I just responded to an email from Mike. I feel exhausted. You know how sometimes you get rolling on a thought and you keep writing...and writing...and writing.
There's a lot of youth that come to our church. A lot. Sit with Josh sometime and go through the pictures he has. Go to our myspace. Go to Jenny's site. Go to battleground or the Fish. I would say in the last five years, since the InnerChange has been alive, we have ministered to THOUSANDS of students. Maybe more. And we HAVE seen lives changed. We HAVE seen disciples being born.
And we've seen hurt. We've lived through the downs of life and the pits of death.
I think the ICY team is getting burned out. We've been carrying a heavy load...school, work, painting, cleaning, planning, teaching, relationship drama, life drama. And then I sit here and I take a second...just a second...to reflect on what has happened and what God has done. And then I remember, I'm not done yet. There is more to do.
When Lee went to heaven I know God said "well done my good and faithful servant". He and Cathy did a great job. All of the students, all of the youth ministries, Lee had a hand in. He built the first skate park for crying out loud. He started ICY in Mike's garage. He planned with Jennifer to get the Fish at the IC. Now God has brought him home, and He has entrusted this wonderful thing to us.
There is a mountain to climb to attain our goals. There's a lot more that needs to be done. More planning, more painting, more cleaning, more building, more systems. But all of that is to bring to life the vision that God has given us. And He has given us vision. I know it.
There is a time for rebuilding our Jerusalem. Our sacred city of refuge from the world, our place of worship. That time is now. (my interpretation of Micah 7:11)
3 comments:
We are so thankful for your time and effort in building this vision. Lee was a great man - we miss him so much.
We'll be praying for you and ICY!
Dad would have been proud of all of you. He really enjoyed working with those kids and with you guys. I am also really proud of all you guys do and how hard you work at it. Love you guys!
This kindof ministry that you and the ICY team are doing is some times a thankless job here on earth, which in turn makes you feel burned out, like what you are doing doesn't matter, but boy in Heaven it's a different story!!! Take Lee for example, I know he saw some of his works here, but he'll never know, on earth, how he continues to minister not only to the youth but to the olders one. Keep your head up, when you are feeling down, let some of us know, we'll pray a prayer of strength for you, because I know how it feels to have that burned out feeling. Love you Zane!
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