Groovy Kelly and her husband hosted a table at last night's Young Life fund raising banquet. As I sat there listening to teenagers talk about the issues they deal with today, I wanted to cry ~ heavy performance demands in school and sports, broken families from divorce, expectation of participation and acceptance of aberrant sexual lifestyles, readily available illegal and prescription drugs, and more. Kids of every generation deal with drama and unsettled waters to some degree, but neither my husband nor myself remember dealing with the enormity or intensity of in-your-face issues that today's teens do.
Angst is practically synonymous with teenager but the number of kids today who are alienated, lonely, desperate, feeling unloved or unwanted is an epidemic. And it has filtered down to the middle schoolers (junior high). I am so grateful for an organization like Young Life that slows down and takes valuable time to walk along side these kids; to develop relationships where they have been given permission by kids to speak truth and love into their lives.
We all need to feel loved and valued. Young Life puts it into action.
http://sites.younglife.org/sites/YoungLifeTriValley/AboutYL.aspx
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