Let me tell you about the best part of my job. It’s the opportunity to hear what is going on in the lives of kids. Let me tell you about the worst part of my job. It’s the opportunity to hear what is going on in the lives of kids. Since I supervise the staff in regards to their ministry activities, and I field phone calls where there is a request to find help for kids, I hear what we call “kid stories” everyday.

Of course the stories I love to hear are the ones where we see God at work in the life of a young person. It may be something seemingly trivial such as a mentor finally having a conversation with their student that lasted more than five minutes and got beyond one syllable answers on the part of the student. Or it may be as significant as a student that has been involved in a club for years, has been making one bad decision after another and has finally seen their sin for what it is, repented and made Jesus their Lord. The stories that are hard to hear are of course the ones where horrible things have happened to a young person either through evil being done to them or they have experienced the harsh consequences from poor choices of their own.

Just yesterday I heard three brutal stories; each one was a commentary on how parents were hurting their children. The first was where two children under five were being taken into state custody because the parents are nonfunctional due to drugs. The second is a rebellious teenager that is making poor life decisions due to past abuse and hypocrisy of her mom. And the third is a middle school student that found out after school that she must go live with relatives because her mom is emotionally unstable and dangerous. These are definitely examples of the worst part of my job.

But here is what I have learned; the stories that can be counted as “good”, each and every that I hear has two common elements. The first is that God has done something fantastic, and the second is that an adult was involved. At least with Youth for Christ it is the rule that the Lord uses adults to bring his love, hope, peace and even joy into the lives of kids. That is something worth getting involved in! Please look around and as an adult make an effort to engage in the lives of the next generation.