During the first weekend of May in 2010, the flood in Nashville occurred. I can remember tweeting about how I wanted to scream, "MY TOWN IS UNDER WATER," while the world was posting about nonsense. I can remember friends posting things on Facebook about trivial things after the earthquake in Haiti and the tsunami hit Japan.
I'm guilty of it myself. I worry more about whether or not Jersey Shore and Worst Cooks in America was set to record on my DVR than the issues that truly matter. I'm concerned with how clean my shoes are when I walk out the door instead of the millions of people in this country who have no shoes, no home, or both.
But there are moments in this world when we stop caring about those things that don't matter and truly focus on what does matter. Those times are special. Those are the times we should hold close, for they are what we're made of.
A few days ago, a friend of my youth group, Sophie, had a massive stroke and was hospitalized. Sophie is only 19. I've met her a few times at various youth events and at her schools musicals that both her and many of my youth performed in. She has a voice that gives you chills. I'll never forget her as Belle in the production of Beauty & the Beast from two or three years ago.
I didn't hear first hand about Sophie's stroke, but I began to notice my current and former youth posting things on Facebook about her. I began to snoop around a little to see if I could find out what was going on and through her Facebook page and my youth's pages, I was quickly caught up on the situation.
In this time of trial for their friend, my youth have shown what they are made of. Countless posts letting Sophie know she's loved; pictures and videos and quotes from books and song lyrics and memories posted to show her how much they care. She won't see all of this love until she wakes, but God knows she can feel it.
My youth make me overwhelmingly proud when they act like teenagers, but when they act like children of God, they humble me. They make me want to be better: better as as youth advisor, better as a friend, better as a man.
If you pray, I'd ask you to pray for Sophie and her family. I'd ask you to pray for my youth and all of Sophie's friends as they deal with her situation scattered across the country at various colleges. And if you don't pray, good thoughts will mean just as much.
"And the world turned and the world turned and the world turned..."
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