My YouthWorks Summer: Week 8

This is the ninth of ten blogging installments from my life-changing summer in Milwaukee. In this recap I review my eighth week of programming. Be sure to check out my postscript thoughts at the end! A logical place for such thoughts.

If you’ve missed any of previous recaps, flash back to Week 0. Also, check out what a camera crew produced when they visited our site during Week 9.

This is me being awesome in a student's awesome sunglasses. He said I looked awesome.

Week 8 was emotionally heavy.

Every Wednesday and Thursday night, we usually get at least a couple sniffles and cry sessions among some of the youth — mainly because of our incredible program coordinator who delivers these phenomenal, week-ending messages.

But this week was different.

This week, the waterworks started on Tuesday… and only intensified from there.

I don’t know exactly what it was, other than God really seemed to move in a powerful way among these kids. Adult leaders told us their students were opening up about deep, personal stuff. Walls were coming down. Groups were uniting. Healing was beginning.

I’m an emotional guy, so it was jarring to witness. These same kids who brought energy and enthusiasm all day long were breaking down at night.

And it hit me: they’re not too young for pain.

They’re not too young to carry wounds, confusion, fear — all the things we tend to associate with “later in life.” It was a strong reminder for me to look beyond myself. To recognize the hurt in others.

Because if I’m being honest, I get way too wrapped up in my own struggles.

This summer has been stretching my perspective — forcing me to see just how universal struggle really is.

What else can I say?

It was one of our better weeks. I could wax poetic about Gingerbread Land or any number of ministry sites, but truthfully… I’m just tired. I need rest tonight.

Because tomorrow?

Tomorrow begins our final week of programming.

Normally, we host three or four youth groups at a time. This week, we’re expecting seven — representing just about every denomination you can think of.

I don’t quite know what to make of that yet.

We’ll see how it goes.

Our last week.

It’s strange — the “lasts” have already begun.

We had our final Sam’s Club run yesterday. I won’t miss the shopping (at all), but it’s still weird knowing I’ll probably never step into that particular store again.

And now the countdown accelerates:

• Last Sunday service in this church

• Last time cooking macaroni for 70+ people

• Last rounds of everything

The “lasts” are rolling in, one by one.

Pray for me and my team. We all feel a little … off. Reflective. Heavy.

We want to finish strong. We need to finish strong.

Final week.

Wow.

To be … concluded…

TMZ

PS: Definitely one of my favorite groups of the entire summer — just incredible kids.

There’s one memory that stands out that I didn’t write about at the time. Because of all the late-night emotional moments, this group especially struggled to hit the 11:00 curfew. And on the final night? Forget about it.

I couldn’t sleep, so I was downstairs writing around 2 a.m. when I discovered four or five boys still up, sneaking around the church.

Technically, I should’ve shut it down. Sent them straight to bed.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I sat with them. Talked. Laughed. Let them have one more moment together. Before heading up, I just asked them to keep it semi-quiet as they soaked in their last night of YouthWorks.

Yeah … I was never really great at laying down the law.