Since the hubby didn’t have to play the organ yesterday, we decided to visit another church, as we usually do in the summer. It’s a great way to see how other churches do things, and we usually visit churches where we also have friends, so we get to visit them at least once a year. We had planned to visit the church of a pastor friend of ours in London since he has been called to Calgary and we won’t see them often after they leave. But, with our church’s national convention happening in Hamilton, he was there and not in London. We didn’t know where else we would go, but on Saturday I asked the hubby if he would like to attend the church of the pastor we have called to hear him preach. We also have friends there. Turns out that pastor was also at the convention, however, we did get to visit briefly with our friends.
In cleaning up my Facebook friends list, I had dropped R quite some time ago, as well as a few other people with whom I served on the district youth committee. I’m not the kind of person who needs a lot of people on my friends list to feel loved. I would prefer to have a small number who actually interact with me regularly. Seems my youth friends are great in real life, but they just don’t talk to me online. Had I kept him as a friend, I would have probably known of his recent health issues. He has been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, and he had surgery four weeks ago for stage two thymus cancer! Wow. I discovered this AFTER I gave him a vigorous hug!
At the luncheon after worship, we sat with R and his wife, and A, who had worked for years with R in youth ministry at their church. We recognized each other from our mutual involvement with the district youth retreats in the 90s. So, the three of us got talking about our various lives and I shared with them my recent health challenges. I think it was A who said something about how we were three youth workers, and we were all sick. I said, jokingly, “hadn’t we been through enough in youth ministry”? She said, maybe the challenges of youth ministry prepared us for this time of health challenges. Interesting perspective.
But it got me thinking. I wondered if there were more youth people out there who have developed life-altering health issues. It would make an interesting survey. I don’t believe in coincidence, but I also don’t think there can really be any correlation between youth work and illness later in life. There are so many factors that brought each of us to our respective health challenges that it was just a curious observation that we all shared a time working with youth.
One factor I think does influence our health is the type of people we are. I think any volunteer youth workers are very caring people. We serve youth because we love them and care about their faith walk. And, sometimes we serve until we burn out. We have such a love of serving that we rarely say no to a request made of us. This is true not only of those who serve youth. I think it is true of Christians who serve completely in other ways. A friend of mine in asking me to pray for a couple of her friends commented that she didn’t understand how it was the most faithful Christian servants always got sick. She wondered why God didn’t keep them healthy and strong to serve. From my own experience, I know the strength of faith that has grown in me during my health trials, but this woman didn’t understand. To us, for the most part, we accept how our lives have turned out. God works everything for the good for those who love Him. Our “light and momentary” trials cannot compare to the eternal riches we will see. And, maybe, that we continue to serve others and give our all, even in our weakness, is for the benefit of others. Just a thought. Or, maybe we just have boundary issues.
Until next time, thank God for the health with which He has blessed you, and the opportunity to serve…
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