Every year we (YouthFront staff) do something creative for our Christmas Party (youth workers are supposed to be creative). This year we held the party at 10:00 AM. The theme was Christmas Morning. We all came to the party in our PJ’s. We ate a Christmas brunch, sang some carols, exchanged gifts, but mostly we told stories. We told stories about our past (61 years of YouthFront stories). We told stories about our dreams of the future. We recognized and honored four staff, one who was finishing five years on staff, two who were at their tenth year and one at fifteen. We told stories about them and about what we love about our YouthFront family. We told stories of fun memories sprinkled with joy and laughter. We told stories of life.
Vidy Metsker, our co-founder, then read The Story. The Story that gives all of our stories meaning and life. The Story that our stories fit in to. “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world…So Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, …to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child… and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2. And so The Story goes… and so our stories go.
Three hours into our joyous Christmas Morning celebration, just as we were getting out board games and putting on a Christmas Movie to ratchet up the fun and hilarity – a call came. I noticed a small huddle of our staff in tears. As I started toward them, someone walked up to me and shared the tragic news that one of the teenagers, very involved in YouthFront had just died in a car accident. Tylor was only 16 years old. Casey Kapple and Courtney Bade who work with teen staff at YouthFront Camp West were sobbing. They loved Tylor. He was a faithful teen staffer. They were devastated. Slowly as word spread through the staff party the energy, laughter and fun drained out of the room. We stopped and prayed. We prayed and cried for Tylor’s family, for Tylor’s friends, for Casey and Courtney. And then we continued to tell stories, stories of Tylor at camp, of his growth, of memories from those who worked with him. We passed around his pictures in the YouthFront Teen Staff yearbook. For those who didn’t know Tylor, there were stories of what really matters in life. There were stories about God’s call on our lives to reach young people so that they love Jesus like Tylor loved Jesus.
No, it wasn’t a ruined Christmas Party. It was a real celebration of The Story that our stories fit in to. The Story that Jesus came as God in Human flesh to bring joy and purpose to our lives, to our stories…
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