A defining moment

Each of us has a defining moment in our life. A moment when we experience something that makes us say: "this is how I am going to live my life" or "this is not what I am going to be"...you don't know when these moments or revelations are going to hit you, but when they do, you are changed forever. What's even more amazing, is that these moments can be such a wide range of possibilities...it can involve emotions, actions, careers, others, yourself, life, death - anything.

One of my defining moments came for me during high school. Between sophomore and junior year, my youth director moved away. It was very sad, but I had full confidence in his replacement and in the continuing support of my friends who attended the Wednesday events with me.

However, a few months after he left, one of my friends who I considered on of his "favorites" went off the deep end. She started to get involved in things that weren't her and that we had discussed many times as being actions she didn't want to participate in. After about a month of this strange behavior, my friends and I decided that we should contact our former youth director. If anyone was going to talk some sense into her, it was going to be him.

I don't recall if we called or emailed him, but I do remember that we were able to get a hold of him and ask him to give her a call regarding her strange behavior. I was so disappointed when his response to us was basically: it is out of my hands. He may have also told us to confront her ourselves or have directed us to the new youth director, but these options seemed hollow. He was the one whose opinion would matter to her...he was the one who would be able to get directly to her heart on the subject.

Sure, maybe my friends and I had too much hope placed in our former youth director...maybe we should have aggressively pursued a different direction or option...but even so, it was a defining moment for me. A moment when I decided that if I ever went into ministry, I would not "drop" any of the kids I worked with even if I did move away. I also try to use this mentality in all areas of my life...and to stay connected to all the important people from my past. I'm not always successful, but I do try to put my heart into it. And maybe some of you have noticed how I get crazily overexcited when I see someone I haven't seen in awhile...it is partially because of this defining moment from my past. I want everyone I've known to feel like they are loved, important, and that they have been missed.

In case you're curious, my friend continued to "slide down" a slippery slope that we couldn't pull her back from...and to my knowledge, she never received that phone call that my friends and I believed might have been able to pull her back.

We all have our defining moments - whether through a positive or negative event - and we will all contribute to someone else's defining moment. We're each going to have a passion or personality that is going to shape our lives and the lives of others - pursue it.