Love them like Jesus
It is not often in youth ministry that you see any kind of fruit. The students you love on are in the stage of life that is between childhood and adulthood. They are growing, whether they like it or not, in many ways. And sometimes you can't tell if their parents taught them something or if they learned it in youth group. You can see if that mature decision was because they are growing up or because they saw you do it. But there are rare moments when a kid tells you that your love actually made a difference. I'm sentimental by nature. I keep almost every single encouraging card ever mailed to me. I save text messages that make my day. I save emails that warm my heart. (And I read them on bad days.) The other day, a student told me that my unconditional listening and understanding was me being exactly like the Jesus I was claiming to follow. I was deeply honored (but I didn't cry! I swear!) Later, I worried that I hadn't said enough. After all, my Jesus lov