Young Life/Ministry with Husband

Part I:
Some friends of ours are on the Frisco Young Life committee, so they invited us to attend an event last night, it was an appreciation thing for donors, and anyone who might be interested in getting involved with Young Life in Frisco. I was not familiar with Young Life, but Mark was involved with it in high school, he loved it and found it to be a fun, stable, loving, organization to be involved with. A guy named Allen Levi, a singer/songwriter, and sat there with his guitar and poured his heart out through song, and he was amazing! Young Life mostly just loves on teenagers, they go where they are, get to know and love them, and share the message of Jesus with them. I was looking around the room last night at the group of adults who are way involved with this, and I find it amazing that they are there. Very few of them have teenagers of their own, they aren't getting paid, or getting anything out of this really, they just care about kids. Crazy huh? Why do people minister? I think b/c we have all experienced God's grace, we experience acceptance and love through Jesus, and we want others to get a glimpse of that grace as well.

Allen is an amazing songwriter. He writes songs about EVERYTHING. Very creative. So he said back on Easter, his nieces and nephews were at his house, and they had an Easter egg hunt. Well he was mowing his grass a couple of weeks ago, and he looked up into a tree, and an Easter egg was still hidden there in the tree. So he thought "let me write a song from the Easter egg's point of view". I can't find the lyrics on the internet right now, but the song talked about "I'm hiding, I've been rained on, how am I going to survive out here", and then the chorus goes "I was born for the basket, to be carried around, meant to be looked for, meant to be found", and at the end it says something like "I was meant for my Maker, meant to be found". This silly little song just really got to my heart, and I keep thinking of all of those teenagers out there who are lost, lonely, trying to survive somehow and somewhere, and possibly not having people in their lives who really care. And so that is what Young Life does. They find these kids, and show them love.

Part II:
So Mark and I were getting my parents to watch the girls last night while we went to this Young Life event. We had a gift card for a Mexican restaurant, so we dropped the kids off early, and headed to dinner (I think is only our 2nd dinner alone since the marriage conference we attended in March, but I think our 2007 record is better than 2006). I was sitting there with him at dinner, of course our entertainment wasn't there (the girls), and I found myself wondering what to talk about. It's like "so you gonna mow the grass this week?" and "well I sold an insurance policy today". The most exciting thing was that my enchiladas were so good (just kidding). I was kinda whiny anyway, I had a headache, and I was a little annoyed that the white cloth napkin totally snowed on my black pants (yes, just look up "fun date" in the dictionary, and you will NOT find my picture). But anyway, we ate, and then went to the Young Life thing.

Well after the Young Life thing, we were just so pumped up and inspired, and we just had passion in our conversation. And it hit me that doing ministry together helps to keep the life in your marriage! It's something you're doing together, and it's not about you, it's about God. And that's the real stuff, not our grass, our chores, our work, it's the ministry that makes a difference. Mark and I serve together on Sundays as well, he leads a group of kindergarten boys, and I am the greeter for that classroom. I LOVE watching him serve. He is so good with those boys, they love him, and I love him more when I'm watching him serve.

I really don't have a closing statement to this post. Those were just some thoughts I wanted to get out of my head and into print before they left me. Good night!