working together to navigate youth ministry well through relationships—where every teenager matters…….

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– by Nate Severson

Panic mode was setting in.  My wife and I had just learned that our original flight from Chicago to Newark was delayed because of weather.  There was no way we would then make our connecting flight to Paris where we were going to have a 24- hour romantic getaway before jumping on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya.  It was at that moment when I had a flash back to a conversation I had with a friend who had told me that I should never fly through Chicago en route to Africa because in his terms, “it will for sure be delayed or cancelled.”  It was at that moment when that conversation was echoing through my head that the ticket agent told me that she had good news….she was able to get my wife and I on a direct flight through a different airline and we would be arriving three hours before our scheduled arrival in Paris.  The only catch was that the flight left in an hour.  So we had no time to do anything but move as fast as possible from one end of O’hare to the other.  So as we put on our power-walking game face and headed for the international terminal, we came upon an unexpected situation that caused us to stop dead in our tracks.  We were slightly confused on exactly where to go, and so we asked the closest available agent.  He quickly told us and we were off….that is until he asked us if we could take the women he was talking to with us.

As this woman turned to see our reaction to his question we stopped dead in our tracks and broke the one and only rule we had been given by the ticketing agent:  Don’t Stop.  We couldn’t help it.  This woman, probably 35, was crying rivers of tears as if she had just learned she had lost a loved one.  In our haste we walked back toward her and invited her to join us on our journey to the international terminal.  Not ten seconds into our walk/sprint she started spilling her guts about her life and all the difficulties she endures on a daily basis due to her abusive husband.  It was truly horrible what she described.  As she was sharing  I was trying to think about something profound and comforting to share.  And just as I was opening my mouth to say something my wife asked her, “do you have a church that can help you?”  She quickly replied, “No I don’t, I hate the church!”  Again my heart broke as more tears started flowing from her eyes.  It was at this point that we reach our destination and got off the tram that had taken us from one end of the airport to the other.  As we stepped off the tram I felt as if I needed to tell her that I was a pastor and that I wanted to pray for her.  So I did.  And with a look of disbelief (with more tears flowing again) she told me thank you and that she desperately needed my prayers.  I prayed for her and then she was gone.

As I am processing the entire 20-minute encounter with this woman I am learning some valuable lessons about life and ministry:

1. Too often I am in such a rush that I miss out on opportunities to love and care for someone.  Let’s not forget that it took the agent who I asked directions to ask me to help this hurting woman, not my heart of compassion.  I was so busy focused on my agenda that I almost missed God’s agenda.
2. There are way to many people that have been wounded by the church.  Let’s make sure that we are not the ones who are living up to that reputation.  We have an amazing gift to share with others who are hurting and desperately need its open arms of love to mend the broken fences created by the pain of the world we live in.
3. When people are desperate they will do anything.  I don’t know why this woman hated the church, but for some reason she was desperate enough to receive love and prayer.
4. When I first started in ministry my pastor told me one of the most significant things I could ever do in ministry was to walk the halls slowly.  What amazing advice that is, I only wish I were better at putting it into practice.