WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM- Selfish and Spoiled? (Not so much)

     As a follow up to my column a few weeks ago where I admitted that I dance and sing in my truck, I decided I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share with you the events that took place recently involving a similar concert. The fact that I wasn't driving gave me more freedom to express myself  that day, as five of us joined in on the make-shift concert. If you added the ages of the three youngest participants together, they equaled my age. The fourth was the driver and he was only twenty so I was surrounded by youth in their prime. How did this all come about, you may ask.
     For each of the last twelve years, I have spent a week of my summer participating in a mission project known as Mission Serve. It's where youth groups from various parts of the country meet at a location and provide labor for low income houses that need new roofs, repairs, and paint jobs- stuff like that. Normally there are about a hundred of us and we stay on the floor in air mattresses at a local church. The kids get up at 6 a.m. and work all day long in the hot sun. And they do it so that someone who can't afford it will have a home improvement project they desperately need.
     They work their buns off in the summer heat and share their faith with the people they meet in the neighborhoods where they are stationed. After a well deserved shower each afternoon, they eat supper then attend a praise and worship service every evening. For several years running now, I've had the privilege of being the worship speaker who delivered the message each night. After the service, they meet with their individual youth groups for a time of sharing and devotions. Then it's off to grab some sleep as they prepare for another day of work and worship.
     These high school and middle school age (and a few college) youth group kids have their share of problems just like any other kids. Some have been victims of abuse, sexual and otherwise. Some have been suicidal at times, others have struggled with rebellion, and many will admit that their home situations are less than perfect. Yet they show up, work hard, and bond with each other while at the same time putting hands and feet to their faith by laboring in the hot sun to make someone else's life better.
     As the worship speaker recently, once of my responsibilities was to travel around with some of the summer staff and volunteers to each of the groups during the day. I was most definitely the old geezer in the truck. But these kids made me feel welcomed and included me in on all their shenanigans, including their musical concerts that took place as we traveled about.
     So on the aforementioned day, when the classic song Don't Stop Believing by Journey blared over the speakers, they encouraged me to join the concert. A water bottle served as a microphone as each member of the impromptu concert belted out the words to a song most everyone knows all the words to. For a moment, I was 18 again (despite being 54). And I rather enjoyed it.
     Here's my take on the younger generation. We older folks are too hard on them. Yes, they can be immature at times. Yes, many things are easier for them than they were for our generation. Yes, they probably spend too much time on their phones.(But then again, don't we?) Maybe some of them are spoiled, but that's less their fault and more ours.
     I'm sick and tired of pundits on television bashing the younger generation and calling them selfish, spoiled, and disrespectful. Maybe it depends on where you look. I know one place you won't find a whole lot of that. That place is Mission Serve and other programs like it where these so-called spoiled youth bust their behinds for a week to serve their Lord and help others in need.
    1 Timothy 4:12 speaks directly to young people when it says "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young". Which is what we older folks tend to do more often than not. 
    I realize it's popular and easy to bash the younger generation but I refuse to do that. I've seen too many of them who have inspired me beyond words. I've seen them hit their knees and pray with a homeless man. I've seen them put their arms around an elderly woman whose family had abandoned her to live alone. I've watched them bake in the hot sun on a roof they were repairing and then take the time to stop before they left at the end of a day's work to tell the homeowner that they loved him. All three of my sons have participated in Mission Serve and it has made them better human beings. There's something about serving others that makes one less selfish and more compassionate.
    After the kids had left on their last afternoon of work recently, I had a chance to speak with one elderly gentleman who lived alone. With a tear in his eye he said softly, "These kids have re-energized me. They have given me a renewed hope for my life."
    So go ahead and bash them if you wish. There's plenty of knucklehead youth out there who make the evening news for the wrong reasons. But don't tell me they're all like that because the majority are not. I've seen many of them in action, and I'm profoundly inspired. They're finding their way just like my generation did many years ago. Think what you want to but my advice is this: Don't Stop Believing in these kids, because they're still early in their Journey. And the future is bright because of them.