Be brave, Little One.

I’ll warn you, the “J-count” is way up in this post. 

We’re on our flight home, my fourth ever airplane ride. On this trip I got to experience 4 take offs, and (hopefully) 4 landings; so far, so good.  Flying is so cool, this massive collection of metal, wires, buttons, gears, and people is hoisted into the sky. If you stop to think about it, it’s pretty incredible that that’s even possible.                                        

Being brave really has its perks.

I’d leave that statement there if I had previously been more vocal about the “brave” mandate that has been put on my life. However, since I haven’t been so vocal, allow me to explain:
Many years ago at a youth conference, (Snocamp for my Shenstoners who may be reading this), I was given the verse “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear for the Lord your God goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6. I knew I liked it, and I felt like it was just for me… I didn’t think much of it for a few years, until last summer in fact.
Sarah and I were working as the Freedom House summer students, going about our business up in the FH office one day, and I took this picture:

                                                                                                                           

Everyone loved it. I heard so many times how it was a perfect depiction of who I am and who I was becoming. I didn’t think too much of it, I just thought it looked cool… Within a few days, it was my birthday and Nicki had made a special trip to the office that day with cupcakes, (she’s a pretty cool boss), and somewhere in the conversation that morning, she turned to me, turned back to the letters and said something along the lines of “Oh yah, I meant to tell you: that’s going to be important.”
I can’t remember my exact response, but being my old sassy, know-it-all, insecure self, I’m sure there was an “mhmm” accompanied by an eye roll. Over a year and a half later, I can’t tell you how right she was...(Sorry Nic!). It wasn’t long after that things about being brave began showing up in my life, randomly. Including the release of the single “You Make Me Brave” on Bethel’s website which was oddly released way sooner than the album; I think I made Sarah listen to the song about 100 times a day from that day on.  My friend’s mom even said I was comparable to a modern Joan of Arc, I still think that’s a bit far fetch but it was just another piece of confirmation I needed to know that the call on my life was to be brave.

Now, that would be cool and all, if I wasn’t so afraid of … well, everything. I’ve never been the girl to take risks, try new things, or intentionally ruffle the world’s feathers. That’s changing more quickly than I’d care to admit as I keep learning more and more about who I am and who I’ve been created to be.

All my life I’ve joked that I wanted to change the world, it wasn’t until recently that I realized that that was even possible. The reality is though, that that is the reality. I can, I am, and I will change the world. I don’t think I’m going to become an internationally known leader, or distinguished humanitarian, or go down as a legendary speaker. I think my claim to fame, if you will, will be much more of a ripple effect: one small act causing a change in someone else’s life.
Isn’t that how large vessels are moved anyways? one degree at a time?

I think, and I’m hoping that my ripple effect will be caused by the kids and youth, I work with in the future. Or maybe even the ones I’ve already worked with.

I made a quick mention to wanting to open a youth home in my last post. I need you all reading this to know that that has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. I want to create a place that exists to teach and illustrate a healthy lifestyle for youth who may not be learning key life skills at home, well, more so the lack there of a home.
My trip to the Dream Center this past week showed me that I’m not the only one who out here in this world that believes that’s possible. The home for emancipated youth here operates under many of the same core values I would, with the same goals and objectives in place to propel the youth on to the best plan for success possible.

I believe so much in kids and youth, and the infinite potential they have inside them, just waiting to be cultivated and encouraged.  As sad as it is to say, I firmly believe that society has killed our ability as humans to dream. To seek out, engage, and pursue our passions. We’ve been made to think that our crazy dreams are too crazy to ever been reached, that dreams can’t be goals and that they’re just a distant idea existing on the back burner in a fairy-tale like recess of our minds. 

Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of people telling others, kids especially, that their dreams are too big and consequently stupid and unattainable causing them to give up before they’ve even had a chance to try. I am so thankful for the people in my life who have always encouraged me to follow my passions!

Since the day it came out I’ve been completely infatuated with Steffany Gretzinger’s album “The Undoing”, a line in one of the songs says “I learned that love don’t hold its tongue and passion doesn’t bow to what they think…sometimes it’s painful to be brave, to look fear in the face…” She’s so right.

My trip to LA was by far one of the best choices I’ve ever made. Hear and obey, right? No wonder our lives go so much better when we listen to God and follow the plan He’s already got. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, or even if it’ll be me to do it, but I know that the youth population of Brantford will subsequently be impacted, eventually, by what I learned on this trip.

I want a place to exist in Brantford for kids, especially those who have been phased out, forgotten about, left behind, or who even have aged-out of the foster care system to have a place they can go, be sent to, or to find, that will embrace who they are and help them become the healthy, responsible, passion-pursuing adults they were meant to be. I want the cycle of kids who have been forgotten about and become our homeless, drug-addicted, or impoverished adults to finally come to an end. I want to tackle the problem at the roots before it has a chance to even consider flourishing. I want to change the world, one kid at a time.

So that’s my dream, what’s yours?