Perseverance

Perseverance: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness

This past week has been incredible, amazing, and full of so many emotions. This marks the end of my journey in youth ministry at Haven. It has been an incredible 15 years. 15 years!!?? I can hardly believe it's been that long. I am so blessed and completely humbled to have been able to build relationships with over 250 students, participate in 13 mission trips (plus several other local projects), and seen countless students have their lives transformed through Christ Jesus. I have learned so much throughout the years from my students and fellow youth leaders. I have been so completely loved and supported by our Haven family and I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve in this position. Wednesday night was my last meeting with my leaders and students. We had a sweet time together to pray blessing over one another, and they blessed me with flowers and an ice cream cake! I will truly miss interacting with them on a weekly basis, but I continue to be encouraged for this next generation that continues to rise up and learn what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. They are the ones bringing transformation to the Church today, and I am filled with hope! The past 15 years have been filled with many joys and also many struggles, and I am thankful that God filled me with His Spirit to persevere!

But when I think of perseverance, I am completely put to shame by my Compassionate Heart friend, Julia. Compared to Julia, I have no idea what it means to face opposition or difficulties. Let me tell you about the incredible week we had this week at Compassionate Heart.

First of all, Tuesday night we had our annual "Friends of the Heart" benefit dinner. We had almost 400 people at the Pinnacle Center and our speaker was our new friend, Emily Colson (author of "Dancing with Max"). Emily is an amazing, beautiful person who truly cares about those with special needs. Emily gave a wonderful speech, but the highlight of the night was a liturgical dance by several of our girl participants. They danced so beautifully and we so proud when they received roses and a standing ovation at the end of their dance. You would have thought they had just won a gold medal at the Olympics! It was so precious!

Then Thursday night we held our first-ever 5K run/walk. In spite of the cold, wet weather, we had 250 people come to participate. One of our Compassionate Heart friends, Julia, had registered last week for the race. You need to understand that, because of Julia's disability and size, she has a very difficult time walking, even short distances. So we were a bit concerned when she registered, thinking that she didn't understand how long a 5K really was. But she was determined that she wanted to do it. So she practiced with her sister, and the night of the race, proudly wearing her new race shirt, she took off from the finish line with her sister and friend. All the other races sped past them, and everyone else was finished before Julia was even 1/2 way. We held the award ceremony, handed out the medals and door prizes, and began packing everything up. Our "road officials" went out to make sure everyone was off the course and came back and told me that Julia was approaching the 1/2 way point. I was so proud of her for making it half way and told them to have her finish at the 1/2 way mark. They came back and reported that Julia did not want to stop... she signed up to do the 5K, and a 5K was what she was going to do! So they brought her some water and flashlights and went back to check on her several times. She kept going, even though each small step she took was extremely difficult and probably painful. Our route was very difficult, and even included going up and down 2 large hills. Julia kept going. Most of the other racers were back home and showered and resting comfortably and Julia was still going... one step at a time... she was not giving up! Some of our awesome mentors, after they had completed the race, knew that Julia was still out there, so they went back to walk with Julia and help her finish. A couple others of us made a very official toilet paper "finish line," drew chalk drawings on the sidewalk, and held out signs and waited for Julia to finish. 2 1/2 hours after she started, Julia came walking proudly UP the hill (yes, our race finished on a big UP HILL!)... and by this time it was pitch dark and had started to rain. When she saw the finish line and heard us cheering, she even started to run up the hill! Holding the hands of her sister and her friend, she proudly broke through the toilet paper amid many cheers and hugs! Now THAT'S perseverance!!! I was so incredibly proud of Julia for her determination!! In my mind, she was definitely the winner of the race! Julia, along with the others that had stuck around to help her finish. It was such a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God!

I'm so thankful and excited that God has given me this opportunity to be the Program Director at Compassionate Heart and I'm so eager to learn what God wants to teach me through these incredible, amazing students and mentors. I pray that I can continue to persevere in God's calling, with my eyes fixed on Jesus.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:1-3