warfare

Today there were reports of N. Korea testing nuclear warfare. This weekend we as a staff experienced spiritual warfare. This is not the first time for this experience and it was not the worst but it made us take a look at it again. It was a good reminder that what we are doing is so much bigger than we are and that we are up against a spiritual battle.

We had a wRap Kidz buddiez event this weekend, our first of this season. We had a handful of buddiez there and the kids that came had a blast and had a ton of one on one attention which is amazing. We will not call this event a failure because of the warfare we experienced. We communicated to our buddiez the importance of their commitment and the details for this event. We were faced on Saturday hours before the event with questions of where we were meeting and some buddiez failed to bring lunch for their kids which was asked of them.

As we talked on Saturday and have had Sunday to cool down and think about our frustrations I know that some of what we experienced is because of the age of some buddiez, the result of volunteers, and some spiritual warfare. We realize that some of our buddiez are too young and the responsibility and the drama of high school can get in the way. We do also see the spiritual aspect of this being much greater. In this mentor program we see some troubled kids blossom and calm down and other kids become really serious about Christ. This is the way lives will be changed, we know that wRap Kidz is effective in reaching kids and turning the soil and planting seeds but it is in the one on one relationships that can only come from relationships like these that will truly cause the lives of these kids and eventually the community to change. This is the same with church activities and youth leaders pouring into kids or small groups.

Satan attacked in so many ways, we felt defeated as a staff (which we soon realized and were victorious in Christ), our buddiez were defeated through failed commitments, life distractions and circumstances, and the kids lost out big time. We again came back and concluded that we need to pray more. We communicated clearly and did as much as we could without holding hands, but we failed to pray enough for our volunteers and the kids.

We have groups coming in to serve in a few weeks we are so excited about them. One is a junior high group who has never been here before and are going to get there feet wet and the other is veteran senior high group who encourages us so much each time they come. We need to cover them in prayer for their hearts and the ways they will be serving. We can only be victorious in Christ and His power.

I guess as many of you ask how you can pray for me and us as a staff, this is how. We need prayer to not be defeated in the things God is asking us too and that the people God wants to serve and give to this ministry are not defeated in the things God is asking them to do.