Merry Christmas! I know that you are supposed to say all the things you are thankful for at Thanksgiving, but for me Christmas is the time that I remember what I'm MOST thankful for. I am forever saved because of my Saviour who was born. We celebrate Christmas to remember His birthday and the beginning of a relationship with God because of his substitutionary atonement! I'm thankful for the team that works with me through prayer, volunteering, donations, and support! I'm thankful for my wife who is my best friend and helpmate! I'm grateful for the opportunity to be dad and pour my life into my family because of the perspective I gain in ministry. No matter where you are at in your spiritual journey or your life, God sent His Son to have a relationship with you! The Holidays are happy because of Jesus.

I am always redefining the youth's perception of the church and who Christ can be in their lives. When they find themselves behind these fences and move into crisis mode they are grasping at anything that will relieve their conscience and sometimes that is prayer or reading the bible. Many times it involves going to church or confessing. They are always wanting to DO something to make things right. They are surprised when I say there is nothing they can DO to make God love you! It has already been done! The formula for checking the boxes to make them feel better doesn't work. Instead, abiding in Christ and focusing on being with Him is the path I ask them to follow. So, there isn't just a box to check, "yep, I prayed today!" It is giving complete control to Him and allowing Him to step into all their pain, their brokenness, their family situations, and yes even their court dates! The most spiritual thing I can do each day is choose. Every moment of every day I depend on Him for my thoughts, words, and actions...I choose Jesus, not a formula or a religion, but a relationship!

When Christ was talking to Peter after his resurrection, Peter felt like Christ had lost trust in him. Jesus asks him three times, "Do you love me?" And each time Peter answers yes he is more and more adamant. You see, I don't think it was Jesus not trusting, I think is was his way to remind Peter what he was called to do. Each one of us have purpose on this earth. We are not called to eat, sleep, repeat. We are called to continue to build the church. I continue to remind juveniles of their purpose on this earth and how they can transform this world we live in. Each one of them have their doubts, but just like Peter, Christ is there to remind them through me, "Do you love me?!" Continue to pray for Denver and the youth that will transform this world through their relationship with Christ.

The pictures above are from a mission's trip to South Africa. Zac is in the top picture, this is the first time I am able to show a picture of this student, where as before he was a part of the state system. I met Zac at a Youth Services Center or Detention facility where I'm the Chaplain at. I believe in meeting youth where they are at in their spiritual journey to allow Christ to transform their lives and become contributing members of society. Zac gave back to the community by pouring his life into children and youth of South Africa. He told his story of turning to relationships and substance abuse to fill the void in his life, but all he needed was Christ. We are fulfilling the call God has given us with Wilderness Experiential Ministry. Zac is just one story of God's redemptive spirit. Continue to pray for him and South Africa, both stories continue to be a spiritual journey that He cares about.

The name of the program I work with as a part of Denver Area Youth for Christ is above, Youth Guidance. Sometimes I feel like that word guidance is a daunting task. Today I met with a kid who is going home in two days with no sign of remorse for his actions...in fact I will probably see him again next week for the same thing. He is in a gang and regularly pursues violence with his rival gang, that brings him "cred", others in his gang thinking more highly of him because he has hurt someone from the other gang. These young people operate with their own rules void of the laws of this society. The detention center was just a hiccup in his plan, it just prolonged something he was going to do anyway. As I was talking to this kid I was trying to figure him out. It is in part about reputation and pride, but it is also about feeling like he is belonging and needing affirmation of his existence on this earth. I could try to convince him that his purpose was greater than taking down a rival gang member, but his actions were governed by a life he felt he already knew and he could only live. When asked if his life was a good example to his two year old sister, he replied..."She is going to have to learn about the "real world" eventually." May the power of the Holy Spirit and my Heavenly Father who has been working on his life a long time before I became a part of his story, transform this young man into His image and allow him to change lives, not for the worst...but for the transformation of Denver! I only planted the seed or maybe watered it...I trust in God for the rest.

The above pictures are of a camp we just spoke at, meeting students where they are at in their spiritual journey away from their normal routine of life to allow God to transform their lives so they can transform their communities. It has been eleven years since I had been back to this camp, it was were I was called to work with youth! I spoke to 16 - 18 year olds from all over North Dakota. I was surprised to hear a broad range of stories from students. I spoke to the student that has been allowing Christ to lead their life and they are continuing to love Him more and know Him more each day to the student who has been in and out of detention centers, struggling with drug and alcohol use, and hurting because of pain and abuse in their past. Please pray for FAHOCHA Bible Camp as they continue to allow Christ to transform kids lives all summer. Thank you for supporting us as your missionary this summer. Please be praying for these students as Christ lives in and through them daily.

There is something about a child's smile, their laugh, that is completely void of the junk we as adults carry in our lives. The following is a story a counselor unfolded for me at the juvenile justice facility I work at as a chaplain.

When kids bang (They recognize that they are part of a gang) they feel like they don't have a choice to not go back to that life. One of the youth in this program feels like that, he talks about "faking it, to make it". When a kid talks like that, they do what they need to, to get through the program, but have no intentions on changing once they are on the outs. I usually see those kids back in the justice system soon after they get out. This youth has told me that he feels like the gang is the only thing he knows, so his life got a little more complicated when he sister came for a visit one day with her daughter (his niece). The counselor told me that the sister put her daughter in her brother's gang tattooed arms and for thirty minutes this hard, tough, gang banger wept. I don't know if it was the way this infant intently looked at his face, how her tiny fingers were wrapped around his finger, or how he knew he has to choose; that produced this emotion but he was a mess. After the family left that night the counselor used the teachable moment to help this 16 year old to make some commitments. "Do you want you niece to worry about getting shot in a drive by when she is visiting your home? Do you want your sister to not allow her daughter to be over at your house because of what she could get into, drugs, parties, seeing something she shouldn't? Do you want your family to not have contact with you because you choose to hang out with your homeboys?" This young man has to make a choice, and his niece was the catalyst to flip the switch in his mind. In the middle of his mixed up world of violence, sex, and drugs is this innocent, pure, helpless child and he has the choice.

We have a choice, the most spiritual thing we can do every second of the day is choose. Will I honor my Savior with this decision or will I move further from Him? May we serve Him second by second every day choosing the HOPE He brings.

The first time I met this kid he asked if I could marry people as he is walking to class. Obviously he had something on his mind. As his story unfolds, he has a "lady", a girlfriend, on the outs, but he wants her to be his fiancee. Many times these kids in the facility want to get the women they feel connected to on the outs to settle down, the problem being they are usually 15 or 16 years of age. His "want to be" fiancee is the daughter of a prominent minister in town, she has his baby who is now 25 months old. This youth is heavy into gangs and has the "X's" on his knuckles to prove it. But the flip side is his compassion and care for his family, he loves them so much and is deeply saddened when a visit doesn't work out for his mom to see him, after all he is 16 years old. He talks about his sister who is handicapped, her arms and hands forever in the "position" of a crab. His sister drinks her food through a straw and is now at a mental capacity of a 9 year old, but can not speak. He says, "I pray everyday that God would allow me to take the place of my sister, I wonder if she is mad at me because I can walk, talk, and eat and I'm in jail." This kid is searching desperately for happiness in life and could go the route of his fiancee and their child or, if things "fall out" with that, the way of his gang which is the only life he knows. Pray with me for this young family as they are apart right now and for this young man who says he truly wants to follow God's direction.

I had conversations this past week with four of my former students that have come out of the local church I've been in the past seven years. It has been a blast mentoring students and seeing God grow them into the person that God wants them to be. I just got off the phone with a young person that is now in my life because of my work with WEM and DAYFC as a chaplain in Denver Youth Corrections. Our conversation was centered around the trip we are taking this summer to South Africa. He expressed his excitement and how fortunate he felt to be included on this trip. He was on home pass and will have those each weekend until his release in May. I count it a great honor to be involved in these kids lives and continue to ask God for strength and mercy every time I'm in conversations with them. May you find something worthy of your time this week and invest your passion into it.

I don't know if your mind thinks like my mind does, but I usually am all over the map where one thing I see reminds me of this one thing that reminds me of the other thing and I start talking about it, totally randomly and my wife doesn't follow me at all...until I back up and explain how I got there. Well, this happened this morning when I woke up, it was foggy out which is strange weather for Colorado in the winter and that led me to the time I was solo camping in the back country just north of Santa Cruz, CA and I was praying and fasting before my first son was born. I guess that was my way of dealing with my nervousness of being a new father and hear from God what he wanted for my family. That thought then led me to how my perspective on life changed after our first child and that led me to thinking about students and how we can facilitate that perspective change to allow them to grow in character and integrity. Which leads me to the picture above, you see an experiential team building exercise that creates conflict and break down in trust. The goal of the group is to hold the tent pole on their two index fingers, the pole only resting on their fingers at all times...they must be touching the pole at all times and lower it to the ground. Usually what happens when I put the pole on their fingers one side starts going up, immediately, and then the group starts yelling at the side that goes up, people get defensive, communication breaks down...thus the conflict. The point of the exercise, in my opinion, is not to get the pole to the ground, but for the group to value each other regardless of what is going on. So, in the middle of struggle and conflict they can show love and communicate in a way they would want to be communicated to. Conflict is a part of life, we can not avoid it no matter who we are and if we can learn to turn conflict from negative into healthy conflict we have begun to grow in our relationships with each other. When the students I work with in detention centers start to get this, they start to understand God's unconditional love and treat others they way they would want to be treated. Their perspective changes which results in growth, spiritual and personal. It is so powerful! [I do not know the originator of this exercise above, if anyone knows let me know so I can give credit to the right person for this incredibly effective tool.]

Perspective should change us…when we were once naive to how we were living, but then come to understand or understand in a new way – we should change, right?! I wish perspective could stay as fresh as when it first illuminates the need to think about things differently in life. But it usually wears off when normal routine kicks in. How do we stay that raw, that changed [in our minds at least]? I believe that in that moment, our most vulnerable state of mind – we can make decisions and commitments that can truly changes us to be the best individual possible on this earth. I have to have hope that these instances of change happen enough in my life to grow, mature, and be a more loving individual.

Today, I gained perspective…on life, the need for love, the frailty of life, how we are not in control. And nothing I do, no matter how significant, can change a student’s life…only Christ is the hope they need. Frank is on suicide watch – he has been swallowing pencils, they don’t have any other way of hurting themselves. Some try to use their shoe strings, so they get these orange slip on shoes they call, “Bob Barker’s”. They even use erasers to burn their skin, until staff find out. Home-made tattoos using a pencil lead are common, they will even bang their head against their bed or wall just to feel the rush of pain, the adrenaline rush is their fix to fulfilling their fix, at one time on the “outs” they used drugs, alcohol, or sex. They are in a room with only their very deppressing thoughts and a staff person checks on them every 2 minutes. The most a psychologist does for the kid is talk about their self-worth…nothing about living for a higher calling. This calling that echos in eternity with a future, living for more than yourself...living for Him who has changed our lives forever.

I am helpless, I can do nothing, I can’t say anything that will help…so I pray, I ask for Christ to give peace the we can not comprehend why we feel it. I ask for comfort, as if God was in the same room, wrapping His arms around him. I can’t…I can’t even hug him, I can’t pat him on the back…I have to stand outside the door, cold talking through a shatterproof glass window. There is nothing I can do. We are not in control of this life, He is and that should comfort us…that should change things – perspective, it should change us. It SHOULD change us!

None of us have it all together, and when we start to think like we do something usually happens in life to show us we don't. We are never in control of our lives...we all mess up. The above picture is of the snow storm that hit our town this past month. The weather is something we are not in control of...many travelers were stranded away from their families on the most traveled holiday of the year. Not in control of their own destinations or itineraries. But for me, to not be in control is relieving because I know the One who is in control. I thought I'd give you a snap shot of what I do at the detention center, if you want to be caught up on WEM you can visit www.experientialministry.com. As I walk in the facility every week, I hear kid's hopeless stories after hopeless stories. They are not in control of their lives and now they are surely not in control of their immediate future, that is up to the courts. Many of these kids are character deficient where they can manipulate situations in their best interests with staff and the facility and me. They have the perception that they are in control, but when you hear their stories, they begin to unfold lives that desperately need God to be the leader of their life. One kid was put in isolation, a empty room about 4 feet by 4 feet, he was threatening suicide and knew how he would do it...the thing is he was crying out so much for attention and his life is so screwed up, he knew that was the only way to get someones undivided attention without having to share. He is so starved for love...love that only Christ can offer, heal, and bring transformation into his life. I talk to so many kids, simply offering them hope, whether we are meeting one-on-one or playing basketball in the gym during their free recreation time. We are all messed up and hurting whether we know Christ or not, but those of us that allow Him to have control...have all the hope in the world!