC.

As I was beginning to prepare to leave, I was trying to think of the best way that I can describe why I don't want to leave. As I was thinking, I had a memory from this summer flash through my mind. Let me tell you the story of Megan :)

Megan is the blonde in this picture on the right. She was in one of my groups this summer, and their group had been scheduled to work at Kids Konnection, the VBS site that CSM partners with. If your group works with Kids Konnection, it is just understood that you will be hands-on with the kids at this site. These kids want to be held, played with and hugged. They love playing with blonde hair, because it's 'barbie doll hair' and it can be played with easily.

While this group was working at this specific Kids Konnection site in a neighborhood called Woodland Terrace, Megan had one of the kids just love on her. This little girl was focused in on Megan and just wanted Megan to hold her. Needless to say, Megan complied, because, who doesn't want to be loved by a little kid? Eventually, it came time to bring the kids back to their homes, so Megan carried this little girl back home.

When everyone returned from dropping off the kids, we piled into the cars to head to Union Station for our next activity. As we were getting into the cars, I heard Megan say, 'Ew! I stink!' I was a bit confused. We were with a group on a missions trip, by nature of a missions trip, we all stink. So, I turned around and asked her what she meant.

She pointed to her chest and said that her shirt stunk. So, I pressed and asked her what she smelled like. She said that the little girl that Megan had been holding had fallen asleep on Megan and rested her head on Megan. Megan explained that the girl little had smelled and her smell now permeated Megan's shirt. I smiled and turned around, continuing to give directions.

As we continued driving, we arrived at Union Station and could not find a parking spot. An hour and a half later, we were finally parked. Welcome to DC driving with out-of-state drivers :) As we were getting out, I heard Megan yet again, make a remark about the stink on her shirt.

As she complained, I started to think about the entire situation, and look for the teaching moment, because I knew there had to be one there. Finally, I talked to Megan and I got it.

Megan had reached out to this little girl in an act of compassion and loved on her. As she reached out to this little girl, this little girl had responded by (literally) rubbing off on Megan. As Megan had left the situation that this girl lives in, this girl had literally made such an impression on Megan that Megan couldn't get rid of her. No matter what Megan did over that hour and a half, she couldn't get rid of the stink of this little girl.

I explained to Megan that she needed to think of this stink in the bigger picture. I told her that she needed to realize that this stink was a good thing because it meant that she had worked that day, and let her experience in DC permeate her. I went on to explain that she should hope that when she goes back she should stink of DC and her time here. If she truly lived up her time on this trip, she would not be able to get rid of her stink of DC no matter how hard she tried when she went home.

My hopes as I go home are that I would so stink of DC that I would not be able to get rid of the 'scent' it has left on me. My hope is that no matter how hard I may push to blend in back home, I would be so permeated with DC that I would not be able to shake it off.

Let's see how I can smell :)