Dear graduating senior & Young Life kid,

The day you've been dreaming of is on the horizon - Graduation day!

You've been planning for months; the dress or dress shirt you'll wear, who you’ll take pictures with, the order in which you'll party hop. But all of a sudden you stop dead in your tracks. In all the excitement & chaos, you’be forgotten to look back on all the memories you've made and the friends you've gained along with them. So, you rest. You reflect on all the good times you shared with the friends you've made. You laugh, you cry, you look at old pictures, maybe even sing along to Hannah Montana’s “I'll Always Remember You” (okay, maybe that was just me and my friends) but then you start to get sad.

As a Young Life kid you've met so many other students over the last school year. Leaving them seems like a part of your heart is being pulled out of your chest. Your heart, it aches. Your eyes, they’re filled with tears. Not only because your time with them is ending, but because you’ve watched them grow and mature into the amazing person they are today. How could you imagine leaving them?

I asked myself the same question, shed some tears, and reached out for help. That’s when it hit me - I was told that I am not the one’s caring for these guys & gals, God is. He is simply using me to guide them and the work being done isn’t my work, but His. That reality can hurt. You realize that maybe they don’t need you anymore. They’ll be fine on their own.

But that’s not true! They needed you. They loved you. They trusted you. They came to you in their time of need. They rejoiced with you when you got into your dream school and when they made the school cheerleading squad. God placed you in their lives knowing that they needed you as much as you needed them. But now it’s their time to shine.

You see senior, you’ve guided them and led them to the light. They’ve found their purpose, their heart’s desire - HIM. You’ve ran the race and watched them finish strong. Now it’s their turn to do the same for others.

In this time of transition and change I urge you to allow yourself to weep and let yourself hurt because you are leaving, but I also beg you that you’ll walk into the college chapter stronger than ever and ready to make an impact in your own Young Life kid’s lives. You’ve completed basic training. He has “prepared you for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14)