An Unforgettable Week in the Big Apple

Last week was quite a whirlwind. Amidst the baseball games, the great food, and the many rides on the subway, I was with a group, pouring love and energy into the lives of kids at the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

I was privileged to be working to with a group of kids 12 and older. At the same time, I was pretty nervous going into the week. I wasn’t sure exactly what I would tell the kids, and I am always worried trying to talk on the spot. It was something I was praying for in the months leading up to the trip.

It turned out that my answer was twofold. I think it took me until about Tuesday to realize the first part. SpreadTruth developed an app, called Questions in a Box. In the app, there are a couple of categories. Some for acquaintances, some for best friends. On Tuesday, I pulled it out after the group lesson. I still had about ten minutes to fill before games, and I was completely out of ideas of things to talk about. I pulled out the app, and it offered me the question, “If you had one wish, what would it be?” One girl thought for a long time as we went around the rest of the group. When I went back to her, her answer was well though out. “I wish my sister didn’t need surgery,” she told us.

I took that opportunity to reiterate to her that God cares about her and her sister, and that He would be watching over it. Then we prayed together. The surgery is on August 7th, and I’ll be praying about it until then.

The second, but perhaps larger part of my answer to prayer was Deana. She was my co-leader for the week, and was a huge blessing to me and the kids. Just about as soon as I walked one of the boys to the bathroom, the girls would start talking to her. It was truly a blessing having someone who could interact with the girls one personally than I could.

The week was an enormous learning experience. Wednesday was hard, as I sat with my head down and heard probably a dozen kids say that they were worried about something out of their control. I had to hold back tears hearing about these twelve year olds who were worried about stuff they shouldn’t be worried about for a long time.

Still, in a broken world, there is hope. I got to see God work in the lives of three of my kids as they made decisions to follow Christ at the end of the week.

I’ll be praying for them, and for God’s work in their lives. I loved the week I had there, made some amazing friends, and I can’t wait to go back next year. Here’s the recap video for the week:

Nathan

Originally published at blog.snydern.com on July 31, 2013.