For 5 years, I spent 4 weeks each summer in Pilot Point, Alaska, a small community of about 36 native Alaskans. Each summer 50 or so of us descended on this small rural village located on the Aleutian chain on the Bering Sea. I arrived each year during the first week of June with my boss, Marv, his wife and son. We would set up camp and begin getting ready for the fishing season. We’d fish for 3-4 weeks, spend 3-4 days tearing down camp and winterizing the gear and go home. In my 5 summers there, I never really got to know any of the locals. I just came in, did my job and left. Though I lived in proximity to people, I never truly lived among them as a community. I’m kind of sad by that because I could have learned a lot about a culture and way of life I never really knew. I missed out on a lot. In fact, those 5 weeks were rather lonely.

The sad thing is that this same story takes place in the very neighborhoods and communities in which we live. It even happens within the church. Tonight, 20-30 teenagers will descend upon our youth room. Some will be new, others were born into this church family. Undoubtedly, some will arrive feeling a sense of loneliness; feeling a little out of place. As I pray about tonight I can’t help but think of the following words I’ve been reading over and over again:

“I need to learn how to truly be among the people to whom I am sent, as Jesus was among us. The character of my presence needs to be like his…
Being among people means being in their midst, not outside.It means being with them, not being over them. It means not looking away from their agony or humiliation, but beholding it, and having the courage to be also wounded by their pain.” - Greg Paul, God in the Alley: Being and Seeing Jesus in a Broken World

I can’t help but think of John 1:14.

” The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only.”

I can’t help but constantly ask myself whether I’m truly living among God’s people having the character of Christ. My prayer for myself is that I will truly be among those to whom I am sent with the character of Christ. My prayer is that you desire the same, whether you’re in school or working (or both).