Nourishment and Health

So today was cool. Tonight I met some of our youth group at one of the parks by a school in the 'hood. It is located close to where everyone is from and I had hoped to see lots of our young people after not seeing them for so long but, there were just a few. It was good though considering the only promo for it was a bulletin I sent out on myspace. Seeing these young people reminded me of a story.

There was a young man that was very thin and not very strong. He vowed to make himself stronger and gain weight. He signed up at a local fitness center and was very faithful in making sure he stuck to his workout regularly. After several months of faithful workouts the young man had gained quite a few pounds and was now getting quite strong. It was easy for this young man to be faithful in his workouts because he had a trainer and workout partner that would help hold him accountable and drive him to do his best. One day the young man's trainer was transferred to a new location and was no longer available. The young man vowed to continue the training he had learned from his trainer over the past year, despite the absence of the trainer. As time went on the young man became more and more irregular with his training, until eventually he had stopped training all together. It wasn't long after the young man had stopped training that he became thin again and seemingly had lost much of his new found strength. Then one day his trainer stopped in for an unexpected visit, and much to the trainers surprise the young man looked just as he did when the trainer originally started with him. The trainer was a kind man and instead of pointing out how out of shape the young man became the trainer let the young man know that he was back and would love to work out with the young man again.

This is exactly what I noticed with the youth I had been working with. For the entire summer they have not been around the church and haven't had a church to nurture them and help keep them spiritually healthy. These young people that had come so far in learning about a God that loves them and cares for them had seemingly slipped back to the very beginning of where they were when I first started with them. But have no fear, God has shown me the way and the need to continually feed His lambs, as He said in the Gospel of John while speaking to Peter. These lambs need constant and continual feeding, nurturing and love to stay healthy. I am sorry the feedings weren't available to them this past summer, but I know in my heart God is on the Throne and He will help me to be sure these young people never go hungry again.
In Him,
Wayne