Thoughts about YouthHOPE’s 2011 Interns

I was in church worshiping on Sunday and we sang the song With Everything.  The lyrics of the song really started to make me think.  The opening verse says:

Open our hearts,
To see the things
That make Your heart cry,
To be the church
That You would desire.
Light to be seen.

That made me think about the 14 YouthHOPE interns preparing right now to go to the five countries where they will come alongside youth in some pretty challenging situations. Some of them will work with Haitian youth, many of whom are still living with post traumatic stress disorder from the earthquake that devastated their nation. Some will be showing the love of Christ to young people in SE Asia who were taken advantage of and abused. It is my prayer that as the interns go into these situations, that God would allow their hearts to hurt as His does and that that would spur them on to be the church that we are called to be.

Another part of the song says:

So let hope rise,
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light,
And every eye will see
Jesus, our God,
Great and mighty to be praised.

That’s really a summary of the final product that we desire for our interns to experience and for those who they serve to receive.  It’s about sharing the hope that is only found in Jesus.  Whether that is done by working in a maize field in Malawi sharing about new agricultural techniques or in a school in Kenya teaching sex education and HIV/AIDS, people need the hope that comes from the promises of God.  He made us.  He loves us.  He wants to be reconciled to us in every way.   Thanks interns for making a commitment to being a part of that.