A fast horse, and a youth group...

I used to take youth group kids to Hansen's Ranch in Shakopee, Minnesota. Kids would get placed on horses that were about the size of themselves. I would request Lightning. Lightning was a big, fast, brown horse. And when I say fast, I mean more than twice as fast as any other horse. At Hansen's, they would let us run a couple of times. That was my favorite part. I learned something with Lightning. Its more fun to pass everyone. In order to do that, I had to hold back Lightning until every horse had gotten going. I would wait until the front horses were around the bend. This was no easy task. Lightning wanted to run. And he knew where the running places were. He was "chomping at the bit." This expression was quite literally true. I had to face Lightning away from where we were going to run, and he would hop, and snort, and try to take off. I would hold him off.
But it was so worth it. Once I let Lightning go, we would fly by the other horses. The kids would look in amazement as I cruised by them....all of them....with plenty of run to spare. He was that fast. The danger came because Lightning had no brakes and we would then take a ride through the trees, but that isn't my point.
My point in this is that Erin and I have waited a long time to get this youth group going. We wanted to get going right away, but we held back. This is why.
Many people from the US come down here to change the world and inflict a better life on those they come in contact with. They come with great intentions, but they create a mess. A mess that other people have to clean up. I was just talking to the parent of 30 or more kids in my youth group (DJ runs the orphanage and they have a lot of teens). He told me about the people who had come down to run youth group and made some messes. He was grateful that we had waited this long and had actually just heard a bunch of people asking about youth group, as he wondered if it was a God thing.
As we waited, we were able to develop some pre-momentum.
We recruited our team of leaders. Laura, Angelica, Edgar, Sofy, Jarilyn, and Lauren, might not have joined us if we had started without them. We had a leaders meeting the other night and were able to share about how God had been working in our lives. It was such a special time. I get amazed at how good we (humans) are at covering up our pain and vulnerabilities, when God is at work with our souls. We also developed some trust in the community before we got started. We have been driving around here and there, going to Quincinieras and birthdays and events at the orphanage. Trust takes time. I think it will help that we have been around a while before we start this new thing.
One thing that we haven't learned, is why youth group has not been running without us. I have a big concern about that. I believe that we will run into it soon enough. Even though we have been invited to run the youth group by the Pastor, we don't want this to happen only because we are here. Instead, we want to be a part of what the church is doing for the community with teenagers in mind.
Erin and I are committed to empowering the leaders to do the work with the youth and give them the tools to be the leaders that God has created them to be. We want the youth group to run with or without us.
For that we are excited. We are chomping at the bit. We have been waiting and waiting until the time is right where we get to develop a youth ministry where kids can come and encounter Christ and see the love of God flowing through the leaders who are there to show them.