First Young Life

Tonight was our first Young Life club of the year. Daniel spoke and shared the story about the first YL club he ever attended as a 14 year old high school freshman. For the record the first club Daniel attended happened to also be the first club I ever attended as well. That's kind of crazy! He told the story about having no idea of what Young Life actually was, but going because Joey and Justin "told" him he was going. He had a great time and couldn't have known how much Young Life would go on to impact and change his life. Here he was tonight 13 years later and he has continued attending YL club each week for each of those 13 years. Me too. How could we have known at the time what the future had in store for each of us and for us together and how Young Life would be right at the center of it.

He talked about some of the songs we sang at club back in 1997 and kids started calculating how old they were at the time. One of my sophomores Aly said, "I was 3." Woah. Yes I felt old and all of that, but it also planted a cool thought in my head. When I was 16 and experiencing my first YL club, Aly was just a toddler. 13 years later I would go on to become her YL leader. Back in 1997 I never envisioned myself as someone who could lead other people (especially when it came to anything having to do with God or religion) and be the one running the show up front. But here I am doing just that. I wonder how many kids in the room tonight will go on to continue this cycle. I wonder how many 3 year olds are out there who will eventually make their way into a YL club. It makes me think about the thousands of "kids" who have gone before me since 1941 when this whole Young Life thing started. It's quite the legacy. I love that I'm a part of something with so much history, tradition, and significance. We are all members of something much bigger than ourselves and much more profound than the fish people had to "dive" for during the dive for fish game we played at my first club and much more profound than the Justin Bieber song we sang tonight. But the fish and the songs are part of our legacy too, that of silliness, play, fun, and life. I have such pride in belonging to this organization...and a lot of great friends and memories.