"Living Life with Students"

One of the joys of doing ministry here in Germany that I often talk about is just “living life” with students. I believe this happens so naturally here in a military world. This is because we have only one US grocery store, one movie theatre, and one school…you get the idea. And now because I live only 10 minutes away I feel it all the more. Below are just some “glimpses” into some of the sweet moments over the past few months: HS girl’s sleepover in December- It was fun for me to watch our students engage in true fellowship. They chose to interact with each other instead of watching a movie. The highlight for me was sitting on my bed with some girls till 5:30 am talking about life and their walks with Jesus. MS girl’s sleepover in January- There is something about sugar snacks, Twister, and chick flicks that minister to MS girl’s hearts. =) My joy that night came from watching one of my HS girls listen, laugh and be Jesus to my MS girls. Random HS Movie Night- Over Christmas break, I invited some HS students to come and watch a movie at my place. After setting up the video projector onto my wall, we decided to play the new Nintendo Wii. Even though, it was just a video game and movie, there was true fellowship. =) “Catching” a student- About a month ago, I was having a dinner and movie date with one of our HS girls. She and I were walking to the movie theatre on base from the food court. As we were walking we just happened to walk by a HS boy who attends our youth group. I wasn’t paying too much attention but right after looking at him, I realized he was smoking. As soon as he saw me, he dropped the cigarette and tried to hide behind a large pole. It was hilarious. He looked so scared and shocked that he got “caught”. Immediately I burst out laughing, and said, “Joe, I saw that….” Alright, so why did I just share that last story? Well, I love “living life” with students, but I have come to realize living life together means it will be messy. Not only are the students full of sin, but so am I. I will not always be Jesus to them, often I will be selfish. Also, when I choose to live life with students, my heart gets attached and in our military world, that means pain because they move. Evan last night, while at a girl’s basketball game, one of our HS boys told me he is moving in May. It crushed me. It feels like we are just getting to know him. But the pain reminds me that I am still choosing to enter in true relationship with students.