Juvee tonight was amazing. For those that have read the last couple of weeks posts, lately it hadn't been going as well there as I had hoped, and tonight was a much welcomed break from the previous weeks of, what I felt, was spiritual dryness.
There's a guy that comes every Wednesday with our group named Ken. Ken is a very good break dancer, and tonight he brought his whole break dancing crew with him. The entire juvee (about 40 people) showed up for a very impressive demo, which the guys really seemed to enjoy, and afterwards Ken gave his testimony, which just so happened to be one of the best testimonies (and contained one of the best illustrations) that I've ever heard. Here is a brief(ish) summary.
Ken talked about how he likes to think of our life here on earth here as a giant puzzle, and in order to finish the puzzle one of the first things that you need is a picture. If you have the picture you can figure out what exactly the puzzle is supposed to look like, and better put things in their proper place. Without the picture, pieces are going to be in the wrong place, and you might never figure out how to put it together.
Now imagine all of the trials, hardships, and rough times in your life and imagine that as one piece of the puzzle. If you don't have a picture to be able to figure out where the "trial" piece goes then you're going to end up putting it into the wrong spot, resulting in, a messed up puzzle. Ken then went on to describe his three major trials in his life, and how the Bible became his picture to help put his trial piece in the right spot.
The first trial for Ken was his parents' divorce. His dad's cheating on his wife and abandoning the family made life extremely difficult for Ken, and it was because of his dad's being a pastor that Ken became disgusted with Christianity and wanted nothing to do with it. He talked about how he was always embarrassed about his father and how he could never brag about his father like other kids did about theirs in school.
His father's abandoning him led to Ken's second trial: the absence of his mother. Due to having to raise a family completely by herself, his mom wasn't around as much as he would have liked, resulting in long days and nights at home with no body else to be with but his sister. She constantly had to work to provide for Ken and his sister, something that he was extremely grateful for, but the intense, persistent loneliness began to take its toll.
Finally, Ken told about his hardest trial yet. About three and a half years ago, Ken's mom passed away, due to over exhaustion. Ken is from South Korea, and his being in America at the time, made things even more difficult. A few years before her death, Ken hadn't gotten along with his mom. They were constantly fighting, and yet through all of this Ken's mom still showed love to him. Her love for him was unconditional, and it was this unconditional love that caused him to seek out where it came from. How could somebody show unconditional love to someone else when that love is not being reciprocated? It was this search for unconditional love that led Ken to Christ.
The guys (and girls) seemed really interested in what Ken had to say, and it was encouraging to know that they were taking all of this in. Some of them are soooo close to accepting Christ. They are finally starting to understand what this Jesus guy is all about, and they're beginning to like it. I'm looking forward to next week and the questions that they bring. We'll see what happens.
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