More than just a burden

We must be careful of claiming to have a burden for something when we don't have that burden at all. A burden is not a load we have to carry behind us, but a load we have the priveledge to carry before us...it is our reasonable service. Why did I ask God to give me a burden for youth ministry? I remember being a young person with so many issues...I still have issues...with an interesting back story I did not understand at the time, but knowing that I needed God more than anything.  I remember completing my first 21 day fast our church in Massacusetts had every year, and the church going through a great victory from it the Sunday it was to close. I had to be about 14 years old. I got on my knees on the hardwood floor in the sanctuary and bowed my face to the ground with tears streaming down my face. It was not just a time of worship, but I time where I identified that my life was not mine. I said some things to God I will never forget, "God I will go where you want me to go, do what you want me to do and say what you want me to say. Give me a burden for others my age so that they may be saved." I didn't know what to expect in the future but all I knew is that I had truly made a vow unto God. I have not been able to come remotely close to fufilling this committment until the last 6 months to the last year of my life and it is truly bringing me a sense of triumph in God. My burden has never been just a burden, but someting that stemmed from my own need. Young people to me aren't awkward, they are just figuring out who they are and are often misunderstood. We need to embrace and support them so they will grow healthy, so they can heal and so they know we truly love them. Youth don't normally respond to someone that makes every decision for them, but we really reach their ears when we ask their opinion. Young people should be valued as the individuals they will be...not the individuals that they are...why might you ask? Well let me ask you this. Did Jesus look at you at your worst and see you as you are? No he saw and sees the finished product so why can't we see these youth the same way?