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 | Jonathan’s Resource Ezine |
Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
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| His Fifth Easter: A Kid Named Jason |
April 11, 2001
Five years ago a kid named Jason experienced Easter for the first time. I wanted to focus this letter on Easter . . . and something as simple as bringing someone to church. Jason tells his story:
My name is Jason and I want to tell you how my life has changed in the last few years. A little history. When I was ten years old my dad proved he was an even greater loser by leaving me, my older brother, my sister and my mom. My brother started smoking pot which led to a habit. So he started “dealing” to pay for his habit. My sister started smoking pot and was dating my brother’s supplier. She got pregnant and had my nephew Josh. Pretty soon Josh and I were the only ones in the house who didn’t smoke pot. The only difference between me and Josh was that Josh was happy- granted he didn’t know his daddy was a drug dealer. Regardless, I didn’t want to turn out like all of them so I started a search . . . a search for happiness. Everywhere I looked I came up empty. I tried friends, girls, and popularity . . . nothing. By the end of junior high I felt like giving up.
About this time in my life I noticed something. My friend across the street had changed a lot. He started going to this thing called Campus Life. At Campus Life he had a fun time and got to hang out with these cool staff people. One of these staff guys drove a big van and would pick kids up for church on Sunday . . . his name was Jonathan.
My friend started inviting me to church. I didn’t want to go. I had been to church and it was boring. My friend kept bugging me until I finally went.
So Sunday morning Jonathan pulled up in the big Campus Life van, picked us up and brought us to this church called Bayside. The Campus Life staff guy was really cool and surprisingly, the church was pretty cool too. I began to go regularly. That was just before Easter five years ago.
So Easter Sunday, Jonathan picks me up and takes me to church. The pastor was talking about how sometimes we try to fill our lives with all kinds of things and we come up feeling empty. The only thing to fill that emptiness with is God. So I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my life and fill the emptiness. He did.
I still lived in the same place and faced the same stuff, but I wasn’t empty anymore. God gave me purpose and hope. A few years later I started helping Jonathan with Youth for Christ/Campus Life staff at my old school. It was cool helping kids who felt like I did. I’ve already prayed with three different junior high kids who accepted Jesus into their lives. Now I’m a jr. high intern at that church.
I’m so glad that God uses youth workers and churches to reach the lost like me. I hope that God will continue to use us all to reach others who were like me.
Keep up the good work!
God Bless,
Jonathan R. McKee
Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.