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five decades. 70’s…80’s…90’s…00’s…10’s. mmmm…
sitting here this afternoon watching all these kids at this youth conference is cause for reflection. a lot of it.
there are about 800 of them here. and the thing is, they are just kids. they wear some different fashions. they definitely have different technology. they listen to different music. but they’re still just kids.
in the 70’s, kids wore different fashions (think bell bottoms and short shorts…for guys). they had different technology (think about how crazy it was to move from vinyl to 8-track to cassettes over the course of about five years!). they (we) had different music (think led zep). and what about all that rebellious long hair that drove parents crazy and preachers to scream from their pulpits?
move to the 10’s. boys i see are wearing skinny jeans and the girls are wearing really short shorts. hey, at least it’s the girls wearing them! every kid is carrying their cell phone. many are reading their bibles from iPads or kindles. little white headphones are everywhere during free time. and music? hip hop is the choice for all the kids here…especially the rich white ones.
wow. sooo different from the 70’s, huh? right.
i’m not saying the world isn’t different than it was fiddy years ago. it is. but it has changed every fiddy years for the past couple of thousand. i assume that trend will continue.
and kids will still be kids.
they will set trends. they will follow trends. they will try to hack their parents off. they will do stupid things. but they will also grow and change and be the ones who assume the leadership of the world. and the church. in a not too distant future.
i am energized by being around them. i love their creativity. i love their crappy little attitudes. i still laugh when i hear them grunt or try to act cool around me. when they thoughtlessly disrespect me, i still want to headlock them until they say “uncle”. there is still nothing like sitting and grabbing a coke and trying to coax a deep conversation out of a kid.
i’ll tell you one thing that has changed. it sure seems like there are more and more kids who come from broken homes. so many of them (here and back at home) that have absentee moms and dads. so many of them learn to cover up the hurt and pain of dysfunctional homes lives. so many of them that just need some adult to come along side of them and tell them they are ok and that there really is a hope to be found.
five different decades. wow.
there are two things i know i wouldn’t change in any way, if i could go back to 1975 and start this thing all over again:
first, i would choose to spend my whole life with wanda…same wedding date…same adventure…same struggles…same path…same everything.
second, i would choose to spend my life with teenagers…everyday…all the time…laughing…talking…challenging…serving…playing …dreaming…healing…pointing them to jesus.
oh yeah. and riding old church buses together.
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