The Triple Tube!

I just got back from a week at the lake with our kids and it was a BLAST!  Some of these youth had never been in a boat before let alone been tubing or knee boarding.  It was so great to just see their faces when they partook in these activities! 

This whole week we were teaching them about proverbs 3:5-6 "trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understandings. in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." 

For some of them they have never heard that verse before, and for a couple others, they could recite it by heart. But either way we just talked about the paths they are taking and having them think about whether or not they are on the path that leads to destruction or the path that leads them to God.  In our group of 12 we had kids that have been abused, a girl who has an eating disorder, a youth who is a sex addict, and several that use alcohol and/or drugs to cope.  Most of them are heading down a pretty destructive path. Also among them is a boy who does not want to believe in God. 

On the last night's talk I looked around and found him missing. So I went inside and had one of the best talks I've had in a long time. He has tons of questions about grace and the devil and why people get to go to heaven when they lead such crappy lives, etc... He told me the only reason he believes in God is because he can see the work of the devil. 

That just speaks to the dark places that some of these youth are in.  Now this is a boy who has been coming to TreeHouse for almost two years now and is such a wonderful kid.  He has a sweet heart and is always there to listen to anyone who needs an ear.  He is struggling in his own personal path of hating himself, cutting and using drugs.  

Please join with me in praying for this young man. Pray that he can stand up to his ways of coping (i.e. cutting, anger, drugs) and pray that he learns to lean on God.