Student becomes the Teacher
Posted @ 11:13 p.m. on 2006-11-27

It's been a while and this one is a doozie. Hang with me folks. Hopefully there is more good to follow and share.

Over the past month or so I have felt a calling to the youth group at church. I have had mixed emotions about this because of all the bad things that happened during the whole Boy Scout Troop episode.

So I have stuck it out and claimed my stake in the youth group. It was a bit scary because I would be committing to a group that once again has nothing to do with either of my girls or my wife. It was something that I felt God wanted me to do.

On my first trip to the youth group about a month ago I met a young teen, named Brandon laying on the floor. At the end of a dodge ball game this was a usual sight. So I, being the caring person that I am, walked up to this fellow and asked if he was OK. He said, through moans of agony, he was tattooed in the k-nutz. Being a male myself I felt sorry for him and said that he would be OK and mentioned that the rest of the group had moved on into another room. He just laid there moaning. To which I responded "Oh c'mon, they're not that big." and urged him to get up. He was still laying there when I walked out of the room.

Yes, I left him there. I tell you, any man that lays on the floor for ten minutes after being hit in the k-nutz is just looking for attention.

I have since that night realized That Brandon was the "Problem Child" of the youth group.

Tonight something struck me. I am not in the youth group for the group. I'm there for Brandon. He needs a mentor. Someone to help him up after he falls. Someone that he can trust, not only to help him up but to teach him the truth.

As the youth pastor put it, "he is going to be a powerful servant. Either if Christ or of Satan." I believe that. Brandon has a power in him that is very unusual. I have seen his type of power in the first person. He pulls energy from hate and rage. I think that these things are driven by fear. Fear of what? I don't know yet. I know this power because I use to use it before I came to Christ. Fear, Hate, Anger all play into adrenaline. That is why I had been a batman fan. Vengeance is built on fear, hate, and rage. All of which, I have come to learn, are volatile. There is no telling where or when the adrenaline will kick in, but it will, and when it does there is nothing but destruction left.

I believe that God has sent me to be Brandon's' mentor. I have first hand knowledge of his "type", if you will, and I have worked with a teen like him before. Brandon is gifted beyond belief. His belief. So in the weeks to follow I plan on documenting what I have learned about Brandon, with some confidentiality, and what is happening with him. Please don't think I am making Brandon a project. He is not. I feel God has sent me to him, to help him, and to teach him because he deserves it and is worth it.