Birthday Parties and Bible Studies

By Lindsay Bridges

When Sasha* showed up at Young Life Adventures in Santa Cruz, she was less than thrilled to find out that she would be without a cell phone for the week, on daily adventures, and truly be camping, even though her Young Life leader had fully explained what camp would be like. Sasha has a tough exterior and in all honesty, for the amount of hardship that she has been through, including child abuse, being trafficked, drug addiction, and having an incarcerated parent, it was a learned nature of protecting herself.

That's until she let it slip that she would be celebrating her 18th birthday while at Adventures. Sasha had been hard to engage with leading up to that day, but when her area showed up to dinner that night with a cake just for her, her walls began to break down. The hope was that she would feel seen, heard, and loved.

During the week, Sasha admitted that she didn't know how to read the Bible and had never prayed before. Her Young Life leaders spent time during the morning devotional time walking her through how to open her Bible, read it, and praying with her, getting her to share a line or two in prayer.

That's why we are thankful for this Young Life One ministry!

We know what it takes to go after "the one" to show them that they are seen, heard, accepted, and loved no matter what their past might look like. We are praying for areas around the country that are pursuing kids like Sasha for a chance to be "Jesus with skin on" this summer, to share a moment of talking about Jesus, and the opportunity to pray for them.

*Names have been changed for anonymity and protection.