This past weekend I had the opportunity to be apart of a high school youth retreat with a great group of teens. Smacked dab in the middle of Saturday was a few hours of work for me at a community Family event. While I was there I noticed a friendly, talking, cartoonie-looking school bus named Buster reach out to kids about bus safety and such. It was one of those remote controlled deals where someone followed behind, directing it where to go and talking into a microphone that made the bus speak in a unisex, high pitched Darth Vader-esque voice. The thing reached out to kids, in a friendly, engaging way, but did neither. It did the opposite. It freaked them out.
Buster the talking bus scared the crap out of the kids. I watched Buster the entire length of the event. Kids would cry, grab a hold of their Moms. Some would pull a Matrix style maneuver to avoid being seen. One little lad even pulled out a gymnastics number of two cartwheels into a perfectly executed somersault, tucked into a triple deek just to get away from the thing.
It made me think. How often do we attempt to do something that is good in nature, involves nothing but the best intentions, but only to not understand what's going on, to grow scared and afraid or even doubt what is ahead of us, regardless of how entertaining, amusing or horrifying it may be. That one thing that makes the future freak us out.
At the retreat you could tell who was not wanting to be there the moment they hopped off the bus. Like most, you can pick out the teens who have come shut off, close minded and afraid to open up their hearts. Those who are unwilling to accept the Truths or let in the Lord. For me, I had two of those types at my table. Two freshmen boys. Like the little kids, afraid to open up or even talk to Buster, these two teens were hesitant to open up to the retreat, let alone to the thought of the Lord in their lives. They were not wanting (at first) to "buy into" what we were selling.
Like the attempts of using a talking robotic school bus to spread the word of school bus safety we use gimmicks, crazy icebreakers, songs with hand motions and Jesus freak jokes to ignite a flame of interest in the hearts and minds of the teens about a Christ focused life. Outside of ministry we use self-help books, trained professionals, alcohol and other stimulates to help us understand our life and what lays ahead.
Just before lights out on the final night of the retreat I had a teen approach me about problems in his life, worries and hopes for his future, and his fears of growing up. He opened up and it was great. Especially after sitting next to each other during Adoration and helping him prepare for Reconciliation answering his questions and praying with him. A one time closed off guy, now opened up to his faith and wanted to go deeper. There was no cartoon-looking, robotic Jesus that came up to him and spread His news, there was no marketing campaign or big hoopla, only a combination of an open mind and heart, willingness to let the Lord in and a bit of inspiration from a spiritual environment. Yet, so often we as adults fail to understand that we don't need to understand, but open up our hearts and minds to the challenges and frustrations that present themselves. Trust in the Lord, and His plan.
When I woke the guys up the second morning, after only about four or five hours of sleep all weekend, the slow bodies of teens rose from their beds like youthful zombies busting through the earthly layers of pillows and blankets arising from their comfortable graves of nocturnal rejuvenation. Some faster than others. I called out to them "I don't understand how you can stay up so late and get up so early and still have as much energy as you do." Then one of the guys shot back without hesitation in a Buddha like demeanor: "We're teens...you're not supposed to understand."
How fitting is that? As we worry about finding our purpose in life, spend countless hours seeking out the next step along the path we follow on this journey, he strive to "understand." We mask our heavy hitting issues with marketing style lessons of hope and strength, we mask the truths behind what we think is "right" and "should be happening." When all we really must understand is that "we're not supposed to understand." That's the beauty of life. We live. We learn. We love. Imagine how dull and anticlimactic our lives would be if everything we wanted either magically happened or didn't with a quick snap of our fingers or tap of a magic wand.
The beauty of life, is that whether we're at the cusp of something greater, or trapped deep down in the depths of depression, what we must truly understand is that we're not supposed to understand. We're supposed to live our lives with purpose, through love of self and others. Striving for our mountaintops and serving those we come across. It is then that we will truly understand...and if not we'll constantly be running from something much more scary than a talking school bus named Buster.
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