An encouraging random peek

One of the trying aspects of youth ministry (and I guess of most ministry) is there are times when you wonder if your ministry really makes a difference. Well, Sunday night, I saw first hand that my past ministry combined with other ministries has made a difference.

Trevor is a kid who often came to the church skate park I helped run. Like many young teenagers, he was a crazy fun guy. And we got along well. I don’t remember whether he listened to my talks well, though. I could say the same about most of the skaters, of course.

One dusk, when his ride home was late in coming, we sat back against the big ramp and talked. And we talked about his faith. I was encouraged by his answers to my questions.

But later on, I saw him less. And when I did see him, he seemed to be too cool for school. Those who have been around a lot of teen guys will know what I mean.

But guess who I ran into Sunday night at Denton Bible? Our eyes both got wide and we were glad to see each other. He’s going into his Junior year in high school now. We sat together during the service. He said he came most Sunday nights.

And it was clear he was excited about his faith. I peeked over during the singing. And he was worshipping fervently with his eyes closed and unable to keep still. He wasn’t showing off, nor was he being like those around him (who were less outwardly fervent by the way); it was the real deal.

This was most unlike the Trevor I remember.

Anyway, this really encourages me, right as I’m about to move away for good, to see that God has been working, including using me and my past skate ministry, in Trevor’s life.

You just never really know in this life how God uses you in ministry. Every once in a while, I’ll get a surprise random peek into God using me that reminds me of that.

And those random peeks help keep me going.