Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Being Made New: Clubhouse & Kids


     "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 
2 Corinthians 5:17    
      With the new school year, I thought, "Why not a new look for the Clubhouse?"  Aside from wanting to keep up with the fresh renovations at the high school, there were some sanitation issues that needed to be mastered as a results of 2 years of high school students by the hundreds coming in and out recklessly from Club and Campaigners.  So we recruited help from 40 teens 2 weeks ago after Campaigners to help clean and paint, but the popular criticism was, "I love it this way, why are we changing it?"  My response: "Because it's been covered in your filth & grime & funk for the last 2 years."  They begrudgingly helped and watched the clubhouse transform into a cleaner, newer place. In the process, they made some "interesting" discoveries that made them say with disgusted faces, "Oh, this is why we're cleaning" or "Who would put this here?"  Once we were done, the new popular response was, "Wow, it looks so different and good down here." That even from those who didn't see a problem in the first place.  
      I love how Jesus is doing the same thing to the hearts of these kids.  Many of them are looking at their lives saying, "I love it this way, why would I change it?"  But as they hear the gospel, as they experience the love, the healing, and the offer for cleansing, they start to look inside and see some filth.  I love when they have that "aha moment" when they realize, "Oh!  This is why you wanted to clean me up Jesus."  The kids impressed me last week with their willingness to do hard, dirty work to make the Clubhouse beautiful again, but it impresses me even more, the hard & dirty work Jesus was willing to do for us to make us beautiful again.  I'm happy to say, it's a NEW Clubhouse!  We were pumped to clean and get rid of some old junk that didn't belong anymore--that does mean we'd be happy to accept your donations of used couches, carpets, etc for the Clubhouse! However, I would be even more happy to accept your prayers that just like the Clubhouse, kids' lives would be MADE NEW by Jesus.  Pray this semester that old insecurities and fears would vanish and NEW hope & identity in Christ would come!        
 --Morgan Grim