Sometimes Love Hurts 8/25/2025

 Good Morning,

This old boy is sipping from a hot cup of Door County Highlander Grog Coffee and it seems to be the right flavor choice for this morning. 

Matthew 16:24-27  Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26. For what will it profit a man if he gains the world   and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person for what he has done. "

My wife Rene and I worked together in youth ministry for over twenty years. We headed up the program for a long, long time.  If I could go back in time, I would do it all over again. That time spent with the teenagers and other leaders was a gift from God, one that I will never forget. Every now and then we will run into one of the former teenagers and their families and it will bring back some fond memories. We at one time had some of the best groups of  leaders working with us. We could not have done all that we did without them. 

I assure you that it wasn't all puppy dogs and unicorns. There were times that tried my patience to no end when you could just see that we were not getting through to the kids or their families. There were plenty of times that were puppy dogs and unicorns all wrapped up with a lot of Jesus on top. But then there were those times that you could almost tell the future and it wasn't pretty. You could foresee the what was ahead, one of jail, addictions, families torn up by the rebellion of one or more of their teens and heartaches too many to number. 

When I see the later versions of what has become of some, it hurts to see how life is turning out for them. Some of them will never know that they are still prayed for by Rene and myself and their former leaders. Then there are the victories you see in lives that love and serve the Lord and their families. 

My point for the day is this. Ministry at any level has to be bathed in Godly love and dedication. But know this. Sometimes the love hurts when you visit that hospital with an overdosed adult who just would not listen as a teen. It hurts when the jail door slams shut on a life that went astray. But for every loss there is plenty of good  that comes about when you are willing to heed the call. 

So if you are at the point of  heeding the call into child or youth ministry, go for it! Follow God's leadership in your own life. And then, don't quit. But remember this, true love hurts now and then. 

Marty